MICHELE BENNETT
Michele went to Raintree from 1983- 1985.
Since her Raintree days, she went to undergrad at KU & graduated in 2002 with a B.A. in English then went to KU Med & completed her M.D. in 2006. She is currently in Salt Lake City, UT, doing a residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology, in her third year. She has one more year before she's completely finished. Her husband, Luke Huerter, is from Pittsburg, KS, and is doing his residency in internal medicine (he also graduated from KU Med in 2006). She's attached a photo of them celebrating their third anniversary. She says, "I still have many fond memories of preschool there! Raintree has always been a part of me (& my family- my brothers & sister all went to Raintree, too!). I learned to read & write at Raintree, and my love for reading has been an instrumental part of who I am ever since. Also, several of my good friends today date back to when we were all at Raintree together! I hope that when I have children, I can find a Montessori school as wonderful as Raintree."
TIMOTHY J. BRADLEY www.copperstreetbrass.com
Hornist Timothy J. Bradley is a versatile performer, educator, composer, and arranger. Raised in Lawrence, Kansas and surrounded by music from birth, his earliest musical influence was his father, who would play LP after LP of famous orchestral and operatic works. Tim began playing piano at 3 years old, and studying horn at the age of 10. After hearing a recording of the Mozart Horn Concerti played by Dennis Brain, he realized the instrument was his key to doing something meaningful and gratifying (plus it kept him out of trouble!). Tim pursued his music studies at St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN) and Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) earning both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in horn performance.
Tim is a founding member of The Copper Street Brass Quintet, a professional brass chamber ensemble dedicated to changing lives for the better through chamber music's power to educate, create, and entertain. The quintet promotes music education and entertainment through unique performance and outreach programs. Tim is proud to be part of an ensemble on the cutting edge of brass chamber music. The CSBQ is headquartered in Minneapolis-St. Paul and performs to audiences and students across the country.
With a musical appetite for everything from Bach to Brahms to Radiohead, Tim loves composing, arranging, and transcribing new and unusual works for the quintet. Recently finished projects include brass quintet arrangements of Piazzolla, Dave Brubeck, Cake, and even Spinal Tap. Tim is especially interested in computer mixing and sampling to create collaborative performance art, using the brass quintet as a canvas. You can check out his original and transcribed works at www.timothybradley.net.
Teaching is a large part of Tim’s life: he believes education is a crucial element to our culture’s sustainability and prosperity. He has held a horn studio for over 8 years in Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas, and Kansas, teaching aspiring horn students from beginners to adults. He also has 7 years of masterclass, tutoring, and ensemble-coaching experience.
Tim has performed all over the world with various orchestras, wind ensembles, and chamber groups. He recently appeared with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in the fall of 2008, the New Mexico and Santa Fe Symphony Orchestras from 2006-2008, and has shared the stage with many notable artists such as Garrison Keillor, Sarah Chang, James Ehnes, and Gilbert Varga.
JOHN CATLIN
John Catlin is back living in Lawrence and currently finishing up a teacher certification program at Washburn University. He will soon be teaching secondary biology hopefully in Lawrence.
ANDREA CHAO (now Andrea Allen)
Andrea currently work at Raintree, and is a senior at the University of Kansas majoring in creative writing. She plans to graduate in May, and will be attending the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies early childhood education program this summer. She will be completing her internship at Raintree beginning in the fall. Andrea says, "I hope to one day have my own classroom. I also got married in June! :)"
JAKE ESAU
Jake is currently finishing his senior year at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN and will receive a Bachelors of Science in Computer Engineering in May. He will then be moving to Olathe to start a job with Garmin International. Jake graduated from Bishop Seabury Academy in 2005, and Hillcrest Elementary in 1999. He went to Raintree for preschool.
NICK GIVECHI
A graduate of Raintree’s class of 1989, Nick Givechi has spent the last six years diligently following his passion for a career in the entertainment industry. Between the ages of 13 and 19, he appeared in a handful of local stage plays which led him to study Theater and Film at the University of Kansas. One year later, he moved to California where he worked in sales and promotions until his return to Lawrence to work on a novel. In the summer of 2006 Nick landed promotional projects with Kellogg’s, Lifesavers, Coca-Cola, London Taxi and Marvel Comics while at the same time preparing his novel for publishing. In the meantime, Nick went back to school, graduated and is now making a living as a massage therapist. His next goal? Building a youth center in Lawrence!
He writes about Raintree:
“Sometimes memories are slightly more than just memories. As long as I can remember, I’ve had Raintree. It has defined my life more than anything else. The groundwork it has laid has dictated my realization of reality and has served as a constant reminder that the truth of my existence lies within my specific ability to relate to my surroundings. I am nobody else as nobody else is me, and arriving to my destination in life is only achieved when I lead by my own light in this muddled haze of mainstream perception that we accept as the real world.
