A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E - Colby-Sawyer College

Amy Tarte ’06
Most of us, upon hearing of an outbreak of the H1N1
virus, would probably want to get as far away as possible. That’s
not an option for Amy Tarte ’06. In her role as the Emergency
Preparedness and Response Coordinator for the city of Alexandria,
Va., located only minutes from our nation’s capital, she has to
remain calm when a crisis hits. And right now, H1N1 is enemy
number one.
Which isn’t to say the flu is all she focuses on. Preparing for
different kinds of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, deadly outbreaks—it’s
all in a day’s work for Amy. She manages a vast network
of over 500 volunteers and performs a great deal of
community outreach. What are her biggest challenges? Says Amy,
“Staying calm and orderly when the stress level is to the max.”
This native of Meredith, N.H., began her career handling
emergencies as a first year student at Colby-Sawyer, becoming a volunteer firefighter at the suggestion
of an Abbey neighbor. The following year she also became an EMT with New London Hospital.
Amy, an Exercise and Sport Sciences major with a biology minor, was seriously considering medical
school. Horror stories of residency that she heard at the hospital helped push her in another direction.
It was a course about emerging infectious diseases in society that made Amy think for the
first time about a career in public health. “I realized that I wanted to help people on a systematic
level,” she says. Given a choice of master’s programs to attend, she opted for George Washington
University, thinking that the move to the D.C. area would provide her with exciting opportunities.
While commuting to Washington for her studies, Amy first lived in nearby Fairfax County, Va.,
working for the Fairfax County Health Department managing the Medical Reserve Corps. Moving to
Alexandria in 2009 brought her to her current job. “I’m now working at the city level, rather than
the county level,” she explains, “which presents its own challenges of fewer resources to handle the
same problems.”
Chief among those challenges right now, of course, is handling the H1N1 flu. Amy is responsible
for setting up mass vaccination clinics, and, for most of this fall, worked weekends to make sure
people could get vaccinated. She also helped organize a flu vaccination exercise held on September
11, which was attended by Katherine Sibelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Service. With her master’s degree almost complete, Amy is already looking to the future. She can
imagine moving to the federal level, perhaps to the Department of Homeland Security or Health
and Human Services. “I’m basically in the most important area of the world right now,” she says,
“planning for—and with—the most influential people in perhaps the most influential country in
the world.”
–Mike Gregory
(L to r) Katina Caraganis ’07, Kaylee Callahan ’07, and Stephanie Goggin
’07 in front of the MV Explorer in Boston in June. During the spring 2006
semester, these three alumnae sailed around the world on the Explorer with
the Semester at Sea Program.
82 COLBY-SAWYER ALUMNI MAGAZINE
team this past year. Along with
obtaining her medication administration
certification in Apr.,
she became a certified athletics
coach for Special Olympics CT.
Kelly “KJ” Krasco is in her third
year as Head Women’s Basketball
Coach at Clarkson U. Amy
Lancaster Baker married Randy
Baker in Oct. 2008. Tara Pannell
moved to Marshfield, MA, in Feb.
2009 with Brian Haddad ’07
and spent the summer in a great
beach cottage. She still works for
TD Banknorth as a supervisor
in Braintree, MA. This summer
she celebrated Karen Tryon
Hoey’s baby shower and Acacia
Batschelet’s bridal shower with
Stephanie Gehlbach, Kelly
Vachon Ames, Erika Tsipouras,
Garrett Husband ’07 and Katelyn
Sheaff Husband ’07 on their
wedding day.
Denise Benton Estey ’07 and Dave
Estey ’05 were married in Vermont
on June 27.
and Dana Bickford. She also got
together with Dana Bickford and
Cody O’Leary for events over
the summer. Jaime Peterman
Adams married Keith Adams
on May 2, 2009, at the Norfolk
Botanical Gardens in Norfolk,
VA. Meagan Pollard Robitaille
married Adam Robitaille ’06
on Nov. 15, 2008, at the Bard at
Gibbet Hill in Groton, MA, followed
by a 12-day honeymoon
in Italy. Chris Pugliese will be
going into his 2nd season as
coach of the Lexington MA High
School boys tennis team, after
winning the league title last year.
Hilary Trojano completed a
doctorate degree in naturopathic
medicine (N.D.) at Bridgeport U
this May, then planned to move
to Somerville, MA, and hoped to
practice in the Boston area. Says
Hilary, “Many thanks to Colby-
Sawyer for building my confi-