Polar Bears and Pals

By Colleen Kearney Rich, MFA '95

Jamie Beth Cohen, BA English '97, is used to hosting her college friends each year for New Year's Eve in New York City, where she lives and works.

Each year some combination of her old college crowd—Kirby Reed, BS Finance '97; Dana Ernst, BS Mathematics '97; Tom Early, BA Biology '00; and Martin Haley—show up looking to celebrate. Usually, the New Year's festivities involve watching fireworks on a rooftop in Brooklyn or attending a party. “Actually, it is whatever I can throw together,” says Cohen with a laugh.

This past New Year's, Early and his girlfriend, Kelly Collins, showed up from Seattle, Washington, with an unusual request to ring in 2004: They wanted to jump in the Atlantic Ocean. It seems the couple made a similar jump into the Pacific to ring in 2003, and like any good hostess, Cohen was willing to accommodate them.

So, early on New Year's Day, Cohen and her fiancée, Sam Schindler, found themselves on Coney Island with thousands of other people, listening to the strains of a brass band and, yes, jumping into the Atlantic Ocean.

“It was amazing. It was the 101st annual Polar Bear Swim,” says Cohen. “The newspaper reported that more than 4,000 people were there. I don't think they all went in the water, but it was a really huge event.”

The group reunited again this year in August, this time in New Hope, Pennsylvania, to watch Cohen and Schindler wed. “There was a strong Mason contingent there,” says Cohen of the wedding. “My Mason friends are some of the most important people to me. I often wonder about how my life would be different if I went to one of the other schools on my list. I know I wouldn't have the job I do or the friends I do if I would have studied anywhere else... and then I stop wondering, because I know I'd be a different person without Mason and I'm quite happy just like I am.”

Tom Early, Jamie Beth Cohen, and Kirby Reed

Tom Early, Kirby Reed, and Jamie Beth Cohen

Sam Schindler, Jamie Beth Cohen, Kirby Reed, Kelly Collins, Tom Early