Alumni Updates
Where are they now?
NTLP has the largest alumni retention of any high school leadership program. Our alumni stay in touch offering support, friendship, college and job information. Here is just a sampling of what some of our alumni are doing now.
The ( ) after their names indicates the year they first attended NTLP.
As of May 2010
Jennifer Louie-Abernathy (96) earned her MBA in May 2009 from the University of San Francisco. She followed that with a summer wedding in San Francisco, marrying best friend, Steve Abernathy, who once took part in interviewing NTLP attendees. Jen currently works for Battea Class Action Services, LLC. as a Client Services Associate, analyzing trade data for claims eligibility in securities class action lawsuits.
Jason Fitzer (02,03, 04) Graduated from Chico State and currently attends the University of Georgia where he is just a semester away from attaining his MA in Student Affairs.
Sophia Coria (98, 99) Graduated from University of Phoenix in June 2010. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Education and obtained a California Teacher’s Credential in Secondary Mathematics.
Aunalori Honeycutt-Taylor (95, 96) Graduated from San Francisco State and just received her Masters from San Diego State. She has moved back to the bay area and is working as a Consultant in San Francisco.
Josh Estes (00, 01 – WA), married in 2007 and he and his wife gave birth to a baby girl in April, 2009. Josh works for Kimberly Clark in Washington and was elected President of his local union, Association of Western Pulp and Paper workers.
Jalin Hsu (94) has participated in various singing competitions in the US and Asia, including the prestigious Young Singers’ Competition on China Central Television in 2006. She proudly landed her first lead role as Miss Saigon in 2008. In October of 2009, Jalin completed the Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon in San Jose to benefit the National Hospice Foundation. She’ll be singing carols this holiday season at Knott’s Berry Farm.
Since we are on the Hsu family… Yilin Hsu (94) is a music teacher and singer and recently celebrated her 1st year marriage anniversary with husband, Josh.
Derlin Hsu (99,00,02) the third member of the talented, musical Hsu’s is currently at Colorado State getting her masters in Music Therapy.
Levi Considine (96) is a Logistics Management Specialist with the Department of Defense (usually based in San Diego) but is currently on a three-month development assignment at Pearl Harbor, Oahu. (Nice work if you can get it!)
Congratulations to Raelena Crooks (97) and husband Micah on the birth of their new son, Ryan. We are so pleased that Micah made it back from serving his tour overseas in time for Ryan’s birth!
Check our Fan page for get-togethers as they occur (sometimes spontaneously!)
As of May 2009
Celexsy Stout Adame (92,93) is now the University Enterprises, Director of Marketing Services at Sacramento State University.
Karen Roberts Barnash (95) graduated from San Diego State in 2000 and works for DreamWorks Animation where she is currently managing the artists and production assistants working on “How to Train Your Dragon”, due out in 2010. She is married and mom to 2 year-old Alyssa.
Maria “Malou” Bayog (96) has her Masters in Nursing and is currently working on her Ph.D from UC San Francisco. A long-standing senior staff member of NTLP, Maria is also on the NTLP Board of Directors. (Maria also performed for many years with a Tahitian Dance Troup!)
Noah Smith (93,94) graduated from BYU in 2000 with a degree in Engineering. In 2002 is attained his Masters at CSUS in Geotechnical Engineering and is now a Principal Engineer with Neil O Anderson & Assoc. Noah is married and the father of three girls.
Bob Schmitz (96, 97,98) Bob received his BS in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Arizona in 2002, then proceeded to University of Wisconsin-Madison where he attained his Ph.D in Genetics in 2007. Bob is now a postdoctoral scientist at The Salk Institute in San Diego.
As of March, 2009
Resident entertainer and professional hypnotist, Paul Parsons, has added a new dimension to his work. Paul is now helping businesses grow and busy business owners and managers find more time to relax with Focalpoint Coaching International, partnered with Brian Tracy International.
