Reflections of '96

In the final episode of Reflections of '96, Ryan McCormick discuses the podcast's run (over 2,500 listens) and the upcoming 30-year class reunion on March 28. Ryan also looks back on the 43 classmates who appeared on the show, saying the interviews went far beyond nostalgia and became honest conversations about struggle, growth, resilience, and success. The episode closes as both a tribute to the class of 1996 and a heartfelt invitation to reconnect.

Jeff Boardman reflects on life in and after 1996 as someone who moved across many social circles, stayed close with a handful of classmates, and grew up in a competitive, sports driven environment. He talks about how his path changed from studying computer programming and working desk jobs to serving for 20 years as an NYPD officer in Brooklyn, where he saw both the best and worst of humanity. Jeff says the job deeply changed his outlook, especially through tragedy, COVID, and the emotional toll of policing, but also gave him moments of pride, including helping save a baby. He also speaks candidly about the values he grew up with, how parenting has changed, how losing his father reshaped him, and how his children now give his life its center. His overall message is simple and strong: keep pushing forward, reach out when you're struggling, and don't give up.

In this episode, Bill Raniolo reflects on growing up with the Class of '96, the friendships and freedom of that era, and how those years shaped his outlook on life. He talks about playing sports, not yet knowing his path in high school, and eventually building a long career in television news, including work at News 12, Fox News, and CBS. Bill also shares how covering major tragedies like 9/11 and Sandy Hook changed his perspective, giving him a deeper understanding of struggle, resilience, and the importance of kindness. He opens up about marriage, fatherhood, the differences between raising kids now versus how his generation was raised, and the way technology has changed communication and childhood.

I am a Psychic, Reiki Master, Sound Healer, Classical Flutist, Channeler and Medium. I am a fourth genera- tion psychic and musician. My work has been featured on the WE networks, and I have been interviewed by A & E and many newspapers and magazines. I host concerts, events, and spiritual workshops as well as global retreats. I continually expand my study of music, meditation, and healing. https://karinmarcello.com/

  Kolomick Properties https://kolomickproperties.com/

Summer Hall is a dedicated and accomplished classical Pilates instructor and owner of Pilates Centered. She trained with esteemed instructors, Amy & Rachel Taylor, at The Pilates Center (TPC) in Boulder, completing the rigorous one-year program personally endorsed by Romana Kryzanowska. Further enriching her expertise, Summer studied under Cara Reeser, an apprentice of the legendary Kathy Grant. She graduated from the Kathy Grant Heritage Training receiving certification in the Kathy Grant straps - an innovative technique, specific to Conditioning the body to be able to execute the classical repertoire and rehabilitative training on the Cadillac / Trapeze table. Classical breathing techniques play a crucial role in Summer's approach, reflecting her commitment to fostering a holistic and mindful Pilates experience for her clients. Through her deep-rooted knowledge and personalized teaching style, Summer continues to inspire and transform her students' functional well-being. Website Link: https://www.pilatescentered.com

Brooke Ellison (in her own words) It has always been fascinating to me how the way we are viewed by the world can only vaguely resemble the way we view ourselves. I am many things and am seen in many, sometimes contradictory ways. I am a PhD and an Associate Professor at Stony Brook University, where I teach and study health policy and medical ethics. This is where I make a living, but it is also the very same place that saved my life. In September, 1990, I was hit by a car while walking home from school. I was crossing a major highway nestled in the Long Island suburbs and, in that accident, suffered innumerable injuries that have affected my life in immeasurable ways. But, I was a fighter. I am a fighter. My disability in no way compromises that. In fact, my disability amplifies that. Details of my life and experiences that my family have undergone have been chronicled and relayed in narrative and cinematic form. I received my undergraduate degree in cognitive neuroscience from Harvard University, and then returned to Harvard to do my Master in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. A lover of mobilizing change, I ran for New York State Senate in 2006 and followed that with the creation of a nonprofit organization, the Brooke Ellison Project, designed to provide education about stem cell research. I'm now a scholar. I'm now a researcher. I am now a professor. But, I am a fighter. My life has been shaped by challenges and adversity of all different kinds, but it has not been characterized by them. I am not defined by them. For every obstacle I have sought opportunity. In each instance of sorrow I have sought strength. When there has been challenge and adversity I have looked for resilience and hope. That is what I want people to know about me, as that is how I see myself. That is also what I want people to know about themselves, as that is how I view the world. Website: https://www.brookeellison.com/  

