Alumni Profiles

 Mike Kolbay ’63 

»What college did you attend? Michigan State University; Defense Language Institute (professional level Italian); United States Army Command and General Staff College and numerous other military schools where I earned M.S. and M.A. equivalents 

» What degree(s) did you earn? B.A. in Social Science/Political Science; M.S. and M.A. equivalents from military schools

» What is your current position? Program Manager, Office of Classification, United States Department of Energy 

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep? It’s a tie between A.Z. Holley (Assistant Headmaster and Math teacher) and Mr. Dumarae (Ancient History and Advanced Literature) 

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS? Digging trenches and laying in drainage pipe for the soccer field at the Elm Farm Campus 

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why? Advanced Literature (Where else can you study Comparative Religion (Old & New Testaments and the Koran) in high school, while also finding Chaucer to be insanely funny?) 

» What is the most important lesson you learned at RPS? Integrity, education, and critical thinking will guarantee your future. (Prep made me think more that the first three years of college did.)

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction? My ongoing role of twenty years as a Scoutmaster working with teens transitioning to young adults. 

» What is your favorite quote?“…it does not require many words to speak the truth.”--Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

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 Camile Melton Brown ’98 

» What colleges did you attend?  Rutgers University, Pace University 

» What degrees did you earn?  B.S. (Rutgers) and M.S. in Teaching (Pace)

» What is your current position?  6^th Grade Science Teacher at KIPP Lynn Academy (Massachusetts), ballet/jazz dance instructor, dance minister

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  Ms. Glennon!!

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  Spring break lacrosse training camp in Florida

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  I have two.  Shakespeare with Mrs. Herzberg.  She was a little woman with a ton of personality and the energy to match!  She had a way of making the words dance off the page and perform right before your eyes.  I don’t remember the exact title of the course but I think it was American Government with Mr. Bartlett.  He presented the topics in such a way that was engaging and forced us to think critically.  He also was the first person to introduce me to Newsweek magazine….I’ve been addicted ever since! 

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  There are a few:  purchasing our first home; watching my husband receive his M.S. in administrative leadership from Boston College; finding out we’re pregnant with our first child; obtaining my dance ministry license. 

» What is your favorite quote?  “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.”  --Wayne Gretzky

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 Gerard Kamm ’54 

» What college did you attend?  Newark Institute of Technology 

» What degree did you earn?  B.S. in Chemical Engineering

» What is your current position?  Retired, formerly Director of Hydrocarbon Supply and Company Product Marketing and Sales at Union Carbide, Brookfield CT

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  My classmate John Kuhlthau

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS? Sports

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  Math with Mr. Blake.  I received a basic foundation for making things happen.

» What was the most important lesson you learned at RPS?  Interpersonal skills/Getting along with people of varied backgrounds

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  Making money in the stock market, gardening and skiing 

» What is your favorite quote?  “Live life like a cavalry charge.”

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 Ellen Sandles ’78 

» What college did you attend?  Barnard College 

» What degree did you earn?  Bachelor’s Degree awarded by Columbia University 

» Who was your most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  Mrs. Spratford who taught French

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  Tennis (I was on the team for five years.)

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  French.  I enjoyed learning the language and being able to travel there.  Mrs. Spratford helped my family plan the trip for my 16^th birthday present.

» What was the most important lesson you learned at RPS?  Homework.  Boy was I prepared for college. 

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  Establishing a business 

» What is your favorite quote?  “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”  --Calvin Coolidge

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 Caroline DeHart ’04 

» What colleges did you attend?  University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), currently at Princeton University 

» What degrees did you earn?  B.S. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (UMBC, 2007), M.S. in Molecular Biology (Princeton, 2009)

» What is your current position?  Ph.D. Candidate and New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research Predoctoral Fellow, Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University 

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  The amazing and wonderful Mrs. Szeles 

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  Backstage Tech – four years of delightfully theatrical mayhem

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  The Waksman Project, which provided my first glimpse into true scientific research

» What is the most important lesson you learned at RPS?  Being an eccentric nerd is hardly a liability 

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  My ongoing research, which I hope will point the way towards an improved cancer therapy while simultaneously resolving the decades-old controversy surrounding oncolytic adenoviruses.

» What is your favorite quote?  “An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”  --Niels Bohr

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 Akin Salawu ’92 

» What schools did you attend?  Stanford University, Columbia University 

» What degrees did you earn?  B.F.A. and M.F.A.

