Gustavus Recent Alumni

Thanks to all who came out to join us last week at Unmapped Brewing!

If you’re interested in getting more involved with GRA, reach out to the committee at [email protected]!

Check out our next GRA Committee highlight - Hubert Ngabirano ’18! 👑👑👑

Hubert was a Political Science major at Gustavus, and was involved in Student Senate, Prepare Ministries, and was a Collegiate Fellow!

A fun fact about Hubert is that he had his very first English conversation at age 16! 🤯

Hubert says, “I am a Gustie for life. I enjoy being back on campus to visit my sister or my host family in town. I like participating at the State Fair Gustavus Booth and I’m one of the officers for my class.

I enjoy GRA because it allows me to connect with a wider group of Gusties across a decade. Educational events advance my professional life. Social events allow me to remain connected to my Gustie peers.”

Hubert is currently a Commercial Real Estate Professional (Brokerage). 🏢🏙

Our next GRA Committee intro is Amy Vold ‘14! She’s also our newest board member 😊

Amy was a Management Major at GAC. During her time at GAC she was involved in Gustavus Women in Leadership, Campus Activities Board, the Mentoring Program and Tau Mu Tau. She also studied abroad for a semester in New Zealand 🇳🇿, where she found her love for the outdoors!

Post-graduation she keeps the Gustie spirit alive by hanging out with her Gustie friends 👑👑👑, attending GRA events and going to other Gustavus events like Homecoming! Amy can’t wait to connect with more Gusties in the community through GRA.

She enjoys spending her free time trying new restaurants, exploring the outdoors, hanging out with her husband (who is also a Gustie!) and their two cats 🐈 , as well as her family.

Amy is currently a Senior Retail Account Manager at the Bluebird group where she helps bring apparel & accessory brands to life at Target.

Today’s GRA Committee feature is Vice Chair Courtney Castleberry ‘16!

Hi friends— my name is Courtney and I currently serve as the Vice President on our board. I graduated from GAC in 2016 with a double major in Psychological Science & Sociology and Anthropology with a minor in Dance.

Fun fact: I am a first generation college student! I work for a nonprofit called Northside Achievement Zone in Minneapolis and I love it! Closing the achievement gap & creating equitable opportunities and TRUE access to college is what fuels my passion for working at NAZ.

I love to be outside, drink chai lattes, and celebrate my birthday 🎉

The GRA board has been a great way to stay connected to events and initiatives hosted by the alumni office! If you, too, like hiking, modern dance, and enjoying a good book— let’s be buddies! I always love connecting with other Gusties 🖤💛

Up next for GRA Board introductions is Alicia Lhotka ‘19!

Alicia was an elementary education major and also got a middle level math endorsement.
At Gustavus, Alicia played viola 🎻 in the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra and was a leader for Gustavus Cru. She was also involved in United!

Alicia loved Gustavus because of the great community and strong culture of academic excellence. She also enjoyed learning about Gustavus’ Swedish 🇸🇪 heritage and was St. Lucia. She also got to travel to Sweden and participate in the Wallenberg Internship Program.

Today she is still incredibly thankful for the Gustie community! Alicia serves on the GRA committee because she wants to help other Gusties stay in touch with one another and foster their love of Gustavus!! 👑👑👑

Alicia teaches 2nd grade in Alexandria, MN and will be getting married 👰‍♀️ this August. In her free time she volunteers at Mount Carmel Ministries and plays her viola in the community orchestra.

Our next GRA committee intro is McKenzie Swenson ‘18!

McKenzie studied Exercise Physiology 🏋️‍♀️ and minored in Coaching. She was on the golf ⛳️ team all four years, and was even captain her senior year! She also managed the volleyball 🏐 team her junior and senior year - they made it all the way to the elite 8!

McKenzie was also a superfan for many sports including Tennis 🎾 , Volleyball (before she managed), Basketball 🏀 and others. Her junior year, she studied abroad in Scandinavia for J-Term with the Olympic Quest program.

She currently works at the 3M Open (PGA TOUR golf tournament) - how cool!

Our next GRA Committee intro is our Chair, Marissa Haeny ‘16!

Marissa was a biology👩🏻‍🔬 and political science 🇺🇸 double major and French 🇫🇷 at GAC! She was also a CF, a bio lab TA, and worked at Patty’s.

She loves being a part of GRA because it helps foster a sense of community in her life after the Hill, and loves staying in touch with fellow Gusties. 👑👑👑

Marissa works as an Account Manager for metroConnections, where she manages clients and plans conferences, meetings, events, and incentive travel programs! ✈️ She loves being an auntie to her friends’ kiddos and a dog mom to Lola!

Up next on our GRA Committee highlights: Wes Baish ‘13!

Hello! My name is Wes Baish, Class of 2013 with a degree in chemistry 🧑‍🔬⚛️🧪 I currently work as a product development engineer for Sciencix, Inc. in Burnsville, MN, creating cost-effective replacement components used in high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) instruments.

I joined GRA in 2014 hoping to facilitate meaningful events that inspire alumni to continue carrying GAC's 5 core values with them in their next chapter off the Hill. 👑👑👑

I can't get enough of the outdoors and will never complain about sore shoulders after a long day of paddling. 🛶 🚣‍♂️

Check out our second GRA Committee highlight - Meishon Behboudi ‘15, a third generation Gustie!

Meish was a Psychological Science major and Peace Studies ☮️ minor at GAC. As most Gusties, she was extremely active on campus and was in Theta Xi Gamma, Wednesday Friends, KGSM Radio, Intramurals, Psi Chi Psychological Honors Society, Order of Omega Greek Honors Society, Psych Research, and C in CC 🎶

Post-graduation, Meish keeps the Gustie spirit alive by spending time with her Gustie friends whether that is in person, Facetime, or since the pandemic via Zoom. She loves to go to events like Homecoming or various Gustavus Recent Alumni gatherings. She also love to wear Gustie gear!

She says GRA is a great group to not only connect and reconnect with those in your year, but also grow your Gustie community with people who have graduated in the last 10 years. GRA has a little something for everyone from social events to service events and everything in between.

Currently, she is a Doctoral Student in Counseling Psychology! 🎓