Owner / FHA approved / Certified Real Estate Appraiser Owner / FHA approved / Certified Real Estate Appraiser Active Appraisals Corp.Active Appraisals Corp. Port Jefferson, NY Website:  https://www.activeappraisalsli.com/

Mary's story in her own words I graduated from Johnson & Wales with a degree in Culinary Arts in 2000.  (After deciding Criminal Justice was not my gig.)  After graduation, I toyed with private catering while I waitressing at the good 'ol Red Lobster on 347.  They offered me a management position and I took it to for the experience of managing the culinary team in the back of the house.  That didn't go as planned and I wound up with the task of "fixing the front of the house" in the second worst location on Long Island, so the burnout happened fast.  At just the right time, I was recruited by 7-Eleven, Inc.  They hired me as a Field Consultant, and my job was to help franchisees be successful and build there business.  I climbed the ranks from there, and became a Senior FC, and then took on a national role in Merchandising Foodservice.  My role was to travel the Eastern States and determine the flavor profiles/preferences of each region and help the Category Managers develop items in support of the regions.  At that point, my folks have retired up to Northern Maine and a regional CM role opened up in New England,  I asked for the promotion and relocated to Massachusetts to live in the markets I was developing for.   I picked Scituate, MA as my new home- I knew this town from my childhood since my Dad is from Hingham, and it reminded me of Stony Brook.  It's a seaside town tucked on the south shore, about 40 minutes outside of Boston.  It's got criffs and nooks and crannies and get smacked around in storms (we are on the news EVERY time a storm hits.) but I love it.  As I settled in, I developed all of the fresh food and bakery items for New England stores and coached the ops team on foodservice standards and practice, etc.  The partners were unbelievable, and though I knew I had made the right decision to move, today, I am certain- more on that in a bit.  Anyway, the corporate alignment changed and I wound up in a Division Merchandising role in charge of all non-alc bevs, services, and non-foods categories.  I think I was 3 months into that role when my VP called and promoted me back to Ops as a Market Manager.  I have about 100 stores and a  team of about 12 Field Consultants in each market I ran.  I was "Mop and Bucket Mary" and "fixed" two under-performing New England Markets to become profitable and turn the Boston Market to "Investor-ready."  During this time, I met Jim- we've been together almost 12 years.  he was a single dad with 3 kids, and so we were an instant family.  We bought our house in Scituate about a year and a half after we met, and I've helped him raise our three kids (their mum is not in the picture) as my own.  We never got around to the wedding and that's ok.  Haley is 25 and engaged, James is 20, and Mia is 17, about to start her senior year.  So.  While I was with SEI, I was getting really burnt out.  It had been 15 years and I left to take a strange opportunity and get back to cooking.  I won a bid on a two year contract to operate the "pub" at Widow's Walk Golf Course in Scituate.  We turned it into the North River Grill and it was way cool, dream come true stuff at the beginning.   I was the Executive Chef, and CFO among other things, and quickly became the bar-tender/server one-woman show as I found my partner was the worst decision I ever made.  At the end of the first season, I accepted the Role of Category Manager, Bakery for the Trader Joe's Company and left my partner to steal her own profits and materials from the NRG.  And probably saved my life.  TJ's was pretty cool.  I developed the Artisan Bread Category and the Sweets/Desserts for all TJ stores in the enterprise.  It was phenomenal learning, crazy cool travel and I made some of the most talented bakers in the world into good friends I still stay in touch with.  The first call I made when I got to TJ was to Jeff, the CEO of Bake Fresh, who owns the Bakery I worked with when I was developing for 7-Eleven.  I asked him if he wanted to get in, and today, TJ is one of Bake Fresh's3rd  largest customer.  Without sharing the item I intro'd first, I will share that the first total of PO's in 2018 was 18,000 cases.  This year, that same item will ship over 100,000 for one selling season of August-October.  Kinda proud of that.  So with TJ's during a category shift, I found myself with HABA, Household, Cereal/Breakfast, Vitamins and Nutritional Bars as my category responsibilities.  And Covid hit. Hand sanitizer, cleaning products, toilet paper, vitamins- all ME.  It was complete chaos.  At one point, we couldn't get a single roll of TP.  So I called around until I found the guy who sold TP and soaps to Hilton.  I bought all of the single rolls of hotel TP that they had sitting in warehouses and put it on the shelves of Trader Joe's.  It was a great idea at the time and I can't believe I pulled it off.  Fast forward to an exhausted call to Jeff of Bake Fresh.  "I want back into Bakery.  Where should I look?" He said, "no where.  You're coming with us.  We'll get you an offer in a couple of days." So for the last three years, I have gleefully managed the customer relationships and brought on new business for our group of 5 bakeries.  Most recently, we made a large deal with Target stores and will begin shipping our first seasonal item in august and four "every day" items to them nationally in Q1 of 2024.  It's busy and chaotic and awesome, and joining the team was like coming home.  Plus, when I'm not traveling, I work from home, usually in my running clothes, with my best girl at my feet.  (Tessie, she is a yellow lab who snores like a drunk old man and she is the BEST.) So that's it. Interests?  I love to travel, I get to the beach and into the woods as much as I can, I am a long-distance runner (I finished the Boston Marathon in 2018 as my crowning achievement- and while registered for Chicago this October, unfortunately will not make it due to a knee injury I am nursing.  I also still cook constantly and I love to garden.  It's a fairly quiet world and that's how I prefer it.  My two besties from HS are still my besties- Krista MacPherson (Lapresti) and Michelle Bergin-Hayes(not a WM grad).  One of my regrets has been not getting down to the island as much as I'd like and I'm working on that.  I've been back twice in the last two months and got to catch up with some of our HS friends I haven't seen in way too long which was awesome. I'll be back at the end of July for a quick trip and can't wait.   When I look back, I almost have trouble remembering details but they come back.  I remember fondly, debates in English class senior year, CPR with O'Leary and barely making it to home room every day. And then getting the hell out of there by 12:50 to get to West Meadow and to work...I'd love to have my memory revived. 

