Mountain Man

Matthew DuPuy’s photo albums look like a National Geographic spread.

The Matterhorn (the real one in Switzerland – not the Disneyland version), Alaska’s Denali, the ice fields on Mt. Everest -- they’re all there.

In between working as an embedded software engineer in the San Diego area, DuPuy (Computer Science 2002) is a world traveler.

“I've been hiking up mountains all over the states with my Dad since I was a little kid, but took on more serious climbing right after I finished at Cal Poly, thanks to the education that made it possible to afford my passion – or bad habit,” DuPuy explains.

One of his climbing buddies is former Cal Poly roommate Ryan Litke (Business Administration, 2001). DuPuy, Litke and friends went to Nepal in 2006, and stopped at a Shiva temple in the heart of Katmandu. Some of the photos from that trip, like the one above, are in DuPuy’s PolyLink album.  “The ‘Sadhus’ men (in the photo) are covered with ash of human remains,” DuPuy noted.

So are plenty of mountain photos. "The picture on the Matterhorn was August 2005. As you can see by the clouds, it was a terrible, snowy day to climb but we made it. I took my parents back to Zermatt early this year to see the mountains I climbed there and go skiing. I also summited the Breithorn there twice," DuPuy said.

His advice to current Computer Engineering students: "Get involved. Clubs, competitions, research projects. All give you great chances to apply what you do in class at a higher
level and team experience. If you enjoy that stuff and do well at it, you are in the right field and will find success outside the academic world too. Also," he joked, "find a business student roommate to drag you away from your computer every once in a while."

Adventures in Teaching

Debora Prall Owen (Graphic Communication, 1990) shared some photos from another kind of adventure – a year spent as a Fulbright Teacher in a middle school in England in 2003-04. 

“I swapped lives with a counterpart in the UK. I lived in her house in Seascale -- it’s so tiny it doesn’t always show up on maps. It’s on the Irish Sea in the Lake District.

"I went on my exchange, I was one of only two teachers in the state of Alabama to receive a Fulbright that year,” Owen said.

“It was a huge challenge, but a great experience,” said Owen. She has since married and moved cross-country to Portland, Oregon, where she is a middle school art teacher – definitely still an adventure.

Her advice for current students: "I was the first in my family to ever go to, let alone, graduate from college. I would say to others in my situation: seek out assistance (from advisors).  I would have also focused more on making connections with others in my major and interests. Network more and play a bit less," she said. "And travel. I would have definitely traveled more as a student if I had known how easy it would have been. Youth hostels, study abroad, completing your studies in a foreign land."

Still Fast Friends

Sue LeFevre Birkenseer may be a mild-mannered reference librarian in her day job – but she’s another alumna with a yen for travel. Birkenseer (English, 1981) married Jim Birkenseer (Graphic Communication, 1981). She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

One of the couple’s two children is majoring in Computer Science at Cal Poly right now.

Birkenseer still gets together to travel with her former Cal Poly Stafford Street roommates.

"We have traveled to Egypt, hiked the Grand Canyon, trained across British Columbia,
basked in Hawaii, and partied in New Orleans way before Katrina," Birkenseer said of her Cal Poly friends.

Her advice for current English majors: "Don't let people say there is nothing for English majors to do-- it is an excellent gateway to other things. I'm a reference librarian, and loving it."

Four-legged Friends

In addition to their human friends, plenty of alumni are sharing photos of furry and feathered friends – from horses to dogs to emus and camels.

Through the Desert with a Horse Named Red

Bob Pinkerton’s PolyLink album includes shots of Red, his 18-year-old American Quarterhorse Gelding. “Red is truly that once-in-a-lifetime horse and really my pal,” said Pinkerton (AgBusiness, 1967).

“Red and I have worked a lot of cattle during the years. He was my partner when I was a Team Captain in the Ventura County Sheriff's Mounted Posse.

"Whether back-country patrols, crowd and traffic control, search missions, or parades, Red was absolutely mission-focused and a true, dedicated partner. Now Red and I mostly trail ride for our own pleasure weekly.”

The Pinkerton family (wife Donna, Home Ec, 1967, and son Rob Pinkerton, Ag Business 1995), went on a horseback camping trip in 2006 in the Sage Mountains northwest of Reno, in territory where wild Mustang herds still roam

Wild Thing I

Amy Krisch (Ecology and Systematic Biology, 2003) is an animal trainer at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park in Escondido.

All of the animals made it through the October wildfires just fine, she said.

Krisch uploaded a photo of herself and a camel named Solomon – cheek to cheek. "He is a two year old Dromedary (one hump) Camel. The photo was taken just after Solomon got a 'bath' with Mane n' Tail Shampoo," she explained.

Krisch started volunteering for "Zoo to You" while she was a sophomore at Cal Poly. It led to a full-time job as the head Animal Trainer for the Animal Trackers show at the zoo, which is a Zoo to You production.

“In addition to the camel, I train a variety of animals including a Grant's Zebra, Thompson's Gazelle, several African Crested Porcupines, a Rock Hyrax, and a Serval,” she said. “It is a dream job.”

