Alumni Success Stories
Several students over the years have gone on from Tallulah Falls School into colleges and universities and ultimately into their careers to have incredible success. These alumni are just a handful of those who have and are making impacts on the world! Read the following stories of TFS alumni.
After graduating from Tallulah Falls School, Isabelle Almoyan ('15) attended Liberty University, where she majored in film and theater. Her professional career includes work on feature films, short films, television movies, web series, and voiceovers. She can be seen in feature films “The Mulligan” with Eric Close and Pat Boone and “Lifemark” with Kirk Cameron. Her upcoming feature films include “Camp Hideout” with Corbin Bleu and Christopher Lloyd, “Nightmare Pageant Moms” with Gina Simms, “Finding Tony” with Stephen Bishop, and “Bringing Back Christmas” with Dean Cain and Mark Christopher Lawrence.
Will Morel ('03) is a member of the Tallulah Falls School Class of 2003. Morel attended TFS from sixth through 12th grade as a boarding student. Morel has worked in finance, advertising/marketing, branding, graphic design, and fine art. After graduating from TFS, Morel attended Wagner College in New York City to pursue a career in finance. After interning with Goldman Sachs, he pivoted to a creative career path, taking some classes at Fashion Institute of Technology, and moved into magazine work and advertising.
His high-profile work includes the Emmy-winning Love has No Labels project, one of the most successful campaigns in advertising history. Produced as a Public Service Announcement for the Advertising Council, the 2015 campaign won an Emmy and many industry awards. He also worked on the follow-up campaign, We are America. “The campaigns remind us of our shared humanity,” he said.
Morel visited with TFS upper school art classes in the fall of 2022. He worked individually with students on their own projects as answering their questions about his work.
For more information, visit www.willmorel.com.
Jimmy Sandi ('07) recently published “Lion Diamond Child - Fragments of the Past.” It is the story of growing up in Sierra Leon during the Blood Diamond War in the 90s. He recounts his journey between the ages of four and 12. “I was originally writing the story for myself, and I wanted to have it for my daughter to read someday,” said Sandi. “But I am having fun interacting with people and connecting with people through my story that I never imagined would even read it.” People from Sierra Leone, living all over the United States, have reached out in support and relate to his experience - something Sandi did not expect.
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The story begins at a Habersham County Rotary meeting Peacock attended with her father when she was a sophomore at Tallulah Falls School. That day, she heard a presentation on local flight schools offering lessons at the Habersham County Airport. Peacock was intrigued, so she signed up for a discovery flight. “I did one flight and fell in love with it,” said Peacock.
When Lianjie “Jerry” Wei (’16) wanted a different experience in his life, he and his family decided that attending boarding school in America was a good choice. They came across Tallulah Falls School. “We recognized it as one of the better boarding schools in the United States,” said Wei. “After being interviewed, I received an acceptance letter and knew I wanted to go.”
In the fall of 2012, Wei boarded a plane in Beijing, China, traveled across the world, and began his freshman year at TFS. Moving to a new country far away from home was a huge cultural adjustment for Wei, but teachers, staff, and students warmly welcomed him, and he adjusted to life at TFS. “I was able to find my group of people,” he said, “ I made good friends, and the teachers were friendly. I loved my first history teacher, Ms. Carter, and my math teacher, Coach Hyle.”
Gabe Farris ('14) was serious about pursuing a career in finance. When Gabe graduated from TFS in 2014, he attended Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina. He was able to graduate early from college with a B.A. in business administration. He went straight into the workforce at Southern Bank in North Carolina. Soon after, Farris was hired to do accounting for a Jersey Mike's Franchise based in Raleigh, North Carolina – the largest Jersey Mike system franchise, with 69 locations. “From the time I started until now, we’ve added over 20 stores. In the last payroll, we paid 1,090 people.” In 2019, he earned his MBA from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.
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Tallulah Falls School is pleased to announce that Kinsun “Frank” Chan, a 1985 TFS alumnus, has been named the 2024 Outstanding Former Student. Chan is known worldwide for his accomplishments in ballet as a dancer, choreographer, and set designer.
