USD Magazine, Winter/Spring 1997

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1993 CLASS CHAIR: Houssam Aboukhater

CLASS CORRESPONDENT: Hays (Fraim) Padrnos 5355 South Rainbow Blvd., # 246 Las Vegas, NV 89ll8

UNDERGRADUATE ALUMNI Jacqueline Aussie bought a condominium in Rancho Bernardo and is a clinical development administrator for Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. in San D iego. ... N avy Lt. j.g. Jeffrey Borja recently returned from a six-month deploy– ment to the western Pacific and Indian Oceans aboard the guided missile frigate USS C rommelin. Jeffrey lives in Kailua, H awaii.... Monica (Rase) Brunner is youth director at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Portland, O re.... Heather (Schraeder) Coak is in her last semester of optometry school in Portland, Ore.... Maxwell Doubek lives in Santa Monica, Calif., where he's in his second year with Distributors Stock Forms Inc.... Catherine Dufort teaches Spanish and coaches the surf team at H orizon High School in San Diego. ... Marine 1st Lt. Arthur Elefanle departed in N ovember for a six-month overseas deploy– ment to the western Pacific Ocean with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.... Jeffrey Ertwine was recently designated a naval avia– tor. H e was presented with the Wings of Gold following months of flight training at N aval A ir Station, Kingsville, Texas.... Emily Gleason is a graduate student at Concordia University in the teacher education program. She also coaches a junior varsity high school women 's basketball team in P ortland, Ore. ... Angie Gassett transferred to the Anah eim Hilton to work as senior assistant manager. She lives in San C lemente, Calif. ... Thomas Halmas works in forestry in Breckenridge, Colo. H e says he is "skiing and enjoying the outdoors." ... Pamela Kierein graduated in January from Thunderbird (The American G raduate School of International Management) with a master's degree in international man– agement. ... Kelli Koenig recently started grad– uate school at Seattle University. She has worked for three years with the Cole & Weber advertising agency. ... Christine (Thompson) Lawhead, her husband, Frank , and their child live in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Christine is a teacher at H oly N ame Preschool. ... Pamela Malone is a teacher in the South Bay Union School District. She lives in San Diego.... Jennifer Messina works as director of publi– cations and public relations for San Francisco

WILDLIFE AMBASSADOR

.& s a youngster, Thomas Scharf's most precious possession was his library card. Every Saturday after– noon, it was his passport to learning about the world as he pored over the books and magazines at his local branch.Today, as edi– tor of ZOONOOZ magazine, Scharf guides others on worldly adventures. "So far in my career, I've been able to help educate people about historic preser– vation and wildlife conservation," says Scharf '72 (M.A. '73). "It's so important to understand that you can't destroy every– thing, then inherit the earth and expect it to be fine. There's a balance here and we're part of it." This is satisfying work for a history major with a lifelong passion for publica– tions and the written word. In fact, that pas– sion - and sheer tenacity - was Scharf's entry into the field of publishing.After earn– ing his master's degree in history, he went to the San Diego Historical Society and announced that he would be there every day to help out. The staff's reaction? "They laughed at me,'' Scharf recalls. "But I showed up every day and before long they felt guilty and started paying me. I was writing for them, helping them do their magazine, and I did some art catalogs too. Eventually it worked into a job." Scharf has since pursued his interests both on and off the job, working for the San Diego Historical Society, then the California Historical Society by day, and writing free-

lance articles on horticulture, historical fig– ures and wildlife conservation by night. Seven years ago, Scharf topped 300 appli– cants for editor of ZOONOOZ magazine, the largest circulation (250,000) and per– haps the oldest continuously published zoo magazine in the world (since 1926). He rel– ishes introducing the general population to the researchers and scientists associated with the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park. "These are the people who are changing the world,'' Scharf says. "I did a profile on an ethno-botanist who is discovering drugs, things with plants that nobody knows any– thing about. That's what's exciting to me, being able to help (these researchers) by getting other people excited about their work." Though zoos in general draw ire from some folks who oppose putting animals in captivity, Scharf says the Zoological Society of San Diego fulfills an important mission as a premier education and research organiza– tion.Visitors to the Zoo and Wild Animal Park learn more about the animals by see– ing them in person, and very few people can afford to go on a safari. "We like to say that the animals here are the ambassadors for those in the wild," he says. Scharf sees himself as not only an editor, but an educator as well. "I like the idea of making people want to understand and learn and change opinions,'' he says. "I probably would have had a lot of satisfaction being a teacher, but this has been more fun for me."

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