spring 2014 / 53
CLASSNOTES
D.C. firmRhodeside&Harwell.
He also teaches for theGeorge
WashingtonUniversity Landscape
Design program, and is thepioneer
of the blogGroundedDesign. His
work has appeared in numerous
publications; he offered gardening
tips recently viaTheNewYork
Times in theNov. 20, 2013, online
article“He’llTryAnything.”
’00
JonPatterson
has been named
a partner at BradleyArant Boult
Cummings LLP inBirmingham.
Patterson’s practice focuses on
mortgage litigation and commercial
andbusiness litigation. He holds
a J.D. fromtheUniversity of North
Carolina School of Law.
’04
Lattimore
BlackMorgan
&CainPC
recently
added
Brian
Chamblee
,
CPA, to its
Brentwood,
Tenn., office.
Chamblee joined the accounting
andbusiness consulting firm in
theLBMC audit services division,
wherehe isworking in a variety
of industries including healthcare,
restaurants, organizations, and
manufacturing. He previously
worked as a financial analyst at
RegionsBank. He and hiswife,
Meg, have a daughter, Sara, who
is three.
’06
StephenWilliams
, an associate
attorney at Long, Flanagan&
McDonald inGuntersville and
Huntsville, has been elected
president of theMarshall County
Bar Association for 2014. He has
served as vicepresident of the
organization since 2012. Williams
is a 2010graduate of both the
University of Alabama School
of Law andUA’sManderson
GraduateSchool of Business. At
BSC, he earned amusic degree
in guitar performance. His law
practice focuses on creditors’
rights, domestic relations, and
juvenile law. He also serves as the
youngestmember of theAlabama
Law Institute’sCriminal Code
RevisionCommittee.
’07
KarenClaunch
will begin studies
in theDoctor of PhysicalTherapy
program at UAB in January 2015.
She has spent the past year
working inmedia communications
andwith childrenwith disabilities
inAmman, Jordan. Herwork is
under the auspices of Foundation
Outreach International at the
invitation of Her Royal Highness
SarvathEl Hassan.
Martin
Landry
is
the assistant
music
director in the
off-Broadway
original
musical
comedy“Til
DivorceDo
Us Part” aswell as an understudy
for one of the lead actors. The
show is running at theDR2Theatre
inNewYorkCity. Sincegraduating
fromBSC, Landry has been
featured in numerous plays and
musicals. He is also a published
composer/lyricist and amember
of theBMI LehmanEngelMusical
TheatreWorkshop.
Alum
News
’05
For quite some time, pubs andbars have beenmale-dominated
domains. But change is brewing in thebeer-making industry.
LaurenWiersma
recently joined forceswith the brewing team
at thenewly-openedTrimTabBrewingCo. inBirmingham. She is
believed tobe theonly femalebrewer inAlabama.
Wiersma developed a fondness over the years for learning about
beer andwinemaking and the fermentationprocess, aswell as the
creativity and complexity of beer.
“Beer can have thewonderful finesse and nuances that you find
inwine, and is fun to learnhow to pairwith food,” saidWiersma,
who grewup inVestaviaHills. “My goal is not only to be a great
brewer, but also to educatewomenon craft beer and to help them
get into the industry.“
Shewas formerly employedwithOskar BluesBrewery and Left
HandBrewingCo. in Longmont, Colo. ButwhenTrimTab’s head
brewer,
Will Crenshaw
, saw a rant fromWiersma on Facebook
about the cold and snow, he sent amessage about an opening at
TrimTab and asked her to send a résumé if shewas interested.
She andTrimTab founder andCEOHarris Stewartwere both
scheduled to be inNewOrleans thatweekend and decided tomeet
over beers.
It isn’t the first time theBSC connectionhas paid off, she said.
“HavingBSConmy resumehas helpedme somuch inmy
career,” notedWiersma, who studiedSpanish. “Imet some
wonderful people there and had some terrific professors. Oneof
my favoritememories is going to thehomeof [Professor Emeritus
of History] Dr. Bill Nicholas for tacos andmargaritas.”
She soldwine for three years after graduating fromBSC, and
while studying for theCertifiedSpecialist inWineexam, she started
learning evenmore aboutwinemaking and beermaking. She
begged to volunteer at AvondaleBrewingwhen they first opened in
Birmingham, but eventually shewent to Longmont for a three-week
internshipwithPumphouseBrewery.
“I wantedpeople to know that I waswilling towork really hard to
learn this craft and to provemyself,” she said. “I lovewhat I do and
I lovebeer. I drink it pretty regularly—for inspiration.”
In addition to settling into her new job,Wiersma is busy
planning awedding toLoganWiley. Theywill marry onMay 31 in
Longmont.
Courtesy of Al.com
Courtesy of DarrenHiggins
