Alumni Spotlight

Abby (Saizow) Parrent, 2010

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:00:00 +0000

2010 Grad turns lifelong love of animals into career as Veterinarian

Abby (Saizow) Parrent, '10, has turned a lifelong passion into a career filled with challenges, discoveries, and meaningful moments.

Tell us about yourself and what you're doing now. My name is Abby Parrent (Saizow, originally), and I attended Riverfield from when I was 2 years old, in the Frog Class until I graduated high school in 2010. Since then, I’ve graduated from Veterinary school at Oklahoma State, and I have been a practicing veterinarian for 7 years. I currently work as a general practitioner and certified canine rehabilitation veterinarian at a busy practice in Colorado Springs. Myself, my husband, Alan, and our two boxers (Breck and Betty) love living near the mountains, and try to take advantage of as much hiking, skiing, and sightseeing as possible.

What is one lesson, experience, or mentor from Riverfield that has stayed with you? The best and most important things that have stayed with me since my time at Riverfield are my best friends, Jessie and Meike! Jessie and I have been best friends since we were in the Purple class. Meike was an exchange student from the Netherlands while we were in high school. We all still talk daily and visit each other as often as possible. I’m also still friends with many of my classmates and previous teachers!

How did your time at Riverfield help prepare you for where you are today? Starting at a young age, Riverfield encouraged critical thinking and exploration which plays a big role in veterinary medicine. You have to be creative and find solutions to unique problems on a daily basis.

Tell us about your role as a veterinarian and the types of animals you care for. As a veterinarian, I play many roles for dogs and cats—preventative care and general practitioner, dentist, surgeon, rehabilitation therapist, internist, ophthalmologist, oncologist, and more. I also work together with the associate veterinarians and technicians to provide our patients with the best care.

What does a typical day look like in your practice? My day to day as a veterinarian changes constantly, which is one of the things I love most about the career. In one week, I could see new puppy or kitten exams, do emergency surgery to remove a dog’s spleen, perform routine vaccinations, extract teeth during a dental procedure, do physical therapy on a paralyzed dog, and many other (potentially more disgusting) things.

What inspired you to pursue a career in veterinary medicine? I wanted to be a veterinarian for as long as I can remember. Most of my inspiration was because I was obsessed with animals, but another big inspiration was my dad, Ron Saizow. He was a “human doctor” as the veterinarians refer to them, and he found a lot of fulfillment in helping people by being an Internist. Again, animals are my thing, so human medicine was not on my radar, but veterinary medicine fit me perfectly!

What's the most rewarding or memorable experience you've had as a veterinarian? One of my most memorable and rewarding experiences as a vet was helping a paralyzed dog walk again. This sweet pup had a back injury that caused hind limb paralysis and we used medicine and rehabilitation therapy to help her walk again!

What do you wish more people understood about caring for their pets and the work veterinarians do? I wish the general public knew more about the true costs of owning and providing the best care for a pet. The vet bills can be very expensive and there are many reasons for that. Regardless, pet owners should be prepared for emergency and routine veterinary costs. For more information about this, visit https://www.avma.org/blog/avma-shares-insights-rising-veterinary-costs.

What has been your proudest professional accomplishment so far? My proudest professional accomplishments are graduating from Oklahoma State College of Veterinary Medicine in 2019, and then becoming certified in canine rehabilitation in 2023. In my personal life, I am most proud of how much traveling I have been able to do with my family and friends.

What advice would you give current Riverfield students as they think about their future? My advice to current students would be to try new things and say yes to different opportunities. Riverfield gave me opportunities to be a drummer in a rock band, the captain of the basketball team, a semi-fluent Spanish speaker, a mediocre tennis player, and infinitely more things. Don’t let the fear of failure or embarrassment stop you from trying something that could lead to a lifelong passion or hobby or even career. (I still have a drum set in my house after my years in rock band! Shout out, Mr. Knight!)

Lightning Round!

Coffee or tea? Water
Dogs or cats? (Or another favorite animal!) Dogs, boxers specifically!
Favorite animal you've treated? Too hard to choose, they’re all my favorite!
Mountain hike or beach vacation? Mountain adventures
One item you always have in your clinic coat? My Pilot pens labeled with my name so no one steals them.
Favorite way to spend a day off? Relaxing at home with the dogs or going on a hike
Dream destination to visit? I’d love to ski in the Alps
Three words that describe your job? Rewarding, challenging, fun
Favorite Riverfield tradition or event? Riverfield Rocks Llamapalooza
Best advice you've ever received? Life is short, so live now and to the fullest

Holden Grissett, 2015

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 04:00:00 +0000

AI and Aerospace

Holden is researching audio AI models at Liquid AI after interning at SpaceX—while embracing a new role as a parent and carrying lessons from Riverfield into the future.

