Amanda (Bagniewski) Gillett ’04
(
Winona) welcomed daughter Dakota
Joe Gerilaine on May 18.
Jeffrey O’Donnell ’04
(
Rushford,
Minn.) married Chelsea Kopperud
on June 30. Jeffrey is self-employed
in Rushford while Chelsea works at
Fastenal.
Jennifer (Cuculi) ’04
and Nick Jaeger
’04/’06 (
Champaign, Ill.) welcomed
their first daughter, Avery Patricia, on
April 1.
Amy (Andresen) ’04 and Daniel ’04
Moses
(
Sugar Land, Texas) welcomed
a baby girl, Maycee Harper, on July 3.
Jeffrey O’Donnell ‘04
(
Rushford,
Minn.) married Chelsea Kopperud
on June 30. Jeffrey is self-employed
in Rushford while Chelsea works at
Fastenal.
Jennifer (Einspar) ’05
and Tyler Carl-
son ’05 (Iowa City, Iowa) welcomed
daughter Lydia René in November
2011.
The Carlsons were married in
July 2007. Jennifer received her mas-
ter’s in Physician Assitant Studies at
the University of Iowa and works at the
Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Tyler
is a deputy sheriff for Johnson County.
Steve Opgenorth ’05
(
Winona) has
been named offensive coordinator at
Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
The cum laude graduate of WSU
moves from his alma mater, where he
coached receivers and special teams
and was recruiting coordinator.
Melissa (Wolf) Schulze ’05
(
La
Crosse, Wis.) has joined the Neurol-
ogy Unit at Gundersen Lutheran. She
earned her advance practice nursing
degree at WSU and provides care as
a certified family nurse practitioner in
neurology.
Nicole (Aschenbrener) ’06
and
Gregory Fedor ’01 (Winona) had their
first son in April.
Miranda (Kleinbeck) Ziebell ’06
(
Saint Paul, Minn.) and husband, Matt,
had a daughter, Norah Jane, on
March 13.
Angela (Schroering) Hazelton ’07
(
Winona) married Bryan Hazelton on
April 28. Angela and Bryan both work
for Mayo Clinic.
Rebekah (Ditthardt) Van Dalen
’07
(
Rochester, Minn.) and husband,
Justin, welcomed Jude Lincoln Van
Dalen on January 18. The Van Dalens
live in Rochester where Rebekah works
a supplemental position as an RN
in primary care internal medicine at
Mayo Clinic.
Matt Appleman ’08
(
Minneapolis,
Minn.) has forged an entrepreneurial
outlet for his passions of engineering
and cycling. Matt’s custom bike frame
shop, Appleman Bicycles, was recently
featured in the Minneapolis Star Tri-
bune. He crafts about a dozen custom
fit frames a year from carbon fiber for
performance cyclists and enthusiasts.
Matt was a founder of the cycling club
at WSU and graduated with a degree
in composite materials engineering.
Kelly (Paszkiewicz) Kruchten ’08
(
Rockland, Wis.) and husband, Jeremy,
welcomed their first child, Cooper
Michael, on March 13. Kelly works
for Sprint in West Salem, but she was
born and raised in Winona and visits
often!
Taylor Martinson ’08
(
Minneapolis,
Minn.) joins metroConnections as a
production services coordinator. me-
troConnections provides conference,
event, stage production, and
transportation for meeting and event
planners. Taylor previously worked in
the green building industry in event
coordination, meeting management,
and fundraising.
Swenson
Heads East
After eight years as director of Alumni Relations at
Winona State, Mike Swenson ‘01/’05 is crossing the river
to become executive director of the Western Technical
College Foundation in La Crosse, Wis.
Mike, pictured above with his wife Becky ’03, son Alex,
and daughter Evelyn, will oversee development and
alumni affairs. Western Technical College maintains seven
campuses and serves about 20,000 students each year.
Student Senate president as an undergraduate at Winona
State, Mike worked at his alma mater for more than ten
years. At press time, a national search was underway to
find his replacement.
