The penultimate

The morning after our rousing event in DC, we picked up Professor Burger and Rob Swann, and sacheted onto I-95 North toward Baltimore.  This was our last day of events, and we had a double-header scheduled – lunch in Baltimore and dinner in Philadelphia. Phew, it was going to be a long day.

The Baltimore association (more formally known as WCAM – Williams College Association of Maryland) is headed by Sarah Platman Baird ’93.  Sarah’s husband is Cameron Baird ’93, and, in a way, the Baird family bookended our trip, as we met Cameron’s sister Bridget ’89 and father Brent ’60 in Buffalo on our first night out.  Sarah worked with Dennis O’Shea ’77, an outgoing member of the Executive Committee and and the Communications and PR director at Johns Hopkins to find a venue downtown for our event.  We ended up at the Hopkins downtown event center, which was great for our lunch event because anyone who worked downtown could easily attend.  Sarah and Cameron arranged for lunch and Sarah baked some of her famous chocolate chip cookies for folks who attended, and a special batch for those of us in the van!  Sarah and Jason had exchanged numerous e-mails throughout the year as she worked on planning WCAM events, so it was really exciting to meet her!

WCAM
WCAM

Allison Prevatt ’09 drove in from Annapolis and we commiserated about funemployemnt, and Quinn Sievers ’09 attended as well.  Quinn is going to med school this fall.

Jen, Quinn, and Allison.  Allison is a four-time national champion member of the women's crew team!  Go Ephs!
Jen, Quinn, and Allison. Allison is a four-time national champion member of the women’s crew team. Go Ephs!

We also saw Matt Hoffman ’04.  Matt is a mathematician (he did have Professor Burger) and has a postdoc at Johns Hopkins.  Matt and I took one look at each other and both immediately recognized each other.  After a brief discussion, we discovered that we had met once because his frosh from Morgan West when he was  a JA was my JA in Morgan East my freshman year.  I’m Matt’s grandfrosh and we were brought together by my fabulous JA and friend, Mary Catherin Blanton ’06.  Thanks, MC!

Ed Burger inspring his audience with MATH!
Ed Burger inspring his audience with MATH!
The cake Sarah got for the prefrosh.
The cake Sarah got for the prefrosh.  Is she a good regional head or what?

After a delightful lunch, Ed spoke, and then we had the inevitable 45 minutes of chatting after the talk was over.  One thing that’s amazing about these Williams event is how they invariably run long.  I guess we just like talking to one another too much.  Anyway, we thanked Sarah and Cameron profusely for such a great event, and took a quick walk down to the harbor.  After a gander by the USS Constellation, we hit the road for Philadelphia.  I-95, here we are  again.

The team holding the cake, moments before we cut it.  Sarah Baird is in the center with Professor Burger.
The team holding the cake, moments before we cut it. Sarah Baird is in the center with Professor Burger.