Everyone has role models
to steer and refer them,
but the ones who grow hollow
let other people deter them.
They glorify models, follow leaders in herds, and
Cease being themselves, and just wish that they were them.
And though no one can claim to be totally perfect,
If you walk through with faith, you are nobody’s servant.
And then will you know
When you reap what you sow,
That your efforts wrought fortune, of which you’re solely deservant.
Thank you, Raintree
not so much for the teaching
so much as the guidance
toward independent thought.
AKIRA HANOAKA
Akira Hanoaka came to Lawrence, Kansas from Japan in 1986 and soon began attending Raintree. Not long after he left Raintree to attend elementary school, he returned to Japan where he completed elementary and secondary school. He has returned to the United States to pursue a Ph.D in mechanical engineering at the University of Iowa. Although he doesn’t remember much about his Raintree experience, we remember Akira. We remember the Japanese tea ceremony that his mother and our piano teacher Etsuko Kuribbayashi presented to the students at Raintree. We remember the beautiful artwork he created. When the Hanaoka family returned to Japan, we continued to receive letters from them including many beautiful works of art by Akira. Now that he is back in the USA, we are hopeful he will visit Raintree some day.
SUZANNE HASSELLE (now Suzanne NEWCOMBE)
wrote a history of S.P.Dinsmoor's Garden of Eden (www.kshs.org/publicat/history/2001summer_hasselle.pdf) while studying religion at Amherst College. She married an Englishman, completed a master’s at the London School of Economics and a PhD at the University of Cambridge. She currently lives in London and works as a Research Officer for Inform (www.lse.ac.uk/collections/INFORM/) and as an Associate Lecturer at the Open University. She does research and teaches about religion in contemporary society.
MARIA HENDERSON (now Maria TUCKER)
Maria Henderson was a member of Raintree’s charter class. She writes, “ If you haven't changed your driveway recently I believe my name is engraved right in the middle of the curb next to Rachel Christofferson! I currently live in Upland, California. I am married with 3 children and 1 more (my last!) due in April. I am a proud first grade teacher and former preschool teacher. I believe my experience at Raintree prepared me well for this career choice! I have fond memories of my experiences there, especially with the animals. I remember being involved in the caretaking of many farm animals as well as the smaller critters in the classroom. The hands-on experiences provided at Raintree taught me early on that children learn in so many different ways and I try to apply those lessons to my students now. My brother still lives in Lawrence and every time we visit I make a point to drive by Raintree. It amazes me how much the area has grown. When I began there at 2 years old, 31 years ago, there was almost nothing. I remember walking to Alvamar for swimming lessons in one direction and up the hill to a flower store/nursery the other direction. Thank you for all you did for me and the children you continue to serve!”
KATIE JENNING (now Katie VANBLARICUM)
Katie went to KU, graduating with honors and a perfect 4.0 GPA in Anthropology and Classical Antiquities. She currently owns her own business called "Insect Ar", where she makes unique art displays out of real butterflies and other insects (www.insectartonline.com). She married this past summer.
KATHERINE MAURER (now Katherine FRANKLIN)
Katherine attended Kansas State University and graduated in May 2005 with a B.S. in Apparel & Textile Marketing. In 2007, she graduated with a Master's in Textiles & Clothing from Iowa State University. Her husband and she currently live in the Buffalo NY area. She has attached a picture of her husband (Tim) and her at a K-State football game. She writes, "Thanks for getting in touch. Take care and best wishes to many more years!"
BROCK NORWOOD
Brock is attending Winona State University in Minnesota. He is planning to major in environmental studies with a minor in Spanish. For fun and exercise he is playing on the Winona Ultimate Frisbee team.
CATHERINE AND EMMA NORWOOD
Catherine and Emma are in their last year of junior high and keeping very busy with their band and vocal music, youth group, studies, and driving practice.
WESTON NORWOOD
Weston graduated from KU with a degree in architectural studeies this past May. Before heading to graduate school his is seeing a bit of the world and teaching English on Jeju Island in South Korea.
CALLIE PENZLER
Callie attended Raintree in the early 1990's. She recently graduated from the University of Kansas' School of Education and received a BSE in Elementary Education. Currently, Callie is working towards a Master's degree in Special Education and actively looking for teaching jobs for the 2009-2010 school year. She says, "I hope everything at Raintree is going great! Attached are pictures of me with my family in San Antonio for the Jayhawk National Championship!!"
BRIAN PIPKIN
Brian recently graduated from KU with a business degree.