Julie Alberty (01) is pursuing her Ph.D in Clinical Psychology at Loma Linda University.
Eugene Canotal (98) graduated from UC Davis in 2003 and is pursuing his Masters in Social Work from Smith College. He is currently working for the Chiang Mai Coordination Center for Protection of Children and Women’s Rights as a Social Work Intern in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Raelena Gourley Crooks (97) received her MA in Occupational Therapy from Pepperdine University in 2007 and currently works for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. She recently married Micah Crooks who is serving in the armed forces overseas.
Christie Najera (01) will graduate this May with a double major: BA in Theater and BS in Chemistry in Biochemistry and was accepted to grad school in Theater at both Columbia and Yale. She chose Columbia because, duh, that’s where the Broadway shows are.
Continuing the NTLP legacy, we offer congratulations to new alumni parents: Kim and Jim Knight (Thompson) (95), Keiko & Brad Thomsen (Suda), (92) Raul & Julie Reynon (92) and Dominique and Ryan Ferguson (both 98).
As of February 2009
Susanne Barsotti (94) received her Masters at Univ. of Michigan and is now working for Lockheed Martin in Colorado. Susanne married David Brown in 2004 and has two children.
Ryan Brown (01) is a senior at San Jose State University, majoring in Sports Medicine/ Kinesiology, with a focus on Athletic Training. Ryan says “Because of NTLP, I became a better leader and gained a position on the CYC (California Youth Council), a spot which only 30 students from all over California are able to hold. I had the honor to hold that position for 3 years.
Jane Lee (98-01) and Aram Nadjarian (02) were both named as USA Today All Academic College Team members. Jane, now graduated from Northwestern moved to Chicago to start her career as a business analyst for Deloitte Consulting. She is currently pursuing her Masters at Harvard.
Jake Dire (WA 00) graduated from Colorado State in 2005 with a degree in Marketing. He has traveled through Europe, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, and is now back in Denver working again, that is, until he can go traveling again!
Cody Kopowski (04) graduated from the Oakland Military Institute in ‘07. He plans to graduate from West Point in ‘11 with a degree in Engineering.
Ray Hah (98) graduated from Northwestern and attends Medical school there.
Dan Kim (93) is at Teacher’s College at Columbia.
Yilin Hsu (92) received the Best Performance Award and the highest judges score out of 17 finalists at ETTV Top Idol! She just married long-time Josh Wentlandt.
Vincent Jones (93) resurfaced after many years away. A Swarthmore Graduate, Vincent worked as a Field Rep for Senator Barbara Boxer and was Director for the Center for Health Justice, before coming on board to help NTLP with its visability and fundraising. He is currently with Common Cause.
Nga Lai (92), another Swarthmore Grad has got just ½ year left before graduating Medical School. She is currently interviewing for emergency medicine residencies.
Mike Patrick (Motivational Speaker, 92 and then some) has his own radio broadcast on VoiceAmerica.com. Check out Mike at www.patcom.com
Keiko Suda (‘92) married long-time beau, Brad in 2007 and just gave birth to their first child. Her wedding reception reunited alumni Raul Reynon (92) who married in 2006, is currently a manager at REI (and now a proud father) and Jessica Del Mundo (92) who is also married, has a one-year old and works for a PR Firm in Los Angeles.
Shyla Marie White (now Nibbe) (‘95) is touring as a professional Singer/Songwriter and offers vocal instruction in San Diego.
Cami Lee (‘94) married Won Tchoi in 2008 and Greg Haack (‘95) married Thu, also in 2008.
In 2002, a young man attending NTLP in Texas, stood out from the crowd as many of our Ambassador winners do, by impacting the lives of those in attendance in a positive way. Marcedes Fuller was just a junior in high school at the time. Today, he is a scholar senior at the University of North Texas and an entrepreneur with his own company, The Ultimate Decisions Consulting Group, Inc.
