This past Sunday, 16 area alumni met in San Jose to test their ingenuity against Omescape's puzzles. Working in two teams, each group needed to solve a sequence of puzzles before  the 60 minute timer expired. Facing rooms with success rates of 27% and 28%, both groups succeeded -- with matching times of 52 minutes.

With special thanks to our wonderful volunteer class agents, we successfully raised over $125,000 (goal of $100,000) during our two-week fundraiser in November. This amount is strictly from alumni; parents and friends donations are counted separately. It is amazing that our alumni recognize the importance of PGSS for future students and give so generously with nothing personal to gain. Over 22% of our alumni have given.

Julia Costacurta organized a meet-up for the PGSS govies who are now attending Johns Hopkins University.

Our thanks to Laura Anzaldi Mike (PGSS 2003) who hosted a small but enthusiastic group of PGSS alumni and spouses at her home in Michigan yesterday. It turned out that her husband and Beth (PGSS 2004) had gone to high school together and that she had been a TA for Gopal (PGSS 2007). They had a nice time catching up and visiting.

The DC area held a reunion over fondue last night (including a special guest from the Chicago area who was in DC for a conference!). We had representation from a wide range of classes and even a TA/Govie reunion! We all enjoyed catching up about PGSS-related memories including fence-painting, sleep deprivation, and illicit water-fights. Many of the attendees discussed how PGSS led them on their career or academic path, which covered a wide range - from designing the Mars rover to advocating for K-8 chemistry education to patent law. Submitted by host Simon Krauss (PGSS 2006) Thanks for volunteering, Simon!

Dr. David Volkman, Deputy Secretary of Education, visited PGSS for the PGSS 2017 morning symposium and closing ceremonies.