ERIN PIPKIN
Erin is living in Eagan, MN (Twin Cities suburb) with her fiance, Patric Leuschke. They are getting married January 10, 2010. Erin graduated from the University of Iowa in 2005, moved to Minneapolis and is now working at HealthPartners as a Financial Analyst and going to law school part-time at William Mitchell College of Law.
KEITH PIPKIN
Keith is at Baker University, and is playing tennis for Baker. He is the #2 seed.
LAUREN PIPKIN
Lauren is currently swimming for Denison University in Ohio.
NATALIE POHOLSKY (now Natalie McDONALD)
Natalie finished school, passed her boards and is now a registered veterinary technician. She graduated with a degree in biology from Kansas State University in May of 2005. She was on the equestrian team all 4 years she was at K-State. "Raintree sparked my interest in horses at a young age! I used to love going down and visiting the horses they had there. I also reunited with Natalie Bennett (another Raintree Alum) on the equestrian team at K-State. We were friends way back when at Raintree but we went to different schools after that. We met again at K-State on the equestrian team where we practiced and competed together and have been great friends ever since." After college Natalie got married and moved to New Orleans with her husband Ian McDonald. Ian went to law school at Tulane and Natalie went back to school to become a registered veterinary technician. She is now working as a RVT and she looks forward to coming back to Raintree to visit sometime!
JUSTIN RAPP
"Thanks for sending out the card and including me in your alunmi album. The picture is a little intense I know, but its about the only one I have that reflects my current lifestyle/employment. Take care and happy holidays."
JUSTIN RILEY
Justin is a semi-professional photographer from Lawrence, Kansas, with a four-year degree in the Liberal Arts from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. His photography experience involves photojournalism as well as documentary, landscape and travel photography. Furthermore, he has recently started photographing weddings, shooting with a perspective unique to photojournalism.
From 2004-2006 I photographed for and co-edited the Grinnell Cyclone (The 2005 book can be viewed online at http://web.Grinnell.edu/cyclone]), an annual 182 page memory book focused on artistic, black-and-white documentary photography. In May of 2006 he graduated from Grinnell College and worked on a publicity publication for Grinnell which highlighted current Grinnellians participating in summer internships around the country. In the Spring of 2007 he worked as a freelance photographer for The ArgenTimes http://www.theargentimes.com/] out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Most recently he has focused on landscape photography, weddings, and this past summer he worked as a photographer for Up Th' Creek Expeditions photographing rafting trips in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado.
Here is the latest update from Justin:
I started the year in Lawrence, KS, spending the holidays with the family and hosting a photography exhibition at Raintree. The exhibition was so successful that I took the cash and b-lined it to the border. Three months later I had traversed my way across Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize with friend Adam Beals, bike toured circumnavigating the Sierra Maestra mountain range in Cuba with a good friend Tom, and spent a month living with a local family in Santiago de Cuba and training with the Cuban National Junior distance team. I also worked as a photojournalist in Cuba during Castro's resignations and the following elections, having a few different pieces published in the ArgenTimes out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Here are some of the photos from Cuba: http://rileyjus.smugmug.com/Current%20Adventure
Early April I flew back to the States for a Blues Dance Exchange in Denver just in time to take part in the Jayhawks steamrolling past former KU head coach Roy Williams in the semis and then winning the National Championship.
Following the celebrations I headed out to Colorado's Western Slope to my favorite high-mountain Hamlet, Carbondale working as a coordinator with the Aspen Music Festival, doing edible landscaping with my friend Jon-Ray, working as a contract photographer for everything from the Transit Authority to the local Trails Association, and teaching both group and private dance lessons in the valley.
I left Colorado after the Halloween festivities, when the snow started to fly, and with money in my pocket I began my big-city, winter-of-centralized-heating, dance-tourist travel itinerary, which I am currently still on now. So far I've spent a week on the Front Range working for the Obama campaign, seeing friends and dancing, two weeks in New York City, three in Washington DC (where I just returned from), Xmas in Lawrence, and I am currently in Chicago, on the 7th making my way through Portland OR, Olympia, and Seattle, before heading back to Ski and work a bit in Carbondale, CO, to round out the next 8 weeks. Feb 19th I'm flying down to Nicaragua to visit my old Nica host family and students before I head up to El Salvador to work as an International Observer and complete a photo documentary on this year's Salvadorian presidential elections for the month of March. I plan to be Stateside by April 1st to partake in KU's 2009 National Championship before heading back out to Carbondale, CO, to put the whole thing on repeat.
I am applying to a two-year international Masters program in Environmentalism and Sustainability Sciences at the University of Lund in Lund, Sweden. That would start this upcoming fall, save if they decide to accept me and if I decide to accept them. I'm still not completely sure what I want to dedicate myself fully to right now, but I've got a lot of ideas, and most of them are international in nature and include sustainability.
