Santa Clara Magazine

Samir Kaji MBA ’08 joined First Republic Bank in Menlo Park, Calif. Kaji, who has 13 years of banking experience, works with venture capital and private equity clients in Silicon Valley. Prior to joining First Republic, Kaji worked for Silicon Valley Bank.

Ashkon Jafari ’08 was recently invited to the White House to meet President Barack Obama and talk to White House officials about the critical issue of college completion and career readiness. “We are thrilled by our recent White House invitation! This step by the Obama Administration clearly reflects the urgency our country faces in improving college completion and making sure our workforce and economy stay competitive,” said Ashkon Jafari, co-founder and executive director of StudentMentor.org.

With nearly 50 percent of students not graduating from college, the national focus has moved from college access to college completion. This has been emphasized by the President over the course of several State of the Union addresses. The president underscored his pledge to make the United States the world leader in college attainment by 2020, promising to increase the percentage of people ages 25 to 34 that hold an associate’s degree or a bachelor degree from 40 percent to 60 percent. President Obama has even stated, “I want us to produce eight million more college graduates by 2020.”

StudentMentor.org seeks to achieve this goal by leveraging innovative technology at the core of its national mentoring program. Through this online platform, college students can conveniently search for, select and work with mentors to achieve their academic and career goals. StudentMentor.org’s mission is to increase college completion and enhance student career readiness thereby enabling a robust 21st century workforce and community.

Mentoring plays a huge role in reversing the trend of poor college completion rates, “According to a U.S. Department of Education study, students who met with advisors regularly during their freshmen year had 170% greater chance of completing their bachelor’s degree than those that did not.”

StudentMentor.org currently has over 2,000 mentors and provides its program to students from more than 600 universities nationwide. "We think this is just the beginning and can’t wait to scale our program to help tens of thousands of students every year complete college and prepare for the workforce,” said Stephanie Bravo, co-founder and president of StudentMentor.org.

About StudentMentor.org

StudentMentor.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase college completion and enhance student career readiness thereby enabling a robust 21st century workforce and community. StudentMentor.org seeks to achieve this goal by leveraging innovative technology at the core of its national mentoring program. Through this online platform, college students can conveniently find and work with mentors to achieve their academic and career goals.

Josh Higgins '08 is a police officer with the City of Santa Clara.

Moira Groh ’08 graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry in May with a Doctorate of Dental Surgery degree. She has accepted a dental residency position at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Steve Grey M.A. '08 is heading to Nairobi, Kenya as a Kiva Fellow to work with Small and Micro Enterprise Programme (SMEP). He spent 20 years as a Silicon Valley high tech before getting his master's in counseling psychology at Santa Clara, and then traveling and volunteering in 26 countries between July 2008 and August 2009. 

Keith Gillette LL.M. 08 is a partner with Archer Norris in Walnut Creek. His practice encompasses trial work in the areas of admiralty, intellectual property, and large-exposure tort litigation.

Christopher Foster '08 and Renee Lucas '08 were married on January 1, 2011 in the Gonzaga University Chapel in Spokane, Washington, by Father Steve Kieta, S.J. '90. Also in attendance were the best man Christoffer Lee '08, grooms man Omid Faghiri '08, Grace Nixon '09, Jessica Inwood '07, Steven Mielsch '08, Lindsey Dunn '09, Roey Rahmil '07 and Ashton Easterday '08. Christopher and Renee currently live in Berkeley, California.

Andrew Engel '08 writes: "After two incredible years in the Peace Corps in Tanzania (2008-2010) where I taught secondary level biology, I settled in Portland, Ore., and found a job as a pre-school teacher for a year. Though I loved the energy of that age, I have come back to secondary education, currently studying for an MA in Science Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University and will be teaching in a New York City public high school come September as a Peace Corps Fellow."

Dr. Sharvari Dixit M.A. ’08 has been appointed as the director of the Global Research of Indian Diaspora at San Jose State University. She is also a teaching faculty at SJSU.

