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Alumni Updates 06-07
Martin Pitt Bradley ’98 and two fellow students at Concordia University recently won third prize in the competition for the Bourses Pierre-Péladeau. The prize, valued at $20,000, was awarded for developing dorktoys.com, a commercial Web site specializing in the sale of games and figurines based on comic-book characters or popular rock stars. Martin's partner Eva Mattian says the prize money will go toward finalizing their Web site, raising the profile of their business and developing an original game using action figures.
Maurice Gibbs ’90 wrote in November: “I will be heading to Tanzania (Africa) in December as a member of a Canadian community college expedition to actively engage Canadian school-aged students with respect to the African continent (its people, its challenges, its opportunities). In my segment of the trip, I will join a group of parents and students from Elmwood School (Ottawa, Canada) to help build a school in the village of Rongaii, attempt an ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro, and visit the Serengeti National park. I will also visit the island of Zanzibar on my own once the rest of the group returns to Canada.
“Thanks also to my old alma mater, Selwyn House in Montreal (Courtney!) for initiating this entire process last year.
“Preparations for the trip are in the final stages for me and the high school contingent; the actual core college team, now two months into their journey, are well on their way to meeting us in Arusha, Tanzania in just over two weeks. The scope of the project Algonquin College envisioned keeps surpassing my imagination in terms of the number of legacy activities which they will have initiated by the time the African expedition is over. My part of this project remains a great opportunity to visit the continent for the first time (22 years after my brother’s trip with SHS to Egypt) and do the little I can to help further this valuable project’s goals.”
Those who are interested can follow the African trip on the following Web pages:
Official Algonquin College “Expedition: Africa” portal
http://lts3.algonquincollege.com/africa/
“Expedition: Africa” news reports
http://www.achannel.ca/ottawa/promo/africa/index.html
Zachary Balit 2009 is making his mark as a competitive young golfer in his new home at Out-of-door Academy in Sarasota, Florida. Zach’s father reportedly sold his women’s swimwear business in Montreal and moved the entire family to Florida last August so that Zach and his sister, Gabrielle, could play golf year ’round. Zach, who trains at the Missing Link Golf Academy, rose to the challenge and shot a two-under-par 69 on October 9 to qualify his school team for a regional tournament in Naples the following week, where he shot an 84.
Tim Zyto ’82 is reportedly enjoyed great success with his furniture company, Montauk, which designs handmade high-end couches. The company has branches in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and New York, and has sold couches to Brooke Shields, Mark Wahlberg, Jackie Chan and David Suzuki. Calvin Klein apparently bought 20 pieces for his place in the Hamptons. The Montauk factory on Notre Dame St. in Montreal employs 25 people.
Torrey Mitchell 2002 is emerging as a team leader both on and off the ice, according to a lengthy feature in the January 26 issue of the Burlington Free Press. Torrey, who plays for the University of Vermont Catamounts, was shifted in mid-season from centre to right wing. “I never really played wing…,” Torrey said, “[but] I don’t have a problem with [it] if that’s what’s best for the team.”
Aside from his willingness to be a team player, Torrey has demonstrated an ability to inspire and motivate his teammates when their confidence may start to flag, a quality his coach has seen in action recently. He describes Torrey as “a player who’s starting to not only play well himself but also put other guys on his back and get the team believing in him and believing in each other.”
Charles Tingley ’91 writes: “My wife, Sarah, and I have recently moved to Wellington, New Zealand. After spending five years in private practice in Toronto, I’ve taken a job as senior legal counsel to New Zealand’s business competition regulator. We are loving New Zealand, and have recently had a baby daughter, Hazel, born May 1 in Wellington. Among other things, living in New Zealand is great for enjoying the outdoors and watching wall-to-wall rugby. I’d love to hook up with any alumni who might be living in or visiting New Zealand. Please drop me a line at Charles.Tingley@comcom.govt.nz.
Ken Yau ’92 writes: “I’m now residing in Richmond Hill, Ontario with my wife, Edith, and three lovely daughters, Zoe and the twins, Madeline and Ella. Over the past seven years, I have been working for an energy industry consultancy called The Structure Group, which has me on the road every week of the year. If you’d like to keep in touch, I can be reached at ken.yau@thestructuregroup.com.
David Miller ’80 writes: “I have recently accepted the position of President and Chief Operating Officer of NGRAIN Corporation in Vancouver, BC. NGRAIN is focused on 3-D visualization technologies for the aerospace /defence and discrete manufacturing industries. Having been involved with NGRAIN from its inception in 2001 through late 2004, we are finally relocating to Vancouver. With respect to the new job, I began commuting between Montreal and Vancouver in April, and my family (wife Janet, and two children Julia, 9 (The Study, class of 2015) and Joey, 7 (SHS, Class of 2017) will be moving to Vancouver in August. We look forward to returning to Montreal and the SHS community in the not-too-distant future.
Daniel Wilner 2001 was chosen to give the oration at his Harvard graduation ceremonies at on May 8. A video of the 356th Harvard Commencement—including Dan’s speech—can be found on the Web at http://video2.harvard.edu:8080/ramgen/pluto/Commencement2007AMArchive.rm (he speaks at 1:18:00).
“All the boys are doing very well, writes Daniel’s father, Dr. Asher Wilner. “Ben 2005 will be starting at McGill in the fall. Josh 1999 just completed his second year at McGill Law School and has been named an editor-in-chief of the McGill Health Law Journal. We remain so grateful to Selwyn House for giving our sons such wonderful preparation for all they are doing.”
