End of the Road

By West Coast Vagabonds

Well, we’re back! In fact, our time as Vagabonds is quickly coming to an end. After several layovers, delays, and thunderstorms we touched down safely in Baltimore’s BWI.  We didn’t get much time for relaxation though; the next morning started bright and early back at the Alumnae/i House—returning equipment and debriefing on the experiences we’ve had over the last two weeks.

Later that evening we headed downtown to Joe Squared, a pizzeria/bar owned and founded by Goucher alum Joe Edwardsen ’03, for a young alumnae/i happy hour.  The event was well attended, with appearances by some of the Alumnae/i Affairs staff, recent grads, a few current students, and even two former Vagabonds—Debra Lenik ’10 and Maura Roth-Gormley ’10— who completed the East Coast route last year. It was great to be welcomed back by so many familiar faces and get re-acclimated to Baltimore in such a fun place.

Today our alumnae/i gathering was on the other end of the age spectrum, over at Broadmead Retirement Community in Hunt Valley.  Both us and the East Coast Team piled into the Goucher van to drive over and meet with over thirty alumnae at what is fondly known as “Goucher North,” due to its high population of Goucher alumnae residents.  We enjoyed a sit-down lunch at one of Broadmead’s restaurants and chatted with the ladies about our respective trips and what Goucher is like today. It was a really nice way to end our Vagabonds experience and the Broadmead residents seemed happy get in touch with current students and a younger generation of alums.

Anyway, now I sit in an empty office at the Alumnae/i House writing this blog entry, and as soon as I post it my time as a Goucher Vagabond is officially over.  Like the end of all great things, it is rather bittersweet.  Ever since the Vagabonds initiative started up two years ago it is something I knew I had to do. Traveling across the country, seeing new places, meeting interesting alumnae/i, and talking to new students about college didn’t seem like “work,” but rather an amazing opportunity to take many of the things I’d learned at Goucher and share them with a wider community.

After completing the trip I can say the experience was all this and more. Not only did I learn about some fascinating people and see some amazing places, but I feel we reached a good segment of people who had drifted apart from their alma mater and reminded them that Goucher is a special place.

Of course this trip wouldn’t have been possible without the support and foresight of many, many people behind the scenes at Goucher.  A special thank you goes out to the Alumnae/i Affairs staff who have been an integral part of this project since its beginning— Margaret-Ann Radford Wedemeyer for spearheading everything, Amy Eddy for handling all the technology, Cori Tyner for keeping track of logistics, and Denise Raspa for filling in the gaps in-between.  Also thanks to the student interns Rachel Williams ’12 and Olivia Smith ’12, who spent their summer organizing and arranging things for us.

Now I get to start my own journey as a Goucher alum. I now know I follow in strong and well-trodden footsteps.

Signing off as a Vagabond,

Vanessa

A Farewell East Coast Vagabonds Reflection

By admin

As the three of us left our final sendoff in Northern Virginia, we ceremoniously played our theme song of the trip- “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO. We danced, sang, and blasted the music when the infamous line, “Every day I’m shufflin’” was recited in the song. After the song was over, we returned to our usual playlist, reminiscing about how many times we clicked through songs and talked about the experiences we just had with alums, parents, or students. This time, however, we all sat in quiet. For me, at least, I started formulating what I was going to write in our final blog post.

So here it goes…

I decided I am going to talk a little bit about what I learned and what I am taking from this experience. When I presented the idea to Briana about applying for the Goucher Vagabonds, we knew immediately that we should ask Andrew to join us. After sending in our application and discovering that the other teams that applied were much older than us, we felt like our chances were a long shot. But, we reassured ourselves that it was worth it to try, the worst that could happen is that we wouldn’t get the job and we would apply again another year. Well… needless to say, we got the job.

I came into this experience thinking that I would be merely talking to new students and alums. However, I leave this journey with so much more. After every send-off parents and students would come up to us and truly thank us for our presence. Although the events really run themselves, it is nice to know that people appreciated our presentation and answering any questions they had. I also got to learn a lot about this incoming class. They are enthusiastic, smart, diverse, nervous, and excited about coming to Goucher.  It was great for us to talk to these students and reassure them that their first year of college is something to truly look forward to and appreciate. Since the three of us all just finished our first years at Goucher, we felt confident in talking to them and reassuring them that they made the right choice coming to Goucher.

The experiences with the alumnae/i were even greater than I ever imagined. It was amazing listening to them talk about Goucher and reminisce about their experiences and memories of the school that very much shaped their lives. We learned a lot about the school in the early ’60s where there was a curfew and house mothers to the late ’80s when Goucher went co-ed. From “Posture Pictures” to hostility towards men at Goucher, we tried to soak up as much information about the school as possible. The most beneficial thing I took out of the various moments with the alums is seeing how successful and thankful these people are for their Goucher education. It reassures me that Goucher provides an environment that truly prepares students for the real world. I have always known that Goucher is an amazing institution; however, meeting these alums reinforced my confidence in the education I am fortunate to receive.

Thank you all for following us along this journey. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as we have enjoyed writing it.

Peace, Love, and Gophers

Jackie

And Then There Were None

By East Coast Vagabonds

After two long, tiring weeks, we attended our last first-year sendoff tonight at the home of Shelly and John Bond in Fairfax, VA. Their daughter, Rachel, is a member of the Class of 2012. This send-off was like all of the others except in one aspect; there were more young men in attendance than women, which was a surprise because Goucher is known to have a majority of female students (70%).

The send-off went off without a hitch. We gave our final “shpeel” as East Coast Vagabonds, and went through the now usual routine of a Q&A session with the parents and students. We found that many of the students at tonight’s send-off were interested in what there is to do off campus in the Towson and Baltimore areas, which is a question that we didn’t receive very often throughout our travels. After our part was finished, the students and parents mingled and munched on Goucher colored M&Ms and a beautiful Goucher cake. We handed out Goucher hats to everyone, and also gave them East Coast Vagabonds t-shirts as a way to remember us.

Tomorrow we have one final event at Broadmead, a retirement community that has been nicknamed “Goucher’s second campus” because of the large amount of alums that reside there. We will meet up with the West Coast team and share our amazing trip experience with various Goucher alumna and past president, Dr. Rhoda Dorsey.

It’s been great!

Briana

 

Winding Down

By West Coast Vagabonds

Currently, we are sitting in the San Francisco airport awaiting our 12-hour trip back to BWI (two layovers add some time). This trip has been incredible and below you will find some video footage of some Vagabonds moments, as we drove through a number of scenic points along the trip and some moments from the freshman sendoffs!

The End Is Near…

By admin

Yesterday, we were fortunate enough to start off our day at the beautiful Muir woods looking at the GIANT Redwoods. Our tour guide, Danny Toft ’10 gave us an extensive tour of the national monument. Muir woods held the first ever United Nations meeting and holds some of the oldest and largest tree’s in the nation.

After this exciting morning, we met with two incredible alumnae/i. First, we met with author Shelley Buck ’67. Shelley Buck is a fascinating woman who has accomplished a variety of things since graduating Goucher. She and her husband worked on innovative electric car technology for many years, and she owned one of the first electric sports car. However, once the production and research funds were cut, they were forced to find work elsewhere.

This lifestyle change led to a long commute from the San Ramon Valley to the city of Silicon Valley. This taxing drive always seemed to be bumper to bumper with traffic, lasting an hour and a half each way on a good day. To escape this insanity, Shelley and her family decided to sell their house and live in a boat that could be parked offshore and avoid the traffic altogether. Their creative solution led to the premise of her recently published book, Floating Point: Endlessly Rocking Off the Silicon Valley. The book sounds extremely interesting, and I highly recommend getting a copy from Amazon or any other online site (it is available as an E-book as well).

After our meeting with Shelley and learning of her accomplishments, we had dinner plans with an alumnus. Geoff Clapp is an technological whiz, inventor, and CEO of a number of start-up companies. Geoff was kind enough to take us to an amazing Vietnamese restaurant called The Tamarine. The food was incredible but learning of Geoff’s accomplishments proved to be far more fascinating than the array of beautifully prepared dishes.

At Goucher, Geoff was a soccer player, majored in Computer Science and Cognitive Psychology, worked a full-time job and still managed to graduate in only three years. While still a student he was offered his dream job with Apple, and after graduation he drove cross-country to settle into the Silicon Valley. Huge employment cuts were made just a few months after Geoff started at Apple, and he was let go. Devastated at first, Geoff soon found that the layoff was one of the best opportunities he was offered.

While still in his early twenties Geoff founded his first start-up company. He looked at the health care system, and saw a space for him to help combat many of the industry’s flaws. He and a team of other talented individuals created a system that would help monitor the chronically ill, easing hospital overcrowding and giving patients more autonomy. Just last year he sold his brainchild and now is working on another start-up this time in the realm of education.

Geoff is a highly dedicated individual who has clearly turned his dreams into reality. He currently gives guest lectures at a number of colleges and universities such as Stanford, and works tirelessly on his new start-up. A huge thank you goes out to Geoff for the lovely evening we spent with him.

Winding Down… Sort of…

By East Coast Vagabonds

I’m writing this blog from the Goucher House across the street from campus, and I still can’t believe we’re back. We still have one send-off and one alumae/i gathering left, but we are on the final leg of the journey that seemingly started yesterday.

Despite nearly being done, today was one of our busiest days yet. We woke up this morning in Valley Forge at Linda Himmelberger’s ’74 home, and went with her to breakfast (not at Dunkin’ Donuts). After we said our goodbyes to Linda and thanked her for being a wonderful host, we headed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to meet and interview one of Linda’s former classmates, Suzanne Shepherd ’74. Suzanne gave us a tour of the Emergency Department of the hospital. She also graciously sat down with us while we grilled her about her time at Goucher and her life post-Goucher. Suzanne eventually needed to get back to work, and we had another event on our schedule. We walked a few blocks to the White Dog Cafe, where we met with four Goucher alums, one from almost every decade since the 1960′s. This allowed for interesting conversations in which we all compared our varied experiences at Goucher. We discussed posture pictures, auctions to raise money for GIG, Goucherdales, date parlors, and other various things that no longer exist at the school. It would take a thousand more blogs to explain each of these items, so I’ll give you a piece of advice: the next time you encounter a Goucher alum from the 1960′s or before, ask them about posture pictures. Those are most interesting (and shocking) stories I have heard on this trip, and my story telling abilities would not do them justice.

We had similar conversations at our final event of the night. Once we left Philadelphia, we headed to Delaware to Sandy Ranck King’s ’79 home so that we could meet with even more alums. Sandy’s grandmother was an alum of Goucher also, having graduated in 1910. Sandy found her grandmother’s diploma and brought it out for all of us to marvel at. The conversations at this event were similar to those at lunch, and everyone shared stories of their favorite, and least favorite, memories from their time at Goucher. As always, it’s great to hear how Goucher has changed, and it’s always nice to share with them our experiences at Goucher. It’s truly incredible to discover the ways in which Goucher has stayed the same over time.

After our “debriefing” on campus tomorrow, we’ll unpack the Goucher van, which is currently littered with cardboard boxes of Goucher hats, empty coffee cups, and random papers and prepare for our final days as East Coast Vagabonds.

With love,

Briana

[Show picture list]

Philly State of Mind

By admin

East Coast Vagabonds with SaraKay Sherman Smullens '62 and Stan Smullens

Today we attended our 7th send-off of the trip. At this point, we have the events on routine: welcome guests, invite everyone to eat the food the host provides, gather everyone together and introduce ourselves and explain what the Goucher Vagabonds are. Then we ask the students to go around and introduce themselves. However, this afternoon, the Philadelphia send-off went in a bit of a different direction. Before opening up the floor for questions, SaraKay Sherman Smullens ’62, the host of the event, asked the parents to go around and introduce themselves and talk about why they liked Goucher. This created a whole new perspective on the send-off and was a great addition to the program. The parents were able to connect with each other and meet others who were going through the same hopes and fears about sending their student to College.

The afternoon as a whole was great. SaraKay welcomed us with open arms. Her sincere and personable attitude was contagious and her love for Goucher was inspiring. All I wanted to do was sit down with her and listen to her talk about her life and her experience at Goucher; however, when the guests arrived, she went strait into host-mode. SaraKay jumped from room to room talking to students and parents about how amazing Goucher is and how excited she was to have them in her home. After the guests left, we had the chance to sit down with her and her husband and talk about her time at Goucher. She told us about her involvement in integrating Towson and her participation with Students for Democracy. She also discussed her decision to transfer into Goucher after spending a year at Skidmore College. Everything SaraKay said reflected her love for Goucher and her appreciation of the education she received from the college.