Tell us about yourself and what you're doing now. I recently finished an internship at SpaceX as an AI Engineer while doing my MS at UCLA. I'm now moving to San Francisco to take a new role as a Member of Technical Staff at Liquid AI. I also recently had my first baby!

What is one lesson, experience, or mentor from Riverfield that has stayed with you? My most formative experience at Riverfield was senior year, when I was taking English class with Mr. Donaldson. I was struggling in English class, so I asked my teacher if I could write about a topic that was only tangentially related to English for my final paper. It was a hard sell, but I was really hoping he would accept it because I was becoming interested in economics, and couldn't get myself excited about some of the standard content. To my surprise, he accepted. I wrote about John Maynard Keynes and the economic theory he developed in the wake of the Great Depression, and it was by far my greatest writing work I made at Riverfield. In retrospect, it's clear that he saw what I needed better than I did: a source of inspiration for my work. He adapted to my interests, and my writing came naturally. This taught me two lessons. The first is on how good teachers operate. They listen as well as they speak, and they aren't afraid to be flexible to get students excited about their work. The second is that I must also prioritize the work that excites me — I can't wait for other people to put me in a position to win. Mr. Donaldson taught me a set of lessons that I carry with me to this day, and I hope to embody those even more as I enter parenthood.

How did your time at Riverfield help prepare you for where you are today? I think one of Riverfield's strong suits is self-expression. Riverfield has a diverse set of extracurriculars that support expression in various forms. That diversity allowed me to explore my interests without feeling locked into one specific activity. Theatre class was particularly helpful in getting me to develop my voice. It taught me how to express myself at a time when I wasn't completely comfortable putting myself on the spot. Today, I feel like I am one of the more expressive individuals on the engineering teams I've been on, which allows me to build a rapport with teammates easily and support collaboration between teams at work.

What does a typical day look like as a software engineering intern? It's a particularly weird time to be a software engineer, because LLMs are doing so much of our work now. They have only just begun to touch white collar work. Just 6 months ago, I barely used LLMs to get my work done. Now, I work incredibly fast - instead of writing code, I mostly verify it against the goals and requirements I have. Code has become a cheap commodity. With that development, software engineers now work more like very technical product managers or systems engineers (depending on what kind of software role you're in). I go to people in the company, ask them about their problems, and then translate our discussion into ideas that I mull over with the team and build with an LLM in a few hours. This loop used to take weeks to months, but now you can accomplish a single iteration of this loop within a few days. This means that we often get projects done much faster, which is great. The biggest bottleneck to productivity now is figuring out good requirements for your work and verifying they've been met.

What inspired you to pursue a career in software engineering and the aerospace industry? The aerospace industry was always on my mind since I was little. Software entered my mind for the first time when I was playing video games, which I think a lot of kids can relate to. I would mod Skyrim and realized I could make my own mods to do fun or silly things in the game. My modding career wasn't particularly long, but after some encouragement from a friend, I tried out actually coding and really enjoyed it. The tight feedback loop between work and output was more satisfying than it was in other engineering domains, so I chose to pursue it more seriously. However, I still loved the idea of being in a hardware-focused industry. Despite software's lucrativity, I still think that the biggest breakthroughs we can make as a species require massive hardware engineering effort, so I'd like to allocate my effort in hardware-oriented domains of software.

What's been the most exciting or rewarding part of your current internship so far? Every day something exciting is happening here. The breadth of projects and speed at which we do them means there is always incredible work being done in the next cubicle over. The coolest thing I've done at SpaceX is improving Grok at engineering, which I can't get into detail on, but promises to improve the speed at which we can develop hardware for the moon and Mars.

What has been your proudest accomplishment so far? I see myself as a bit of a comeback story. I had a lot of low points before reaching where I am today. I'm proud that I proved to myself that I can achieve everything I dreamed of doing when I first entered high-school. I'm also immensely proud of my baby.

