UA Class of 1995

The Little Engine That Just Couldn't...

2007-05-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

Farewell my friend...

It's a sad day in Springfield as news broke earlier that UA will be closing its doors indefinitely at the end of this school year. This was an event that we had heard might happen, but never imagined that it would occur so soon.

I'll keep my theories/opinions to myself at this time, allowing for all UA students and faculty, past and present, to post their fondest memories and best wishes for the UA community.

More Wedding Bells!!

2006-07-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that Courtney Kinsel and Lisa Dougherty both got engaged recently! Congratulations!

More News!

2006-05-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who checked out the blog! Since I updated it, I've received some more news that classmates want to share. Here goes...

- Carrie Cowden (Rooney) and her husband, David, who will be celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary this year, welcomed Taylor to the family on April 14. She's the third child for the Rooney's. They are also the proud parents of Bryce (age 8) and Nolan (age 5). Carrie is currently working on her Master's degree in child and family therapy.

- Rachel Mann (Tohme) and Terry, her husband, also gave birth to a baby girl, Allison Maria, on March 5. She weighed in at 8lbs 7oz. Rachel says that with three little girls, she's learning how to juggle things, but is having a great time doing it!

Baby Allie

Rachel's Crew

From left: Lilliana (3), Terry, Allie, Sarah (6)

More Reunion Pics!!

2006-05-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

Better late then never...I finally am posting some of my pics from the reunion. Enjoy!

Joe actually painted this chair senior year and it was still in art room!

Dr. Hagen-Stapleton-Cloud?

2006-05-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

Amanda Hagen-Stapleton-Cloud will graduate May 19 with a DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy.) She'll be working in St. Louis at St. John's Hospital rotating through acute (anything in the hospital: burns, ICU, cardiac, general medicine, oncology, etc) and rehabilitation (stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury).

She and her husband, Kevin, are also planning on purchasing a house this summer.

CONGRATULATIONS and GOOD LUCK on passing the boards! Let us know when you hear the good news!

Stuff...

2006-04-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I have almost all of the glitches taken care of so on with the posts!

- Keep Joe Lokaitis in your prayers as he is being deployed to Iraq on May 12.

- Lindsey Stuenkel and her husband, Jeremy, are expecting a baby on September 12! They'll find out the sex of the baby tomorrow. Keep us posted!

- My boyfriend and I (Jodi) have settled into a new place. If you want to update my address in your directory, just send me an e-mail and I can get it to you. In the meantime, here are some pics which chronical our moving day. As if that wasn't transition enough, I was also promoted at work. I'm officially the Prevention, Education and Development Coordinator for Sojourn Shelter and Services, Inc. This means that I get to use my master's degree, work with the media, and make more money! Hoorah!

For those of you with pictures of babies that you've sent me, I'm working with Blogger to get them posted ASAP. They should be up sometime this week. I have lots of 'em!

If you have any news/pictures that you want to share with the group, feel free to e-mail me at beatls8@hotmail.com

Babies, Babies, Everywhere!

2006-04-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

Since the reunion last May, we've been able to welcome some new future Sonics into the UA world. Congratulations to all!

Katie and her husband, Brandon, welcomed Oliver Steven on September 26. He was born 6 weeks early, weighing in at 4 lbs, 4 1/2 oz. Katie assures me that he's doing great! She sent some pics of Oliver, but we're still working out the kinks on trying to post them. I'll get them up as soon as I can, I promise!

Megan Hardy (Hayes) and her husband, Joe, had a baby boy on September 8. Connor Joseph weighed 6 lbs, 14 oz and was 18 inches long. Megan says that life as a parent is great! (see pic below)

Dianne and her husband, John, gave birth to a daughter on August 6. Her name is Olivia. Olivia is living happily with mom, dad, sister Maria (age 11), and big brother Kovin (age 10). Dianne also wanted me to note that her husband is a licensed plumber with Illini Water Systems where he installs water filters and softeners. He's also running his own business doing much of the same. If you need any of his services, call him at JP Plumbing (217-220-0640). Dianne is selling Arbonne products. You can see what it's all about on her website here.

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that Lindsay Adams (Steunkel) and her husband, Jeremy, are expecting and were waiting to learn the sex of their baby. They are having a girl! Hooray!

Congratulations to all new Class of '95 parents!

I know for a fact that we've had some other new class of '95 babies. Feel free to introduce them to everyone here! Just e-mail me the news at beatls8@hotmail.com.

HELLO!