Shortly after the send-off we joined Linda Himmelberger ’74 for dinner. We then toured the historic Valley Forge National Park. We also stopped for local ice cream before wrapping up the night back at Linda’s home where we were staying.

Go Gophers!

Jackie

East Coast Vagabonds with Linda Himmelberger '74 at Valley Forge National Park

Nothing to ‘Wine’ About

By West Coast Vagabonds

Before our alumnae/i gathering in San Francisco, we spent much of the day touring around the city. This included the Golden Gate Park, Dolores Park, the Castro neighborhood, the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the windy Lombard Street. To say the least, it was a busy few hours!

After our day full of sight seeing, we made our way to the 21st Amendment Brewery for a gathering with alumnae/i. We were greeted at the door by the friendly face of Rosie Goucher ’00 and her brother David. Rosie was our host for the evening and is a descendant of college founder, Dr. John Goucher himself. She now works for a legal firm and is working towards her bar exam. As we sat and reminisced of her time at Goucher College, a number of young alumnae/i made their way into the restaurant. Familiar faces filled the table and comical stories were shared as we sampled the local brews (including a delicious and refreshing watermelon beer!)

Then today we were off to Sonoma County—wine country! In Healdsburg, we visited with Gabriel Froymovich ’05 and his wife Gianna. After traveling the world for a year following graduation from Goucher, Gabriel settled in California. His decision to stay in this area was his first introduction to the wine industry. He is currently working at a winery, studying for his MBA, and co-founding his own wine label with fellow Goucher grad Emmett Reed ‘04. Gabriel plans to expand his wine endeavors internationally, and begin building a family.

We spent the day visiting the winery he works at, sampling their batches from recent years. The view from the hilltop winery was like a picture on a postcard, and we enjoyed the scenic strolls through the grapevines. Afterwards, Gabriel took us to his favorite spot on the Russian River where we had a picnic lunch, sipped on wine, floated in the water, and talked about life. The evening concluded with more wine samplings over a home-cooked dinner at Gabriel’s new home within walking distance from the main streets of Healdsburg. Gabriel’s philosophy on life is to seize all opportunities that come your way, and he really does walk that walk.

Windy Roads and Jaw-dropping Views

By West Coast Vagabonds

Today was a car day. We spent all day weaving between the 1 and 101, the two highways that border California’s coastline. The consensus is that this route is the most scenic highway in all of America, and that every person should experience driving it at least once in his or her life. We can certainly agree with the first part and can at least say we fulfilled our duty with the second– and that’s probably enough! The tight winding turns and dramatic cliff drops had us on the edge of our seats the whole way.

Along the way, we were also fortunate enough to stop and tour the Hearst Castle. The Hearst Castle was the home of media mogul William Randolph Hearst. Its the second largest private home in the United States, with the construction starting in 1919 and lasting 28 years. We learned that Hearst was known to change his mind quite often. They say a picture is worth one thousand words, so we have decided to let the photos do the talking…

Every Day I’m Shuffling

By East Coast Vagabonds

The most essential part to any road trip is good music, and for the East Coast Vagabonds, this road trip was no exception. Over the past week, we’ve been compiling a playlist that involves songs we all love (and hate). Since we’ve had some time to recuperate, we decided that now would be an excellent time to give a peak inside the East Coast Vagabonds’ iPod.

1. Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO

2. I’ve Got Friends by Manchester Orchestra

3. I’ma Be by The Black Eyed Peas

4. California Love by Tupac

5. Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons

6. All of the Lights by Kanye West

7. Roses by Outkast

8. Up, Up, and Away by Kid Cudi

9. Get Up by Korn ft. Skrillex

10. The Jackson Pit by Xaphoon Jones

It should be noted that a few of these songs appear on the list as inside jokes. Party Rock Anthem, for example, is a favorite of two-thirds of the East Coast team. I, however, can not stand the song, so Andrew and Jackie play it at least once a day (sometimes more) to annoy me. They also thoroughly enjoy dancing in the van to that song, although neither will admit to it.

As I write this, Jackie is driving us out of Maine and into Connecticut where will we spend the night before our trip picks up the pace in Philadelphia, and Andrew is frantically looking for a Dunkin’ Donuts. After all, the East Coast Vagabonds run on Dunkin’.

Adios,

Briana

Summer School

By West Coast Vagabonds

Our day got off to an early start as we made our way to downtown LA to meet with Steve Zimmer ’92.  Steve is an elected official on the board of ed for the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest district in the country. We had seen him speak when he came to Goucher last semester to talk about the state of public education in LA, so we were excited to get the chance to see him in his home environment. The LAUSD headquarters are a towering skyscraper, and we shot up the elevator to the 24th floor where we met him in his gorgeous office, overlooking the city.

After introducing ourselves and telling him a bit about our time in the city thus far, Steve took it upon himself to make sure we were exposed to the parts of LA we haven’t yet seen. This was much appreciated as we wanted to see as much of Los Angeles as possible, and while we’ve managed to come across new areas from being led in maze of side streets by the GPS and arguing about directions, it was nice to have a more intentional and informed tour.

The tour focused mainly on East Los Angeles, the largely Latino populated area of the city we hadn’t yet stepped foot in. He took us first down to Elysian Valley, a sunny riverside residential neighborhood stricken by poverty ever since the highway system cut off and isolated the area from economic opportunities. We found it interesting that unlike many slums in Baltimore or other cities we are familiar with, Elysian Valley, or Frogtown as it is called for its influx of amphibians during flooding, was not immediately noticeable as an economically troubled area. To our East Coast eyes the neighborhood looked just the same as any of the many middle-class suburbs we have passed through during our trip. However, Steve pointed out the signs of gang activity in the area and told us more about the threats this neighborhood faces as development companies look to take over and gentrify the area, kicking the poorer residents our of their community.

Steve knows Frogtown well, as he taught in it’s school district for the first 17 years of his career, when he moved to LA as a Teach for America assignment straight out of Goucher.  He took us to the community center he helped renovate from the sweatshop it had been previously. We glanced in on a summer school session taking place there before taking a roundabout route through the city to see other schools in Steve’s jurisdiction.

Steve is responsible for district 4, which includes some of the most economically diverse areas from the pockets of wealth in parts of Hollywood to the extreme poverty of South LA.  We were amazed by the sheer number of students in the public school system; it is not unusual for a high school here to have well over 4,000 students.  Steve seemed most proud of the building work that has happened during his time on the LAUSD—112 new schools have been built in the city in the past seven years!

He then took us to one of the newest buildings, the absolutely breathtaking Robert F. Kennedy School, located in inner city Los Angeles on the hollowed grounds of the Ambassador Hotel, where RFK was assassinated.  Construction was just completed last year and the result is one of the most impressive schools in America. We took a quick tour of the facilities and were amazed by the Cocoanut Grove Theatre, made with original pieces of the Ambassador auditorium by the same name, and the beautiful high-tech library.

Steve was clearly passionate about the work he does and it was a great experience to get a glimpse of what this entails.  We left with more questions than we came in with, which is always a good thing!

What day is it again?

By admin

Time has gone by so quickly that we hardly remember what day it is anymore. Between waking up early in the morning and driving to our next destination, we lose track of dates, only remembering which # day of the trip it is. But today, we had a chance to slow down a bit and look forward to the days ahead.

We woke up this morning at Hugh Geller’s ’14 house and headed out to Maine to get breakfast at a Cajun place Andrew insisted on having us attend early in the morning. After eating breakfast, we went over to a fellow Goucher student’s house who lives near Portland. We then went to Andrew’s home in Cornish. Andrew’s house is surrounded by woods and nature; we feel like we are in secluded cottage. Honestly, it is the best place to unwind after a long week.

But before we could totally relax, we headed back to Portland to attend our 6th send-off at a great restaurant called Flatbreads. Students began shuffling in with their parents and various family members. Without any prompting on our part, the students began to gravitate together while the parents separated themselves and sat at the table nearby. Like every other send-off the students were enthusiastic and excited about Goucher; however, this time, a lot of the students started asking each other questions and prompting topics of conversations as well. Briana, the brave soul that she is, sat down with parents at another table and answer their questions.

The most interesting part of our night was when a Goucher alumna, Diane Schimmer DeVito approached us saying she graduated Goucher in ’78. We got a chance to take a picture with her and talk quickly about how crazy a coincidence it was for us to run into her! Diane, who currently lives in New York, happened to be visiting a fellow Goucher graduate outside of Portland for the week. She said she had lost touch with the school but was glad to learn what type of things we were doing as Goucher Vagabonds. This just shows that a Goucher alumnae/i are everywhere.

Tomorrow we will return with updates on our adventures during our day off and some interesting facts about our driving playlists and routines.

Gopher-it

Jackie

 

More LA Living

By West Coast Vagabonds

Nearly everyone we’ve talked to since arriving in LA has suggested we pay a visit to Venice Beach, so today we decided to take them up on it. We headed to the iconic board walk/beachfront and, surprisingly, didn’t get caught in (too much) of the infamous LA traffic. Along the way we stopped to eat at Akasha again because the small taste we had of the restaurant at the alumnae/i event earlier this week left us craving more. It turned out to be a good choice,…

Vanessa noticed a familiar face sitting at the table next to us with big sunglasses and a Dodgers cap on. Behind what you could call a disguise was Ryan Reynolds, the star of The Change Up that we had seen a couple nights before. Again we were shocked to be sitting so close to a celebrity and ended up sneaking glances at him for most of the meal.

Slightly star struck, we clomped back into the white minivan and continued the ride to Venice Beach. We immediately noticed that Venice was far different from the other Santa Monica beaches that we had seen.  The boardwalk was packed with people selling anything from Bob Marley and Marilyn Monroe interpretive paintings to Lakers jerseys to an array of questionable paraphernalia. Anything a tourist could possibly want could be found on this boardwalk. We decided to walk a couple blocks where we stumbled upon “Muscle Beach”, the outdoor gym where former movie star and disgraced governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was discovered. After walking a few blocks further we decided to stray from the crowded boardwalk and relax on the somewhat secluded beach. Interestingly enough, not many people seem to actually go on the beach.  We took in the sun and watched some skateboarding at the Venice skate park before heading back for our dinner with Sherry Jeffe ’64.

Sherry is a political analyst, college professor, and makes regular appearances on a number of news programs. She and her husband Doug hosted us at their beautiful suburban home. We were greeted by their energetic 8 year old, a Dalmatian-Mastiff mix named Casey who was sporting a blue and gold kerchief in honor of our arrival.

As we sat and chatted poolside, we found out that Sherry Jeffe is quite an incredible woman. She is a cancer survivor and has had an impressive career in politics, with which she is still involved. She has worked on a number of campaigns both in California and nationally and has obtained a reputation for her  expertise. Sherry studied political science and gave a lot of credit to her professors at Goucher for broadening her interest and placing her in internships. During her time at Goucher internships were required every Wednesday for all political science majors in the nation’s capital.

Our conversation led to more Goucher memories, and Sherry entertained us with stories of Goucher as a women’s school in the 1960s– where nightly curfews were enforced and male visitors were only allowed on Sunday afternoons. Sherry showed off her amazing political button collection she started after graduating Goucher, and then we flipped through her 1964 yearbook as she updated us on the lives of her former classmates and professors. We had a great time, and even took a dip in her heated pool to end the evening.

The Adventures Continue…

By East Coast Vagabonds

We had a long night last night at Fenway and we needed to rest, so our day began around 12 pm. We had made lunch plans with Adam Badik ’99, so we checked out of our hotel, plugged his address into our GPS, and drove into Boston. Even with the GPS we got a little lost, but we eventually made it to Adam’s house in Somerville. He took us to a Thai restuarant and we grilled him for tips on life after Goucher. Since Andrew and I are political science majors, it’s likely that we will be attending law school some time after we graduate. Adam, despite the fact that he majored in computer science, attended law school at Boston University. He explained to us the ways in which computer science and law are related. He also gave us tips on which classes to take before we graduate so that we can be prepared for law school. As Jackie mentioned in her last blog, Adam knows a little bit about everything, and he continued to share his knowledge about the surrounding areas as we walked back to our Goucher van. After he told us interesting facts about the neighborhoods that surround Boston, we bid adieu to Adam and began our journey to the next send off.

