ALUMNI INSPIRATION DAY
May 23, 2022
2021-22 Steward School Alumni Board Keith Murphy '09, President Liz DeLaney '08, Vice President Harry Baron '01, Treasurer Meg Montgomery '05, Secretary Zach Barnard '12 Dani Blake '09 Allison Carpenter '11 Jennifer Cronk '88 Mary Martha DeLaney '08 Beth Farmer-Smith '09 Braeden Glancy '15 Kiera Hintz '13 Harrison Mire '12 Kemis Noble '08 Mary Harvard Nolde '93 Madelyn Rowland '10 Kam Smith '16 Laura Weisiger '02
Dear Friends, Welcome to the second annual Alumni Inspiration Day! We are thrilled that last year’s program was such a success and are excited to continue this new Steward tradition. This event allows us to add another piece to the Steward puzzle for our current seniors, who are just days from graduating: we are connecting them with successful alumni, who can provide guidance on navigating the world after high school. One of the benefits of graduating from The Steward School is that our alumni join a network of individuals who can count on each other because they have a shared place in their hearts, no matter when their Steward years took place. Thank you to the many Steward faculty and staff members who have made this day possible, and especially to our alumni presenters for taking the time out of their busy schedules to serve Steward students in this way. Go Spartans!
Sincerely,
Dan Frank Head of School
Jenni Booker Baker Director of Development
Sydney Smith Alumni Engagement Coordinator
May 23, 2022 SCHEDULE 8:30-9 a.m.: Senior Breakfast, hosted by the Steward School Alumni Association 9 a.m.: Welcome and announcements Senior predictions Parents dismissed 10:45-11:35 a.m.: Breakout Session 1 11:40 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: Lunch (Waddell Terrace) 12:25-1:15 p.m.: Breakout Session 2 1:20 p.m.: Guest Speaker 2 p.m.: Development Office presentation and closing 2:15 p.m.: Senior celebration with Kona Ice truck (Wilton Hall Lawn)
Jamie Adams '09 Operations Manager, Paisley & Jade
Managing a Multifaceted Small Business Jamie Adams, CPCE is the Operations Manager of Paisley & Jade, a specialty rental company based in Richmond, Virginia, and serving the Mid-Atlantic. With 10,000 square feet of inventory and servicing over 400 clients per year, Paisley & Jade is known for providing weddings, events, trade shows, and visual display clients with the aesthetic details they need to complete their vision. As the Operations Manager at Paisley & Jade, Ms. Adams manages the day-today operational logistics of the company, interfacing with teammates, clients, venues, and vendors, while managing the human resources, procurement, and transportation logistics portion of the business. Ms. Adams holds her Certified Professional in Catering and Events (CPCE) and currently serves as the Immediate Past President on the board of the Richmond, VA Chapter for National Association for Catering and Events (NACE). Ms. Adams earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from The College of Charleston in 2013.
Zach Barnard '12 Artist, Zach Barnard Art
ArtWORKs: Following Your Passion Zach Barnard is a local artist who has sold over 150 paintings, in addition to creating murals and multiple immersive art installations. A colorist at heart, Mr. Barnard’s work is big, bold, and expressive with swift gestures and broad brushstrokes reminiscent of Post-Impressionists and the Fauves. Each painting is a journey across place and time – with a style echoing the aesthetics of Henri Matisse and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, reinterpreted in a fresh, contemporary way that’s beautifully relevant to today’s world. Mr. Barnard graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and a minor in Art History from the Columbia College of Chicago, where he was a 2018 winner of the Albert Weisman Award. His work has been featured in galleries and both solo and group shows, as well as in a variety of print and online publications.
Sean Highfill '15 President, Hanover Landscapes
Entrepreneurship: Building a Reputable Business from the Ground Up Sean Highfill is a 2015 Steward alumnus, and he attended VCU following graduation. He started his landscape business in spring 2017. Hanover Landscapes designs, installs, and maintains landscaping and hardscape features throughout Central Virginia. His fiancée is also a Spartan, Liza Thompson ‘17, and they are planning to be married in August 2022. Outside of work, Mr. Highfill likes to spend time with family and friends, plays golf, and visits the beach.