» What is your current position?  Web Producer 

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  Barbara Herzberg 

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  Drama

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  AP Calculus because it taught me to cultivate fortitude and I got a 5 on the AP exam

» What is the most important lesson you learned at RPS?  If you don’t risk anything, you risk even more.

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  Probably my two years on the Obama campaign, because we won the election. 

» What is your favorite quote?  “Better put some beauty back while you got the energy.”  --Ani Defranco

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Tracy Bunzel Giles ’81 

»What college(s) did you attend? Mills College and Golden Gate University

» What degree(s) did you earn? B.A. in Economics 1985 (Mills) and MBA 1991 (Golden Gate)

» What is your current position? Founder & Principle, B & T Bookkeeping, Inc.

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep? Madame Spratford

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS? Starting the girls soccer team in 1978 and selling ads for the yearbook

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why? Computer Science: Rutgers Prep was ahead of its time in 1979-1981 by providing a main frame on campus where we could learn to program and play games. This experience propelled me to work for Goldman Sachs when I was sixteen, CompuServe at seventeen, IBM at twenty, and assist in the launching of Maxis the makers of SimCity and the SIMS.

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction? I have many things I feel proud of, these are my top six: I have been married to William Brody Giles for seventeen years. I have a twelve year old daughter, Sarah Grace Giles, acting at the Berkeley Playhouse (Julia Morgan Theatre, Berkeley, California). I am raising my niece Jasmin Bunzel (my sister died of lung cancer in 2009) and we are helping her to adjust to life without parents. I own a business with my husband and the company has been operating since 2001. I joined the Rotary Club of El Cerrito and I won a $50,000 grant and started a Pediatric Ophthalmology Clinic at the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Nepal. Over one thousand children are receiving eye care because of my Rotary Club’s financial support. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and went through four surgeries in 2009-2010, seven weeks of radiation in 2010 and have beat cancer. I am proud to say I am a cancer survivor. 

» What is your favorite quote? “Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time.” --Betsy Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

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Adil Ahmed ’05

» What college did you attend?  Columbia University – Columbia College

» What degree did you earn?  Bachelor of Arts – History

» What is your current position?  Strategist with AFSCME (American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees) Maryland

» Who was the most memorable person at RPS?  I can’t name one person!  I felt embraced by the RPS community and all students felt pride in being a part of that community.

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  Student Council

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  English I and II with Mrs. Redl.  She was the first person who taught me how to write well and how to write persuasively.

» What is the most important lesson you learned at RPS?  I learned to dive in, step out of my comfort zone, work hard, and never be afraid of asking for help.

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  My work in Maryland is extremely exciting, and I am enjoying having a positive impact on hundreds of workers’ lives and the direction of labor politics in this state.  I recently changed the oil in my car, without a mechanic, and I am very proud of that.

» What is your favorite quote?  “All things are ready, if our minds be so.”  --King Henry V in Henry V, Act 4 Scene 3

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Christina Danile ’97

» What college did you attend? St. John’s University

»What degree(s) did you earn? B.S. and M.S. in Accounting

» What is your current position? Senior Manager at Rothstein Kass

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep? Mrs. Glennon

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS? I had a lot of fun helping as score keeper for the softball team.

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why? AP US History with Mrs. Wacker. She really cared about her students and was an excellent teacher. She knew how to be challenging and fun.

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction? My promotion was really big for me.

» What is your favorite quote? “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.” --Eleanor Roosevelt

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Jennifer Cooper Bahler ’91

»What college(s) did you attend? Muhlenberg College, Middlebury College and Columbia University

» What degree(s) did you earn? B.A. in Spanish and Political Science, M.A. in Spanish, M.A. and Ed.M. in Counseling Psychology

» What is your current position? Private Practice, Psychotherapy

» Who was the most memorable person at RPS? Mr. Stefani, Mr. Herzberg, Mrs. Herzberg, Mr. Clark-Vonville, Mrs. Gooen and Mr. Karman

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS? Theatre and Forensics

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why? Mr. Stefani’s class taught me about the importance of reading from media sources of a variety of perspectives; Mr. Clark-Vonville somehow got me to pass the AP Calculus exam thereby eliminating the need for me to take math in college

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction? Being a mommy and starting my own business

» What is your favorite quote? “If you’re going through hell, keep on going!” --Rodney Atkins

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 Akash Shukla ’04

» What college did you attend?  New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)

» What degree did you earn?  Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering

» What is your current position?  Industrial Engineer at S.S. White Technologies in Piscataway, NJ

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  Mrs. Mary Szeles

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  Being a Madrigal Singer

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  Writing with Dr. Loy because the techniques he taught in that class have become a regular part of my writing style, and I have even tried to impart it to other people.

