We celebrate our alumni, their many life successess, and the transferrable skills they learned while training with our club.
Meet two of our awesome alums, Kensi & Katie, click the photo below!
Environmentalists
Katrin Lewis, Princeton #pandemicgrad. It's a big enough feat to graduate from The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs but to finish her senior thesis on South Sudanese Education Policy in the middle of a pandemic and have a rocking athletic career wrap up at the same time is just another level of awesome. Katrin, all your #mhdcfamily is so proud of you and we wish you nothing but greatness along your new journey as a policy analyst for a carbon capture and sequestration company. You inspire us all!
Social Workers
Nuñez has devoted her life to making the life of those around her better! Beyond always lighting up any room with her smile and her contagious positivity, she is a passionate mental health co-responder, licensed clinical social worker, and a crisis clinician. She also has her own private practice where she uses a variety of therapies (cognitive behavioral/EMDR/trauma focused/strength based) in her counseling.
Averly’s true calling has always been social work! Starting with a hospital internship she knew that her impact in this field of work would be profound. She has worked at before and after school programs and loves seeing improvement from the individuals she works with. Currently at a large local medical center, Averly works as a licensed Masters social worker.
After graduating from Boise State University with her bachelors degree in Public Health and Grant Writing, Taylor went back to earn her Masters in Social Work. She is currently working at a mental health counseling center providing individual therapy. Taylor also has recently ventured back into the world of diving and is now co-head coach to the Boise Diving Club Team. Tay hopes to one day combine these two passions and provide sports psychology and other mental health support for elite athletes.
Veterinarians
After finishing her diving career at Univeristy of Wisconsin, Alex Hafey is now a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DMV) graduate from Colorado State University. Although there are many options she is considering for specialization, she’s highly considering applying for a Theriogenology (reproduction) residency! Her favorite animals to work with are cats and horses and in her free time she likes meeting classmates at local breweries and also cross stitch!
Lawyers
Jennifer Moeller was born in southern California to two aeronautical engineers. She decided to take the lesser known path from her family of engineers to attend law school. Before law school, she devoted much of her time to springboard and platform diving. She was fortunate to be able to dive for the University of Hawaii at Manoa where nearly perfect weather made for an ideal training locale. She used to be somewhat of an adrenaline junkie, which led her to become a trial lawyer. She attended law school at Chicago-Kent College of Law graduating in 2009. From 2009 – 2015, she worked at the well-known Denver law firm of Springer & Steinberg, P.C.
Doctors galore...
When Dr. Karo Isajan, DC was 18 years old, he was awarded a full-ride scholarship for springboard diving which enabled him to receive his undergraduate education. Shortly after he started training, he began experiencing warning signs of a back problem. He pushed through the warning signs in order to continue competing until the pain got so bad that he couldn’t even put his socks on. With the help of a chiropractor, Dr. Karo started to heal, and his pain began to go away. He was able to keep his scholarship for diving and even qualify for NCAA National Championship. It was this experience that inspired Dr. Karo to become a chiropractor so that others can live a life they love and heal not only from pain but also from underlying causes. He has been in private practice in the San Jose, California area since 2012 and earned his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic West, where he received numerous academic awards including the Virgil Strang Philosophy Award.
Currently a resident physician (Anesthesiology) at Duke University, Dr Sean Moore, MD/MBA is interested in a career as a clinician and hospital administrator. While at OSU he was involved in clinical research in cardiology authoring “Cardiac involvement in hereditary ataxias" review (Journal of Child Neurology, September 2012) and co-authoring "Improved Detection of Myocardial Involvement in Acute Inflammatory Cardiomyopathies Using T2 Mapping" (Cardiovascular Imaging, January 2012). He also interned for a summer in Retail Financial Services at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and helped start an exciting new nanotechnology business, Core Quantum Technologies, that has garnered many accolades and cash grants. His heterogeneous background will serve him into the future so that he will be able to integrate the innovative aspects of medicine with the pragmatism of business.
Dr Dara Marin Prais, PhD has done all things, and done them well! From her roots as a classroom teacher, and a special education teacher, she has gone on to do all things education! From being an educational diagnostician, to researcher, to program coordinator, and then lecturer at CU Denver she has now finished her PhD and continues education research. She has done research on addressing teacher diversity gaps and research to understand how EdD students view educational research. From her time teaching young children diving we always knew she was unmatched in her methods and passion for teaching. She truly is a remarkable individual who continues to reach and teach all those around her!
Pilots
Carson Brusch is currently an F-16 Instructor Pilot in the Colorado Air National Guard (COANG) and an Airbus Instructor Pilot at United Airlines. After diving with Mile High in high school and for a short time thereafter, he enlisted in the COANG as an avionics technician and maintained the F-16s he now flies. He received his Bachelor of Science in Aviation Technology from Metropolitan State University in Denver, then immediately began Air Force Pilot Training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. Carson first flew the F-16 in 2008, has deployed to various locations around the world, was recently promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and has just completed 22 years of military service. He has been flying at United Airlines since 2018 and is very excited about the opportunities United presents, and the remainder of his career there!
Entrepreneurs
Kelly White opened her own full-service wellness center in Rainbow City, AL! Rise and Shine Wellness Center helps all clients achieve optimum health benefits through the use of many therapies including sauna, float tank, salt cave, foot detox, hyperbaric chamber, and BEMER mat to name a few. Kelly’s passionate about helping those who visit and strives to help each one of them reach their stated health objectives. Kelly’s long-time dream of opening her own facility has taken a lot of hard work and patience and we are so proud of her!