As an accomplished speaker, Marcedes inspires audiences through his advocacy for empowerment, entrepreneurship and success. He has spoken to the US House of Representatives, numerous colleges and school districts, the Texas State Teachers Assoc., MTV and many others. Additionally, Marcedes gives back to the community as a mentor and has established The UDCG Partners in Education, a non profit geared to teach middle and high school students life skills, personal independence, financial management, college and career preparation, entrepreneurship and success.
Nick Callegari (01) is an Engineering major at UCSB.
Wynnelena Canio (96) attends Dominican College for Medical School.
Jorge Chen’s (93) company, Angelex Technologies, Inc. opened a brand new office on the UC Berkeley Campus on top of Top Dog and has been coaching at Menlo School.
Claudia Cooper (01-02)is attending Spelman College.
Michelle Cua (97-98) is obtaining her Masters at San Jose State in Computer Engineering.
Stephanie Delp (98) is a Psychology Major at UCLA and participated in an internship in DC doing Research at the Department of Education.
Sharlene Gayle Dwinell (97) graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Chemical Engineering and is attending UCSD for her PhD in Pharmacology.
Christina Frailey (94 NCA) is currently a pharmacist.
Wendy Fan (95) graduated from MIT in 2001 and is currently working on her Masters.
Kedra Frelix (95) graduated from UC Berkeley in 99.
Monica Gasca (95) graduated from Cal Poly SLO and is obtaining her Masters at UC Berkeley.
Ryan Gaytan (96) graduated from USC and owns his own printing company.
Rina Gonzales (94) graduated from UC Davis School of Law and passed the CA Bar Exam. She is an associate in Riverside. Rina is also a volunteer attorney at the Inland Empire Latinos Lawyers legal aid clinic, and recently bought her own home.
Maria Gutierrez (00) is a Finance Major at Santa Clara Univ. and plans to graduate in June ‘05.
Chris Jones (00-01) is currently at San Diego State Univ.
Carolyn Kaloostian (99 AZ) graduated from UC Riverside and is in the Bio Medical Program at UCLA.
Juan Lepe (93-94 SCA) is working for Schools Credit Union as a Manager in IT. He ran his first marathon this past summer for the Leukemia Society, in honor of his father.
Jorge Martinez (97) is a 2nd LT, currently stationed with the 4th CMMC in Iraq.
Dan Medal (94) Is on his second tour of duty, this time in Afghanistan. Dan’s daughter, Ashleigh attended NTLP his past summer!
Andrea Medina (00-01) is at UCSB, majoring in Microbiology with an emphasis on Genetic Engineering. She received a special prize for best undergraduate research poster at the 2003 Native American in Science.
Maranda Ward (98) graduated Spelman and earned her MPH from Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine.
James Burkhardt (94-95) graduated UCLA and has worked for a LA City Council Member representing Sun Valley & No. Hollywood. He also worked for Mayor James Hanh and currently is a Community Affairs Mgr for the Pacific Atlantic Grp.
Chris Hadlock attended NTLP in 1999 when he was a junior at Oakridge High in Shingle Springs. He returned to staff at St. Mary’s College in 2001. As a participant Chris impressed us during a talent competition and won the honor to perform his martial arts demonstration at our Closing Program. Already an accomplished martial artist, Chris had 3 Black Belts before his high school graduation.
Today at 27, Chris is embarking on a year-long quest to pursue not only his 5th degree black belt but to get in the best shape of his life physically, mentally and spiritually. A walk though his interesting web site reveals the challenges he has set for himself in the year to come. Among them: 100,000 pushups, 100,000 sit ups, 100 hours of martial arts training, reading, journal entries, mediation and community service work. Chris has never taken his eyes off the achievement of his personal goals since we met him nearly 10 years ago and we’re impressed to see how far he’s come. Visit his web site: www.ayama4.webs.com. When you get there, be sure to click on the link “Private Training” to view Chris’s “money back guarantee for life.”
Are you an ALUMNi of NTLP? What are YOU doing now? Let us know here!