Jessica wears many hats but also has tunnel vision focus on everything she works on. She's an actress, comedian, screenwriter, director and producer. Jessica has always been true to her heart as well as to her sense of humor. She loves creative, honest expressions of all kinds and genres, but has always had a special place in her heart for comedy. As a comic she's performed at a variety of New York's best venues, including The Stand, New York Comedy Club, Broadway Comedy Club, The Village Lantern and many glamorous bar basements. She went to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she studied acting and directing. After graduating she collaborated with several up and coming theater companies, including directing three plays in the NY Fringe Festival. She later went to Columbia University's Graduate Film Program, where she wrote, directed, and produced a strong body of film and TV projects. Around that time she developed a strong passion for improv and sketch comedy, and trained and performed at a variety of theaters, including Upright Citizens Brigade and the PIT. Many of her films, pilots, and web series have been honored in a variety of festivals and script contests including the PAGE Screenwriting contest, TV Guide Writing Contest, Hollyshorts Film Festival, The Harlem Film Festival, LA Comedy Shorts Festival, World Of Comedy Film Festival, etc. In recent years she's worked as a writer, director and producer in both narrative (film, television, web series, and music videos) and non-narrative projects (promos, educational and corporate videos). One of the web series she was a staff writer for was recently optioned by a TV network. She also co-hosts and co-produces the podcast The Test. Inspired by The Bechdel Test, The Test is a podcast that is essentially a Bechdel Test in itself - Two women in the entertainment industry interviewing other women who work in a variety of roles in the film and TV industries. The Test is sponsored by the film organization Cinefemme and has interviewed an amazing, diverse group of women writers, directors, producers, etc. and it can be found on iTunes. Some other career highlights include: Semifinals in the Sundance Writers Lab, a Student Academy nomination, an Audience Choice Award in the Columbia Film Festival, and an award from the New York TV Festival (NYTVF). Website: https://jessicarotondi.com/ Facebook Contact https://www.facebook.com/jessieroro

