NEUTRON NEWS June 1996

Rita, continues at the junior high teaching 7th grade. It was a good year for her and she is still glad to be away from the 8th grade. Her year was filled with teaching, being a mom to our own 8th grader, helping out at church, helping with the library referendum, and being my wife for 25 years. Rita and Michelle spent a quick weekend in San Francisco this spring to attend a wedding. They had a good time and I got a weekend alone with Mary. We attended an ice show of champions at the United Center....no, Michael Jordan was not there. My wife and I spent Spring break in Las Vegas studying the laws of probability, permutations, and chance. We lost...but had fun.

Michelle, spent the year at Iowa State in Ames. She is a pre-architecture major and enjoyed college very much. We are waiting for a letter letting her know if she has been accepted into the program next year. Iowa State admits about 225 freshman but then selects only 48 to continue as second year arch students. She submitted a very good portfolio and we are hopeful that she will get in. We should know by the picnic. She became active in a church group and made several new friends (one of whom was in the movie "Twister"). She spent spring break in Florida working for Habitat for Humanity...a great experience. This summer she is working at Sizes Unlimited on 75th street to earn her pizza money for the fall.

Mary, spent her year at O'Neill. As an eighth grader she went to Washington, DC with her class. It was a good experience for her, except for losing all her CD's on the plane. She spent her spring break in Houston, TX visiting relatives. Mary is approaching 5'11" and is the expert on finger nail polishing techniques. The neighbors all call her to baby-sit and she spends the rest of her time on rollerblades or the phone. June 6th was her graduation from O'Neill and she is ready to go to South. I can hardly wait for her to be in high school....

I, have had a wonderful year. Still teaching 2 sections of chem enriched, 2 sections of AP Chem, and one section of AP Physics. The physics was much easier this year and I felt more secure. I think I moved up to just below the middle of the class and could actually get a few problems right this year on the final. The physics class went to Great America for physics day and we all built rockets at the end of the year. We launched them in the field by the tennis courts and only exploded 3 and lost 6 in the trees and on roofs. It was FUN. I have resigned from most of the union activities which has reduced my stress level and given me more time for teaching. I am in charge of the new teacher mentor program and that has been a very rewarding situation. It is exciting to work with young new teachers...they are so filled with ideas and energy...it is contagious. I still continue to assist with computers in the school and taught over 100 of our staff how to use the INTERNET. I also have a MAC in my room now and am connected to the net so we can look things up in class. I had a record number of kids take the AP tests this year -- 26 in chem and 13 in physics. I hope they all get 5's!!! Spent my 24th year as chess coach and the team was conference champs but only finished 36th in the state. One of our players, Tony Brown, was selected as a member of the ALL STATE CHESS TEAM - 1996. I am very proud of him. So why was my year so wonderful...I think a combination of working with the new teachers, having more time, and having classes of students that worked hard, had tremendous talent and overflowing personalities made me remember why I teach. I also saw the movie "Mr. Holland's Opus" and it helped me realize the impact that teachers have on students. I have always been proud to be a teacher and continue to be excited about chemistry/physics. My contacts with all of you during this year (by email, phone, or in person) have helped me focus on what I can do better for the students next year. Thanks to all of you for your feedback and notes. This fall will begin my 25th year at South and I still get just as nervous as I did back in 1972....some of you may remember that...I do. Anyway, read about what your classmates have been doing this year....and come to the party if you can.

Martha Gerrity (74) -- has taken the position of Director of Undergraduate Medical Education for the Department of Medicine at OHSU. Her 3 year son is keeping her extra busy.

Cyndi (Brown) Cuppernell (75) -- brought her family to the party, husband and two girls ages 9 and 5, and won the award for being the oldest there except for me. It is good to see that you "kids" eventually become "moms and dads" too. Cyndi is renovating a 100 yr. old house, working on a masters in nursing, working as a nurse, doing research on rabbit brains - no, not for dinner- and still had time to co-author a journal article. Who says you slow down when you get old? Not Cyndi.

Paul Pomes (75) -- has taken a position at Qualcomm in San Diego to design the security infrastructure for the Globalstar system and will be visiting in the Chicago area in October.

