November 3, 2009: Gilbert Landras '02 and his father stopped by today, the first time Gilbert had visited campus since graduation. We enjoyed a walk around the high school, which was built two years after Gilbert graduated. We visited the high school art rooms, library, cafeteria, gyms and the Memory Garden. After the walk, Gilbert and Mr. Landras shared lunch with Mr. Dale Ford, Gilbert's high school counselor. Gilbert was also interested in visiting Mr. Zitur and Mr. Donalson. Mr. Landras now lives in Thailand, and Gilbert is based in Houston, where he is a Compliance Analyst for KBR and very active in Delta Sigma Pi. He keeps in touch with a number of SAS alums. Thanks for visiting SAS Gilbert!

 

 

November 9, 2009: Jessica Blakemore '03 stopped by today. Jessica lives in Washington, D.C., where she works on the advance team at the White House. What an exciting job! She worked on President Obama's campaign and inauguration, and then was asked to stay on and continue her work. This summer she worked on the First Lady and First Daughters' trip to Rome, and after her Singapore trip, she's hoping to continue on to Norway to work on the Nobel Prize trip in December. Jessica was in Singapore to work for the advance team ahead of the President's trip to the APEC summit, happening in Singapore this weekend. She spent a lot of time at Suntec City Convention Center, where the President will give a speech to 1200 regional CEOs. She was also appointed unofficial Singapore social director for her team, as none of them had ever been to Singapore before. It had been six years since Jessica was at school in Singapore, so a lot had changed! She relied on best friend Anne Dodge Carroll '03 for suggestions!

 

While Jessica was on campus, she was invited to speak to Anne's 2nd grade classroom about her experience at the White House. She was asked questions like, "How much money does the President have?" After speaking to the class, she visited the alumni office, and we went out on a tour of the Memory Garden and the new high school, which was built in 2004, a year after Jessica left. She still remembers the day the cafeteria was torn down to make room for the new school. She visited with teachers Paul Koebnick, Chip Miller, Mark Clemens, Martha Began, and Communications Director Beth Gribbon and spent a few minutes in the classroom of fellow '03 alum, Tate Sonnack. They all remembered the Blakemore family, and were pleased to hear that Jessica's sister is a senior at UVA and doing well, and that her parents are settling in comfortably to their new home in Doha after spending five years in Paris. Thanks for stopping by Jessica!

 

November 12: Tate's older sister Melanie Sonnack '00 dropped by today.  Melanie is in town from London, where she has been living for the last few years. She is going travelling for the rest of the year before heading home to San Diego for Christmas, then on to South America. Sounds like a great adventure! She was looking forward to catching up with lots of SAS friends in the next few weeks, and seeing her parents in Ho Chi Min City, where they've lived for the last three years. While she was on campus, Melanie saw the new high school and got to see Tate in action as he taught his yearbook class. Thanks for coming Melanie, and enjoy your travels!

 

 

 

November 16: Today's special guest was Tetsuro Kobayashi '00. Tetsuro is in town from Tokyo, where he works as a junior resident at the Clinical Training Center at the University Hospital at the University of Tokyo. Tetsuro plans to drop by later this week, so we're hoping to catch him for more news then. Thanks for coming Tetsuro!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 24: Bryce Robinson and his mom Barbara dropped by today. He was able to visit some of his former teachers, and said most of the school looked the same but there had been some nice upgrades in the gym. His family still lives in Singapore, but they are moving back to the US after 3 ½ years here. Bryce took some time off from BYU to spend with his family, but is heading back to college for the spring semester. They plan to visit the Philippines for the first time over the Thanksgiving holiday.