Sharing Item readers’ good news

Emmanuel College in Boston has named Elise Kline of Bolton (01740) to the Dean's List for the Fall 2020 semester. To earn a spot on the Dean's List, Emmanuel students must achieve a grade point average of 3.5 or higher for a 16-credit semester.

Seth McGeehan, of Clinton, graduated  from Missouri State Universithy in December with a master's degree in defense and strategic studies.

Julia Wachtel, of Bolton, was named to the fall dean's list at Hofstra University.

The University of Rhode Island announced that several local residents were named to the fall dean's list: Marie Fam, of Boylston, Hannah Goddard, of Clinton, Jodi Hillis, of Sterling, Melissa MacQueen, of Boylston, Colleen McNamara, of Boylston, Aj Noble, of Clinton, Mary Russell, of Clinton, and Giavanna Spadafore, of Sterling.

Two local residents were named to the president's honors list at the University of Hartford: Elise Probst, of Boylston, and Aidan Slate, of Berlin.

Cooper Sarafin, of Lancaster, has been selected for the fall dean's list at St. Lawrence University. Sarafin is a member of the Class of 2021 and is majoring in philosophy. Sarafin attended Saint Mark's School.

For more than 15 years, the student portfolio managers of Bryant University's Archway Investment Fund (AIF) have applied the investment principles they've learned in the classroom by managing a real-life investment portfolio and making real trades. This past year, the AIF faced what was perhaps its greatest test as the students successfully navigated turbulent financial markets due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

Local student portfolio managers include: Paul Ferrecchia, of Berlin, and Daniel Murphy, of Sterling.

(photo) To help address Bryley Systems' growth, the company has added Field Technician Ethan Brush to help address demand for its services amid quick-changing technologies in both networking infrastructure and cybersecurity.

Eleven-year-old Brush envisioned a life of adventure as an NSA agent, but knew it would require serious discipline to accomplish what he wanted. So, at almost the youngest age possible, he joined the Naval Sea Cadet Corps (equivalent to the more-familiar Junior ROTC program). He stuck by this trajectory through to college. 

And for college he chose Norwich University, a senior military college in Northfield, Vt., an NSA-designate for Excellence in Cyber Defense.

Brush graduated Norwich in May with a bachelor's in computer security. 

“When I graduated, I applied to both the National Security Agency and defense contractors, but due to the pandemic they cut down on hiring,” Brush said. “I figured a Managed Service Provider (like Bryley) could be a good fit for me. An MSP has to be able to implement effective security measures for a variety of organizations.

“At Bryley, we work with very small companies with two employees to organizations with 100 or more employees across multiple locations. And it goes from small things like upgrading computers to massive server overhauls. Learning opportunities never end. That’s what gets me up in the morning,” Brush said. “You never really know what situation you’re walking into every day.”

As a member of the technical services team, Brush’s work can determine clients’ ability to get their work done. 

“If we do a bad job, we could take an entire organization out of business for maybe 10 minutes, or maybe an entire business day. The stakes are extremely high. Downtime for these businesses costs them a lot. So that’s why I personally take pride in my work and make sure things are done right for them. And I’m always pestering the engineers here to teach me a new thing, so that I can understand and help meet more and more challenges.”

Erica Ivins, of West Boylston, was recently elected to the Epsilon Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Hamilton College.

Ivins, a senior majoring in archaeology and history, is a graduate of Wachusett Regional High School.

The following local students have been named to the fall dean's list at Bates: Haley Fenlon, of West Boylston, the daughter of Brian Fenlon and Erin Fenlon, a 2020 graduate of Worcester Academy; and Riley Burns, of Sterling, the daughter of Michael Burns and Linda McLaughlin and Maureen Maher, a 2018 graduate of Bancroft School, majoring in mathematics.

The following local residents were named to the fall semester dean's list at Simmons University in Boston: Natalie Bergman, of Sterling, Laura Gaynor, of Clinton, Devynn Ledgard, of Sterling, and Kayla Valeri, of Sterling.

Rebecca Bauman, of Berlin, was named a quarterfinalist at the International Songwriting Competition in the lyrics only division. The song was entitled, "We Live Forever In The Ocean Waves."

Allie Donahue, of Clinton, is currently serving with the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), a 10-month, full-time AmeriCorps program.  Founded in 1994, AmeriCorps NCCC strengthens communities and develops its young adult members into leaders. 

AmeriCorps NCCC operates out of four campuses, which serve as regional administrative hubs and training facilities.  These campuses, located in Sacramento, Calif., Aurora, Colo., Vinton, Iowa, and Vicksburg, Miss., train and deploy new classes of members several times each year.  Donahue began her term of service on Aug. 19, at the Pacific Region campus in Sacramento, Calif. and will graduate from the program on May 26.

As a team leader, Donahue is completing a series of different six- to 12-week-long service projects in different places across her assigned region as part of a five- to 12-person team.  Projects support disaster relief, the environment, infrastructure improvement, energy conservation, and urban and rural development.  More information about her specific service projects is available upon request.

As team leader, Donahue is responsible for managing the daily activities of the members on their team. She serves as a role model, educator, safety manager, and liaison between the campus and project sponsor. She began her term of service with an additional month of training prior to member arrival.

Before joining the NCCC, Donahue attended Tahanto Regional High School and George Washington University, which she graduated from in May 2020 with a degree in international affairs. 

“Doing some type of service was something that I’ve been interested in since I was in early high school," Donahue said. "Once I got to GW, I was shown various avenues of service that involved an array of issue areas. I eventually decided to do a term of national service because I realized my priority was making the most amount of positive impact as possible, and I felt that a term of national service was the best way to accomplish that goal.”

Two local students were named to the fall dean's list at Emerson: Elena Naze, of Lancaster, majoring in journalism, Class of 2022; and Erich Vinacco, of Bolton, majoring in media arts production, Class of 2021.

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