What advice would you give students who are interested in software engineering, technology, or pursuing internships with innovative companies? I'd encourage you to take initiative in building your own projects — the most fun ideas are the ones that make you feel excited, and those are also the ones that engineers like. If you want to 3D scan your cat and print it out, do it! Maybe you could make a model airplane with a miniature engine? LLMs have greatly lowered the barrier to doing fun and interesting stuff on your own - you don't have to be an expert in aerospace or electrical engineering to start building something functional now, you just have to be willing to try new things and iterate on your ideas.

What advice would you give current Riverfield students as they think about their future? Your habits are what make you, you. If you see a future for yourself that you want to make happen but you don't see the path, start with your habits. Every choice you make, even the most menial choice, is one small step toward future you. What you condition yourself to enjoy doing every day will be what you instinctively do 10 years from now. If you find your habits are misaligned with your vision, start with small, and build yourself up. Eventually, you'll be the person you want to be automatically, without even trying.

Lightning Round

Coffee or tea? Coffee

Morning person or night owl? Night Owl

Favorite programming language? Haskell

Mac, Windows, or Linux? Linux! (Though I use all 3, they all have their place)

Dream project to work on in the future? Mass Driver on the Moon

Three words that describe your internship? Exciting, fast, challenging

If you could witness any space mission in person, which would it be? Really hard to choose since they're all so cool, but Apollo 11 must have been a surreal moment for everyone watching.

Favorite Riverfield tradition or event? Riverfield Rocks

Best advice you've ever received? Commitment is freedom

Elizabeth Williamson, 2022

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Tagging Sharks Along Georgia's Coast

From mummifying chickens in Middle School to tagging sharks off Georgia's coast, Riverfield alum Elizabeth Williamson turned a lifelong fascination with marine life into a career in fisheries research and conservation.

Tell us about yourself and what you're doing now. My name is Elizabeth, but many call me Lizzie or Liz. I have been in love with sharks for just about as long as I can remember. My love of sharks is usually what people remember about me, and I have been told many times that when others see sharks, they often think of me. I have just graduated from college with a B.S in Marine Science and a B.S. in Sustainability, Geography, and Environmental Planning, as well as minors in Public Policy and GIS, and certificates in Research and Service Learning. Right now, I am working with the Georgia DNR Coastal Resources Division on their shark longline project.

What is one lesson, experience, or mentor from Riverfield that has stayed with you? One experience that I am sure to never forget was when we mummified chickens in middle school. We were working up carcasses one day, and my coworker made a remark about how awful the smell was after we came back from lunch, and the carcasses had been sitting out in the heat. I agreed, but told her it was not the worst thing I had ever smelled, and told her about the time my class mummified chickens in middle school when we were learning about the Egyptians. We used coffee grounds to cover the smell, but that only worked for about a day, then it smelled like coffee grounds and rotting chicken. I sometimes get a whiff of rotting chicken when I smell coffee grounds to this day.

How did your time at Riverfield help prepare you for where you are today? My senior year at RCDS, the juniors and seniors got to do a weeklong internship in a field they were hoping to go into. I got to do my internship with the ODWC (Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation). That experience opened the door for me to work as an actual intern the summer after my freshman year of college, providing field sampling and fish identification skills, which I believe helped me get the job I have now, as well as broaden the career field I wanted to go into. Rather than have my focus solely on sharks, I learned that I also really like other kinds of fish, and one career option for me would be working in a state-level fish and wildlife department.

Tell us about your role with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Marine Fisheries Section Longline Project. I work in the Coastal Resources Division, specifically the Fisheries Section. We go out quarterly to set longlines to collect data on what sharks are where. We collect data on species, sex, maturity, size, and weight. We tag all sharks we bring up except the Atlantic Sharpnose (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae). This gives us an idea of the shark demographic of the area, and the tagging tells us if and when we recapture a shark.

What does a typical day in the field look like when you're surveying and collecting data on sharks? There are two other seasonal hourly workers on the project with me. We try to prep the boat the Monday before we go out, filling up ice chests, cutting bait, and ensuring we have all the gear we need. When we arrive at a site, we have already baited the hooks and decided on our roles and how we will rotate through the roles throughout the day. There is a setter, a handler, and an extra hand. The setter sets the anchors, hooks, and buoys on the line while our supervisor operates the winch, spooling the line out. The handler hands hooks to the setters while the extra hand takes the hooks off the board to give to the handler. Once the line is set, we collect environmental data, such as wind speed and direction, air and water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and salinity. We fill a pool on the boat with water to act as a holding area for sharks we pull up if they cannot be worked up right away. To haul in the line, the person who set the line takes the hooks and anything attached to the hooks off the line while the winch reels the line in. The handler from setting the line is in charge of working up the sharks that come up, while the extra hand rebaits hooks that come up empty or helps out with the sharks if necessary. Once the line is in and all the sharks are back in the water, we go to our next site and do it all over again, switching up our roles. When we get back to the office, we clean up the boat and prep for the next day.

