1989
Dean Scott Stephens is happy to be working for his alma mater USC Upstate, raising funds for scholarships. He received his Ph.D. in counseling from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2023.
1998
Joel Brian Raines was married in November 2000 and has five children.
2001
Jason Bradley Moore has been living in the New York City area, where he began his career in finance in 2002. He will be getting married in September 2025 in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.
2004
Dr. Salman Fidahussein was promoted to major in the U.S. Air Force. He is the medical director of Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center, Critical Care Medicine.
2006
Katie Kotcella Pletcher started a new job in October 2024 at Milo’s Tea Company as a talent acquisition partner.
2009
Vanessa Corrente Puhak began working as an attorney at Sullivan & Hilscher Family Law in June 2020 with a special focus on military family law. She gave birth to her son Magnus in February 2020.
2010
Stephanie Cameron Malloy recently got married. She also was the Bank of America United Neighborhoods 2025 Emergent Leader.
Rebecca Kilby Vannette had her son Edward in October 2024.
2012
Elizabeth Brooke Jones supports 29,000 Delta Air Lines flight attendants through engagement opportunities at 20 bases across the U.S. She works with leadership and other committees to create and distribute communication pieces that support roles on aircrafts and in bases.
Tony Winters is chief technology officer at Rygen Technologies.
2013
Richard Anthony Mahler received the 2025 Florida Festivals and Events Association Emerging Leader Award. This award recognizes rising stars in the Florida Festivals and Events industry. Richard enjoys approaching each event as a live production, where planning, creativity, and adaptability all come together to create meaningful experiences for the community.
2015
Andrea Azumendi states that she is about to celebrate her four years working at SC Children’s Theatre, where she gets to see how theater can impact and change children’s lives. She recently directed her first production, “Carmela Full of Wishes.” She says that getting to work in theater is a dream come true!
Adrian Long recently started a new job as an admissions counselor for nursing at Spartanburg Community College.
Krista Louise McMullen has moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, and returned to the special education classroom at a Title I school.
Zoe Sneed has returned to USC Upstate as the technical theatre coordinator for the theatre department and Performing Arts Center.
2016
Imani Robinson has received national certification for spoken language interpreters in education from the National Association of Educational Translators and Interpreters of Spoken Languages.
Katelyn Nichols Williams was married in May 2019, graduated from law school and got a job as an assistant public defender at the 13th Circuit public defender office in 2021. She had a son in 2023.
2018
Tiffany Jackson Langster has recently accepted a position as a travel nurse.
2020
Julia Jones McElveen married her college sweetheart, Seth McElveen, in 2022. They purchased a house in 2023 in Boiling Springs, South Carolina.
2021
Estefanía Cano recently moved cross country from South Carolina to Washington, where she took on a new role as a marketing specialist for GeoEngineers.
2022
Jake Stavrakas (M.S. ’24) recently started a new position as strategic business manager at TD Synnex.
2023
Terance Hunter is vendor business manager at TD Synnex.
Stephinee Roper recently started a new position as senior administrative assistant for Spartanburg County. She is also pursuing her master’s in business analytics at USC Upstate.
Clayton Stephens is a second lieutenant and recently partcipated in a battalion-level field training exercise in Poland. He showed his Upstate pride by waving a USC Upstate flag.
2024
Christopher De La Cruz married in late 2024. He is expecting a baby boy in September 2025.
Noah Deal played Valentine, one of the two male leads in “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” at the Warehouse Theatre’s Upstate Shakespeare Festival this past summer.
Jenea Kiara Michelle Dodd has a new job as a teller at Wells Fargo.
Jordan Marie Jimenez and her husband recently welcome their first child, a beautiful little boy. She recently became an investigator for the public defender’s office for Spartanburg County.
Zachary Alan Pendergrace was married in October 2023. He got a new job at ScanSource in August 2024 and purchased a new home in November 2024.
Brandon Nash Steadman started a new job at Truist as a SFC operations analyst in January 2025.
2025
Juan Corrales has been promoted to shop manager at Carolina Shower Door Inc.
William Garrett Dye has recently returned home from a trip to Spain.
Ty James is a social studies teacher at Gable Middle School in Spartanburg District 6.
Morgan Arts Register has become a wife and a mother of three since starting her college journey. She is enjoying staying at home with her children and then will begin her career.
Patricia Suarez completed a tax internship with GreerWalker CPAs and Advisors over the summer. This fall she is pursuing a master’s in professional accountancy at Clemson University.
James Price (J.P.) Walker just got accepted for a role with Amazon in Nashville, Tennessee.
Congratulations to our Teacher of the Year alums!
Congratulations to the seven alumni who were named teachers of the year in Spartanburg County:
- Amanda Clark ’12, Oakland Elementary, Spartanburg District 2
- Ashlyn Taylor ’23, Pacolet Elementary, Spartanburg District 3
- Nikki Clutter ’10, Woodruff Middle School, Spartanburg District 4
- Donna Lowe ’22, Anderson Mill Elementary, Spartanburg District 6
- Alicia Fulmer ’94, Pine Street Elementary, Spartanburg District 7
- Jennifer Jeffcoat ’19, South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind
- Mary Kimbrell ’06, High Point Academy
