Association news & class notes
Calvin Benevento and Erin Giles Benevento are still happy to call Westminster “home.” Calvin is the accounting manager at StepStone Group in Owings Mills, Maryland. Outside of work, he mentors current McDaniel students through the Phi Delta Theta Chapter Advisory Board and pitches for the Littlestown Dodgers men’s league baseball team. In summer 2022, Erin was promoted to chief of staff to McDaniel College President Julia Jasken. Erin is still active on the board of directors for Carroll County Habitat for Humanity and the Boys and Girls Club of Carroll County.
Last spring, Antonia “Toni” Francis adopted Tsarina, a big white dog with beautiful blue eyes and a name fit for a queen. In September, the two of them moved from Charleston, South Carolina, to Charleston, West Virginia, where they both enjoy spectacular mountain views and Toni continues to advance her law career.
William Kealey still works with computers and was recently promoted to systems administrator at his workplace. He and his wife bought a house in Aberdeen, Maryland, where they live with their two cats. Will is on the steering committee of Progressives of Harford County, an advocacy group that promotes racial, social, economic, and environmental justice. He’s still an EMT and continues to volunteer occasionally.
Steph Perez and Kyle Dunn moved to Crofton, Maryland, in January 2023. In August, Kyle proposed to Steph during a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia. Steph continues to keep a busy schedule. She recently celebrated her ninth year working at Higher Information Group, where she is the creative manager. She also says her freelance work — which includes graphic and web design, photography, and illustration — is at an “all-time high.” Steph has also started competing in bikini bodybuilding. In 2022 and 2023, she competed in five contests sanctioned by the National Physique Committee (NPC), the largest amateur bodybuilding and physique organization in the United States. Kyle competed in his first NPC event last year, participating in the men’s physique division.
Google still thinks Zach Royal is sending me suspicious emails when he sends me updates for this column, but at least his latest message didn’t go to my spam folder. Zach is finishing up his M.B.A. with a concentration in data analytics this spring. He’s been published twice in connection with his work with the Food and Drug Administration to help establish a new global pharmaceutical initiative. (He also tells me that he anticipates publishing an erotic novel this year, but I think he’s probably just been writing “Twilight” fanfiction.) In his free time, Zach enjoys painting and sculpting. And as a newly minted Maryland Master Gardener, he’s very proud of his tomatoes.
Sarah Sackett Zega welcomed her first child, a girl, in July 2023.
As for me, the world of federal contracting continues to keep me on my toes. In fall 2022, I returned to the Defense Health Agency to support communications for the TRICARE health benefit, which is how I’d started my contracting career six years ago. Outside of work, I still dabble in activities in Washington, D.C.’s LGBTQ+ community, and I continue to learn how to maintain the home I purchased in Hyattsville, Maryland, in November 2020. I’ve also really enjoyed writing our class column for the past seven years, but I’m ready to hand over the reins to someone new. If you’re interested in being our class reporter, please call or email the Alumni Engagement Office. And regardless of whether I’m your class reporter, I’m always happy to hear from you. Feel free to email me or message me on Facebook if you ever want to say hi!
Annie Brown2015 Class Reporteranniebrown225@gmail.com