Alma Bicknese (76) -- moved to Long Island, New York, is a member of the Neurology Department at SUNY-Stony Brook and is researching molecular signals that guide axon growth and also in cell commitment or cell fate. Trying to fight with the gov't for funding and still see patients.

Steve Carnes (76) -- has finished his MSEE at UCSD in Neural Nets and DSP and hopes to take a job with Qualcomm in San Diego with Paul Pomes. Leading a very active outdoor life and will be at the picnic in '96.

Elizabeth Eklund (76) -- has spent the year doing experiments with paper towels, ice, and her own blood and has received notification of her first independent research award from the national institutes of health. She also lives in Birmingham, GA, the site of the Olympic Soccer this summer. So if you are going there she invites you to email her at Elizabeth.Eklund@ccc.uab.edu and she will help you find things.

Tom Hoffman (76) --.has three kids and a wife. Also had a bad case of lyme disease with complications, but had a full recovery. Stay away from ticks !!!!

Marcia (Lacy) Dettloff (77) -- after 15 yrs of marriage and three kids she finally got her honeymoon to Cancun. A great trip seeing the ruins, snorkeling, and just enjoying being alone (with her husband Wayne). Finding out that kids take way too much time and it only gets worse. She has an optometrist office in North Carolina.

Joe Bularzik (78) -- still working and living in Munster IN and coaching the kids sports team between job travel to Hong Kong and Japan.

Pam (Marrs) Simon (78) -- had a very difficult year with a sick 2 yr. old son. Chris had chemo, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant. He is very much improved and well on the road to recovery. Pam thanks anyone who prayed with them and encourages all to sign up for the bone marrow transplant donor program 1-800-MARROW-2. She attributes her child's life to an unknown stranger....that could be you next time.

Darrilyn (Albright) Fraser (79) -- married to Jeremy, in England, on 11/4/95. She has also returned to school in a PhD program at U. Of Kentucky in equine immunogenetics. I was invited to the wedding and seriously considered going but our trip to Alaska last summer put a dent in my charge cards.

David Dallemolle (79) -- is at Amoco's Texas City Chemical plant and he and his family are slowly adjusting to the heat and humidity.

Bob Hayden (79) -- got married to a native Californian, Kathe, on May 4, 96. CONGRATS. She is a florist and has two dachshunds. Bob is working for Arrow Electronics and they live in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. Bob Weatherly (78) was his groomsman.

Rob Plotke (79) -- is still living in Malaysia and working for Anderson Consulting , currently in the middle of a project on the south of Thailand.

Roy Goodman (80) -- has moved to New York City. Still with Digital and his wife is acting in NY.

Tasso Kaper (81) -- his wife, Antonella, will get her PhD in physics this year. Tasso is an assistant prof at Boston U and will have his first grad advisee graduate this year. He is doing some math research on some chemical gel reactions.

Sara (Bush) White (81) -- has two kids, ages 5 and 2, working part-time at Wal-mart as a pharmacist and her husband has been a world traveler this year. She stopped in over Christmas and looked great. Could have thought she was one of the students except for the kids!!!

Ken Janek (82) -- married 8/94 and has moved to Buffalo, NY and works for Nabisco as a Mech. Eng.

Ken Kus (82) -- married and works for a firm that helps make clean water. Spent alot of time traveling including the far east.

Roger Lo (82) -- working on his PhD at UCLA and thinks that it will never finish. Encourages me to put the NN on the WEB....I am looking into that possibility.

Dennis Marr (82) -- Lily and Dennis report working too hard but being rewarded with promotions. Dennis is now a manager and has taken up golf. I played golf once....shot 99 for 9 holes....quit, and gave my clubs away ( I was only 14 and only had 2 clubs).

Dave Applegate (83) -- continues to be successful at his super conductor research firm in Evanston.

Bert Kaper (83) -- living in New Hampshire and had a new baby boy - Jonah Hans - on 3/13/96. Congrats.

Linda Winke (84) -- wrote me a wonderful four page letter catching me up on her life. She is married (five years - no kids), is a head nurse for a hospital in Chicago (she didn't say if it was ER or Chicago Hope), bought a condo (loves it), and has some health concerns for herself and husband, but all seem better now. She also said some nice things about DGS and I always appreciate hearing how good we are. Thanks.

