A by-the-numbers look at recent alumni highlights
2
The number of major magazines that recently featured Gabby Thomas ’15 on the cover. The Olympic gold medalist sprinter brought her trademark style to the cover of Vogue’s winter 2025 issue, as well as Dallas Magazine’s June 2024 edition. Thomas also appeared in the 2025 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list last year. But perhaps her biggest news? In March, she announced her engagement to longtime boyfriend Spencer McManes.
4th Down
—the name of the Cleveland, Ohio, birth-support company launched by Caitlyn (Riley) Conklin ’12 to connect new parents with the area’s doulas and birth, postpartum, and newborn care specialists. Conklin, a mother of three, is married to Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Jack Conklin (hence the business’s name).
Find out more at 4thdown.org.
12
Weight (in tons!) of clothing, dormitory accessories, and home goods donated for reuse by departing Smith College students through the school’s SmithCycle program, co-managed by Deirdre Quirk ’10. The program—which has inspired a similar effort at Williston—gathers unwanted goods at the end of the school year, then offers them in the fall to new students or to the local community, keeping them out of the waste stream.
3
The number of sections in a musical suite composed for Williston by Phillip Lee ’16. Lee, a Berklee College of Music graduate with a master’s in sound arts from Northwestern, recently unveiled “Three-Part Suite for Williston” as part of his gift on Founders Day. Listen to the piece at williston.com/bulletin.
15
New paintings by former faculty member Marcia Reed in her solo show, “Nature’s Cycle—A Visual Narrative,” at 9S Studios in Easton, Maryland. The newly opened gallery is co-owned by photographer Melissa Cooperman ’88, whose own work includes documenting international humanitarian efforts through video and photography (see more at melissacooperman.com). Reed’s exhibit—the gallery’s first—ran from February through April 2025 and features paintings and works on paper. “The work is about lessons in life, passages in time using nature as my vital source,” says Reed in her artist’s statement. Find out more at 9sstudios.com.
25
Number of years Peter Urquhart ’70 served as University of New Hampshire’s carillonneur, selecting and playing the chimelike carillon music broadcast from the school’s bell tower every morning at 11 a.m. While he was an associate professor of music (he’s now retired), Urquhart began a contest for campus carillon composers, with the winning songs getting prized local airtime.
622
The number of videos posted by structural engineer Richard Racz ’10 on his YouTube channel, Kestava, dedicated to “spreading structural engineering lessons to the world.” Racz, who earned his bachelor’s in civil engineering and master’s in structural engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has more than 36,000 subscribers, who tune in weekly to learn “How to Calculate the Capacity of a Steel Beam” and “Tips and Tricks for the PE Exam,” among many other lessons.
