Three NESADSU alumni have come under the radar of the College of Arts & Sciences’ Alumni Association and will be honored in April and June for their achievements. Kodiak Starr(Graphic Design 2002) has been chosen to receive the College of Arts & Sciences Young Alumni Award, while Marissa Borst (Interior Design 2006) and Eric Heins (Graphic Design 2009) will be honored as “10 Under 10” recipients.
The Young Alumni Award is being presented to Kody Starr, who is currently the Creative Director of Digital Strategy at the White House, at a reunion reception and dinner at the State House on June 9th. The Young Alumni Award is awarded annually for demonstrated success in one’s profession or for contributions to society, while achieving a level of distinction that has brought honor both to the individual and to the University. To the best of our knowledge, Kody is the first NESADSU alum to work for the President of the United States, certainly in so creative a capacity.
The dinner and awards ceremony at which Kody will be honored will be held in conjunction with the reunions of the Suffolk classes of 1952, 1962, 1972, 1982, 2002, and 2007. As the class of 1962 is celebrating its 50th anniversary, two members of that class at NESADSU, Dan McCarron (Graphic Design) and Steve Zubricki (also Graphic Design) have been asked to join the reunion committee and are working diligently to locate “missing” classmates.
Marissa and Eric, as more recent alumni, have been chosen as recipients of the “10 Under 10” award. “10 Under 10” recognizes outstanding alumni of the past decade who have enjoyed major professional success, made an important difference in their community, or have been loyal supporters of the University. Marissa, who was recently featured in an article on this blog, is an interior designer with Architecture + Design Associates, Inc. in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, and is also Director of Programming for the
District of Columbia’s chapter of NEWH, the Network of Executive Women in Hospitality. In addition, she is the principal of All’s Well That Ends Well Designs, which specializes in miscellaneous art and design, and continues to work with FACETS Cares, a non-profit organization that helps those in need of affordable housing, food and medical care and the like.
Eric, a Graphic Design major at NESADSU, has been owner of and designer for Corter Leather since his junior year at NESADSU (“…and it was my full-time job within three months.”). He remembers one of his professors telling him, at the time of his senior portfolio review, “Don’t be afraid to do what you really love. Just because you have a degree in graphic design doesn’t mean you have to use every single part of it – you’re still designing”. Last year Eric designed and made a bracelet to benefit Red Cross relief efforts in Japan, following the earthquake and tsunami, sold 2,000 of them and mailed a check for $32,000, all is 27 days.
The “10 Under 10” event will be held on Thursday, April 26th at 6:00 PM at Boston’s Nine Zero Hotel (90 Tremont Street). Anyone interested in attending should contact Emma O’Leary at eoleary@suffolk.edu or 617.573.8456.
Kody Starr will be honored at a reception and dinner on Saturday, June 9th at 6:00 PM in the Nurses Hall, Grand Staircase and Great Hall at the Massachusetts State House. For more information on that event, please contact Laura Piscopo, Director of Alumni Relations, at lpiscopo@suffolk.edu or 617.573.8457.