After a short drive, we arrived at the home of Isabel Geller ’82 where tonight’s send-off was held. Isabel is a third generation Goucher graduate, and her son, Hugh ’14, will continue that tradition. We arrived two hours early to the Gellar home, so we took advantage of that rare time to relax.  Our downtime didn’t last long however, and first-years and their families quickly began arriving. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive we mingled with the attendees. We eventually moved the crowd to the Gellar’s backyard and officially introduced ourselves to everyone. Like the other send-offs, everyone had questions about our trip and what to expect when they arrive at Goucher. We answered the questions and offered advice and then we continue to mingle with the students and parents. The parents we talked to tonight, like most parents, asked questions that will help them make the process of leaving their student at school slightly easier. After about two hours of talking with students and parents, the crowd started to dwindle and we soon realized that only one first year remained. Since she was a childhood friend of Hugh’s, she stayed and talked with the four of us (Jackie, Andrew, Hugh, and myself) as we reminisced about various events that took place during our first year at Goucher.

Tomorrow we head to the northern-most send off in Portland, ME. Since Andrew is from the area, he’ll be showing us some of his favorite spots.

Until next time,

Briana

Lights, Camera, Action…Beach

By West Coast Vagabonds

After sleeping in and recovering from hitting the strip with the A-list celebrities the night before, we headed to Universal Studios to see what a day in the life of Hollace Davids ’69 is like. When we passed through the heavily secured gates and made it to her office, we were greeted by a number of friendly faces, all of whom worked under Hollace organizing special events. These events consist of movie premieres and memorials (films’ anniversaries) all over the country and the world. We were fortunate enough to be able to sit in on some conference calls to understand the hard work that she has to put into each event. In many cases Mrs. Davids works months in advance organizing and planning every last detail of an event, from security and locations to guest lists and after-parties. Overall, Hollace has an incredible work ethic that has kept her at the top of her career for nearly thirty years.

After interviewing Hollace and finding out more details of her life, she took us to an incredible meal at an executive lunchroom. While reminiscing of her time spent at Goucher, we began to notice that we were eating in the midst of some famous celebrities. In fact, Shaq was sitting right across the room from us.

Following lunch, Hollace gave us a personal tour of Universal and was kind enough to sneak us into the back entrance of the Universal Studios theme park. As we wandered the park, we found a ride that gave a tour of the studios and back lots. If you check the album you can see the pictures from this ride (LINK). The tour showed a number of sets that were used for famous movies and television shows such as Jaws, Psycho, Pirates of the Caribbean, Desperate Housewives, War of the Worlds, and many more. Overall, our time at Universal was incredible. We must send a HUGE thank you to Hollace Davids for the once in a lifetime opportunity that she gave us.

We then traveled to Santa Monica to the Jonathan Club for our second freshman send off hosted by Robert Hertzberg, the parent of a class of 2014 student. When we arrived at the club the valet parked our car and we were told to take the elevator up to the penthouse. As the elevator doors opened, we were greeted by Penny Breitstein who works in development at Goucher and taken out to the patio, which had an incredible view of the tennis courts, pool, and ocean and was being set up with a delicious array of food.

The incoming students and their families soon began trickling in and we circulated the group, getting to know the new Gophers. Once all the attendees had arrived, we gathered the group together to play a trivia game for Goucher gear. We were pleasantly surprised by how informed the incoming students were, as they recounted the names of the six dorm buildings on campus, the six dining facilities, the two a cappella groups, and much more. Following the game, with Sandy’s help, we answered questions from both parents and students, and then mingled late into the evening. The students were already making friends, departing with “see you soon!” Overall, the gathering was a success!

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“Play Ball!!”

By admin


East Coast Vagabonds with Vaughn Frisby ’08, Julia Pollack ’07, Danielle Cohen ’06, and Seth Michaelson ’04.

It is safe to say that tonight has been the highlight of our trip so far. As Briana mentioned in our last blog update, we attended a Red Sox game with five Goucher alums, Vaughn Frisby ’08, Julia Pollack ’07, Adam Badik ’99, Danielle Cohen ’06, and Seth Michaelson ’04.

If any of you out there were watching the game on TV, you would have known that the game was delayed about an hour and a half due to rain. As we all hovered together under the bleachers of Fenway Park, we managed to speak over the crowds of people ordering their Fairway Franks and talk about Goucher. It was truly a blessing in disguise; if it weren’t for the delay, we wouldn’t have been able to really get to know the Alums as well as we did. It was an interesting experience talking with young Goucher grads.  Vaughn, who kindly organized this gathering, reminisced with Danielle, Julia, and Seth about their overlapping years at Goucher. We learned  a lot– instead of Programming Board and CA’s, they combined the two with something called “House Boards;” these student-elected positions were in charge of planning certain events on campus such as a Halloween dance and GIG. They also told us about this one time when their friends decided to drive through the residential quad, causing Public Safety to have a panic (they warned us to never do this).  Although they were interested in getting to know more about us and our experiences thus far at Goucher, we were more entertained by hearing how Goucher was just a few years before we arrived. It felt more tangible to have these young alums talk about a campus and school that is so similar to how we know it.

Although most of our guests had to head out in the second and fourth innings, we were still able to talk more with Adam Badik. Adam joked about his times “studying” in Julia Rogers Library, and talked about his life post-Goucher. However, the most interesting thing about Adam is that he knows something about everything.  He kept giving us background on Fenway Park and the Boston area. Adam was also kind enough to invite us to lunch tomorrow before we head out to our next send-off.

So, the night ended well… The Red Sox broke the 2-2 tie with the Cleveland Indians in the bottom of the ninth. The crowd went crazy and we went along with them (even though Briana is a Philly’s fan and I’m a Ranger’s fan). Andrew and Adam led the way back to our hotel as Briana and I talked about how much we love Boston.

Boston=success.

Good Night Mighty Gophers,

Jackie

Red Carpet Rendezvous

By West Coast Vagabonds

After spending the first part of the day exploring Santa Monica and its beach front, we made sure to return home in time to prepare for the big event that evening: The world premiere of the Universal Studio’s comedy, “The Change-Up,” which will be officially released this coming Friday.  Although we were not totally sure what to wear, we grabbed our best guess and hoped to fit the part!

Pulling up to the theater, we were greeted by throngs of awaiting fans (How did they find out the Goucher Vagabonds were coming!?). Paparazzi snapped photos of our white mini van, hoping to get a shot of the three of us. However, we cleverly dodged the pictures in hopes that they would not be able to write of a wardrobe malfunction or put us on “What Not to Wear.”

We parked down the street at the Hammer Museum (where the after-party would be held) and strolled down the block to the red carpet. Screaming fans surrounded us, hollering the names of A-list celebrities who attended the event—Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Vanessa Keen, Mary Wahl, and Brendan McFadden to name a few. After entering the building we quickly met up with a celebrity who you will all know, President Sandy Ungar.  I was fortunate enough to sit directly next to Sandy and a mere twenty seats away from Ryan Reynolds.

The movie was hilarious—sort of like Freaky Friday but with bawdy male-centric humor instead of mother/daughter reconciliation. It was one of the most enjoyable movie viewings we have ever had. The energy in the Westwood Theatre was infectious, from the cheers that erupted with the opening Universal Studios logo to the rolling of the credits at the end.  Sitting in the auditorium with the stars and creators of the film we were watching is sure to make any future movie outing feel rather stale. Although it is quite vulgar and had a number of nude scenes, I highly recommend watching it. Perhaps just not with your parents (or the president of your school for that matter) as it may make for some uncomfortable moments.

After shuffling out of the theatre with the rest of the premiere invitees, elbow-to-elbow with co-star Olivia Wilde, we made our way to the Hammer Museum for the exclusive after-party.  This was certainly a once-in-a-lifetime kind of event and although we were a little out of our element, we soaked up this rare glimpse of the Hollywood lifestyle, schmoozing the crowds and partaking in the fine food and drink. We also got a chance to meet our host, Hollace Davids ’69, who was the organizer of the evening’s festivities.  A big thank you to her for getting us in to such an elite and exciting event! Tomorrow we will be joining her at Universal Studios to get a more in-depth look into her life.

The Road to Los Angeles

By West Coast Vagabonds

As we began our 6 + hour trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, we ventured into the lush farmland and beautiful mountains that fill the space between the two major cities. We passed a large number of vineyards and fruit stands on the way as well as some scenic reservoirs and lakes. Overall, the long car ride passed quickly thanks to the natural surroundings and Vanessa’s crooning of Kate Perry from the back seat. Once we arrived in LA, we were greeted by the (apparently minimal) bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 405.

View from the road!

After we got ourselves situated, we headed to downtown Culver City for our first Alumnae/I gathering at AKASHA. Akasha is a recently opened bar, restaurant and café that serves environmentally conscious and sustainable food.  Furthermore, the restaurants onion rings were featured on a list of, “The best foods I ever had,” by world-renowned chefs. The alumnae made their way in and joined us for food, drinks and friendly conversation. As the evening went on we heard a number of memorable stories about the alumnae’s time at Goucher. This included memories of the first Goucher men and the historic Julia Roger’s library. Everyone who came to the event was somehow involved with media, which was very neat to see.

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Overall the event went extremely well, and it was wonderful to meet the kind and lively alumnae/I that call LA home. I hope that these social gatherings continue, as we were able to ignite friendship between some alumnae in the area who may have never met one another otherwise. A big thank you must be sent out to Lysa Stone for helping coordinate the event and picking the lovely place. That’s all for now as we are busy getting ready for world premiere of The Change Up (with Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds) tonight! Keep checking back for more on this exciting event!

A few of the alumnae guests at AKASHA

Send Off Number 4, New Haven, CT

By East Coast Vagabonds

As we begin to head north into New England, we’re meeting more and more enthusiastic first-years who are anxious to begin their Goucher experiences. Today we traveled to New Haven, Connecticut, the home of Yale University, for our largest send-off yet. At final count, we had 16 students plus their family members. Amongst the attendees was also Goucher alumna, Glennis Orlof ’85, who, of course, shared with us stories of Goucher’s past and present. Glenn shared her love for the Collegetown Shuttle. She told us of a summer spent at Goucher riding Baltimore’s public transportation through not-so-safe neighborhoods. When her daughter began her college search, Goucher was one of her top choices, and the shuttle was a selling point. Glenn was relieved that she would not have to fear for her daughter’s safety since the Collegetown shuttle doesn’t travel past the Inner Harbor area.

As always, however, the main focus of the night’s event was the students. The unique set-up of the send-off allowed for each of us to take a seat at a table with a group of first-years and their parents and chat while eating delicious Indian appetizers. The students discussed where they were living on campus; many will be living in Stimson, of course. They also told us of their plans for their majors/minors and asked for time management tips. We spent over two hours talking to the students, their parents, and siblings, getting to know each one and giving them advice. A few of the first-years were actually old friends having attended preschool, elementary school, and high school together. As the three of us got up from the tables to pack up our boxes of Vagabonds t shirts and hats, an incredible thing happened with the students. They left their parents and congregated around one table. They had decided, on their own, that they wanted to know the people that they would be encountering on campus. The parents, and the Vagabonds, were thrilled that the students had seemingly already started their transition into their first year of college.

Tomorrow we head to Boston, Massachusetts for our first all alumae/i gathering. We will be meeting five or six young alumnae/i at a Boston Red Sox game. The three of us have never been to a Red Sox game before, and I have never been to Boston, so we are really looking forward to spending time in the city.

Cheers,

Briana

“Busy day” is an understatement…

By admin

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We began our day at 8:30 am. I slowly rolled out of bed, jumped into the shower, and met Briana and Andrew downstairs of the Goucher House to begin packing the van. It was my turn to drive, so Briana took over the role as DJ for the quick one-hour ride to Cooksville, MD for our second send-off. As Andrew dozed off in the back seat, I marveled at the beautiful scenery– there is not nearly as much green in Dallas as there is in Maryland.

We arrived at the home of Robert Bull ’93 a little early so we decided to find a Dunkin’ Donuts to quickly grab some coffee and breakfast. We then returned to his beautiful house right in time for the students to arrive. We mingled with parents and first-years and talked about Goucher life and fall orientation. After a light lunch, the group gathered together for a quick introduction. We then opened the floor for questions; however, we had to duck out early for our next send-off in New York.

Now, the drive didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped. We left Robert Bull’s house at 12:15 so we could arrive in New York in ample time to get to the send-off at 5pm. With Rachel Williams ’12, aka SGA President, tagging along with us, we felt confident that we would make it in time because we had a genuine New Yorker driving with us. Although she knew the best way to get into the city, the traffic got the best of us and it took us a total of 6 hours to get to Lynn Toby Fisher’s ’71 house.