2006-04-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hey! Sorry it's been so long... I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to start updating this site on a regular basis so if there's anything you'd like to share with the group, feel free to send it to me at beatls8@hotmail.com. I'll try to get it up as soon as possible. Thanks! I hope everyone is doing great!

Prayers...

2005-10-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

I was going to post a note of congratulations to Andy Dunlap and Stacey Moffet who got married last Saturday. Instead, I'm asking for all to pray for them. I received a call from Andy's dad last night who said that Andy and Stacey, while honeymooning in Cancun, were evacuated away from their resort to a shelter due to the hurricane. They are stranded there until the airports re-open and they're able to make it back home. While it's a great story for them to share with the grandkids, it's probably a very scary situation for the newlyweds and their friends and family. Keep them in your prayers that they're able to make a safe and quick return to Springfield to start their new lives together.

-jodi

Congratulations!!

2005-08-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

I heard some exciting news this evening and it involves, surprise, another baby! With all of the kids we're having in our class, UA should be able to stay open for decades!

Hooray for Rachel and her husband, Terry, who are expecting their 3rd child in February 2006!

What A Cutie!

2005-07-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

Kim sent along this picture of Ian Michael van Pelt to share with everyone. He was born on January 5, 2005. Congrats Kim and John!

Hagen-Stapleton-Cloud??

2005-07-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Amanda who got married last month. Thanks for sending the pics and best wishes to you both! Sorry we missed you at the reunion...hope to see you again soon!

It's A Boy!

2005-07-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks Courtney for letting us know that Harley and his wife, Michelle, became parents of a new baby boy. Harley Robert Thomas Sharp was born on July 24, weighing 7lbs. 10 oz. Congrats! Be sure to send pictures!

It's A Girl !

2005-07-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Melissa on her new baby girl, Madison Elizabeth, who was born on July 7. Thanks for sharing pics of Madison, her big brother, and the reunion!

Help Save UA!

2005-07-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

Nick posted this as a comment earlier today, but I thought that it was important enough to make a featured post.

"From talking to the remaining faculty from last year (over 13 faculty members left UA including me) things are a bit crazy there. I don't know if anyone read about principal Flamini leaving last week in the State Journal Register, but all the faculty agreed he was a dream come true for UA and everyone was sad to see him go.

Anyway, to make a long story short, things are not going well at UA. Only 175 students are registered for this coming school year - the lowest ever. Some of those 175 have not paid for anything.

Sarah Jones graduated in 1997-98. She works in the office at UA and when the sisters were there, she tried getting the old building on the national historical registers list so that no one can tear it down in the future. For some odd reason, the sisters refused.

Since the sisters are not there anymore, to get the old building on the national historical register, you have to talk to the current owners, the heads of SCI.

Sarah has everything ready and the next time I talk to her, I am going to try and propose that we give all the needed documentation to the heads of SCI and push that they sign everything so that the old building would be on the national register's list.

Could you imagine Ursula Hall being torn down? The chapel? I think that we can all agree that it would be horrible if such a thing occurred. I was wondering, if we face refusal from the heads of SCI, if anyone from our class would sign a petition in support of putting the old building on the national historical register's list. What does everybody think?"

Thanks for the info, Nick! I think that there are a lot of alumni who would also be devastated to see UA destroyed and would do anything that they could to save it. The petition isn't a bad idea. Please keep us posted.

(If you are going to post a comment to this topic, please use the "comment" button that goes with this post. Thanks!)

THE FIRST PICTURES!!

2005-07-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jack for the first round of pictures!!

Bring 'Em On !!

2005-07-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

I've received some e-mails from people who said that they had some pictures from the reunion and wondered how to get them on the website. I'm the moderator for the site so just e-mail them to me at beatls8@hotmail.com and I'll post them as soon as I receive them. Just include any information that you want to be posted along with them. Also if you don't have pics, but have news you want to share with the class, just send it my way and I'll make a post out of it. I can't wait to get the site up and running! Have a great weekend!

-Jodi-

Hey! Class of 1995!!

2005-07-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

I apologize for taking so long to get this up and running...convieniently, right after the reunion, my computer decided to turn itself into nothing more than a paperweight. I think that I have the kinks all worked out and pics will be up soon enough. Until then, feel free to comment on anything you'd like. Share news that you'd like everyone to know...c'mon all you moms-to-be! If anyone has pics from the reunion, e-mail them to me (Jodi) at beatls8@hotmail.com and I'll post them on the site immediately! I hope everyone enjoyed the reunion!