STEM
Cathleen Anderson has wanted to work in the medical field since she was young. In 2018, she graduated from the University of Denver with a Mechanical Engineering degree and started a job as a Research & Development Engineer at a local tissue bank. Currently she is working towards her graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, with a focus in Biomechanics, and is expecting to graduate in the Spring of 2023. Cat loves her work and is blessed to help develop innovative medical products to advance patient healing.
Becca decided she wanted to be an engineer in the second grade and started diving at age 11. She’s carried both endeavors over to Drexel as a chemical engineering major in Drexel’s Division I diving team. Juggling these two parts of her life has provided rewards and challenges. Her senior design project, working on an economic feasibility study for a factory that manufactures viral vectors, was a highlight that she completed with friends she’d known throughout her college career. Viral vectors are the tools which insert genetic materials into cells and are an essential part of gene therapy. Becca graduated with both her undergrad and masters in five years with many honors, a true feat for a college athlete, and landed a job with Bristol Myers Squibb.
Teachers
Ashley Peterson is that teacher that changes kids lives! She goes above and beyond to make special things happen in the classroom and to ensure that all the kids she teaches have access to the resources and opportunities they need for success in life. She is known to find ways to raise money for specific trainings or for social emotional programs to suit her current students. She is passionate about teaching kids and looks forward to making an impact in the life of each and every child she has the privledge of teaching each day.
Medical professionals
Tia Rangel After diving with Mile High Dive Club for four years she attended the University of Nebraska where she competed on platform, 3M, and 1M. Once graduated with with a double major in chemistry and psychology, she did show diving for a year allowing her to travel and live in places she otherwise never would have seen. Afterwards she attended nursing school and has since achieved her Critical Care, Cardiac Speciality, and Trauma Speciality certifications. She is currently working as an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) specialist. She cares for patients who are critically ill and require the ECMO to oxygenate their blood. Some of the patients she routinely care for are people who are awaiting a heart transplant, lung transplant, or have a reversible lung or heart injury that needs time, support, and/or surgery to heal. ECMO is frequently used with other machines that clean the blood and pump the blood; she runs and manages all of these while also managing the patient’s vasoactive medications, airway, and balance the patient’s lab values continuously. It’s like a high stress sudoku puzzle on steroids! In the end, she's grateful that she's able to use her mind and body everyday that she is at work. Spending her teen and early adult life diving definitely prepared her to be able to control stress levels, focus under pressure, and have confidence in herself and her abilities.
After her diving career, Georgia Brookstein turned Phlebotomist! After finishing her degree in Biology from the University of Utah she headed to Copenhagen for neurodegenerative stem cell research. She thoroughly enjoyed her time at the Københavns Universitet performing lab procedures for gene editing and modeled neurodegenerative diseases with stem cell reprogramming and differentiation. She currently is working as a medical assistant at a pain specialty clinic.
Zack Peterson, DPT graduated with a Bachelor of Kinesiology from the University of Kentucky where he then went on to earn a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. He has also completed an intensive orthopedic residency program and specializes in orthopedic, spine, and sports physical therapy across the lifespan. He is a Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist and has also completed his LSVT Big certification to effectively treat individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. With a personal history in gymnastics and diving, he is passionate about athlete rehabilitation and sports performance. He currently serves as Senior Clinic Director for PT Solutions’ clinics in Brandon, Riverview, Valrico, and Sun City Center, Florida. Along with his role as lead faculty for the Tampa cohort of the PT Solutions Orthopedic Residency, he also teaches continuing education courses around the country and provides mentorship for new graduate physical therapists in the Clinical Mentorship Program.
Professional coaches
John Fox, after being a D1 athelte at University of Kentucky, recevieved his MBA from University of Central Florida. While head coach at Moss Farms Diving, he produced National champions, Olympic Trials qualifiers, Pan-Am qualifiers and numerous scholarship athletes to collegiate programs. As one of the winningest junior coaches in the nation, he took the University of Auburn job where in his first year he produced NCAA qualifiers.
Kyle Bogner is the head coach of Univeristy of Missouri diving team. Before finding his way to Columbia, he coached with the University of Wyoming, New Mexico State University, and Northern Michigan University. Regardless of where Kyle is, he continues to produce NCAA qualifiers, All-American divers, conference champions, and Olympic Trials qualifiers.
Richard Marschner has developed champion divers for decades across America but had had tremendous success during his tenure at the University of Utah. He was recently awarded Pac-12 Men’s Diving Coach of the Year as well as the Don Reddish Award which is presented annually to a coach of an Olympic Sport who is deemed to have had the most successful season under their leadership. Richard has had NCAA and international successes with the divers under his tutelage. Additionally, he is one of the national coaches for Sweeden as well and often is at major international meets coaching Sweedish national team divers. Collegiately, the 2021 season was arguably one of the best in UU program history and at the Pac-12 Championships history was made. Combined, both the men and women were team diving champions. Redshirt Junior Luke McDivitt became the first Pac-12 Diving Champion in school history posting a school-record score (400.75) on the platform. McDivitt was the NCAA Zone E runner-up and earned the program's first-ever platform first-team All-America citation by capturing eighth at the NCAA Championships. Under Richard's guidance, four divers earned NCAA Championship berths, marking the most in a single season for Utah.
We love to hear about the journey, stories, experiences, and successes of all of our alums. If you have news to share, contact us at alumni@learntodive.org
Coming soon... Alumni Assocation