If you've made it this far in my letter, you've surpassed my expectations. I hope that you all have a phenomenal 2009."
En solidaridad,
Justin
DENNIS SHAFER www.dennisshafer.com
This year marked saxophonist Dennis Shafer's concerto debut in Jordan Hall with the New England String Ensemble, Federico Cortese, conducting, performing Chemins IV by Luciano Berio. The Boston Globe noted "the difficult solo part was played brilliantly by Dennis Shafer." In 2009, Dennis Shafer released his debut solo album and promoted it in a world-tour with concerts in Paris, Bangkok, Lawai (Hawaii), and several US cities, including Boston, New York, San Francisco, Eugene (Oregon), and Lawrence, Kansas. He belongs to the internationally renowned BBCNASE contemporary saxophone ensemble directed by French saxophonist Jean-Michel Goury, which recently presented a full program at the World Saxophone Congress in Thailand.
GILLIAN SCHMIDT, MD
Gillian Schmidt is living in Prairie Village, KS with her husband, Kevin and 2 year old
daughter Anika. She works at KU Med center as an Internal Medicine
Resident. Gillian had the joy of seeing Keith and Lleanna occasionally when she
still lived in Lawrence, and was present at the birth of their
grandchild during her OB rotation when she was in nursing school at
Washburn in 1995. Gillian says,"I have great memories of Raintree, and I wish there
was a similar school in Prairie Village to send Anika to."
ERIC SPRAY
After graduating high school Eric attended the Columbus College of Art & Design. While in school he received the highest achieving freshmen award and graduated with a 3.8 GPA. His senior year Eric was accepted into the Society of Illustrators (www.societyillustrators.org) and awarded 2nd place in the shows student exhibition. Eric says, "It was an honor to receive recognition in a room filled with illustrations painted by Norman Rockwell, J. C. Leyendecker, Mark English, Howard Pyle, and many others."
After college Eric accepted a position at Raven Software in Madison, WI as a concept artist. His day-to-day roles include environmental painting, character design, storyboarding, and matte painting. He just finished taking part in shipping his first triple A title "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", which hits stores the first week of May. Currently, Eric is on a team of professionals working on an original IP called "Singularity". Unfortunately, most of his work done at Raven is NDA, but here is a link to his personal sketch blog. www.EricSpray.Blogspot.com
Eric says, "I am sincerely thankful for the life-long lessons Raintree has taught me. Above all, Raintree has taught me the value of self-discipline necessary to achieve great things in life."
ANNE STEPHENS
Anne is married to a wonderful man, living in Providence, RI where she is in her second year in the Ph.D. Program in Classics at Brown University.
LAURA STEPHENS
Laura is in her second year living in New York down near Wall Street, sharing an apartment with three other friends from Lawrence and KU. She is working at a parenting/counseling group - SoHo Parenting as program coordinator and editor of their blog, Parentalk.
CONNOR TREANOR
After Connor graduated from Free State, he went to Baker University for four years, where he played football and graduated with a degree in Business Management. After that Connor worked in Kansas City as a construction manager for a few years. Now he has returned to Lawrence and is halfway finished with a Master of Architecture degree from KU.
EMILY UNRUH (now Emily STOUT)
is now 30 years old, married and a band and orchestra teacher (grades 5-12) in North Kansas City. She and husband Tim have two furry, four-legged children by the names of Lilly and Buck, both black labs. She writes, “I think fondly of Raintree all the time. Making horse books and saddle books to ride the horses, playing in the HUGE sandbox, learning how to sweep the floor,
how to cut safely with a knife, making play-dough, music, learning, laughter and lots of love. In fact I would LOVE it if you all could send me a copy of the Raintree Birthday Cake recipe! I would love to make that again. Thank you for everything Raintree. When we have our first child I sincerely hope that there is a Raintree Montessori school near us to send them to.”
"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand." - Woodrow Wilson
NATE WORTHEN
Nate is the head coach of the freshman basketball team at Canyon View Jr High in Orem, UT. "I'm the short guy on the far left."
Where are you NOW?
As Raintree begins its 31st year, we would like to locate our graduates and create an alumni page on our website. Where are you? What are you doing? How has your experience at Raintree affected your life? Please email us and let us know!
Would you consider sending us a current photo of yourself- one that reflects your life today (on the job, with family, etc.)? Please email still photos to alumni@raintreemontessori.org
(subject: Raintree Alumni).
Return to this page to keep in touch with your former classmates or visit other pages to learn of upcoming events.
Thanks for keeping in touch!