As Andrew valiantly faced the traffic, Rachel, Briana, and I sorted through music playlists, took naps, and talked about everything from Goucher to our home towns. Probably the best part about our drive was when we were driving down 95 and the person in the car next to us opened the window and started waving at us and pointing to our van shouting, “I went there!!!” It was such a random yet glorious moment to have a Goucher grad recognize our van and wave with excitement.

The New York send-off went really well. Although we were an hour late, the students were enthusiastic and eager to ask us questions and extend their appreciation for our attendance. Lynn and her husband were very warm and welcoming and kindly opened their home to the new students and their parents. After two and a half hours of getting to know the students of the New York area, we left Lynn’s home and went straight to the hotel.

We once again want to extend our thanks to Robert Bull and Lynn Toby Fisher for hosting two successful send-offs.

Tomorrow we plan on exploring the city in the morning and then head out to New Haven, CT for send-off number 4.

Good night, y’all!

Gopher love

Jackie

Cali Arrival

By West Coast Vagabonds

Well we arrived in a rather groggy state at our hotel in San Francisco early Saturday morning, around 4 am East Coast time.  The queen-sized beds were a welcome sight, and we fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the overstuffed pillows.

The time difference worked in our favor the next morning though, and we were able to enjoy the luxury of waking up at what felt like noon, glancing at the clock, and willfully falling asleep again.  The rest was much needed for what would be our first real day “on the job” in California.

We headed down to Fishermen’s Warf for a couple hours, taking in the sun, blustery winds, throngs of tourists, and sea lions.  I was interested in taking the tour of Alcatraz, the “the infamous and notorious former federal prison – home to the likes of Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelley, and Robert “The Birdman” Stroud” as the signs boasted, but we were getting short on time and the signs also warned of how difficult it is to escape from there.

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So we made our way to the first of two new student sendoffs scheduled for our time in California. Mary McVey ’73 and her husband Hal were kind enough to host this one in their gorgeous hilltop home overlooking the bay. Mary is the associate dean at the school of education at San Jose State University and has accrued an impressive number of degrees in fields including Russian, internationals relations, psychology and education. She has a life-long passion for learning which she says began at Goucher.

Sandy showed up a few minutes after we arrived, and having last seen him when I walked across the stage in May to accept my diploma it was funny to now see him all the way across the country. Four incoming students, one current student, and their families joined us at Mary’s home.  It was great to chat with all the new Gophers and share our experiences at Goucher. They seem like an interesting bunch, and many already have plans for when they arrive—starting a rugby team and a ballroom dance club to name a couple!

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Afterwards Mary, Brendan, Sandy and I went off to look for a place to eat dinner— a task more difficult than one would think since everywhere in San Francisco seems to close by 8 pm.  We eventually found a seafood restaurant and enjoyed massive amounts of fish and Goucher gossip with the president.

Now we are on the road to LA. Typing in the backseat is making me feel a little queasy so I’ll sign off on this one for now. Check out our facebook page for more photos of the last couple of days.

First Stop… Annapolis

By East Coast Vagabonds

The day we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived; we had our first first-year send-off today in Annapolis, Maryland. This afternoon, after a quick but delicious lunch at Towson Hot Bagels, we packed the van and began our journey to the home of Greg and Kim Shaffir ’83. As an added bonus, Greg and Kim’s daughter, Kira, is a member of the Class of 2014 and lived on Wagner 1 with Jackie and me. We arrived ahead of schedule; after setting up, we mingled with Kim who gave us a glimpse of how life is post-Goucher. While we talked, the Shaffir’s cat, Mowgli, entertained us by posing for pictures and chasing flies.

It didn’t take long for our guests to arrive. Assistant Director of Annual Giving for the Goucher Society, Meg Mackin, was the first to come to the send-off. Shortly after Meg’s arrival, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Becki Kurdle ’61 payed a visit. We munched on blue and yellow colored M&M’s as we listened to stories of Goucher’s past told by Becki and Kim. Becki shared with us her experience at Goucher during the 60′s. Back then, instead of Community Assistants, the all-female student body was looked after by house-mothers, and it was common for students to remain in one dorm for the entirety of their time at Goucher.

The main focus of the send-off, however, was the lone first-year student who attended the event. The student and her mother were eager to ask questions about our first year experiences. We gave them tips for dorm living and getting involved at Goucher. We talked to the student, her mother, Meg, Kim, Kira, and Becki for over two hours as we snacked on delicious homemade guacamole and hot wings.

After saying our good-byes, we decided to drive down to the water front and find a nice place to relax and take pictures. We found a cute park in between beautiful homes. What we failed to realize was that the small beach was private and security politely asked us to vacate the premises. Oh well, we still got some good pictures out of it.

We learned a lot from our first send-off. We were glad that it was a small gathering; it was a great way to ease into the process. Tomorrow will be much more hectic day as we head to both Colombia, Maryland and New York City.

Gopher it,

Briana

A note from the clouds

By West Coast Vagabonds

And we’re off!

After months of pre-trip anticipation, we’re finally on the first leg of our West Coast Vagabonds adventure.  By this I mean we are 36,000 feet in the air, flying over some unidentifiable corn-belt state, snacking on strictly administered mini-bags of peanuts, visions of California dancing in our minds.

Although the closest I’ve come to visiting the West Coast is mouse-clenching games of Oregon Trail back in fifth grade, I must say our current trip has so far gone a lot smoother than any of my previous virtual journeys. (Our oxen are all doing fine, and Mary hasn’t yet succumbed to cholera).  In fact, we spent a surprisingly pleasant two hours at BWI, sampling the calorie-laden cuisine of Auntie Anne’s pretzel stand and then working off the buttery fat with spirited jaunts on the moving walkway.

Our plane took off without a hitch and in a few hours we should be touching down in Las Vegas, where Mary and Brendan plan to wed after I gamble the remaining balance on the Goucher-issued credit card. Just kidding! We will actually all sit patiently on the runway for an hour or two waiting for the plane to refuel and carry onwards to San Francisco, the neon glitz and seductive lure of Sin City safely out of reach.

We are all so excited to fully begin this excursion; we’ve been counting down the days for months! Although we have a thoughtful itinerary planned out thanks to the hard-working women of the Alumnae/i House who toiled behind the scenes to make this trip an actuality, in many ways we are not at all sure what to expect.  New faces, new stories, a new state. We can’t wait to start exploring and getting to know all of the people we will meet on the way…keep you posted!

A slightly different send-off than previous years—an airport shuttle in place of a Goucher van. At least it too sported our school colors.

Striking a pose on the runway

Let the journey begin…

By amyeddy

At 2pm today, as the three of us finally arrived at the Goucher Alumnae/i house, we were thrown into meetings and meet-and-greets with various Goucher staff. It wasn’t until 5pm that we were finally able to take a deep breath and truly comprehend that the highlight of our summer has finally arrived.

But before the whole whirl wind of training, Andrew, Briana, and I got our first taste of the downside of traveling. Briana got up at 5am this morning to drive from her friend’s beach house in Ocean City to arrive just in time to pick Andrew up at the bus stop in Baltimore. However, Andrew’s journey got stopped in its tracks when his bus from New York to Baltimore got canceled. His exact words on how he spent 6 hours in port authority: “I slept of the floor… and hung out with an ex-convict” After 19 hours of traveling, Andrew finally arrived at Goucher a few minutes before my shuttle from BWI dropped me off. Now I didn’t have the best experience either. Like I always do when I go back to Goucher, I booked The Airport Shuttle to pick me up. First, the pick-up area at BWI was a hot mess. For some reason the area where the cabs and shuttles drive through was closed off so all the cars were shuffling through organized chaos slowly picking up their passengers. I watched as shuttles went by, picking up various individuals while I stood in the hot 99 degrees searching for my air-conditioned-car-of-salvation. It wasn’t until 20 minutes went by that I finally called the number to inquire why my shuttle was so late. Turns out I booked it for Saturday… not Friday. Thankfully they had someone there who could take me to Goucher.
I guess you could say we looked at these less-than-ideal experiences as getting rid of the bad travel omens before we actually begin our trip through the east coast. Here’s to hoping that things stay smooth from here on out…

All these road blocks seemed less important once we got to meet all the people who were behind the scenes working on planning Vagabonds. The East Coast and West Coast Vagabonds sat in a circle with all the individuals who had some sort of part in creating this experience for us. I don’t know if it was just me who felt this, but I didn’t realize how much man power went into making all this happen. It was great to meet everyone and get a better feeling for the purpose of our trip.

After we said our good-byes, we headed off to Target to get some last minute supplies and then did a pit stop at Chipotle for dinner. Now, we are hanging out at the Goucher House and resting up before our journey as Goucher’s East Coast Vagabonds begin!

We want to extend our best wishes to the West Coast Vagabonds and a safe journey the across the country.

We will update again after our first send-off in Annapolis!

Peace, Love, and Gophers

Jackie

Vagabonds x 2

By amyeddy

westcoastgroupshotc     vagabondslogo     east-coastgroupshotc

It’s that time again! The Goucher Vagabonds are back in gear and on July 30, 2011 will head out for another two-week road trip packed with eye-opening adventures of meeting with alumnae/i and first-year students.

Last year the Vagabonds had so much fun that we decided to spread the excitement: That’s right; we’re sending two Vagabond teams out on the road. Just call it “Vagabonds x 2”! The first team (Vanessa, Brendan and Mary) will head for the West Coast, visiting San Francisco and Los Angeles. The second (Jackie, Briana and Andrew) will travel along the East Coast from Virginia to Maine.  As usual, team members will share what happens on their journeys with daily blog posts filled with tales of the road, stories about the sights they see and, of course, details about their visits and conversations with all the wonderful  alumnae/i and incoming students they meet along the way. As they travel, they’ll also be documenting their stories with photos and video.

Follow the Goucher Vagabonds 2011 as they go from city to city by clicking on the icons you see on this page—or visit the Goucher Vagabonds on Facebook.

By amyeddy

Introducing Andrew, Jackie and Briana!

 

andrewheadshotc Andrew Deal ’13
Hometown: Cornish, Maine
Major(s): Political science
Likes: Being treasurer of the Goucher Democrats; sitting on the Student Government Association; working late at night at the Gopher Hole, the student café; working on the college’s orientation committee introducing first-year students to campus life
Dislikes: His inability to do a cartwheel
Looking forward to: Meeting members of the Class of 2015, eating lobster in Maine
Hidden talent(s): Can cook anything
In the future: Studying in the Czech Republic, mastering cartwheels 

Jackie Peiser ’14 jackieheadshotc
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Major(s): Communications and American studies
Likes: Campaigning with the Goucher Democrats for Maryland candidates; reporting and writing a column for the student newspaper, The Quindecim
Dislikes: cream cheese, drivers who don’t use turn signals
Looking forward to: Editing the Global section of the Quindecim next year, getting new students excited about Goucher, eating lobster in Maine
Hidden talent(s):  Speaking Hebrew, striking up a conversation with anyone
In the future: Figuring out whether to be a journalist or a lawyer, studying in Berlin

brianaheadshotc Briana Rubright ’14
Hometown: Tamaqua, Pennsylvania
Major(s): Political science with a pre-law concentration
Likes: Playing tennis, hiking, campaigning through the Goucher Democrats and meeting politicians like U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley
Dislikes: Winter, traffic jams 
Looking forward to: Meeting alums and hearing their Goucher stories and how their lives have changed since they’ve graduated, introducing incoming first-year students to the college, visiting Boston for the first time and seeing a Red Sox game
Hidden talent(s):  Speaking Spanish, can tell time without a watch (or cellphone)
In the future: Going to law school with the aim of becoming a family lawyer

Stayed tuned — the journey begins 7.30.11

By amyeddy

Introducing Vanessa, Brendan and Mary!

 

vanessaheadshotc Vanessa Keen ’11
Hometown: Teaneck, New Jersey
Major(s): Communications and Spanish
Likes: Performing in theater productions; writing for Goucher’s alumnae/i magazine, the Quarterly; teaching English as a second language at Goucher’s Latino Center; studying in Costa Rica and Argentina, interning at WJZ-TV Baltimore
Dislikes: Airplane bathrooms, parallel parking, dirty sponges
Looking forward to: Exploring California for the first time, getting to know the alumnae/i and incoming students along the way
Hidden talent:  Google searches, doing the lindy-hop
In the future: Pursuing a career in television news, either on the production end of things or in front of the camera. 