Heidi Applegate (85) --has moved to Madison, passed her PhD dissertation (CONGRATS Doc), and bought a brand new car. Finally now she can join the real working world! Also went skydiving for the first time.

Kelly Cross (85) -- Still in Sweden working. She was home for Christmas but I didn't get a chance to see her.

Mike Dilger (85) -- we tried to make contact with him on our Alaska trip last summer but he was working in the woods and we only talked on the phone.

Karen Hospodor (85) -- still continuing the quest of MD/PhD. Visited Anita Khanna in Denver and updated me on several other alumni. Karen hopefully finishes very soon.

Kirk Nelson (85) -- should be in residency after graduation from U of I college of medicine in April 96.

Jeff Buhlmahn (86) -- is still working on his PhD research in Hamburg, Germany and will be returning to the US in August.

Tom Lee (86) -- continues his PhD work at Berkeley. Loves the CA weather and doesn't mind getting paid almost nothing as a grad student....no stress about being fired...no one wants his job!!!!

Mary Kriz (87) -- my wife and I attended her wedding in the Detroit area on May 18th. It was beautiful and so was Mary. CONGRATS. They are spending a couple of weeks in Alaska this summer and both work for GM in the engineering sections. I love going to weddings....invite me...and have good cake.

Ron Menelli (87) -- married in 95, went to Italy for the honeymoon, and has moved to CA to work for Qualcomm in San Diego.

Eric Rynes (87) -- performed the Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 2 with the U of C Symphony in May as co-winner of its concerto competition and spent last year working as a computer programmer in Champaign. He will move to Seattle with his "composer-girlfriend" this summer.

Eric Weeks (87) -- is looking to graduate in May of 97 and is currently doing experiments to test some geophysics theories.

Jason Hulst (88) -- going to NIU, works as a financial planner, owns an apartment building and plans on law school very soon.

Linda Kim (88) -- Linda got married in CA in Jan of 96 to Robert, who is also a dentist. She graduated as a dentist from NWU in May 95.

Judith Lin (88) -- in third year of med. school at NYU. Is enjoying working in ob/gyn and having fun delivering babies. Keep those kids coming...job security for us teachers!!!

Chris Smith (88) -- grad from U of Wisconsin in Aug. 95 as a Mechanical Eng.

Szu Wang (88) -- At Stanford working on her PhD in 2D protein crystallization. Has been busy with her church group and enjoying the CA sun.

Sara Bergman (89) --.Finally had enough of "learning" and decided to get a real job. She is working for Searle Drugs, in Skokie, as a research biochemist. She stopped in at school late one night as I was working and even brought me some flavored tea (maybe some new drug Searle is testing on white rats...just kidding....it was very good and no side eeffffeeccttss ssoo ffaarr.)

Linas Butinas (89) -- has recently moved into a house and is enjoying having a kitchen with counter space, and his Volleyball team made it to the playoffs. Going to school at Rochester NY.

Peter Chien (89) -- Yale grad and didn't have a job at the party last year. Anybody need a philosophy major?

Ed Cryer (89) -- started an MBA program at Kellogg and volunteer at a fire dept.

Jenny Gaspar (89) -- Doing a PEDS rotation at Michael Reese Hospital. She invited me to her graduation party, but I had to feed the moles that night....Sorry I didn't make it....heard it was FUN.

Don Lamb (89) -- should have graduated from Vanderbuilt in Dec. 95 and hopefully has a job. Was hoping to return to the Chicago area.

Julie Munday (89) -- saw her this spring with her new baby. Still living in Texas....I think.

Sameer Talsania (89) --is doing research for his Ph.D. and will probably start interviewing for a job in industry in the fall.

Jeanny Hwang (90) -- married in March of 1996

Melinda Koelling (90) -- in grad school at the U of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She will be there at least two more years and in her spare time is sharpening her softball skills for the alum party.

Frank Kofron (90) -- Spent the last year in Allentown, PA at the HQ of Air Products designing air separation plants. Likes work even more than college (Frank was a little strange!). Will spend the next year in St. Louis on a new project.