Aharon Shamash (Work bio) Managing Director, Informa Connect North America Over the course of his career, Aharon has built a reputation for excellence as a motivational leader and advocate for continuous improvement across multiple industries. Aharon specialises in driving global business transformation, and has sparked multi million-dollar gains in revenue through the creation of innovative business plans, new event and product launches, and digital marketing campaigns, as well as through M&A, including the acquisition and integration of domestic and international events and media businesses. In recent years, he has progressed through several positions and business units within Informa and currently serves as the Managing Director for Informa Connect's North America business.  Website: https://www.informa.com/ Facebook Contact https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1384852280    

Jeremy Colson Facebook Contact https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.colson.35

About Lucas: Co-Founder Mebot.Exchange. Indie Filmmaker, VR 180 & 360 Video Producer, Documentarian, Writer and Podcast Host. Lucas' latest venture: https://mebot.exchange/ That's now transitioning into https://www.mebot.ai/ Show Lucas created with my wife: https://www.pbs.org/show/original-fare/ The storefront we just opened: https://houseofcreature.com/ Lucas' Documentary: https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/245173 Some more of Lucas's work: https://vimeo.com/showcase/6781977 One of Lucas'short films: https://www.foodcartfilm.com/movie The podcast Lucas co-hosts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-verse/id1558568235 Lucas' manifesto: https://medium.com/@lucas-longacre/life-finds-a-way-embracing-our-role-as-stewards-of-the-universe-874c506ac83 ---------------------------- Contact Lucas: Email: [email protected] Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/lucas.longacre

Notes about Mark 4 years of college at Suny Geneseo (graduated 2000)  Worked at an outdoor education center in the Adirondacks for one year Moved to Seattle and worked for the Alaska fisheries science center Did a masters degree in fisheries at the university of Washington in Seattle (graduated 2005) Backpacked around Patagonia for 6 weeks Moved to Virginia to do a PhD at William and Mary - Virginia Institute of Marine Science  Got married, defended my dissertation, and moved to California to start a postdoc within the span of 2 weeks (2012) Got a position teaching fisheries at CSU Humboldt 10)  Started position at University of Vermont (2022) Contact Mark: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.henderson.9081 Email: [email protected]

Jay Berman is a Sports Anchor/Host/Reporter/Producer. He's covered every major sporting event over the past two decades including: the World Series, Super Bowl, US Open, NBA Play-Offs and NHL Finals. He's worked at SportsGrid, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, 1010 WINS, Bloomberg Radio, News 12 Network, MLB.com, SI.com, WDEF, RNN and WLNY. He's a frequent media guest giving sports insights on local and national television stations as well as podcasts and radio shows. Website: https://jaybermansports.com/ Contact Jay Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jay.berman.5 Email: [email protected]

Contact Allie Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allie.beatty.1 Email: [email protected]

Contact Kevin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.shapiro.56 Email: [email protected]

Contact Michele Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005050728015&sk=about Email: [email protected]

Works at Rocket Mortgage August 2012 - Present Worked at Hartwick College Former Co-President and CAIC at 49% Productions Detroit, Michigan Former Instructor at University of Michigan Worked at Eprom Colony Studied History at University of Michigan Studied at Hartwick College Class of 2000 Went to Ward Melville High School Class of 1996 Contact Meg: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/megraphoon