Brendan McFadden ’13 brendanheadshotc
Hometown: Malvern, Pennsylvania
Major(s): Math with a concentration in secondary education
Likes: Transferring to Goucher in his sophomore year, being captain of the men’s swimming team, getting named ‘Employee of the Month’ for working as a community assistant, playing intramural football, soft ball, and soccer
Dislikes: Cats, undercooked food, waiting for delayed airplanes
Looking forward to: Traveling all over the country and world, getting to know the alumnae/i they’ll meet on this trip
Hidden talent:  Navigating
In the future: Studying education in South Africa and culture in India through the study abroad program, and, after graduation, teaching mathematics in an underprivileged area

maryheadshotc_0 Mary Wahl ’11
Hometown: Livonia, New York
Major(s): Peace studies
Likes: Taking a ‘gap year’ to live in Thailand, working as a Goucher community assistant, participating in the environmental movement, studying in Costa Rica, organizing college events and programs including a spring break that was spent in New Orleans restoring wetlands and week-long series of events focusing on Burma
Dislikes: Chain restaurants
Looking forward to: Seeing the West Coast for the first time, meeting the alumnae/i on the way
Hidden talent(s): Salsa dancing, speaking Thai
In the future: Beginning her first ‘real’ job on staff at Goucher as community living coordinator

Stay tuned – the journey begins 7.30.2011

Search for the 2011 Goucher Vagabonds is Under Way

By amyeddy

Attention Goucher Students!

This is your chance to become part of the third annual Goucher Vagabond program. It is an exciting, paid opportunity to drive through select regions of the United States for two weeks in August, exploring back roads and byways, attending sendoff events for the class of 2015, and interviewing Goucher alumnae/i.

Like many other small, liberal arts colleges, Goucher strives to keep its alumnae/i connected with one another and with their alma mater. We’re always looking for fresh ways to keep our alums engaged.  In early August, a small group of Goucher students – the Vagabonds – will travel through a select region of the U.S. (tbd), and visiting with prospective students and select alums/parents/friends of Goucher.  The Vagabonds will blog their daily experiences back to the online community and document their journey with pictures and video.  They will be the face of the college as we bring Goucher to the people!

Trip timetable: Leave Goucher on Saturday, July 30, 2011 and return to Goucher on Thursday, August 11, 2011. *Students are expected to come to campus on July 28 for training and final trip preparations, and they must be available one day after return (August 12) for any follow-up activities.

To apply: Applications must be received no later than noon on March 25, 2011 (this date was extended from the orginal deadline of March 11).  For a full job description and list of application requirements, please email amyeddy@goucher.edu. 

Vagablogging

By Nicole

This week, as the Vagabonds wrap up their trip, they collectively shared with us lasting impressions:

We hope our biggest impact was that we showed people the common experiences between every era of Goucher’s history. The people we met, from parents to alums to incoming students, are all part of one large story. We did our best to encourage incoming students and remind them that they will get through hard times. Matt enjoyed talking to alumnae who attended Goucher as an all-women’s school, and he’s hopeful that he was able to dispel any fears they had about the population of Goucher men.

The biggest lesson we learned is that Goucher students never stop learning. We learned just as much from the incoming students as we did from the alums, and I think the alums were equally happy to learn from us as they were to teach us about their lives. The successes of the alumnae/i we met have made us feel ready to take on the world!

We definitely need to bring back Hot Steel. Nearly every alum we spoke to, from 1950s graduates to 1990s graduates, told us stories about the wonderful annual party that used to signal the beginning of every Goucher school year – The fountain in Dorsey would be emptied, steel drums would play, and students would dance and frolic from mid-afternoon to the wee hours of the morning!

This was a wonderful final chapter to our Goucher experience, or at least its first volume. It was wonderful to meet so many members of the Goucher alumnae/i family we have recently become a part of, hear their stories, and be reassured that our love for Goucher will not go away, even as we move on.

~ Maura, Debra, Matt, and Aislyn

We hope you’ve enjoyed following the Vagabonds as much as we have from “home base” at Goucher College. It’s exciting to see unbelievably talented, interesting young alumnae/i representing the college around the country, and we’ve received much positive feedback in the last few weeks. The perfect team was out on the road helping new students feel comfortable about their first days at Goucher, and also reporting back on their warm interactions with some of the amazing alumnae/i that make up our community.

We’d love to hear more from you. Please leave us a comment and help us come up with great ideas for next year’s team! If you’d like to contact the Vagabonds directly, send a message to alumni@goucher.edu.

Thanks for joining us throughout the journey,
Nicole (and, of course, the Vagabonds)

Our Last Day: A Time for Recollection

By Vagabonds

Waking up Sunday morning without any need for alarm at 8:00 AM despite my life-long inclination to sleep past noon was my biggest telltale sign for how long we’d actually been on this trip: two weeks – exhilarating and exhausting all at once. But our final morning got us up and out of bed and on to a good start at THB (Towson Hot Bagels – famous around Goucher). Upon filling our bellies with egg and cheese bagel sandwiches we drove over to the Black & Decker World Headquarters for our last alum interview with Bill Pugh ’94, B&D’s director of sales and marketing.

Getting there I can’t say we expected much on a Sunday morning but if there’s anything we’ve learned on this trip so far it’s to expect the unexpected. What did we discover you might ask? A bright yellow and simply awesome race car!!!  Not many people larger than a mosquito could fit in it but somehow Maura and Debra managed creating yet another great image for us: the Goucher Vagabond professional racing team. Why stop with the barbershop quartet?

Eventually Bill separated us from our new toy and got to sharing his Goucher experiences. He talked about Goucher’s “interactive expectations” where he was “treated as an adult” and held accountable for his educational pursuits, something that holds his attention and appreciation for Goucher still to this day. He studied Business Management and actually got into the start of his 16 year career at B&D through one of his internships he had while at Goucher.

Since graduating Bill’s kept in great contact with Goucher. He still has lunch and works out with some of his professors and has always participated in the Greater Goucher Fund, a.k.a. Annual Giving Fund (Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I know I wouldn’t have been there without financial aid). Bill has also been a part of AAGC (Alumnae and Alumni of Goucher College) since 2005 and is now on the Board of Trustees. Having experienced Goucher as a student and alumnus he enjoys “being involved with Goucher on another level.”

Thank you Bill for sharing your experiences with us and I certainly plan to stay involved. I think you’re onto something with your appreciation for giving back. “Don’t forget where you come from,” Bill advises. “As students and alumnae/i we are stewards of that college…Goucher got you somewhere.”

Looking back across these past two weeks trends show Goucher definitely gets people somewhere. We’ve come across talented writers and dancers, a family therapist, business creators and owners, scientific researchers, a concert pianist, political activists, a school founder, a CBS editor, a friendly and giving dentist, and so many involved in making this world a better place through their extensive social services.

After our interview with Bill we met up with him at his home where we welcomed the newest members of Goucher’s family. Through all we’ve seen and heard from across generations we cannot help but depart from our adventure far more exhilarated than exhausted and so excited for what has yet to come from Goucher. It’s really been such a pleasure and I hope the world’s a little more aware of what Goucher is and what it means to be a part of its community.

Very best,

Aislyn

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The End Has No End: Vagabonds Day 14

By Vagabonds

Alright, my Gouchers. This is it. Our final night as the 2010 Vagabonds. The road has been long and bendy and sometimes poorly marked, but we have traveled across the land spreading the good word of Goucher, and everywhere we’ve gone people have welcomed us. I can’t even begin to thank all of the people who made this trip happen, but of course I must attempt: Thank you. Everyone at Goucher who planned, researched, advised, introduced, interviewed and supported. Everyone out in the world who hosted, housed, fed, listened, shmoozed, attended, learned and taught. Everyone who is reading this blog or liking us on Facebook or tubing us on YouTube . All of you. Thank you so so much. You’re the secret ingredient in the Goucher casserole, and you make me treasure this place more than I can say.

Today was our crash course in all things Baltimore which must be done before you leave. These included visiting the Waverly Farmer’s Market where we ran into Ron “Res” Saxton ’08, eating at Pete’s Grille alongside Michael “Bliss” Jefferson’12, getting free books at The Book Thing, hanging out with Bryan “Lazer” Steele ’10 and riding the water taxi to Fell’s Point to eat Gelato. We wrapped up the day with a WONDERFUL alum event at Joe Squared with an army of Goucher friends old and new. Now we are gazing out at Goucher from the twelfth floor of the Sheraton wearing cushy hotel bathrobes and ruminating on what the last two weeks have been for us. Here is a rather free form rendition of what that conversation sounds like:

Singing in the car in the middle of the night. Watching the exit go past us on our way out of Boston. Paying more tolls than my parents paid in tuition. Being mistaken for the Reverend’s Vagabonds, a four part Barbershop Quartet. Swimming in the Farmington River. Four course dinner in Chelsea, New York. Our speed boat ride in Maine. The Troy Pork Store. Thinking of boat names (Floater, Backwash, Flounder). Buck wild. Hog wild. Playing ping pong. The Beehive, the Standard, and even Legal Seafood. Bite-size, crustless sandwiches. Meredith Schmidt’s awesome Bowser costume. Our synchronized swimming cinematic masterpiece. “I never want to eat again.” Bizarro Albany. Every time someone honked at our Goucher van while driving down the highway and for just a second feeling connected to a perfect stranger.

I never really know how to end things in my own words, and I don’t think there’s any shame in turning to someone older and wiser than you to put it best. In this case, that person is good old Jhumpa Lahiri, who tells us, “Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.”

Peace out, my Gouchers.

Maura

Friday the 13th

By Vagabonds

Oh. My. Blarg. Today has been a pretty sweet day, and despite my mounting fatigue and the comfiness of the Lenik family sofa bed, I must write about it now because things are beginning to run together and congeal like the Hampden Inn omelet I ate for breakfast this morning, and I don’t trust myself to remember the details in even a mere 8 hours. Eeee, getting ahead of myself! Let me start at the beginning, discuss the middle, and finish up at the end. Things generally work out best that way.

We met Teddy Zartler ’92 last night at Legal Seafood, and this morning he was nice enough to meet us again for our first lunch (this trip has been awfully foodful) outside the Merck campus in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. Teddy works at Merck doing pharmaceutical research and even helped develop Gardasil, the Human Papillomavirus vaccine which can help prevent cervical cancer. I especially enjoyed asking him about Goucher’s early days of coeducation since Teddy was in the second class at Goucher to admit men. I can’t explain why, but even after a year of research and a 100 page thesis, the stories about Goucher’s move to coeducation continue to capture my imagination. Part of it is the incredible emotion tied up in this transition, and part of it I think is the highly charged atmosphere of campus during the late 1980s and early 1990s, which reminds me a little of the Wild West.

From Lansdale we drove back to Delaware to meet with Laura Webbert ’06 for our second lunch. We’re getting to the point in this trip where we’ve crossed the nexus between New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania so many times that I’m never precisely sure where we are. This is OK though, because everyone else on the trip seems to have a pretty good idea. Laura majored in Biology at Goucher and now works at Du Pont as a Research & Development Chemist. She brought along different types of polymer treated stone and demonstrated how the treated stone repels liquid to prevent staining. Crazy! Good thing Debra, Aislyn, and Matt took charge of interviewing Laura, because I remained absorbed (har har) with dribbling water on the stone for a long time.

Finally we made it to Wilmington for our Alum event at the home of Carol Hirsch Roth ’70 and Jeff Roth. Carol’s sister Tina Hirsch Sheller ’74 now teaches History at Goucher and was my thesis advisor over the last year! We all felt a little pooped when we got to Carol’s house, but our hosts immediately revived us with food, beverage, ping pong, and Beatles records. It was really wonderful having this event in such a warm and welcoming home, and I enjoyed seeing the fellowship between Goucher alums from 1951 to 2010! At some point during introductions, Debra ’10 leaned over to me and whispered, “Can we please do this at our house in Baltimore this fall?” Oh most definitely, Debra. You can depend on that.

Now I am lounging in the living room of Debra ‘10’s house in Woodstown, New Jersey. Jennifer and Frank, Debra’s parents, were kind enough to let us stay here on the last leg of our journey, and it is WONDERFUL to stay in a familiar home. My laundry is laudering. Godzilla the cat is investigating Matt’s suitcase. All is peaceful and well.

Maura

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The Vagabonds Come Home! Join us Saturday for a day of fun in Baltimore

By Vagabonds

Hello, friends and our extended Goucher family!

We are in the final few days of our journey up and down the East Coast right now, and will be heading back to Baltimore tomorrow (Saturday) morning for a day of home-town exploration.

We will hold our official alumnae/i event on Saturday evening at Joe Squared (the best pizza in Baltimore; details below), but before we do we will spend the day checking out some fun activities that we believe every Goucher-ite, graduate or not, should do before they leave Baltimore.

