Lauren Kenney Berv’s (2002) best friend was her grandmother Laurene Kenney. She had four children, a few great grandchildren, and a lot of people who cared for and loved her. But when Lauren’s grandmother moved into assisted living, it became a part-time job for Lauren to care for her and help her create a brand-new way of life. She moved from living with one of her children to eating with strangers. Lauren wanted to help her grandmother preserve her core sense of self and find purpose in this new life. As a result, Lauren went through her grandmother’s clothes to create a more functional wardrobe, had her wedding ring resized, did some personalized shopping, and problem-solved around what to keep, what to put in storage, and what to give away. She helped schedule appointments, provide for transportation, and managed her grandmother’s personal calendar. Lauren also helped organize her new living space and even queued up movies and TV shows to watch, all to bring the comforts of home to her assisted living facility and make the transition easier.

As a result of this experience, Lauren is now starting her own business – a personalized concierge service for seniors called Brighter Daily Living. Her overall intent is to support thriving relationships, help seniors make connections, and live their best lives. Lauren was inspired to start the business not only from her experience with her grandmother but also from being a new parent during Covid and feeling isolated and alone. She feels those in assisted living facilities can feel like they’re in solitary confinement and wants to make things better for them.

Lauren’s grandmother passed away about six years ago; but her daughter Stella will be two years old in June. Lauren is currently studying to be a Certified Senior Advisor to help with end-of-life care and the journey of aging. Although she misses her grandmother every day, she celebrates the good life she lived and the friendship they shared to the end.

Caroline Coors ’20 is a sophomore at the Cate School in California. Last summer, she interned at the Global Down Syndrome Foundation in Denver, working with kids of all ages who have Down Syndrome. At the end of the summer, she wanted to create an unstructured program for those same individuals to help with socialization. After working in partnership with the Foundation and its CEO, Caroline developed a six-week program that will launch this summer to engage a group of self-advocates and teen volunteers from local Denver high schools. They will have five different outings once a week throughout the summer, an education session, and an end-of-season party. Her goal is to encourage lasting relationships and create an environment where teens can learn about Down Syndrome. Caroline saw how Covid negatively impacted teens and those with Down Syndrome in particular and wanted to do something about it.  Inspired by her aunt who is a social worker, Caroline’s ultimate goal is to start her own Occupational Therapy practice for children with special needs. If any St. Anne’s alums in high school are interested in participating in Caroline’s summer program, send an email to [email protected].

Even as a double major in Spanish and statistics and a certificate in film from Duke University, Devin Cross ’05 always knew he wanted to be a writer. Trivia-minded, Devin is currently on a multi-year streak of completing the New York Times crossword puzzle every day. And he and his wife Aubree used to love going to The Irish Snug on Colfax to participate in a weekly trivia night. When the pandemic hit, they decided to host their own online trivia events because they couldn’t go in person. For their first trivia -turned-Zoom game, 120 people showed up. About three to four weeks in, a friend in New York City asked Devin to host a trivia night for her company to assist with team building. And that’s how Social Quiztancing started. He and Aubree formed an LLC in June of 2020 and since then, they’ve worked with companies such as Facebook, Google, and the New York Times to host online trivia games, uniting work forces who can’t be together in person. Devin credits his love of learning to St. Anne’s and is putting that to good use – he creates all of the trivia questions himself and is hosting 3-4 games a week. Here’s a sample question: In a standard-Q-&-A-trivia round for dog lovers where each correct answer contains a dog breed, an abridged example might be: Q: Which ship is associated with Charles Darwin? A: The HMS Beagle.

 

When he’s not “Quiztancing”, you’ll find him reading, sometimes at BookBar on Tennyson Street, his preferred local bookstore. A few of his favorite authors include Colson Whitehead, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Adam Haslett. He recently applied to graduate school for an MFA in creative writing, working towards his goal of becoming a literary fiction writer (he’s already written a few novels). But he still hopes to maintain the Social Quiztancing business. Thank you, Devin (and Aubree) for hosting an alumni quiz night last week. We can't wait to see what Devin does next!

When he first added a large chunk of a charred aspen wood disc into a mason jar of rye whiskey in the fall of 2010, it was just an experiment. But when Owen Locke ’95 tried the whiskey months later, it tasted really good. Welcome Locke + Co. Aspen Aged Rye Whiskey, launched in 2016 with his best friend Rick Talley. Owen is a sixth generation Coloradan and his four times great grandparents (Luis F Bartels) owned Denver’s first liquor store downtown. Rick and Owen have known each other since high school in Littleton and reconnected when they were both at graduate school at the University of Denver. Since launching Locke + Co., Owen has perfected the whiskey’s taste. It spends two years in oak barrels and then eight months with a piece of hand cut/hand charred aspen wood disc. The wood comes from family property in Fairplay. After sustainably cutting down an aspen tree, Rick and Owen let the wood “season” for 12 months, then sand off the bark before they hand char each piece. And that’s where the magic happens. Charring the aspen wood caramelizes the sugars in the whiskey and helps to bring out its best flavors while making it super smooth. Owen hopes to continue growing the company, releasing single barrel unfiltered rye whiskey, selling in new markets outside of Colorado, opening their own facility for production, and collaborating on special releases. A truly Coloradan born and bred whiskey.