David Wu (90) -- went to Jeanny Hwang's wedding in March and enjoyed it much. Working at Harvard/MIT on a PhD program in chem engineering and medicine. He has 6-7 more years to go. I think he is just trying to avoid the real world and would rather be a student forever.....me too.

Anuja Dharkar (91) -- graduation from Northwestern in 6/96 and will be working on campus for the summer at least and maybe several more years.

Jenny Fick (91) -- Worked at the San Diego Zoo in the summer of 95. Wondering what to do with her life...aren't we all.

Kristen Huizinga (91) -- working in the Chicago northern suburbs in chem related field. She is a manager of a small group and enjoys the challenge and also living alone in her apartment.

Mike Mendoza (91) -- is graduating from U of C with a double major in Environmental Studies and Biology and is going to med. school at U of C as well. He will spend the summer in Minnesota as an assistant director of a summer camp.

Katie Norem (91) -- is working at Abbott Laboratories and has entered the "white coat" phase of her career.

Gary Tsai (91) -- graduated from Uof I in May of 95 and has since been working for Tellabs Operations, Inc. in Lisle as a software developer on the TITAN 532L digital cross connect. He also ran and finished his first marathon!!

Wei Xiong (91) -- grad of UIUC in Electrical Engineering. Has taken a job in CA at Qualcomm and is excited about moving.

Ed Lin (92) -- should have graduated in Dec. from UIUC and will be going to Dental school.

Jen Lin (92) -- at U of Penn and doing well. Even remembered enough of DG Chem to argue a question with her prof and win....looking toward law school.

Roman Litwinski (92) -- grad. from Johns Hopkins 5/95 and now at Northwestern Med. school

Priya Mehta (92) -- at Jefferson med. college in Philadelphia. Spent the summer researching nutrition with AIDS patient and skin cancer.

Ellen Omi (92) -- is hopefully a U of I alumni now and will be working at Baxter Healthcare Corp. in Round Lake for the summer "doing stuff" with gene therapy in the microbiology department.

Greg Rose (92) -- has gotten a job with AT&T in Boston and is working for their consulting division, Solutions and has finished a thesis on the "bubble burst in the Japanese economy in 1990."

Sina Soneji (92) -- grad from U of Chicago 6/96 with BS in Biology. Plans to continue on to grad school.

Monica Borkar (93) -- should have graduated from NWU and plans on going to med. school.

Dar-Lon Chang (93) -- wants everyone to check out his home page - a tribute to Ranma as well as "Hyphen-Man's Nuclear Waste Home Page" at http:\\www.cen.uiuc.edu\~d-chang. Had a great demolition car entry in the EOH contest at UIUC. Also claims to have met a nice girl on the INTERNET.

Jon Day (93) -- At Ohio U. Studying to be a High School Physics teacher. Should I tell him now or later how hard that is? Also studying film and has finished two already.

Andrew Hwang (93) -- is planning on graduating from NWU in January of 1997 and will be helping out with research at Loyola University for the summer.

Rachel Kaiser (93) -- finished her third year at U of C. She is a resident advisor, sings in the chorus, plays badminton and tennis, and took her MCAT in May. Will be working in the Immunology lab for the summer and staying on campus.

Zebaa Kalimullah (93) -- at U of C and had a couple of classes with Rachel K.

Marco Lee (93) -- at UIUC and finding engineering to be a lot of work and studying. Who said college was easy? But he is having fun and spent last summer in Tawain.

Glenn Merkel (93) -- found the U of Minn a little cold in the winter and the classes OK. Not too many people from IL go there but Glenn will leave his mark.

Frank Owen (93) --will be attending University of Washington in the winter and is looking to major in Computer Science, but until then, is working as Database Administrator for AT&T Wireless Data Division.

Steve Rose (93) -- has dropped the idea of being an Industrial Engineer and has discovered his "true love," Computer Science. If all goes according to plan, he will have degrees in Integrated Science, Information and Computer Studies, and Math by June 98.

Samir Soneji (93) -- at U of Chicago in computer science and likes to play with guns in the ROTC program.

William Woo (93) -- At UIUC in electrical engineering.

Christina Wu (93) -- at a school board meeting to see her sister get an award.