While we do, we would love your company! Whether you are an alumnus, current student, or connected to Goucher in some other way, we invite you to join us for any of the following events:

(if you show up and you can’t find us, or have any questions, give Matt a call at 510-517-7860).

11 AM – Waverly Farmers’ Market

This Saturday morning farmers’ market, located at 33rd, Barclay, and University Parkway in Charles Village, is regularly visited by Goucher students and alumnae/i, especially those who live in the Charles Village neighborhood. The market opens in the morning and closes at noon — we’ll be hunting for snacks and Goucher friends from 11 to 12!

12 PM – Pete’s Grille

This breakfast and lunch shop, located at 3130 Greenmount Ave, is right next to the Waverly market. Open from 7 AM to 1 PM every day, their food is superb and cooked right in front of you as you sit at the bar. We will grab lunch there after we leave the market.

1:30 PM – The Book Thing

Located at 3001 Vineyard Lane, off Greenmount and just a few blocks south of Pete’s and the market, you can find the Book Thing, a warehouse of 100% free books. The website notes, however, that “you can only take 150,000 per day, per person.” We will take a peak in after lunch, and pick up a few good books for our already-overstuffed van.

3:00 PM – Inner Harbor Water Taxi

After we leave Charles Village, we will head downtown and take the Water Taxi around the Inner Harbor. If we have time, we’ll take a boat to Fell’s Point. If not, we’ll do the quick loop around the harbor. We will board at the landing nearest to Pratt and Light Streets, between the pirate ship and Phillips restaurant.

5:30 PM – Joe Squared Alumnae/i Event (+Second Saturdays in Station North)

We will top off the day with our official Alumnae/i event at Joe Squared Pizzeria at 133 W. North Avenue. Come between 5:30 and 7:30 and your first drink is on Goucher, then hang around for music at Joe Squared or any of the other cheap or free Second Saturday events, all within a few blocks of the restaurant. Please RSVP on Facebook for this event.

—–

We hope to see you tomorrow!

~Debra, Maura, Aislyn, and Matt

The Twelve Days of Vagabonds

By Vagabonds

Hokay, here we are on the twelfth day of Vagabonds. Much like the Twelve Days of Christmas, our Goucher Voyage has been filled with dancing gentry and a host of livestock. Well, not really. But it has been filled with wonderful interviews and conversations between Goucher students past and present. Which is probably better. My cup runneth over from all of the kindness and hospitality we have experienced on this trip.

Yesterday morning we rode the D.C. metro, my most favorite public transit system in the world, to meet with Kim Shaffir ’83 at her CBS Studio office in the city. I know we have seen a lot of sweet Alumnae/i workplaces on this trip, but getting a tour of CBS and seeing the Face The Nation set was definitely a highlight. Kim works as an editor for all of CBS’ White House footage and also creates the intro videos for Face the Nation. Her computer was the largest computer I had ever seen – it looked like Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kim, another devoted resident of Connor House during her Goucher days, echoed many of Kaye Williams ‘83’s stories about their house’s legendary parties and pranks. She also told us about the joys and difficulties of being one of the few female video editors at CBS and balancing work with family life in an extremely high pressure environment. Rock on, Kim; your success makes me hopeful for the future of women in the workplace.

Our next stop, after indulging in the pre-packaged delights of the local Trader Joe’s, was Philadelphia (again!) to meet with Linda Himmelberger ’74. Linda is a dentist, but so much more than a dentist. First of all, she is also a collector of exotic salt water fish, who live in a large tank in the lobby of her Devon, Pennsylvania dental practice. Second of all, Linda volunteers as a forensic dentist with the Pennsylvania Dental Association and the Federal Government to help to identify the victims of plane crashes and natural disasters through dental records. To my cowardly way of thinking, this work sounded CRAZY: crazy difficult, crazy interesting, and also crazy generous of her to donate her time to something so important. I asked her how she copes with working at scenes of such immense tragedy, and she told me that her two favorite prayers are “Help me! Help me! Help me!” and “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” These are two things, I definitely need to say more.

After saying, “Goodbye,” to the fish, and “See you later,” to Linda, we headed over to King of Prussia, the Mall of all Malls, for our Philadelphia young alum event. It was great to meet more members of the Goucher family, as well as see old friends (hey Saaj ’10!). And, of course, noshing on seafood is always pretty swell in my book. Tonight we get to do it all again, plus stay with Debra’s family in New Jersey, and finally do some much-needed laundry! Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion of Vagabonds 2010.

Maura

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Vagabond Day 11

By Vagabonds

So. Seven states. Eight hours in the car. Yesterday was a lengthy day. We bid farewell to Judith Fifield, parent of Ali Philippides’10, Casey the dog, and Bobby the cat in Connecticut early in the AM and trucked on out towards Virginia. It was really not too bad of a drive. We ate snacks. We laughed at goofy place names (Sandwich Mashpee, anyone?). It is a testament to how great this year’s Vagabonds team is that I can sit in the car with them for an eight hour stretch and genuinely enjoy myself.

Before we knew it, we were pulling into the driveway of Kaye Williams ’83 in Alexandria, Virginia. She gave us some much needed refreshment after our day in the car and regaled us with stories of Goucher past. One interesting thing we learned was that in the early 1980s, social life at Goucher revolved around where you lived on campus, and each house had its own distinct personality. Kaye lived in Connor all four years at Goucher and told us about their various parties, pranks, and house culture. It almost sounded as awesome as the Great Year of Hooper, Fall 2009-Spring 2010, which was a joy and delight to be a part of. After graduating from Goucher, Kaye attended Georgetown Law and went on to work as an attorney for the Security and Exchange Commission in the late 1980s and early 1990s busting white collar criminals, which I think is probably one of the most patriotic jobs out there.  Thanks for meeting with us Kaye – it’s always great to meet a fellow Prince lover!

On Wednesday evening we held our second to last first-year sendoff (Ayyy!) at the home of Shelley and John Bond and their daughter Rachel ’12 in Fairfax, Virginia. It was wonderful to meet more parents and members of the 2014 incoming class and consume delicious Goucher cake. After sufficient schmoozing time, we had some short remarks from special guests Margaret-Ann Radford-Wedemeyer and Michael O’Leary, did our usual introductions, and played a game of Goucher trivia for baseball hat prizes.  Let me tell you, these class of ’14-ers really know their Goucher trivia. If you had asked me when I was a humble 18 year old about the name of our beloved Gopher mascot  or the year Goucher was founded, I would have been woefully ignorant. My Goucher baseball hat goes off to you 2014. Vagabonds out!

Maura

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A Relaxing Day with the Vagabonds: #10

By Vagabonds

Alright yo, today was super relaxing, especially after the day of weirdness we experienced in Albany/Troy on Monday. We started off on the right foot, the yoga foot, thanks to Goucher alum Jane Willenbrink ’07 who taught us a private yoga class at West Hartford Yoga (WHY). This was a super delight to me in particular because Jane, in addition to being the founder and president of Goucher Yoga Club, was the first person who encouraged me to teach yoga myself! She taught us a one hour neck and shoulders class (we’ve all developed zombie computer posture on the Vagabonds trip), and it was just as energizing, challenging, and soothing as I remembered her classes at Goucher being. Jane majored in English at Goucher and began teaching at Lifeline Power Yoga in Towson before going on to get her teacher certification from WHY in Connecticut. Jane is an incredibly gifted teacher, and if you ever get the chance to practice with her, consider yourself lucky. I think it was encouraging for all us recent grads on the Vagabonds trip to hear Jane speak about the difficulty of choosing between grad school, a job that pays well, and a job that she loved, and ultimately finding herself in exactly the right place. Thanks again, Jane, and let me know when you want to hire me as a full time yoga teacher at your studio.

After a delicious Whole Foods salad bar lunch with Jane, we hit the windy roads of Connecticut to meet up with Judith Fifield, parent of Ali Philippides ’10, who graciously hosted our first year send off event in Connecticut. Even with an inadvertent detour to the former home of Judith Fifield, we made it to her house with a couple hours to spare before the send off. This was very lucky because Judith  lives next to the beautiful Farmington River where we went for a late afternoon swim with some adorable ducks. I wanted to squeeze them, as I so often want to do with fat, busy animals, but they were wary of us. Rightfully so, ducks.

The first-year send off event that evening went really well, and because of the intimate size, we again got to speak with incoming students and their families one on one quite extensively. My  favorite part of the send off was this conversation, which occurred during introductions:

Student ’14, “So, one thing you don’t know about me is that I’m terrified of pelicans.”

Aislyn ’10, “Why are you afraid of–”

Student ’14, “Because their gullets are child-sized!”

I learned many other interesting things that night, including the fact that Fordham University is one of the most haunted schools in the country, according to an incoming transfer student, and that Goucher has vastly improved its system for assigning first-year advisors. This has been one of the best parts of the Vagabonds trip: I learn just as much from incoming students as I do from accomplished alums. We are a well-informed group, my Gouchers. Good luck to all the class of ’14-ers we met tonight, and watch out for those pelicans. They could eat a child, you know.

Maura

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So Many States

By Vagabonds

Sunday’s traipse through Maine was equal parts exhilarating, beautiful, and exhausting. Even after going to bed early, Monday’s 6:00 AM alarm, 7:00 AM breakfast, and 8:00 AM departure from Boothbay passed by in a daze.

Among threats and thoughts of purposely breaking down the van so we could stay longer, I drove the first leg away from Maine. Six and a half hours and a few hundred miles of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts later, we arrived in Troy, New York, a rundown suburb of Albany. We were to meet Paul Powell ’03 at the charter school he founded last year at 4:00, so we had some time to kill. We parked the Goucher-mobile in front of the Alumnae Office of another college (completely accidentally…), and walked towards where we thought we would find a main street for a late lunch. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the immense gravitational pull of a black hole called Footsie Magoo’s sucked us in as we tried to walk by. Some aspects of this particular black hole:

  1. The chalkboard out front advertised mojitos, except they forgot the “i”.

  2. The only man at the bar had a bushy, pure white handlebar mustache with at least an 8” wingspan.

  3. The bar had a functional  25-cent-per-game skee ball machine! (photos below)

  4. Just a few notes about the furniture: there was a table made out of beer cans, a bench made out of those little military figurines, and a couch upholstered with a twister board and poker chips.

  5. Maura found a hair in her salad, the avocado on Debra’s and my sandwiches was hard as a rock (literally), and I found half a malicious toothpick buried in my sandwich.

After a narrow escape, we headed over a few blocks to Troy Prep, a brand new college-preparatory charter middle school founded by one of Goucher’s very own.  Paul Powell, a veteran of Goucher’s lacrosse team and self-ascribed math geek originally from rural Indiana, stepped into his first classroom as a teacher on a study abroad program to South Africa. With limited knowledge of Xhosa  and no teacher training at all, he was asked to teach math to sixty or more South African students. Although he admits that his first students may not have learned much, he definitely did. He threw himself into teaching right after he graduated in 2003 with a two year stint in the Los Angeles Teach for America corps. After a few years teaching and helping new teachers get on their feet, he set off to help fill a need he had witnessed first-hand as a student in Indiana: school reform in rural and semi-urban communities where recruiting large batches of young teachers (like TFA can do in major city centers) is not so easy.

Troy Prep, a free and voluntary charter school that will serve 5th through 8th graders once completely open, is an infusion of energy and creativity into the lives of students disadvantaged by rust-belt depression. The bright classrooms, young teachers, innovative methods, and college-preparatory attitude are a big change for Troy, and have thus far proven quite successful: the school has only been open for a year, but teachers have already seen major jumps in reading and math, and the sixth grade class already has a wait-list.

I have limited personal experience with charter schools, but my academic inquiries over the last few years have made me quite skeptical of them. While I still have many questions, I was very impressed by the good intentions, good practices, and good early results of Troy Prep. They are obviously doing something right, and if it takes a charter to do that, maybe I need to rethink my politics.

A few hours after our awesome conversation with Paul, we met him, his wife Nikki (class of ’01), and their  soon-to-be-PhD philosopher friends for a few drinks in Albany – I saw my first E-cigarette, and learned about political philosophies of justice –  then headed back to the hotel for an unusually full night’s sleep.

Now, we’re off to Connecticut for some yoga with Jane Willenbrink ’07 and another first-year sendoff!  More updates soon.