James Alexander DeMuth ’08, son of Dennis Alden and Jodie Lynn DeMuth, of Friday Harbor and Bellevue, and Leah Christinne Reid of New Hampshire plan to marry in Pleasanton, Calif., in August. DeMuth, a 2004 graduate of Seattle's The Northwest School, attended Santa Clara University as an undergraduate, where he earned a bachelors of science in mechanical engineering, and then earned a masters of science in mechanical engineering at Stanford University (2010). He is a mechanical engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif.

Freshman Dorm: Walsh

After graduating with her bachelor's degree, Jen Darling '06, M.A. '08 taught 4th grade in East Side San Jose for a year and realized that teaching was not her true calling. She went on to receive her Teaching Credential and Masters in Education with an emphasis in Correctional Psychology & Alternative Education from Santa Clara University and now works happily back at SCU as a fundraiser.

Sara Dabkowski J.D. '08 was recently appointed to the position of deputy district attorney for Mendocino County.  She interned at the San Francisco and Santa Cruz District Attorney's Offices and is currently assigned to the traffic court in Ukiah. 

Michelle E. Curtis '04 J.D. '08 and Joseph Harris, Jr. were married on July 28, 2012 in Tiburon, Calif. Bronco attendees included Betsy Conway '04, Jenny DeVoto '03, Leila (Khalil) Lewis '02, Hayley (Fullerton) Servatius '02 and Matt Servatius '02, MBA '11. The couple resides in San Francisco and St. Helena.

Chandice Cronk '08 announced in July that she will be in Spain this year after signing a professional contract to play basketball in Huelva, Spain for CB Conquero. The club is located on the southwest coast of Spain.

Craig Corica '04 and Melissa (Meek) Corica '04, J.D. '08 welcomed their first child, Logan Michael Corica. He was born on April 17, 2011 and weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces. The family resides in Alameda, Calif.

Jessica Coblentz '08 begins a Master of Theological Studies degree at Harvard Divinity School in Septemeber 2009. There, she will pursue a conentration in "Women, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion" from a Roman Catholic theological perspective. Also, Theta Alpha Kappa recently awarded Coblentz the 2009 Albert Clark Award for the best undergraduate essay in religious studies or theology.

Sara Sorto ’08, M.A. ’10 married Dave Carvalho in Los Gatos, Ca on October 7, 2012. They live in Santa Clara where Sara teaches at Santa Clara High.

Kristin (Love) Boscia '03, J.D. '08 and Chris Boscia J.D. '08 welcomed their first child, Katherine Love Boscia, on June 23, 2011. The family lives in Santa Clara.

Sam Baker '08 and Brian Belcher '09 are making their mark as environmentalists and businessmen in El Salvador. Baker is founder and director of Computodos, a San Salvador-based company that sells high-quality computers at low cost to low-income sectors, primarily students, schools, nongovernmental organizations, and the poor. Baker majored in finance at Santa Clara University, with an interest in making a difference in the world rather than landing a job on Wall Street or with an investment firm. After graduating, he traveled to over a dozen countries before starting an internship in El Salvador with microfinance organization Kiva, which specializes in giving small, low-interest loans to cottage industry entrepreneurs. Baker recognized that a big problem for students and others was access to computers. Baker is partnering with fellow Santa Clara grad Brian Belcher, and the two researched and found out about InterConnection, a Seattle-based Microsoft Registered Refurbisher of computers. Buying and importing computers with licensed software from Interconnection.org, they are able to sell a complete computer package for $180, hundreds less than what was available in El Salvador and a superior product to computers and pirated software available through less reputable sources. "We are able to meet a need and help people cross the digital divide, while also keeping hundreds of discarded computers out of landfills," Baker told a reporter recently. 

Margaret Aringo, FSJ, STD ’08 is the chairperson of an organization of African religious women that spans eight eastern and central African nations, Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA).  The organization launched a five-year strategic plan, focusing on fostering leadership skills, communication techniques, and a continued centering on human rights and social justice issues.  Introducing the plan, she gave a speech asking, “Where would the Church be today in the 21st century without Sisters?”  In the foreword to the plan, she wrote it is ACWECA’s “collective responsibility to ensure that the love of Christ is fulfilled through the services” offered in the new plan.  Ncronline.org-african-sisters-launch-eight-nation-strategic-plan