Wild Thing II

Matthew Leon (Animal Science, 1999) has another dream job – working with all kinds of animals and birds as the Farm Program Coordinator at Green Chimneys Farm and Wildlife Center in New York.

Leon is currently the Public Program Coordinator for Green Chimneys, a facility that is part of a school for special needs children and adolescents in Brewster, New York. 

Not only is he wearing a cool Cal Poly hat in this photo, it shows him doing some hands-on work with an emu on the job at Green Chimneys Farm. "That's me and Nova, our imprinted Emu. Emu are native to Australia and a close cousin to the ostrich of Africa. Emu are much easier to handle than ostrich. Just ask the folks up at the Atascadero Zoo," Leon writes.

His company offers internships and co-ops for current students – check out PolyLink to find out more.

Hail Cesar

Loraine Miramontes Hall has her dream job too – in City and Regional Planning. Hall (City and Regional Planning, 2003) works for a civil engineering firm in Gilroy as a land use planner. 

But it’s her year-old French Bulldog Ceasar she’s focused on for her PolyLink photo albums.

“It was Ceasar’s first day at the beach – a fabulous little beach named Talawa Sand Dunes in Crescent City,” she said. “All day long Ceasar decided that he would rather roll around and around in the cool wet sand then play in the ocean waves.”

Her advice to current City and Regional Planning students: "Work hard and in return you will have a lifetime of memories, a solid education in planning and design, an established network of peers and professors, and one honorable achievement, a degree from one of California’s leading City and Regional Planning programs. Also, I strongly encourage students to go to the Cal Poly Job Fair, it is an amazing resource. Take advantage of it!"

Born to Be Wild: Two and Four-Legged Friends

Meghan Thompson-Payne and her husband Austin Payne are among the Cal Poly Alumni who have stayed in San Luis Obispo County.

"We actually met WOW week of freshman year and dated all the way through college. And to make things even crazier his cousin was one of my good friends growing up.  Small world!" Thompson-Payne explains.

"We both loved Cal Poly and have made life long friends that we see weekly.  We are excited about PolyLink and hope that we are able to connect with more of our alum through this site," she added.

Along with photos of alumni friends at get-togethers, Thompson-Payne's PolyLink photo album has travel and hiking photos. "The picture of my husband and I in the helmets is in Isla de Mujeres, Mexico.

"One of our Cal Poly friends was married down there and we went for week in 2007. We are riding a scooter -- which was lots of fun."

Another shot in the album is Thompson-Payne and the couple's dog, Barley, atop Cerro Alto in San Luis Obispo on a Christmas Eve hike in 2007..

Artistic Alumni
Other Cal Poly alumni are sharing their artwork in PolyLink.

Enjoying the Plein Air in Oregon

Brenda Boylan (Applied Art and Design, 1986) one of them. She lives and works in Oregon, where she started out as a silk-screen T-shirt printer at Nike.

But art was calling her – and with her husband’s support she made the leap to full-time artist. Joe Boylan (Graphic Communication, 1986) and the couple’s children head outdoors often to hike and camp while Brenda Boylan paints.

“Feeling close to nature is what Plein air painting is for me,” Boylan said. “Not all painting attempts result in a great painting, but just the act of painting outdoors is very different thanworking in my studio.”

Her husband, Joe Boylan (GrC, '86) took the photo at left at Smith Rocks, located just North of Bend in Oregon. "Smith Rocks is a rock climbers destination. We hiked about a mile down to this location with all my painting equipment on my back and carrying my precious pastels in their case, hoping to find that perfect scene to paint," Boylan explained.

"As the kids fished and hiked with husband, I painted the beautiful scenery as rock climbers scaled the rocks." It was, she said, a great way to spend Spring Break.

She has a blog and a web site – and you can find them and more of her art on her PolyLink personal profile.

Capturing California On Film

Bob Rutledge (Graphic Communication, 1979) takes spectacular nature photos across California. One striking shot of poppies in spring in the high desert outside Lancaster was taken in April 1982 at the opening of the Poppy Reserve there.

“I used Kodacolor ASA 80 film, a 28mm wide angle lens and a polarizing filter. Of course, with digital tools, I was able to clean up the dust and clean up the color on the one you see, but the photo is what I saw there.”

Rutledge's advice for current students: "Be sure to take time to see the area you are in around the school. I mean, go to the Avila pier, San Simeon, back roads between SLO and Paso Robles. It is a unique place to go to school."

Just Plain Catching Air

Another alum with a photo album worth checking out on PolyLink is Richard Owen, a design engineer and certified master skydiver. Owen (Electronic Engineering, 1994) has been skydiving with his wife – and kids – for the past 10 years. He’s racked up 800 jumps and over 12 hours of time spent in freefall.

“I’ve done things from large formations in freefall with other people to flying together and linking up parachutes after deployment and even nighttime jumps, including a skydive at the stroke of midnight as 1999 passed into the year 2000,” he said.

“My wife and I used to do several skydives every weekend, weather permitting. The last few years my skydiving has slowed with the birth of another child, but I expect it will be picking back up soon as she enters school and my wife and I find ourselves with a little more free time.

"My two oldest children (born shortly before I graduated from Cal Poly) have now even done their first skydives and want to get into the sport.”