What inspired you to pursue a career in marine science and fisheries research? I fell in love with sharks when I was in kindergarten. I saw a picture of a shark on the cover of a book at the book fair, and I thought it was the cutest creature I had ever seen. From there, my love, curiosity, and passion for sharks grew, and I knew that working with sharks was what I wanted to do in life; I just wasn’t sure how to get there or what that job would look like. After my time at the ODWC, I learned how much I liked working with fish, and fishery work was a career option I was open to.

What's the most interesting or unexpected thing you've learned from working with sharks? The most unexpected thing I’ve learned from working with sharks is how heavy they are. They look small, but they are pure muscle, and when said muscle is angry, pulling them up onto the boat can prove a bit of a challenge.

Why is shark research and conservation important, and what do you hope people will better understand about these animals? Research (ideally) leads to understanding, and understanding helps us learn the best way to help conserve a species. Conservation is important because every species on this planet plays a role in the environment. The research and conservation of sharks helps with keeping the oceans healthy. Sharks not only keep prey populations in check but can serve as indicator species, their presence or lack thereof, displaying the health of an ecosystem. I hope people understand that sharks are not cold-blooded killers, nor are they a nuisance. Sharks belong in the ocean, and they have an important role to play.

What has been your proudest professional accomplishment so far? My proudest professional accomplishment is either tagging a shark or submitting a paper to a peer-reviewed scientific journal to hopefully be published.

What advice would you give current Riverfield students as they think about their future? Don’t limit yourself to one narrow idea of what you want to do. Be open to changing your mind or pivoting because there is more than one path you can take to reach a goal. I did not know what college I wanted to go to until my senior year of high school, and I did not know where I would end up or what I was going to do once I graduated from college until the spring semester of my senior year. I only ended up at the GA DNR because I took a job working the beaches in St. Augustine, making sure they were ready for sea turtle nesting season. I kept asking God what I was doing there, as I had no idea, or how the experience was going to benefit my long-term goal, yet it was because of that job that I learned about the position I have now. My supervisor used to work at the GA DNR on a different project and knew of the shark long lining gig, and gave me the contact information for my current supervisor. Bottom line: don’t limit yourself to a narrow goal, and network in any position you have - you never know how one experience or person can set you down a path you didn’t even know was there.

Lightning Round!

Coffee or tea? - Tea
Sunrise or sunset? - Sunset
Favorite shark species? -VERY hard to choose, either Salmon shark (Lamna ditropis) or Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus)
Favorite place you've visited for work? – The St. Mary’s River between Florida and Georgia. The scenery was beautiful.
One piece of field gear you can't live without? – a YSI
Favorite animal besides sharks? - Ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii), specifically the smallmouth buffalo (Ictiobus bubalus)
Dream travel destination? - Kelp forest or Ireland
Three words that describe your job. – Dream come true
Favorite Riverfield tradition or event. - Campout
Best advice you've ever received. - You can network and turn any experience into a valuable skill and learning opportunity. Everyone starts somewhere.

Hannah Grenier, 2020

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

2020 GRAD HITS HOME RUN WITH SAVANNAH BANANAS

RCDS alum Hannah Grenier (‘20) is spending her summer on the road with the Savannah Bananas, an exhibition barnstorming baseball team based out of Savannah, Georgia. Founded in 2016, the team has become increasingly popular, selling out stadiums around the country.

After graduating from The University of Tulsa Collins College of Business in December 2023 with a B.S.B.A in Business Management, Grenier accepted a one-season role with the team as a ticket operations intern.

Ticket operations represent one-third of the ticket experience department with the Bananas and are focused on the analytics and overall operations of the department. With a demand of more than two million fans hoping to purchase tickets, the team uses a lottery system for ticket sales. Grenier ensures that fan requests are in order before the lottery selection and ticket launch. She fields fan inquiries about tickets between the time of purchase and game time.

Grenier says her time at Riverfield prepared her well for her role with the team.

“I am grateful for all the experiences I had and the opportunities I was given to raise my professional, personal, and leadership skills because I have felt so set up for success in my early career because of it,” Grenier said.

