Zac is continuing to thrive in college at Lewis University. He has picked up a Philosophy minor to go along with his major in Computer Science with an emphasis in Cyber Security. After classes ended in May, he went out to California to spend a few weeks with his grandfather learning more about sailing boats. He also went camping and spent time with Grandma Judy, before returning to Illinois for a summer internship at Fermi Labs. He was in a sketch comedy troupe at Lewis which he really enjoyed. He has grown his hair out long and has a glorious set of curls. Anytime he starts thinking about cutting it, someone inevitably compliments him on his hair, so he keeps it around for a little longer. He regularly works out at the gym, but this summer he needed to use his Flipper Zero to replicate the pass code to the Lewis gym, so he could work out at times more convenient to his schedule. Of course, no one questioned why he was at the gym exercising before it was open, because they assumed he had permission to be there.
Kat is working her way through high school. She can’t wait to be done taking classes that don’t especially interest her. She spends way too much time watching Dimension 20 podcasts and creating backstories for her D&D characters, but she is keeping up with her schoolwork mostly. She spent two weeks this summer backpacking in the Colorado wilderness with a group from high school. She also went out to California with Mariah and spent time hiking with her Radcliffe cousins in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Kat enjoyed attending the Iowa Irish Fest with Brian as well. Kat started taking college classes at Wartburg as a high school junior. She enjoyed taking Introduction to Computers and Foundational Calculus. Kat enjoyed getting to know some of the college students who will be going with her to Germany next May with Brian.
Brian was lucky enough to be on sabbatical in May and the Fall. He participated in a Reconnect Workshop on Risk Assessment in June in Rhode Island. He turned it into a geocaching road trip that went through Georgia and South Carolina. He got to spend a few days with Jeri and Nat. He used his sabbatical to publish a teaching module inspired by the workshop. Brian was busy over the summer planning the annual Iowa geocaching event, Hike N Seek which was held in September. He helped hide caches along the bike trail, along the river for the kayakers, and planned a poker run for the more relaxed geocachers. It went off without any disasters. Brian completed the Wartburg TriByKnight sprint triathlon in May and spent a week in July riding RAGBRAI. Brian also went out to Colorado in September for the second Birgen Brothers Birthday Bonanza, which included a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park and a visit to the Great American Beer Fest. Brian continues to serve on the Waverly City Council.
Mariah has been very active at Wartburg. She was chair of the committee tasked with designing the new Wartburg General Education plan, known as the THRIVE plan. It was passed at the end of the Winter semester and the work of creating the courses to deliver the plan took place over the summer. Mariah was selected to be chair of Faculty Council again, a task well suited to her skills. In the summer, she attended a workshop on the teaching of Calculus in Boston, so she could spend some time with Jeri and Nat. She took Kat hiking with her brother Torrey’s family and then attended MathFest in Florida with several deliberately selected RAYGUN shirts. At the end of the year she was promoted to the job of Assistant Dean for General Education, which will result in less teaching and more meetings, but will assist the college in implementing the new General Education plan.
We hope the coming year treats you well. As we adapt to our children growing up and our lives changing in response, we hope you find joy in the people around you.