Sarah Austen Holzgrefe '13 Teacher, Artist, and Writer, Sarah Austen Yoga
Exist, for Real: An Exploration of Meditation, Yoga, and Entrepreneurship Sarah Austen Holzgrefe is a yoga teacher, artist, writer, community leader, and dedicated student. She devotes her time to studying and teaching the practices of movement, breath, concentration, and self-inquiry. After graduating from Virginia Tech, she started her first job at the Virginia Film Office. Through this transition from college-life to office-life, she began a search for purpose and a way to ease daily anxieties. After discovering the tools offered by the ancient Yogic and Buddhist traditions and noticing their immeasurable positive effects, she committed to the practice and decided to become a teacher. Ms. Holzgrefe teaches throughout Richmond at various yoga studios, works regularly with schools and students K-12, and has her own space for group and private classes. Ms. Holzgrefe has extended her education in the field through various trainings and has completed a six-day silent meditation retreat. In the new year, she will begin a two-year Insight Meditation teacher training.
Coldon Martin '07 Senior Advisor and Creative Director, Southeastern Institute of Research
Defining Professional Creativity in Video Production A Senior Advisor at SIR (Southeastern Institute of Research), a sixty-year old marketing firm in Downtown Richmond, Coldon Martin serves as SIR’s in-house Creative Director and oversees all elements of SIR’s various creative products and services, ranging from social media content, print/web design, and commercial TV development and production. Collaborating with clients and SIR leaders, he helps shape the creative strategies and promotional tactics that bring a marketing or branding concept to success. For all of his creative projects, Mr. Martin emphasizes the importance of establishing clear performance goals and target audiences prior to any collateral development. In other words, he doesn’t just make cool stuff, he makes cool stuff work. Mr. Martin graduated from Steward in 2007 as the most popular and smartest student to ever attend the school. He then studied English Literature at Virginia Commonwealth University before graduating with honors in 2011, when he immediately joined the world of advertising. Outside of SIR, Mr. Martin is an accomplished musician, filmmaker, and actor and is actively involved in Richmond’s creative community. His bands and videos are so good, y'all. It's just insane how good they are. Maybe the best? He didn't write this thing. Promise.
Mary Stuart McIntyre '10 Critical Care Nurse, Bon Secours Mercy Health, St. Mary’s Hospital ICU
The Art of Nursing Mary Stuart McIntyre graduated from Steward in 2010 and then headed off to Virginia Tech, where she studied Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise for four years. After graduating from VT in 2014, she knew she wanted to work in healthcare but wasn’t sure what the best path would be for herself. Mrs. McIntyre spent one year working as a PT aide and then several years as a medical scribe for OrthoVirginia. She also worked as a clinic assistant for Ortho On Call and eventually found nursing. She graduated with honors from Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing in December 2019 and soon after started a career as an ICU nurse. The pandemic hit about a month after she became a nurse and her work started to revolve around the care of people critically ill with COVID. Mrs. McIntyre is now finishing her first year of nurse practitioner school at UVA and will graduate in May 2023. She currently serves as a member of the Ethics Committee at St. Mary’s and is a preceptor to nursing students and new graduate nurses. Mrs. McIntyre lives in the Fan with her husband, and in her free time she loves to spend time with family, travel, practice/teach yoga, and spend time outdoors.
Ryan Odibo '18 M. Ed. Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Ryan's Declassified College Survival Guide Ryan Odibo'18 is a recent graduate of Virginia Tech and an incoming student at Harvard Graduate School of Education (2022) and Cornell University's Graduate School of Industrial and Labor Relations (2023). During his time in college he served on Executive Boards for the African Student Association and for his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. Mr. Odibo also worked as a residential advisor, an intern under the Office of Inclusion and Diversity, and he served in university governance in several different capacities. He has two younger sisters, Nicole Odibo '21 and Nadine Odibo '26. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music, watching Netflix, and taking naps.
John Orgain '18 Firefighter/EMT, Goochland County Fire Rescue
The Fire Service: A Career and Volunteer Opportunity for Young Adults John Orgain graduated from The Steward School in 2018 and continued his education at Hampden-Sydney College, having just graduated in May 2022. At HSC, he was a brother of Theta Chi Fraternity (Nu chapter) and a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, Theta Omicron Chapter, National Honor Society for political science. Throughout college he volunteered and was paid as a firefighter/EMT for four different counties. Mr. Orgain currently serves as a firefighter/EMT with Goochland County Fire Rescue and a volunteer with the Hampden-Sydney Volunteer Fire Department and Powhatan County Fire Rescue. In his free time he loves shooting, hunting, fishing, and most of all hanging out with family and friends.
