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Published on December 05, 2022
We asked alumni to share their interesting — even quirky — hobbies and talents with Eastern Magazine. Here are some of the fun and funky ways Eastern alumni spend their spare time.
Kierran Broatch is a true fisherman. “It’s always been a passion of mine. Both fresh and saltwater and all seasons of the year. Even during my days at Eastern, friends and I would fish for trout in rivers and streams near campus, as well as ice fish all winter at Mansfield Hollow. Fishing has brought me to some remarkable places and introduced me to some incredible people, and every time I go, I learn something new.”
Alicia Davis has been drawn to the skies ever since childhood. She comes from a family of pilots — her father and grandfather are Air Force veterans and both grandmothers had private pilot licenses — and her favorite movie growing up was “Porco Rosso,” an animated film about a seaplane pilot.
“Eventually my father offered to set me up with an intro flying lesson. After my first time sitting in the cockpit of a small Cessna 172, seeing the beautiful sky above and the tiny people below, I haven’t looked back.”
Kate Finegan has been playing competitive pinball since 2017. A trophy-winning player, she competes in various tournaments and leagues, including the New England Pinball League, which is among the largest in the world with several hundred active members.
“It’s absolutely a game of skill. I love that pinball is a tangible gaming experience, and that each table is a work of art in its own way, from the game design choices to the craftsmanship behind the layout, graphics, sounds and general construction.”
Although Alison Heery’s knitting hobby started before college, her skills have recently expanded into making stuffed animals. In fact, a narwhal she made was featured in Knitting magazine, a leading craft magazine in the United Kingdom.
“I find knitting relaxing and challenging. I love the mathematical aspect of designing my own stuff and making a product look like what I imagined in my head.”
For the last several years, John Nemergut has stuck to a tradition of completing an annual cross-country road trip. His latest trip occurred in January 2022, when he drove from Daytona Beach, FL, to the Grand Canyon and back, taking multiple national park pitstops along the way. “I did it in 10 days and slept in my car half the time. The nights were very cold!”
The dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic drove Symone O’Hara to discover her spirituality. With her newfound talent of reading tarot cards, she created a business, Soulfulology. “My time alone during this period took a toll on me; I needed to find something to bring me back. It’s important for all of us to tap into our higher self and learn how to gain knowledge from the spiritual world. Tapping into this new perspective has helped me to adapt the skills of reading tarot cards for my clients as a form of healing from their past traumatic experiences and gaining insight to fix anything that may still hurt them.”
Rick Hanson’s passion is racing sailboats in major ocean regattas. He started as a kid in Greenwich, CT, spending his summers going from regatta to regatta with his father, and has since become a class winner in races from Newport, RI, to Bermuda (2022) and Annapolis, MD, to Newport (2017 and 2019).
“I started racing on my own after graduating college, once I could afford a boat. Wherever I moved to — Boston, San Francisco, St. Louis, Memphis — I would find a local sailing program to race in. For the last 25 years, I’ve been racing on the Chesapeake Bay. All my boats are named after Bruce Springsteen songs: ‘Glory Days,’ ‘Born 2 Run,’ ‘Rosalita’ and now ‘No Surrender.’”
For the past 32 years, Pete Wilson has volunteered at what is now known as the Travelers Championship, the PGA Tour’s stop in Cromwell, CT. As a walking scorer, Wilson walks all 18 holes with two or three professional golfers, electronically keeping record of every swing and instantly updating scoreboards and feeding media outlets. Over the years he’s kept score for more than 150 PGA professionals, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Jim Furyk and Justin Rose.
“As a huge golf fan, I just love being ‘inside the ropes.’ I’m not sure how much longer I can continue this — I logged more than 40 miles over five days this past year — but hopefully I have a few more years left in me.”
Michele O’Neil likes to run. She’s logged thousands of miles among 10 ultra-marathons — races longer than the standard marathon of 26.2 miles — as well as races in all of Connecticut’s 169 towns and many more out of state. “As for ultra-running, five were timed and five were just for ‘fun.’ My longest race so far was 100 kilometers, or 62 miles.”
Amber Ortiz picked up crocheting during the doldrums of the pandemic when she needed a quiet hobby to pass the time. “I enjoy crocheting because it’s therapeutic for me. When I focus on crocheting, it clears my mind of everything else.”
Have an interesting hobby you’d like to share? Send a description and photo to editor@easternct.edu.