Reunions for Classes of 2009 and 2004 set for Dec. 22

This winter, Poly looks forward to welcoming the Classes of 2009 and 2004 back to campus for the 5- and 10-year reunions. If you are an alum or a parent of an alum in one of these classes, we hope you will save the date, Sunday, Dec. 22, to join us for this special event. Please stay tuned for more information, official invitation, and letter from your class reunion committee. In the meantime, Kate Hamilton and Chris Welch, who are serving on the 2009 reunion committee with Stephen Siciliano, took a moment for a quick pre-reunion Q&A with the Poly Alumni Office.

Poly: What about the reunion are you looking forward to most?

Kate: I can't wait to reconnect with my classmates, many of whom I haven't seen in a long time. There is a lot to catch up on!
Chris: Have you ever had a favorite song that you had fallen in love with ages ago, suddenly start playing on shuffle? That’s what this 5-year reunion is going to be like for me. My high school friends are my greatest hits, and amidst all of the change that we have all gone through in the past five years, as soon as this song comes on, I’m going to remember all the words as if nothing has changed.
Poly: What are you doing now?

Kate: I am working as a senior research analyst for Optum, a healthcare consulting firm in Minneapolis.

Chris: I am currently interning with Chevron this summer for my second time. Last summer, I created a MetOcean design criteria extraction tool using a 3D numerical model of the Gulf of Mexico, and this summer, I am working on creating a storm event fatigue detection program for a riser field monitoring system on an offshore production platform. This upcoming fall, I will start my first year as a graduate student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint PhD Program. I will be studying in the field of applied ocean sciences and engineering, specializing in autonomous underwater vehicles. That should keep me busy for the next five to six years.

Poly: Three words to describe the last five years out of high school...

Kate: Fast! Fun and challenging.

Chris: Fast, unpredictable, and unregrettable.

Poly: What is your favorite Poly memory?

Kate: There are so many, it's hard to choose just one. I had so many great conversations and laughs with classmates over free periods and lunches sitting in the Upper School courtyard—I think those are the memories I will always cherish.

Chris: “Foreman Fridays” just outside of Eric Strom’s classroom. Senior year during my free period (which was D period of the BE(F)D Friday schedule—yes, I still remember), a few classmates, Mr. Strom, and I would pull out the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine and welcome in the weekend with burgers, hotdogs, quesadillas, and anything else that would saturate the air with the smell of a true Californian summer. Foreman Fridays guaranteed an afternoon of great friends, great food, great music, and great memories—memories that will always remind me of the youthful, loving freedom that the Poly community had so readily made available to me.
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