Steven Archdeacon is a singer/songwriter, guitarist, independent recording artist, and performing musician in the vein of Dave Matthews, Clapton & Hendrix based on Long Island, NY.     Archdeacon is well-known for his live performance crowd interaction in getting people to dance, sing, solo on his guitar, and for making sure everyone has a fun/great experience at his shows. The 5 words most commonly used by his fans to describe Archdeacon's live performances: Engaging, soulful, passionate, energetic, and fun! Performing either solo acoustic or as an acoustic duo with Sean Dolan (Juilliard graduate who plays the drums & sings) the  shows are always energetic & interactive. Archdeacon mixes live looping with guitar & vocal harmonies (to make it sound like a full band) with lead guitar solos on an acoustic guitar that sounds like an electric. He has an innate ability to make people feel good about themselves through his live performances, while giving his audience a memorable experience they will soon not forget. Like Archdeacon says, "One of the best feelings in the world is when you can affect somebody in a positive way through the music you have written & recorded or performed live."   After losing his Dad February 15, 2008 he went tunnel vision into music as it has become his best therapy in dealing with his father's passing. As Archdeacon says, "It's not something you ever get over, but I do my best to channel that pain into creating a positive ripple-effect to the world around me through music." His 1st album entitled, "No Turning Back," is dedicated to his father and the song, "It'll always feel like yesterday," is the song he wrote after he passed.   He has traveled abroad to England to play at The Cavern, where the Beatles became famous, as well Canada, LA, TN, VA, NC, VT, Delaware, and has also had the distinct privilege to sing the National Anthem at MetLife Stadium for Monster Jam, in front of about 50,000 people, in 2016.   His main goal is to sing the National Anthem at MetLife Stadium for a NY GIANTS football game in dedication to his father as he watched the Giants 2008 Super Bowl victory with his Dad and it was one of the last and BEST memories he has spending time with him.   ---------------------------- Contact Steve: Website: https://www.archdeaconmusic.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archdeacon Contact Page: https://www.archdeaconmusic.com/contact

Here are some notes about Whitney "Allgood" La Ruffa I graduated in Jan 1996 (a semester early) Thru-hiked the AT March 17-August 20, 1996 Attended VA Tech from Aug 1996-Aug 2000, Graduated with a degree in Wood Science with a focus on forest products marketing and management Moved to Portland, OR Aug 2000 and have been here ever since October 4, 2003, got married Worked from North Pacific Lumber from Aug 2000-Feb to 2010 when they went into bankruptcy ( Commodity lumber broker) Worked for Shelter Forest International from Feb 2010-June 2011-this job had me spending extensive amounts of time in China manufacturing plywood Worked for American International Forest Products from June 2011-March 2016 ( Commodity lumber broker) April 18-Spet 9 2016 Thru-hiked the Continental Divide Trail from Mexico to Canada Jan 2017- Aug 2018 I entered into the outdoor industry by selling headwear and apparel for a start-up called Crown Trails Headwear August 2018 came to work at Six Moon Designs an Ultra-light backpacking gear manufacturer, Currently work here as the VP of Sales and Marketing March 2020, appointed as the Independent Director of the Board, FarOut Guides What else about me? I love to fish, mostly these days I only have time to go ocean fishing here in Oregon, luckily lots of friends have beach houses and nice boats.  I used to fish for winter steelhead and traveled all over the PNW chasing them for a decade.  Now I try to save my travel time and fun by exploring more of Oregons high desert. I love to ski, snowshoe and partake in pretty much anything one can do during the winter outdoors, I used to mountaineer but I have given that up for self-preservation reasons.  I am a big believer in volunteering, for 4 years I was a founding board member of the local CCA (Coastal Conservation Association) Chapter.  In 2012 I was elected to the board of ALDHA-West (American Long Distance Hiking Association-West) a year later I was elected President of that or and held that position for 6 years.  During my time as Pres we 4x our membership base, and started teaching 5 beginner long-distance hiking workshops around the west to help others learn and prepare for their own thru-hikes.   --------------------------------------- CONTACT Whitney "Allgood" La Ruffa [email protected] CDT Blog http://thedagodiaries.com/ www.allgoodsk9adventures.com