Feng Xiong (93) -- A junior in CS at UIUC. Doing research and working on multiple computer jobs (JAVA) to satisfy his anime habits and trying to get Marmalade Boy on SVHS.

Dan Bailey (94) -- is at Uof I in the Honors Program and taking Astronomy 121. Received over 40 AP credits and has Dr. Zumdahl for Chem. Says that the DGS program really help to prepare him for chem but misses the "smilely faces and the diatomic buddies". Guess I will have to transfer to U of I and teach them some things. Enjoys lots of sports and got a 5 on mechanics and a 4 on the E&M part of the AP Physics test for my first year teaching it. Thank you DAN.

Anthony Chan (94) -- is a math major, maybe actuarial science by now, at DePaul. Stopped in for a visit in late May 96.

Ankit Desai (94) -- at the U of Chicago and searching for a major.

Anand Devendran (94) -- is studying Chem and Physics at MIT. Likes Boston and is using his old notes from DGS to help out with those tough classes.

Sarah Gualano (94) -- has declared a Bio major, but could change to BioChem. She is at Washington U. in St. Louis.

Amy Hwang (94) -- At Northwestern and in a program called Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences...sounds like an oxymoron to me. Enjoys the campus and misses the home cooking.

Mark Karbarz (94) -- at UIUC and enjoying the college life.

Pooja Khungar (94) -- at Yale and finding the organic a little challenging. Sang some Chemistry Carols at Christmas because she missed us at DGS.

Derrick Long (94) -- saw him at the EOH at UIUC. Playing is a couple of bands and thinks DGS was harder the U of I. Has moved to Tennessee but still may come to my party once in awhile. Maybe someday I will book his band for the entertainment!!!!

Bobby Mathew (94) -- at U of Southern California in a special 8 year med. program.

Umar Shakur (94) -- at the U of Chicago majoring in Biology.

Ben Tsien (94) -- has survived hard electrical engineering classes at UIUC and has a co-op job with Intel testing the p7.

Jon Brockman (95) -- at Ill. Wesleyan in biology and was working at Mr. Green Beans.

Ben Cirillo (95) -- at Indiana Univ. as a psychology major.

Gaurav Desai (95) -- at UIUC in pharmacy.

Dave Hwang (95) -- selected the Outstanding Senior for Science for 1996.

Alexia Koelling (95) -- had a good year at U of C and is spending the summer in Greece.

Jaymin Mehta (95) -- really enjoyed UIUC but found studying cutting into his sleep time. Saw him at EOH this spring and he did stop in to visit before school was out.

Brian Partenach (95) -- spent part of the summer of 95 in Spain.

Jason Werner (95) -- at UIUC and I had lunch with him during the EOH in the spring. Enjoys the campus and seems to be keeping busy.

Iwona Wyka (95) -- had Zumdahl for Chem at UIUC and warns all my current students to work more problems and to appreciate how EASY my tests are.

Melissa Zilic (95) -- had a good year at U of I and became an expert at sending email.

A big MOLE WELCOME to the 29 new alumni from the class of '96. You now have to do something newsworthy so that your name will appear here next year.

J U L Y 6 th We will provide sandwiches and some big containers of lemonade and iced tea. Frisbees and some lawn type games could be fun if you have them. I will have a volleyball and badminton sets. Let the fun begin at 4:30 p.m., food at 6:00 p.m. and concluding when you all leave. This year we will have "Moleburgers" and chicken. So everyone bring salads, fruit, casseroles, or vegetables. We will have a few brownies and maybe some ice cream. If you have a favorite ethnic dish bring it. Last year we had some really interesting and good things brought. If you can't cook then bring pop or snack stuff. Please come if at all possible. How about a large turnout from the class of '76, '81, '86, '91 and '96 for the 20, 15, 10, 5 and 0 year reunions??? Can you believe it -- 20 years.... If you can't come, at least call, email, or write to me beforehand so I can pass along info to other members of your class.

Address:

5927 Ridgewood Circle
Downers Grove, IL 60516
630.852.7223

MolesRUs@aol.com

From DGS, go NORTH on Dunham to 61st street then turn WEST (left) and go about one block to Ridgewood Circle and turn NORTH (right). I am the fourth house on the RIGHT side.

As Always,

Molefully Yours--- Mr. M