Class Notes

Sam Franklin, LA13, was named 2020 Seattle District Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Franklin founded Greenvelope.com, a paperless stationery company, out of his dorm room at WashU. The company — offering custom-animated digital wedding invitations, birthday and holiday cards, and invitations — grew from a one-person startup to employ a full-time staff of 14 and now serves 5,000 business clients in 35 countries.

Jay E. Evans, LA13, is a tax associate in the New York City office of Debevoise & Plimpton. 

Claire Downs, LA13, is back home in Baltimore, working as an animal operations specialist at the Maryland Zoo. Downs oversaw the replacement of all lighting in animal buildings with LED bulbs, improving energy efficiency and saving the zoo thousands of dollars per year.

Jason Dorn, EN13, is a captain in the U.S. Air Force, flying C-17s at Charleston (S.C.) Air Force Base.

Bridgette Zou, LA12, FA12, shares with great pride of authorship that her debut children’s book, Norman and the Nom Nom Factory (Astra Publishing House, Starberry Books Single Titles, 2018), was featured on Julie Andrews’ podcast, “Julie’s Library.” Andrews was joined by Lee Overtree and Peter McNerney from the “Story Pirates” podcast to voice characters to help bring the book to life. Zou both wrote and illustrated the book.

Gabriel Magraner, LA12, earned a master’s degree focusing on politics and culture in Brazil and the Caribbean from New York University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Charles Jenkins III, GR12, in 2018 achieved his longtime dream of moving to Europe, where he works for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. 

Moustapha Gassama, LW12, was appointed assistant county attorney with the litigation practice group in Harris County, Texas. As such, he is part of the Community Protection Team, a program that uses civil law to rid neighborhoods of enterprises that foster crime. Gassama previously was an assistant city attorney with the city of Houston.

Arif Soto, GR11, is a corporate and securities associate at Carmel, Milazzo & DiChiara, LLP. He represents companies in corporate and securities matters.

Kara Powder, GM11, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Clemson University, received a $1.17 million National Science Foundation CAREER Award grant to investigate gene regulatory elements that determine craniofacial development and evolution. The CAREER Award is the most prestigious NSF award for faculty members early in their careers as researchers and educators. The awards have an educational component, and Powder’s long-term goal is to increase diversity in STEM fields.