Hailey-Marie Ragan '14 Certified Child Life Specialist, Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU
Playing with a Purpose: Your Dream Career Might Actually Exist Hailey-Marie Ragan graduated from Steward in the class of 2014, and she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2018 with a major in Child and Family Studies with a focus on Community Outreach and a minor in Psychology. She discovered her passion for child life through volunteering at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. She then received her Master of Science in Child Life from the College of Charleston in 2020, completed practicum training through MUSC Children’s Health, and served as a graduate assistant in the counseling center. She then moved to Virginia Beach and finished clinical training with an internship at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. Ms. Ragan moved back to Richmond in 2021 and began her career as a CCLS at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital. There, she was the only Child Life Specialist and provided coverage for the whole hospital. In 2022, she made the switch to CHoR and now serves on a large child life team and provides coverage to the radiology department, primarily helping children understand and cope with MRIs, CT scans, fluoroscopy studies, and other imaging. She and her boyfriend live 5 minutes away from Steward and are on the house hunt and looking forward to being settled back in Richmond.
Meghan Hajek Swenck '98 Board Certified Pelvic Health Physical Therapist, VCU Health
Urine Luck! Physical Therapy for Pelvic Health Meghan Swenck graduated from The Steward School in 1998 in a class of 25 students, and she attended UVA for one year followed by three years at Carnegie Mellon University. She completed her undergraduate education with a B.S. in Psychology in 2002. In 2006, Mrs. Swenck graduated from the University of Delaware's doctor of physical therapy program and began working in an outpatient private clinic, treating orthopedics and pelvic health. In 2015, she joined the VCU Health team and has been treating 100% pelvic health ever since. Mrs. Swenck works in a multidisciplinary clinic alongside the nurses and doctors who refer clients to her and her colleagues. She is actively involved in a monthly national pelvic physiotherapy journal club, teaches classes at the VCU Doctor of Physical Therapy program, and teaches students 1:1 throughout the year. Mrs. Swenck resides in the Bon Air area with her husband and two kids, and in her free time she competes as a Masters Artistic Synchronized Swimmer.
Jack Trepp '15 Product Manager (Digital Marketing), Red Ventures
Digital Marketing & Recent Post-College Life Navigation Jack Trepp graduated from Steward in 2015, after which he majored in Business & Enterprise Management at Wake Forest University. After graduating from college, he moved to Charlotte, NC to work for Red Ventures, where he has been for 2.5 years. As a product manager, his main goal is to identify customer pain points and areas of opportunity on the company's website then work with creative and engineering teams to come up with and implement sustainable solutions and improvements. His job is a crossover of marketing & business strategy, tech, data analysis, creative thinking, and project management. He enjoys getting to wear a lot of different hats and working with a wide range of job functions. Mr. Trepp has also had the chance to get involved with one of his company's non-profit partners, Road to Hire, where he helps build curriculum and teach digital marketing courses to local HBCUs in an effort to diversify Charlotte's talent pool.
Melissa Beck Wiseman '01 Senior Studio Artist, The Martin Agency
Ad Life: Because Math Isn't for Everyone Melissa Wiseman is a Senior Studio Artist from Richmond, VA who loves her family, her job, and all kinds of cheese. When she's not laughing and playing with her children, or chasing her two labs around, you can find her figuring out how to maximize her vacation days at the beach.
Special Thanks Thank you, most especially, to our 12 alumni presenters, who gave up time in their busy schedules to participate in Steward's Alumni Inspiration Day. You are Spartans for Life! Additional thanks to: ~ Erin Springfield for sharing both her organizational and tech talents to pull off the day's logistics. ~ Melissa Freed, Heather Jeter, Adam Seldis, and Elizabeth Simpson for the time they spent helping to plan the day. We are also grateful to the Upper School faculty and staff members who partnered with our alumni presenters and welcomed them back to campus. ~ Harrison Mire '12 and Jen Wilkerson for returning to campus to enhance the day. ~ The Marketing Department for communicating and promoting the event details to our community, and for their help in capturing the event through photography and writing. ~ Ryan Gallagher and his students for their help in Robins Theatre.
Special Thanks, continued ~ The Alumni Board, Ryan Burnett '13, and James Murray for their video wishes. ~ Nan Semmelman, Meredith Harris, and Carley Hamilton for their assistance and careful attention to detail. ~ Grant Morrison and Anton Gaston for spearheading the task of keeping everyone fed today. ~ Karen Ashworth, Kara Bacile, Braeden Glancy, Lee Healey, Jay Parrish, and parent volunteers for collecting supplies and helping to prepare the "Senior Sunshine" boxes...and to the faculty members who wrote notes to fill them! ~ Robin Doane for developing Alumni Inspiration Day in 2021 and for her support of this year's program. ~ The Steward staff members who helped greet and support our alumni guests throughout the day.
Congratulations to the Class of 2022 ~ We are excited to have you as our newest alumni!