~matt

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Vagabonds Day the Eighth

By Vagabonds

Maine. Holy Cow. People had been boasting to us of Maine’s grandeur and beauty for some time now, and I would mostly say, “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure it’s pretty, lots of places are pretty. But seriously, Maine, get over yourself.” Now I stand corrected. Maine is impossibly, insanely beautiful. If God were going on vacation, I think God would go to Maine. Maybe you’ve never been there, in which case you should picture the most beautiful wooded setting you’ve ever been in, then add:

–scores of purple-y flowers

–a couple more scenic lakes

–many, many sailboats and lighthouses

–a population of really good-looking people

And that’s Maine. We kind of wished our car had broken down there.

Our day of Maine was a whirlwind, first a breakfast with Dan Jenkins ’06 in Portland, then a second breakfast with Doris Anne Holman ’59 and her grandson Duncan in Topsham, an afternoon first-year sendoff event in Boothbay, and finally an evening of splendor in Southport with Jean Hawley ’59. Dan and Doris Anne stood at two completely different and fascinating ends of the Alumnae/i spectrum. The former is an active Green Party political activist who just completed his Masters degree in Public Policy while the latter is a published children’s book author and environmental artist. Both were a delight to meet and trade Goucher stories with, and they even gave us gifts! Dan presented us with some vintage Goucher Recycle Mania shirts from his days as President of the College Green Party and Doris Ann treated us to a beautiful rendition of her class song from the 1959 College Sing Song. In return we gave them the traditional gift of Vagabonds tees and Goucher hats and bumper stickers and headed off for the sendoff event at Boothbay.

Our hosts for the Maine sendoff were Morgan Mitchell ’13 and her parents Susan and Robert who intelligently suggested using Barrett Park so that we could swim, stroll around, and play frisbee in the balmy 75 degree weather. It was wonderful to meet more future Goucher Gophers, all of the Class of 2014, in such an intimate and lovely environment. You guys make me wish I could be a first-year at Goucher all over again.

After the sendoff, Jean Hawley ’59 and her husband Bud whisked us off on their motorboat to go to a restaurant creatively titled Lobster Wharf. It was more of a Lobster Disneyworld, replete with gift shop, lobster tanks, steaming shed, boat docking lot, and many, many delicious morsels of seafood. Matt and Aislyn shared a behemoth of a lobster which they efficiently dismembered with the help of Morgan ’13. It was pretty goopy; they are braver than me. Then it was one bouncy, lightning fast boat ride back to Cosy Harbor. Now it’s Monday morning, on our way to New York, and we are missing Maine already!

-Maura

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Vagabonds Day 7 (Jeepers! Are we really halfway through?!)

By Vagabonds

If the early bird gets the worm, then the Goucher Vagabonds get over the Sagamore Bridge before Saturday morning traffic. We woke up at 6:30 in the AM today to meet Hilary Greene’82 at her Habitat for Humanity worksite in Dennis Port, Massachusetts. Hilary is the Coordinator for Volunteer Programs at Cape Cod Habitat for Humanity and currently oversees volunteers at six different houses in the area. She introduced us to the homeowner, Kelly, who was putting in her Sweat Equity hours that day along with ten Habitat volunteers. Hilary also introduced us to her good friend Sue Leven ’81, who took Debra, Aislyn and I on a guided, back roads tour of Cape Cod. Matt elected to stay at the Habitat House to volunteer, which I should have seen coming when his eyes glazed over with childish glee at the first site of dudes with power tools.

We learned that Sue is a town planner, and when pressed for a description of this job she stated, “Well basically what I do is plan towns.” It was fascinating to speak with her about all of the unnoticed details that go into making a community livable: green space zoning, transportation, emergency preparedness. As we were driving down Route 6 to go to Provincetown, Sue pointed out the large swaths of water lined with condos and tourist motels in many places. At the first sign of a hurricane, she told us, a tourist’s first instinct is to get in their car and try to drive home, leading to bumper to bumper traffic for miles back towards Boston with everyone stranded in their car. Town planners now work with motel owners to explain that in the event of an emergency, staying where you are is usually the safest bet. Luckily, we did not have to call on Sue’s emergency preparedness skills because the weather was BEAUTIFUL. I think the weather gods are repaying us for when I had to drive through Connecticut in a torrential downpour.

Provincetown was…I actually don’t know how to describe it and feel forced to resort to primitive list-making. Here are some things we saw and experienced in P-town: the most delicious croissant in the world (sorry France), many, many rainbow flags, two opera singing fellows selling fancy olive oil, several Golden Doodles who looked just like my beloved Ruby, a delicious fried fish sandwich, and lots of classy street buskers. It was really wonderful to take some times for just hanging out, feeling the ocean breeze, and listening to Sue’s rich and wonderful stories about Goucher in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We will miss The Cod, as the Vagabonds have affectionately come to refer to this region, but onward and upward (literally) to Maine!

-Maura

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Boston: It’s hip to be Square

By Vagabonds

Ayyy, we are in Massachusetts and we just came back from a WONDERFUL alum event at the Beehive in Boston. Also, I just want to throw out that I am writing this post on Open source software on Matt’s laptop because I was not fast enough to switch from a Linux operating system to Windows. It is a brave new world Goucher! I mention this in particular because we had a fascinating conversation about software and intellectual property rights with Adam Badik ’99 this afternoon while running around Boston. But I get ahead of myself.

We started off the morning with Elena Olson ’87 at her lovely home in Brookline just outside the city. Elena and her husband Robert are a classic Goucher/Johns Hopkins couple who met at Hot Steel, Goucher’s traditional opening year party, during her very first year at Goucher. Now they are married with two children, who unfortunately we did not get to meet because they are visiting family in Argentina. This did however afford me the opportunity of staying in younger son Nicki’s baseball-themed room which was SWEET. Thanks Nicki. You should probably go to Goucher when you’re old enough.

After Elena fed us a tasty breakfast and graciously allowed us to launder our clothes in her washing machine, we headed out to meet with Seth Michaelson ’04 at Au Bon Pain in Cambridge Square. Seth told us about his work helping low income individuals find housing first in Baltimore with Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity and now in Boston for Homestart Inc. His work sounded inspiring, and he spoke about it with the genuine enthusiasm of someone who loves what they do. I wish we could have spent a little longer with him, but he had to get back to work before joining us for the event at Beehive tonight.

From Cambridge, we drove over to Davis Square to have our second lunch at Blue Shirt Cafe with Adam Badik ’99. Adam charmed us all with his wry sense of humor and impressive ability to explain complex intellectual property (IP) rights law to even a humble History major like me. He also told us some great stories about studying abroad in London on the Dance and Theater Intensive Course Abroad, and being recruited to join a secret midnight croquet league during his time at Goucher. You will have to press Adam for details. I know nothing of secret croquet leagues. Since graduating from Goucher, Adam has earned his Masters degree in Computer Science, worked as a software programmer for Uniys, gone back to school for his law degree and served as director of Alumnae & Alumni of Goucher College (AAGC). Adam encouraged us all to pursue law degrees in our years now that we had graduated from Goucher, and we encouraged him to pursue a career as a teacher. I’m not sure I’ve met someone with such a natural talent for making the complex understandable.

Adam also helped us drive to the Beehive in South Boston where we held an event for young alums. Of all the restaurants we’ve been to so far on Vagabonds, the Beehive was definitely the friendliest, and we got to meet the significant others of several of our Boston hosts, including Miguel Williams ’06 and his fiancee Marilyn Yorgey ’05 (congratulations!!!) and Seth Michaelson ’04 and his girlfriend Danielle Cohen ’06. Danielle and Seth’s story was particularly great because despite having attended Goucher together they didn’t start dating until well after graduation – they recognized each other in Boston and “the rest is history!” Well done, Danielle and Seth, I am glad you finally found each other. Also, a hearty well done to our bartender Frank, who took great care of us at the Beehive and is hopefully still wearing his Goucher College hat.

Now it is time for bed so that we can wake up at the crack of dawn and beat the rest of Boston’s beach-going populace down to Cape Cod to get a Vagabonds tour from Sue Leven ’81. Catch you on the flip side, my Gouchers!

- Maura

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Driving in Massachusetts is like playing Mario Kart.

By Vagabonds

Back to the car again! Today we packed up the van and left New York City at the crack of dawn (or 8am, which is close enough in my book). Our first stop was Greenwich, Connecticut, where we visited Kimara Ahnert’s new store. We arrived before they opened for the day, but luckily Rachael Gener ’03, who manages the Greenwich location for Kimara, was already inside. To our delight Britt Hogstrom ’10 was also scheduled to work this morning, so we got to have two bonus alumnae/i visits. It was so cool to realize that not only is Kimara a really successful and down-to-earth alumna, but she has also hired three other Goucher alums, which really speaks to the kind of network we recent grads can tap into.

We got back on the highway and cruised through Connecticut—but don’t worry, we’ll be there again soon. We crossed into Massachusetts and drove to Beverly, MA, where we met with Meredith Schmidt ’08 at her workplace. Meredith is a head counselor for Spotlight, which runs a summer theater camp for children with Asperger’s syndrome; she is also currently a graduate student at Tufts University. She came out to greet us wearing a hat that looks like Bowser from the Super Mario games—one of the props from the movie that her group wrote and performed. Although we couldn’t record it, we got to watch the five-minute masterpiece, which had characters ranging from Indiana Jones to a ninja pig. We even played a theater game ourselves, basically just having a blast hanging out with Meredith, who clearly loves her job.

Afterwards, we drove to another send-off at the home of the Geller family in Devens, MA. Isabel Geller ’82 was a third generation Goucher student, and her son, Hugh, will be fourth generation when he starts in the fall—talk about a legacy! There were about fifteen students and their families, and we were also joined by Eli Cohen ’11, a member of Orientation Committee who works as a summer mentor for new students in the region. I was psyched to see Eli, who was one of my residents and good friends in Hooper last year. As usual, I was impressed by how relaxed and fun the incoming students were, and regretted that we had to leave a little early in order to get to the home of our host, Elena Olson ’87, at a reasonable hour. We may or may not have gotten lost in Boston trying to find her house. At long last, however, we were safe and sound and ready for a little sleep.

Debra

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Good thing Kimara Ahnert did my makeup!

By Vagabonds

Yesterday morning, our third in New York City, started with breakfast from a hot dog stand on Lexington Avenue on the Upper East Side. We were just barely on time for our meeting with Kimara Ahnert ’91, so we substituted our usual coffee shop routine for a couple of delicious buttered New York City sesame seed bagels as we walked. We met Kimara and Rachel Lerch ’10 at Kimara’s makeup studio on Madison Avenue. Originally from Pennsylvania, Kimara moved to New York City soon after graduating from Goucher with a business degree to try her hand in the makeup business. She currently employs twenty-four people (including Rachel Lerch and two other Goucher grads!), has her own line of makeup, recently opened a second studio in Greenwich, CT, and did the makeup for Catherine Zeta Jones’ wedding, among many others, so I think it’s safe to say she has been successful.

Kimara went to Goucher in a very unique era – her class, first enrolled in 1987, was the first to admit men, and Goucher had perhaps the lowest student enrollment in recent history when she attended: well under 1000 students. She told us about Hot Steel, Hopkins frat boys, and hobnobbing with the stalwart members of Goucher’s small security force, at least one of whom still works for Goucher (but we won’t tell you who!).  She also expounded upon the confidence Goucher taught her: if there was one thing she took with her when she left campus, she said, it was the belief that anything was possible, a mantra that she has indeed proven true.

We spoke with Kimara and Rachel for about an hour, then the girls had a chance to try out a lot of high-end makeup. Personally, I avoided the foundation and the lipstick, but I plead guilty to stealing a few Q-tips. We left too soon, however: a few hours later, Cameron Diaz and Gweneth Paltrow wandered in. Definitely a missed photo opportunity!

After taking a conference call with the Alumnae/i Affairs office sitting on the sidewalk of the East 74th Street, we took a few hours off. We met New Yorker Emily Gnatt ’13 at the Little Pie Company off of Times Square, then hunted for rum cookies in the Chelsea Market. The cookies were nowhere to be found, but we did find two members of the extended Goucher family: we were flagged down by John Cohoe, a New York Times staffer and friend of art professor Breon Gilleran, and the mother of a student in the class of ’11.

I’m proud to say that the four of us and the Goucher van made it out of New York City without a scratch, after nearly playing bumper cars with some NYC taxi cabs and a pedestrian far more focused on texting than the crosswalk in front of her. Today will be a long one – first we will stop at Kimara’s new Greenwich shop, then meet Merii Schmidt ’08 in Beverly, Massachusetts, and end with a send-off in Boston with 35+ RSVPs – it should be great!

We’ll be back soon.  ~matt

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Vagabonds Conference Call NYC

By capec001

View more videos from the 2010 Vagabonds.

