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Class News: December 2024

December 17, 2024

By Lina Giles

A festive collage of Rollins alumni.

As the year winds down and holiday cheer revs up, check out what’s happening in the lives of your fellow Tars.

Welcome to the December 2024 edition of Class News, our snapshot of personal achievements and professional journeys in your alumni community.

Each month we’ll share a collection of the most recent submissions, so don’t forget to keep us up to date on your latest news.

Gatherings & Milestones
From top: Scott Farrell ’03, Declan Link ’90, Ryan Dodds ’06, Ben Munson ’04, Keith Buckley ’88 ’95MBA, Clayton Chesarek ’03, Kevin White ’05 ’07MBA, Tres Loch ’07 ’08MBA, Ryan Williams ’15MBA, Eric Vergati ’07, Michael Aronski ’11, Dennis Chin, Ben Owen ’07, Joe Raymond ’84, Matthew Gowan ’06, Justin Corrado ’03, Anthony Hevia ’03, Daniell Robertson ’06 ‘10MBA, Jon Gruenewald ’09 ’10MBA, and Anthony Santiago ’07; Sendy Sejourne ’23 and members of the Rollins Wellness Ambassador and Health Promotions team.

Gatherings & Milestones

Justin Corrado ’03, a Rollins Sports Hall of Fame inductee and All-America recipient, hosted the second annual men’s soccer fall reunion at his Winter Park home in November. The event brought together men’s soccer coaches and alumni from the early 2000s to celebrate the program’s legacy and raise funds for future initiatives. Corrado, a standout player during his time at Rollins, continues to be involved in the soccer community and remains committed to supporting the development of current and future student-athletes.

Sendy Sejourne ’23, a former wellness ambassador and health promotions intern at Rollins, returned to campus to give a presentation on the importance of social wellness, discussing how the connections she developed at Rollins have helped her navigate both her career and graduate studies. Sejourne is a biological scientist in epidemiology with the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County and is pursuing a master’s of public health at the University of South Florida.

Juliette Bennie ’23, Akmal Ali ’03, Jonathan Rosengarten ’23, and Leah Flaherty ’07.
Clockwise from top left: Juliette Bennie ’23, Akmal Ali ’03, Jonathan Rosengarten ’23, and Leah Flaherty ’07.

Onward & Upward

Akmal Ali ’03 was honored with the ’CUSE50 Alumni Entrepreneur Award for his achievements in entrepreneurship. Ali is the founder of Aluma, a security consulting firm, and inOrbit, a security software company—both of which focus on counterterrorism and national security.

Leah Flaherty ’07 has published her fifth children’s book, A Bunny Queen Christmas. She owns her own imprint and donates all proceeds to charity, focusing on organizations that support children, particularly those in the foster care system. Flaherty also donates books to elementary schools and has contributed thousands of dollars to foster care initiatives, more than 6,000 meals to those in need, and hundreds of books to schools nationwide.

Juliette Bennie ’23 was promoted to associate director of Yale University’s STEM Program Evaluation & Research Lab (STEM-PERL), a leader in systems-based research and evaluation in undergraduate STEM education. In her new role, Bennie will continue to contribute to the lab’s advancement and impact nationwide.

Jonathan Rosengarten ’23, known by his stage name Foínix, is one of the ClimaxPlay chart’s top 100 most streamed electronic artists in the United States. Since graduating, he’s performed in cities like Las Vegas, New York, and Amsterdam and has more than 1.5 million monthly listeners. In November, he signed a multi-year deal with DJ Sam Feldt. Rosengarten credits his business management degree from Rollins for helping him navigate his growing career.

Fellow tars hugging on Mills lawn.

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Keep us in the know about what’s new with you and stay connected to both the personal and professional adventures of your fellow Tars.


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