On a normal game day, Grenier works with the team to strategically map out the full setup for the weekend to create the best operational, efficient system while ensuring all decisions and experiences are “Fans First.”

“Fans First is the idea that behind every action, decision, and thought, we are ensuring that we are placing the fan at the forefront of our minds, committing to putting the fan experience above all else,” Grenier said.

The Bananas are currently on an eight-month world tour, and Grenier has the pleasure of traveling to many of the ballparks along with the team.

“One of my favorite trips was a two-week extended trip where we played in both Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mesa, Arizona. The ballparks out in the west were so colorful and vibrant and had the most stunning backdrops,” Grenier said. “The Savannah Bananas also started playing in MLB stadiums for the first time this year, starting off with Minute-Maid Park in Houston and just wrapping up a trip up to Boston’s Fenway Park.”

Fans First Entertainment owns the Savannah Bananas as well as the Party Animals and the Firefighters. Grenier has been working many of the first Party Animals headliner games to kick off their mini-world tour.

“One of my favorite and most memorable moments of the job is just getting to be part of the team’s history as they grow. Stepping into Minute-Maid with the team on the first day, knowing that we were upping our traditional capacity by four times as many people, looking out into the empty stands, and realizing the magnitude of what this company is doing is just so flooring,” Grenier said.

“Getting to play in Fenway Park, one of the most iconic and historic ballparks in the world, adding a third team to the company, starting the Party Animal’s first-ever headlining world tour, getting to watch Jocelyn Alo (former Oklahoma Sooners softball home run queen) play for her one-month contract, and so many other little and huge moments,” Grenier continued. “I just feel like it’s such an honor to be part of the history and growth of this organization, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to play my small part in it.”

Brandon Miller, 2012

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 04:00:00 +0000

2012 Graduate's Creative Journey Around the World

From graphic designer to creative director and entrepreneur, Miller has built a life in New Zealand fueled by curiosity, creativity, adventure, and a commitment to giving back.

Brandon Miller pursued a dual degree in Creative Advertising and Business Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado. After graduating, he started his career as a graphic/web designer, and gained valuable experience at advertising and marketing agencies in Boulder, Washington DC, and Kansas City.

However, in 2019, he and his partner Lauren made a bold decision to embark on a new adventure, packing their lives into two suitcases and relocating to the other side of the world in Wellington, New Zealand.

Finding it a bit difficult to secure a permanent job on a visitor’s visa, he took the entrepreneurial path and established his own freelance company, specializing in web design and development. This allowed him to collaborate with local Kiwi startups, marketing agencies, and design studios, contributing his expertise to their projects.

In 2021, Miller accepted an exciting opportunity as the Head of Creative at Psychoactive Studios, an acclaimed Web Design and Development studio known for its award-winning, innovative, and boundary-pushing interactive experiences on the web. Brandon says “being a part of the studio has been an extraordinary experience, unveiling a realm of design and development that has surpassed my expectations. Collaborating with incredibly talented individuals and clients from diverse corners of the globe has been an absolute pleasure, fueling my creativity and pushing the boundaries of what I thought was possible.” If you're curious to explore some of the projects he has worked on, you can visit psychoactive.co.nz.

During the holidays, Miller fully immerses himself in the island lifestyle, exploring the breathtaking landscapes of New Zealand in my campervan, engaging in activities such as overnight tramps, surfing, swimming in lakes, and drumming in a band with his good mates. They take advantage of the 3-day weekends and the laid back work/life balance to explore as much of the islands as possible!

Beyond his professional endeavors, Brandon, along with Lauren, actively contribute to the community by volunteering for the Blind Foundation. They dedicated 15 months to raising and training an amazing and smart Labrador pup named Zeke, who has since become a certified guide dog for the blind and now resides on the South Island. While they don't currently have a dog of their own, the couple continues to offer their home as a temporary space for dogs in need. Since Zeke, they have had more than 6 dogs stay in their home. Some staying for a night, others, for a month. “It’s such an amazing opportunity to work with these intelligent young pups who have the chance to change someone's life,” Brandon said.

In 2022, Brandon achieved permanent residency in New Zealand, granting him the ability to purchase property, exercise his voting rights, and reside in the country without any time constraints. Brandon says he will most likely be sticking around the Oceania region for the foreseeable future, taking the opportunity to explore the wonders of Aotearoa, Australia, and the neighboring Pacific islands.