Vaga-tales Volume 2: New York City String

By capec001

View more videos from the 2010 Vagabonds.

Goucher Vagabonds Reform as Barbershop Quartet

By Vagabonds

Our second full day in New York City began with a trip downtown to visit Dan Phillips ’07, who works as a paralegal for Gell and Gell Attorneys at Law, a law firm that works primarily with South Asian asylum seekers and detainees. Dan was a very gracious host, patiently answering our questions for nearly an hour and a half as we discussed his experiences in immigration law, his time on the Board of Trustees, and his love for the Goucher community. Since I’m thinking about law school myself, I was fascinated by what he had to say—and we all enjoyed hearing stories from his years at Goucher, many of them about students, professors, and administrators we also knew and loved. Matt’s been talking about dim sum since we arrived in the city, so we walked to Chinatown for lunch, where we stuffed ourselves with an assortment of delicious tiny dumplings. Maura and I were blown away by the hand dryer in the bathroom, where we had way too much fun watching it ripple our skin.

For the next few hours, we divided and conquered: Matt and Aislyn edited videos and uploaded photos, while Maura and I headed to Queens and then back to Times Square for some extra footage of interesting alum workplaces. Stay tuned for interviews of Todd Hawkins and Rhea Patterson, both finishing up their Masters of Arts in Arts Administration at Goucher this summer. Todd is the project manager for the Public Art for Public Schools program in New York City, while Rhea is a dancer in the musical Wicked.

By 6:00 pm we found ourselves at a beautiful apartment building in the Upper West Side, the home of Claudia Knafo ’84, a concert pianist and music teacher. When we entered their apartment, Claudia and her husband Alex asked if the four of us were going to sing for them. I guess with our different heights, we could make a picturesque barbershop quartet. We kept laughing when Alex asked which one of us was the tenor, but soon realized he was absolutely serious. Turns out the Vagabonds had been described as being on tour in the northeast and eager to talk to her about being a musician in New York City—which, of course, was all completely true, except Claudia thought we were Goucher’s a capella group! I don’t think we disappointed her too much though; we didn’t perform any pop medleys, but we had a blast trading Goucher gossip and comparing campus life then and now. Claudia also agreed to perform a short song for us, a recording of which we’ll be posting soon. Knafo family, you totally rock—thanks for providing us with one of the best stories of our trip so far!

Debra

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Vagabonds Day 2

By Vagabonds

Hello world!

Here we are on our second day of Vagabonds 2010, and it already feels like we’re old pros at this College road tripping business. We started off today with my personal favorite activity in the Vagabonds spectrum: interviewing!  Brian Spadora, who earned his Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher in 2009, met up with us on the Upper East Side to talk about life, the Goucher universe and his upcoming book. His work, tentatively titled Scattered Graves, sprang from his thesis project at Goucher and tells the true story of two Ukrainian brothers separated by World War II and united again fifty years later. Listening to Brian speak, it was incredible for the four of us Vagabonds to hear the commonalities between our experiences as recent Bachelor’s graduates and his as a Masters student: late night “Study Halls” with his peers on the lawn outside the Athenaeum, the joys and sorrows of doing research abroad, the blurred line between student and teacher that made learning more collaborative and even transformational. Thanks for coming out from Jersey City to talk to us, Brian, and special thanks for that advice about how doing what you love actually leads to productivity, and good luck with your book!

After lunch with Brian, we moseyed on down Madison Ave. to visit String, a luxury yarn store owned by Linda Morse, class of 1964. Linda’s store was the ultimate tactile experience. It took a lot of discipline not to rub my face against every single skein of feather-light, richly dyed merino-cashmere blend, but I caved a couple times for the really soft yarns. I’m sorry, Linda. I promise that my face was clean. Linda’s story was a perfect example of how what you major in at Goucher isn’t always the be-all-end-all of your career path. After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Linda’s first job after graduating was as a computer programmer with IBM. From there she went on to work for Princeton University, doing statistical and economic research about the school’s impending move to co-education and eventually became the CEO and COO of GovWorks.com. In 2000, she opened String to fulfill her long time dream of owning a shop for high end yarns. Oh yeah, and Linda wrote the first maternity leave policy at any major University in the country. Thank you for your work fighting for women’s occupational rights, Linda, and thank you for that autographed copy of Luxury Knitting, which will surely be loved by our Alumnae/i House. .

We finished off the day with our event for young alumnae/i at The Standard Beer Garden in the über-trendy Meatpacking District. It was a beautiful venue for a beautiful summer night with pretzels, drinks, Goucher baseball hats, and ping pong for all. My favorite part of the night came when I accidentally knocked over my precarious little bench in the crowded beer garden, causing the man behind our group to look up and comment, “Silly Goochers.” We’re getting the name out there, no doubt about that.

Until tomorrow, my Gouchers!  – Maura

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Vaga-tales Volume 1: Philadelphia Send-Off

By capec001

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Vagabonds Day 1!

By Vagabonds

Baltimore to Philadelphia to New York to sleepiness! What an incredible first day of what is sure to be an incredible journey. We were ushered out of Goucher on the wings of a fundraising marathon and serenaded Amy Eddy, MAT ’04 with The Eagles’ “Take It Easy,” to remember us by. Ayyy! Amy, where would we be without you? Honestly, probably still in the Dorsey Parking lot, eating bananas with the marathon runners.

Vagabonds Day 1

Our first first-year send off event in Philadelphia was hosted by SaraKay Smullens ’62 and her husband Stanton, who might be the most dapper gentleman in the world, in their lovely double balcony-ed apartment atop the Theater District. SaraKay is a renowned family therapist who practices out of Philadelphia and has published two books about personal growth and transformation. Aislyn, who will be a child care worker with the Board of Child Care after Vagabonds, was particularly excited to talk with SaraKay about her work and get an autographed set of her books. Thank you SK! SaraKay and Stanton, along with their daughter Elizabeth and grandchildren (and future Goucher students) Stella and Lucy, treated us to chicken salad sandwiches and hospitality galore.  – Maura

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I was especially glad to meet the new students at SaraKay’s house both because I’m from the Philadelphia area and because it seemed like almost all of them were interested in political science—something I can talk a lot about! I think we also may have found a few potential recruits for intramural sports, which is always good news. We left Philly a little after 2pm and headed for the New Jersey Turnpike. Despite a torrential downpour and a mile-long line for the women’s bathroom at the rest stop, we made it to New York City in high spirits. After a quick caffeine hunt we moseyed over to the house of Lynn Toby Fisher ’71 and her husband Lee Compton. What a sight! With a collection of stunning artwork and a plethora of fish in the back pond, their home provided a wonderful backdrop for the send off, which was attended by nearly forty people.

After saying our goodbyes to Lynn and Lee, we finally checked in at our hotel, then headed off to Times Square for some sightseeing and fine dining. Maura and I shared an enormous corned beef reuben from the Majestic Delicatessen, which seemed like a pretty solid ending to our first night in the city.

After today I can confirm that Goucher’s incoming class is every bit as amazing as the one that has just left. We met a boxer, a beekeeper, a novelist…not to mention the certified reiki practitioner and the classical pianist. It was just as exciting to meet the alumnae/i and their families, who were not only incredibly interesting but also very warm and welcoming to us all. All in all, I would say our first day was a complete success. Tomorrow we start round two!  – Debra

Philadelphia Sendoff 1

Philadelphia Sendoff 1
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Countdown Continues: Message from Maura

By Vagabonds

Hi Everyone,

With just two days left before we hit the road, Maura finally has a chance to tell us what she’s been up to, and share with us her excitement for the future:

The weeks since graduation have FLOWN by for me, most likely because I’ve spent them in St. Michaels, MD which is the most beautiful place in the world. Really.  I double checked. I’ve been working as the Folklife Intern at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum here in town helping to plan the third annual Chesapeake Folk Festival, which is the day before we leave for Vagabonds. Hooray! I will miss St. Michaels and working with all of the incredible artists, musicians and tradition bearers who make up the Festival, but it’s not so bad when I have something like Vagabonds to look forward to. I have never been on a road trip of this scale and length, and I am so psyched to meet awesome alums and hear their stories and pearls of wisdom about post-graduation life (I could use a few). There’s not too much that I’m  feeling nervous about, except maybe navigating with the GPS, which has never been one of my strong suits.

When I graduated in May, I think I freaked out a little bit about leaving Goucher and the world of my friends which I’d loved so much. Getting ready for Vagabonds, though, has made me realize that while I’ve left one Goucher community and experience, I’ve stepped into another, and I look forward to embracing this new journey with my fellow alums Debra, Matt, and Aislyn. I am not going to stop being a Vagabond for many, many years. This is both a reflection of my personal plans to become a yoga teacher, to travel back to Southern Africa where I studied abroad, to pursue Festivals and folklife and oral history, and a reflection of my commitment to the college which taught me so much. I hope you’ll join me for the ride.” – Maura

Thanks, Maura, for putting it so well. We all certainly hope our fans follow us along as we embark on our journey! We’ll share our adventures each step of the way through blog posts, pictures, and videos. Two more days and counting. We’ll see you on Sunday!

Best,

Aislyn

Countdown Continues: Message from Matt and Debra

By Vagabonds

As the Vagabonds prepare to pack up and head out on the road this weekend, team members continue to share their thoughts with fans:

I can’t believe summer is almost over and the Vagabonds trip is about to start! As it tends to do, summer has disappeared in a cloud of ultimate frisbee and volleyball and beaches and work and the occasional long motorcycle ride. I’ve really enjoyed the chance to stay at Goucher for a few months after graduating — I spent April and May saying goodbye to the people of Goucher, and now that it’s quiet I’ve had a chance to say goodbye to the place. But I know already that I am definitely going to miss it. I’m excited about Vagabonds: Most of the cities we’ll be visiting on the trip I haven’t been to in many years, and some places, like Maine, I have never seen. I can’t wait to start this journey with Aislyn, Maura, and Debra and spread some Goucher love!” – Matt

For me, the time before Vagabonds has been filled with good things. Throughout the summer, I have had time to travel, visit old and new friends, and connect with my family. As August approaches I have become more and more excited about seeing different parts of the Goucher community with my close friends. It seems like it will be a whirlwind tour, but I can’t wait to get started. Once the Vagabonds return, I will be job searching in Baltimore, and am hoping to find a position with an environmental nonprofit organization.” – Debra

Tomorrow you’ll hear from Maura. 3 more days until departure!

Vagabonds 2010: The Countdown Begins

By Vagabonds

Greetings from the Vagabonds!

I am Aislyn Rose’10 and I will be accompanying this year’s Goucher Vagabonds on this awesome Alumnae/i and Goucher Community tour up the east coast. I can tell you we are all getting so excited to head out this Sunday! We can hardly believe it’s almost here. I hope by now you’ve had a chance to check out our blog page and Vagabond Facebook page to learn a little bit about us and what we’re doing. For the rest of this week, you’ll hear from each of us here about how we’re feeling and what we’ve been up to this summer.

As for me, before this last week, away from the office and away from the project, the Vagabond trip still felt so far away. But working day in and day out kneading out the kinks for this next incredible team really gets me excited. The project has grown in many ways and I look forward to seeing how it pans out. Before we start, I’ve gotta give a shout out to all the wonderful staff I’ve been working with and my fabulous Vagabond team members of 2009: Shayna Flynn’10 and Saajid King’10!!! You all rock!!!

Before I started working on the project, my summer’s basically consisted of moving, job searching (and finding), and volunteering at the children’s summer program at the Village Learning Place. In the fall I will be a Child Care Worker for the Board of Child Care which I am stoked about. The organization works to reunite the children living there with their families or, if that’s not possible, they look for foster families to bring them back into a family environment. The job also has a tuition reimbursement program which will definitely help me out when I go for my Masters in social work or psychology.

For this trip I really look forward to hearing all of the exciting Goucher stories I never thought I’d hear. I know last year out came a few…one that comes to mind: Running of the Bulls! Tiffany Blackbull’93 can sure tell stories!!

Stay tuned to hear from Matt and Debra tomorrow. If you haven’t already done so, you can subscribe to our blog and become a fan of our Facebook page to automatically receive updates this week and from the road.

Best,

Aislyn

Vagabonds 2010: Hitting the Road August 1

By Nicole

The Vagabonds are back! This August, a new team of students – all recent Goucher grads – is headed up and down the east coast to visit with alumnae/i and attend a series of send-off events for first-year students.

CLICK HERE TO MEET THE VAGABONDS NOW

Stay tuned to our blog for updates, pictures, and videos from the road!

VAGABONDS 2010: THE JOURNEY BEGINS AUGUST 1