» What is the most important lesson you learned at RPS?  In order to succeed at anything you must be willing to give it your ALL

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  Publishing my book, Measure of a Man

» What is your favorite quote?  “You can’t demand respect – you have to earn it.”

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Jordan Hollander ’06

» What college did you attend?  Lycoming College

» What degree did you earn?  B.A. in Political Science, International Studies and French, summa cum laude

» What is your current position?  Attending graduate school at Trinity College, Dublin pursuing a M. Sc. in Comparative European Politics

» Who are the most memorable persons at Rutgers Prep?  All of my teachers, coaches and friends

» What is the most memorable activity at RPS?  Representing the school on the golf team and when the Madrigal Singers achieved a perfect score at the ACDA Choir Festival

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  Comparative Politics and Foreign Policy.  This course sparked my interest in international relations and world politics.  Ms. McMillen was a great teacher and always made the class interesting and fun.

» What is the most important lesson you learned at RPS?  To embrace challenge and to always seek to challenge yourself

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  Graduating summa cum laude from Lycoming and being accepted to law school and to graduate school in Ireland

» What is your favorite quote?  “Ambition must be made to counter ambition.”  --James Madison

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Julie Ciamporcero Avetta ’93

» What colleges did you attend?  Yale University, New School for Social Research, University of Chicago

» What degrees did you earn?  B.A. cum laude (Yale), M. A. (New School), J.D. with honors (Chicago)

» What is your current position?  Trial Attorney, U. S. Department of Justice, Tax Division

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  The inimitable Barbara Herzberg

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  DRAMA!

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  French with Ms. Mansfield gave me the most enduring skill from high school, inspired me to major in linguistics, and provided my foundation for classical singing.

» What was the most important lesson you learned at RPS?  Breathe from your diaphragm and PROJECT your voice!

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  Reviving my long-dormant side career as an amateur singer.  This past year I sang the Verdi Requiem, the Rachmaninoff Vespers, the Bach St. Matthew Passion and a bunch of other wonderful concerts at the Kennedy Center, the National Cathedral, Wolf Trap and St. Matthew’s Cathedral.  In October 2010 I will be making my Carnegie Hall debut in Mahler’s Second and Eighth Symphonies.  It’s been nng short of magnificent, and feeds the soul like nothing else.

» What is your favorite quote?  “Life isn’t about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself.”  --George Bernard Shaw

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Krishnakshi Das ’99

» What colleges did you attend?  Harvard University, The George Washington University Law School

» What degrees did you earn?  A.B. and J.D.

» What is your current position?  Associate, Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Mergers and Acquisitions Attorney – New York City)

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  Too many wonderful teachers to name

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  The rich intellectual experience

» What is the most important lesson you learned at RPS?  Significance of diversity and tolerance

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  Traveling to Japan and Hong Kong (both for the first time) on my own earlier this summer

» What is your favorite quote?  “Luck is when opportunity meets preparation.”  --Seneca

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Garth (Gary) Coombs ’75 

» What colleges did you attend?  Stanford University, University of Denver, University of Colorado 

» What degrees did you earn?  B.S. – Engineering, M.B.A. – Management, Ph.D. – Organizational Behavior & Organization Theory, minor in Social Psychology 

» What is your current position?  Associate Professor – Management at Ohio University

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  Hilda Barr Dixon (7^th grade English)

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  Soccer

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  7^th grade English gave me a solid grounding in grammar that has always served me well.  As a college professor, I see the poor level of skills that undergraduates, even those in the top 10-20% of their high school classes, arrive with in terms of writing.  I am always grateful that I was given those skills early on.

» What recent activity has provided you with the most satisfaction?  I received my college’s Award for Excellence in Professional Activity and Service for the third time this year. 

