Meeting the Family

At our last Ithacan editorial board meeting before leaving for the spring National College Media Convention in New York last weekend, I told the board that I would be bringing the current editors who would be participating in the conference  to “meet the family” — namely our New York Ithacan alumni — at our annual spring dinner. I compared it to an extended family reunion where you meet a whole bunch of cool, interesting cousins you never knew you had.

From left: Jake Leary, Scott McDermott,
Graham Hebel, Fernando Ferraz
and Connor Lange.

And a family reunion is what it always feels like. This year’s group spanned more than two decades, from the class of 1997 to the current freshmen attending the conference. Forty of us turned out on Monday night despite the impending blizzard scheduled to start at midnight. The photo section was well-represented, with eight former and current editors present, including a rare appearance by Scott McDermott! And Jill Agostino stopped by — her first dinner with the New York crew since the Times moved her back to the city from D.C. (where our alumni are still missing her). 

Evin Billington, Miles Surrey,
Aaron Edwards and Frances Johnson

The alumni lineup consisted of Jill Agostino ’86, Nicolas Barajas ’08, Evin Billington ’16, Jaclyn Cataldi ’15, Jack Curran ’15, Jared Dionne ’13, William Earl ’09, Aaron Edwards ’12, Evan Falk ’09, Max Gillilan ’16, James Hawver ’07, Graham Hebel ’13, Frances Johnson ’16, Sami Khan ’02, Kira Maddox ’16, Scott McDermott ’97, Tucker Mitchell ’16, Casey Musarra ’11, Gillian Nigro ’14, Rachel Orlow ’13, Taylor Palmer ’14, Steven Pirani ’16, Matt Quintanilla ’07, Deepa Shah ’06, Elizabeth Sile ’11, Shawn Steiner ’13, Miles Surrey ’15, Andy Swift ’09, Andrew Weiser ’11, Jennifer Williams ’16, Stacey Coburn Williams ’07, Chloe Wilson ’14 and Vicky Wolak ’14.

Jim Hawver, Matt Quintanilla, Deepa
Shah and Stacey Coburn Williams

Current students who attended were Editor-in-Chief Kayla Dwyer ’17, Assistant Multimedia Editor Connor Duffy ’20, Photo Editor Fernando Ferraz ’17, Assistant Photo Editor Connor Lange ’19, Assistant Life & Culture Editor Jake Leary ’20 and Assistant Multimedia Editor Matt Maloney ’20.

Jack Curran, Gillian Nigro and Kira Maddox

Kayla Dwyer, Libby Sile and Bill Earl

It was terrific to see everyone, as always. Thank you to the good people at Heartland Brewery and Chophouse at on W. 43rd St., who made sure we had a good time, as they have for many years now. And special thanks to Deepa Shah, without whose organizational talents — and generosity — these events would be a lot more difficult to manage. 

Andrew Weiser, Casey Musarra
and Evan Falk

Shawn Steiner, Jennifer Williams
and Steve Pirani

Taylor Palmer and Chloe Wilson