Notes from the Class of 2014

When Zachary Wehner (MMechEngr) graduated in December, he was the fourth generation of his family to earn a degree from CU-Boulder. His great-grandmother Anna Mary DesBrisay (Btny, Edu1914) was part of the first class to use Macky Auditorium. His grandmother, Margaret Sylvester Wehner (Edu’53), was next to graduate, followed by his father, Russell Wehner (Econ’83). “Through the years, the University of Colorado has been our stronghold and has served our family very well,” Margaret says.

Ashlee Broadus (ArchEngr) is a lighting professional at the St. Louis office of HOK, a design, architecture, engineering and planning firm. When she was first hired, she handled the lighting design for Salt Lake City’s airport terminal redevelopment program.

Colorado-based Key Equipment Finance promoted James Eulenstein (Econ) to equipment finance officer. He now leads equipment financing activities for the Hudson Valley/Albany district. James previously worked as a sales associate in the company’s full-time comprehensive training program.

This May Chloe Kay (IntlAf, Rus) began her Peace Corps service as a secondary education English teacher in Mongolia. She says her study abroad experience at CU helped prepare her for the Peace Corps. In 2015, CU-Boulder produced more Peace Corps volunteers than all other Colorado colleges.

Nick Romcevich (MBA) founded Highline Coffee in Longmont, Colo., in October 2013. Early this year, his cold brew was placed in some of the celebrity after-party gift bags at the Academy Awards. His coffee can be found at Whole Foods and Natural Grocers.

Jamie Haller (IntlAf) worked in Guatemala with adults and the local tourist police force at a language school and taught in Colombia with under-funded and under-resourced public schools. She has since moved to New Mexico, where she teaches environmental stewardship at an elementary school. In March 2016 Jamie will head to the Dominican Republic for a 27-month position with the Peace Corps as a volunteer literacy promoter.

James Kohnen (MechEngr), Graham Risch (MechEngr) and Michael Stevenson (MechEngr) are undertaking a 20,000 mile, 28-country motorcycle trip across Eurasia. They left May 12, 2015 and are blogging at www.3x2freefall.com.

Davis Saltzgiver (MechEngr) is head of product for Trago, a company that provides water bottles that track how much a person drinks and delivers that information to a person’s phone through an app. The Trago cap and water bottle can be ordered through its website, Trago.com. Davis developed the idea while a CU student.

When bombs hit Stella Nawi Lunyaramoi’s (IntlAf) village in South Sudan, Stella fled to a Kakuma refugee camp and was eventually relocated to Boulder through the Community of South Sudanese and American Women, which aims to bring “lost girls” from Kakuma Refugee Camp to the U.S. After graduating from CU, Stella was chosen as a White House intern in the office of Michelle Obama. She finished her internship and began working on a documentary, The Dawn Will Break.

In January Yuanzhe Zhang (PhDElEngr) joined the Efficient Power Conversion Corporation as director of applications engineering. Yuanzhe’s focus is designing state-of-the-art envelope tracking systems for 4G, LTE and 5G wireless infrastructure that demonstrates the benefits of using gallium nitride transistors.

Pana, a new Denverbased app that acts as a virtual travel agent, was launched in April by Lianne Haug (CompSci), Sam Felsenthal (Fin) and Devon Tivona (CompSci). The app appeals to the frequent traveler and can check you in for your flights. Lianne, Sam and Devon have received more than $1.35 million in seed funding.

This September, Jessica Hatz (EnvSt) and Jessa Ellenburg (CivEngr’01) are scheduled to host the 8th Best of Both Worlds Conference on Environmental Education for Sustainable Development in Estes Park, Colo. Jessica and Jessa both work for the GO3 Project, an environmental education nonprofit in Boulder that focuses on monitoring air pollution.

Mallinda, a Denver startup co-founded by Chris Kaffer (MBA) and Philip Taynton (PhDChem’15), was awarded a $750,000 grant by the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research program. Mallinda produces reusable carbon fiber composite, which Chris believes can help cut a car’s weight and improve its fuel efficiency.

Fashion photographer Sammy Keller (Comm) has always loved taking photos. She works for the Denver-based vintage shop Orenda Lou and has also worked with Urban Outfitters. When she isn’t doing freelance work, Sammy works full-time at Rooster Magazine in Boulder.

Chelsea Miller (IntlAf) and Will John (Engl’12) eagerly awaited their Aug. 13 marriage in Boulder. It involved an interfaith Jewish ceremony. The couple began dating six years ago after meeting through rugby at CU. Their first date was a one-on-one rugby match. Chelsea, a full-time law student, also works part-time in Jewish education in New York. Will is a judicial criminal court clerk in Jersey City, N.J.

On March 20, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal (MEngLit) accepted one of 10 Whiting Awards at a ceremony at the New York Historical Society. The Whiting Foundation gives $50,000 each to 10 diverse emerging writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama. Vanessa was born in the Rio Grande Valley borderlands to formerly undocumented Mexican immigrants. She is the author of the collection Beast Meridian (2017) and the winner of the John A. Robertson Award for Best First Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters. Her work has been featured in BuzzFeed, The Boston Review, The Rumpus, The Los Angeles Times, NBC News and elsewhere. She is pursuing a doctorate in English literature and creative writing at the University of Southern California, where she is raising her son with the help of a loyal dog.

The cannabis industry exploded in Colorado in January 2014. A few months later, Jackson D. Tilley (Comm) took an internship at O.penVAPE, a Denver-based vaporizer company. He published a book, Billion Dollar Dimebag: An Insider’s Account of America’s Legalish Cannabis Industry. The book is a “first hand account of the 21st-century wild west,” writes Jackson. In his book, he traces the path of the booming company as well as the cannabis sector. Along the way, he got sober, moved to a hurricane zone, quit, un-quit, invented new ways to market an ancient product and got a dog named Bobby Kennedy— not necessarily in that order, he writes.

Zhenghua Yang (Fin) founded Serenity Forge, a value-driven game development company in Boulder. He is a TEDx speaker and was included in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. A lifelong gamer, Zhenghua was born in China and moved to Boulder when he was 10 years old. At 18, he was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder that kept him hospitalized for two years. Playing video games helped him cope, find support and ultimately make a miraculous recovery.

Michael Bishof (PhDPhys) and Cynthia Perkon welcomed their fourth child in 2019. Winifred "Winnie" Rose Bishof was born last October, and baptized in December at Mary Queen of Heaven Catholic Church in Elmhurst, Illinois. She joins three older brothers in the family.