» What is your favorite quote?  “Wanting to teach is like wanting to have children or to write or to paint or dance or invent or think through a mathematical problem that only a few have been able to solve.  It has an element of mystery, involving as it does the yearly encounter with new people, the fear that you will be inadequate to meet their needs, as well as the rewards of seeing them stronger because of your work.  And as is true of the other creative challenges, the desire to teach and the ability to teach well are not the same thing.  With the rarest of exceptions, one has to learn how to become a good teacher just as one has to learn how to become a scientist or an artist.”  -- Herbert Kohl

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 Leigh Hofstetter ’04

» What college did you attend?  Lehigh University

» What degree did you earn?  B. A. in Political Science

» What is your current position?  Marketing Planner, Katz Media Group

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  Mr. Van Beveren

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  Playing viola in the various orchestras, chamber orchestras, etc. and swim team

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  Chamber Orchestra:  Several other students and I met at RPS every Sunday to participate in the new Chamber Orchestra directed by Todd Van Beveren, after playing in several concerts we succeeded in getting this Chamber Orchestra to have a full 45 minute elective period to meet every day.  We rehearsed in the Lower School Barn before the music building was built.  To this day I still play with an orchestra in New York City.

» What is the most important lesson you learned at RPS?  The scale of my intelligence and how to be myself.  RPS was a very nurturing and open environment where students were not exposed to as much peer pressure, teasing, etc. as they might in other schools.  Because of this I was able to express myself socially, musically, and in my education more fully than if I had gone to another school.

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  Landing my job as a Marketing Planner at Kat

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» What college did you attend?  Smith College ’97

» What degree did you earn?  Bachelor’s in Religion and Biblical Literature and a minor in Jewish Studies

» What is your current position?  Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Vanderbilt University (My first job out of college and I’m still here!)

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  John Kendall… (I called him Malcolm…)

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  Excelsior…and sitting in the principal’s office explaining to him why I had to include works by current students that were of an “adult nature” and contained expletives, and I think it worked.

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  Calculus…for proving to me that I could do math, even if I never did it again.

» What is your favorite quote?  “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.”  --Helen Keller

My new-found favorite quote is “Next week there can’t be any crisis.  My schedule is already full.”  --Henry Kissinger

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Scott Mory ’92

»What college did you attend? The George Washington University

» What degree did you earn? B.A. 1996; J.D. 1999

» What is your current position? Chief Executive Officer, University of Southern California Alumni Association

» Who were the most memorable persons at Rutgers Prep? Barbara Herzberg and Arlene Wacker

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS? Drama productions in Holley Hall

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why? AP Comparative Government. There were only three of us in it with Mrs. Wacker, and so the course had much more dialogue and interplay.

» What is the most important lesson you learned at RPS? Work hard. Play hard.

» What recent activity of accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction? We just opened our new Alumni Center after three years of planning and fundraising.

» What is your favorite quote?“It is what it is.”

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 Gabrielle Gibbs Long ’60

» What colleges did you attend? Barnard College, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now Polytechnic Institute at NYU)

» What degrees did you earn? A.B. in Physics, M.S. in Physics and Ph.D. in Physics

» What is your current position?  Senior Physicist and Advisor, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)

» Who was the most memorable person at Rutgers Prep?  For me, there were three:  A.Z. Holley, Mr. Gaggini and Mrs. Rooda

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS?  Language classes and after-school clubs

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why?  Mr. Gaggini’s French courses gave me a lifetime interest in French culture and literature.

» Most important lesson you learned at RPS?  The importance of quality of character and the value of being a serious person

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction?  My current research, which I can focus on again after many years of science management.

» What is your favorite quote?  “All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions.”  --Adlai Stevenson

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 Rick Halmo ’05

»What college(s) did you attend? New York University College of Arts and Science, New York University Graduate College of Arts and Science, Seton Hall Law School (currently enrolled)

» What degree(s) did you earn? B.A. in History (2009), M.A. in Humanities (2010)

» What is your current position? Student at Seton Hall Law School

» Who are the most memorable people at Rutgers Prep? Dr. Loy (honorable mention: Mrs. Gooen, Mr. Bartlett and Mr. and Mrs. Szeles)

» What was your most memorable activity at RPS? Family Day (honorable mention: 8^th grade trip to Hershey Park, the ‘body’ genetics projects in 7^th grade with Mr. Shifman and every sports game I ever played

» What RPS course meant the most to you and why? Advanced Placement United States History with Mr. Bartlett challenged me to become a better writer, prepared me/inspired me to strive higher in my history classes at NYU.

» What is the most important lesson you learned at RPS? To be a leader

» What recent activity or accomplishment has provided you with the most satisfaction? I traveled to India for two weeks to spend time with Tibetan monks and nuns as well as see other cities such as Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi

»What is your favorite quote?“The best prophet of the future is the past.”--Lord Byron

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