More Alumni News
Please enjoy reading the following updates on fellow alumni, and be sure to share your own updates – or news of classmates – by writing to alumni@horacemann.org.
Chidi Akusobi '08 has been selected to participate in a month-long Aerospace Medicine clerkship at NASA. As the NASA website explains, "The four-week Aerospace Medicine Clerkship is offered twice annually during April and October at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. The clerkship involves formal lectures on space medicine topics and issues, familiarization with the medical aspects of International Space Station operations, design, and function as well as Exploration Medical Capability for deep space exploration."
Harrison Bader '12, centerfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, was one of the hottest hitters in Major League Baseball during the month of July. In 23 games, he batted .357 with 30 hits, five home runs, and 18 RBIs. You can follow Harrison on Twitter and Instagram at @aybaybader.
Val Bodurtha '14, Sophie Mann '14, and Rebecca Shaw '14 have teamed up to create Wax Paul Now, a mockumentary short film. The classmates wrote, directed, and starred in the film, which tells the story of three young women on a crusade to get a wax statue of Paul Giamatti placed in NYC’s Madame Tussauds. Wax Paul Now was featured in Vulture, Forbes, The New York Times, Buzzfeed, and on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — and was selected by more than a dozen film festivals including AFI Institute, the L.A. Comedy Festival, Hollywood Reel Independent, and the Miami, St. Louis, and Virginia Film Festivals. You can watch the film here.
Alexandra Budabin '96 has announced the publication of her first book, Batman Saves the Congo: How Celebrities Disrupt the Politics of Development, with co-author Lisa A. Richey of Copenhagen Business School. The book offers a rich case study of what celebrities are doing in the development field. Topics include the strategic partnership created by Ben Affleck and his organization Eastern Congo Initiative -- attempting to bring new ideas and funding to the Congo -- by connecting with Starbucks, USAID, and the Howard Buffett Foundation. Based on interviews with aid workers, humanitarian experts, and NGO representatives in Washington, DC, NY, London, Kinshasa and Eastern Congo, the book offers a unique perspective into the realities of neoliberal development -- where celebrities are causing disruption but not always in the ways we’d expect. You can download the book's introduction and learn more about its contents at: https://lisaannrichey.wixsite.com/batmansavesthecongo
Alixandre Greenberg '05 has raised $500,000 in seed funding from Curate Capital for Art Sugar, the online gallery she founded in 2017. Art Sugar is "a platform that enables emerging, underrepresented artists to market and sell their work while giving back to causes they care about" (artsugar.com). The company donates proceeds from every purchase to a variety of charities, including The Trevor Project, God’s Love We Deliver, and Gyrl Wonder.
Nicole Ives '86 and David Bennahum '86 reunited in Montreal over Memorial Day weekend to celebrate full vaccination.
Read an interview of Emma here: https://www.wilbur-niso-smithfoundation.org/index.php/authors/emma-riva
Dahlia Krutkovich '17, who graduated in 2021 from Davidson College with a major in Global Literary Theory, was named a 2021 Smith Scholar. This prestigious award – formally called the W. Thomas Smith Scholarship – pays for a graduating college student to pursue a year of graduate study at a university abroad. Dahlia has chosen to attend the University of Oxford to pursue a Master's degree in Jewish studies, with a focus on post-Holocaust France.
Donald K. Sherman '98 has joined the Biden-Harris administration as Special Assistant to the President for Racial and Economic Justice. His previous positions include Deputy Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW); Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University; Senior Counsel to Ranking Member Claire McCaskill on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; and Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel for Oversight and Investigations in the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). From 2011 to 2015, Donald served in various roles on the staff of Rep. Elijah Cummings, then-Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He began his career on Capitol Hill as counsel on the House Ethics Committee, after practicing law in the Washington, DC, office of Crowell & Moring, LLP, and serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Neil E. Kravitz of the District of Columbia Superior Court.