I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I graduated from Macalester. The French government employed me for my first year out as an English assistant in a French high school. I went thinking it was just a way to live abroad and ended up deciding to become a teacher. Afterwards, I returned to Boston and got my masters and have been teaching ever since.

I have taught languages in Colombia, France, and England and keep going back to France. Paul Moghtader ’93 and I lived there for three years and were married outside of Paris in 2001. During that stay I helped start an English language school in Paris.

The women who I lived with in the French House continue to be great friends after college: Laura Vargo ’93, Fern Terris-Prestholdt ’95 and Nicole Fallon-Olivieri ’94, along with the French assistants Fabienne Hanclot and Emmanuelle Coste.  Over the years, we’ve celebrated New Years in Amsterdam, New York and Paris. They were there for my wedding and we did a combined birthday party in London, when Paul and I were living in Bloomsbury. Who would imagine that five women living in four different countries could continue a friendship over the years.

When we moved back home, I became a middle school French teacher at our local school here in Brookline, Massachusetts. Paul and I chose this community because we really like the kind of people we meet here. And, the whole community thing has become more important as we’re expecting our first child in October 2006.

My Mac Memories:

• Freshman year on First Turck.
• Laura Vargo showing up in Paris during my year abroad.
• French House girls and parties.
• Dancing at First Ave. and driving everyone to find doughnuts afterwards.
• Trip to the Southwest for Spring Break senior year.

I'm living and working in Chicago with my husband and two dogs. I'm working in database consulting and attempting the all-important search for work/personal life balance. Can't wait to reconnect with Mac friends!

My Mac Memories: Volleyball, golf, studying in France, wonderful friends pulling me to class on a red sled the year I broke my ankle and it snowed 30 inches…