The year was 1997. Tabi had just joined the TFS community as a seventh-grader. His family chose TFS because they wanted a structure they could rely on to help him be a good student and athlete. “I quickly became very involved in the process. TFS became my second family,” he said.
TFS was a new experience for Tabi. “I had been in classes with 35-50 kids in the Bronx,” he said. “Now I was in a classroom of 10-12.” His teachers, Bob Loder and Killeen Jensen were very influential in his life. “They were the first to introduce me to structure, and they paid attention to details,” he said. “I didn’t even know what my weaknesses were, but they helped to build me up and helped me grow.”
After graduating from Tallulah Falls School, Rahel Gizaw ('09) attended the University of Georgia. She graduated in 2013 with a degree in biological sciences. After UGA, she graduated from the Morehouse School of Medicine in 2019 and completed her residency in 2021. Gizaw specializes in emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, where she clinically sees patients, and teaches at the academic medical center to collaborate with residents and medical students, introducing and teaching them the practice of emergency medicine.
Elijah Clouatre (’18) has spent his life trying to understand how the universe works. “The technology that it requires to study space – to get to space causes us to ask good questions, and then we find answers.”
“I was always the kid checking out the space books from the school library – “101 Facts About Space” – I never put it down,” he said. “It was always super fascinating to me.” After graduating from TFS in 2018, Clouatre took his curiosity and questions to the Georgia Technological Institute in Atlanta, Georgia.
From exploring the Galapagos to studying at Cambridge, TFS graduate Perry Gresham's (’18) summer seemed like it came straight out of a fairy tale. I felt like a princess,” she said. “I did so many cool things. I don’t think I could top this summer.”
TFS alum Baylee MacBeth (’21), a senior at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will graduate in May with a degree in environmental science, a new interdisciplinary degree offered by Georgia Tech. He and one other student will be the first to receive this degree.
In 2022, he reached out to IT Director Casey Barron about setting up a Raspberry Shake seismometer to collect seismic data for a project with one of his Georgia Tech professors. Barron allowed MacBeth to house the seismometer in the TFS data center, and he helped him troubleshoot and access the equipment when needed. Until recently, the seismometer collected data here at TFS.
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Alia Bly (‘20) is in her senior year at Emory University and simultaneously working on her master's degree at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health with a focus on infectious disease epidemiology.
Lucia Alexander ('21) is working towards an honors degree in marketing at Kennesaw State University. Alexander took 29 dual hours of enrollment classes at Tallulah Falls School, which means that although she is just beginning her sophomore year at KSU, she nearly has enough hours to be classified as a junior. Being an honors student at KSU allows her the advantage of meeting people in different marketing professions so that by the time she graduates, she will have plenty of experience.
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After graduating from TFS in 2019, Sydney Spivey ('19) attended Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, where she double majored in marketing and management. During her time at WCU, Spivey studied abroad for a semester in Paris. In her free time, she traveled throughout Europe. She graduated from WCU in May of 2023. She gave the commencement address at her graduation. “ I spoke in front of thousands of people,” said Spivey. The Monday after graduation, Spivey was offered a job with M&R Marketing firm in Macon, Georgia, where she works as a digital strategist.
Memories spill out as Soo (Lina Hoffman) Kim (’11) recalls her years at TFS. She remembers going on ski trips, attending away games, cheerleading, playing tennis, and staying up late using a flashlight to review biology flashcards for final exams.
Huffman came to TFS as a boarder in 2006. “My cousin attended and graduated from TFS a few years before me, so I suggested to my parents that they send me there,” said Huffman. “They were hesitant at first. I was only 14 years old and lived in South Korea. However, I am so grateful they did because it was one of the best decisions of my life.”
Oge Okoye ('06) attended the University of Georgia, where she received her undergraduate and her PharmD degrees. She completed her pharmacy residency training at Harris Health System in pharmacy leadership and administration in Houston, Texas. In 2020, she added a Master of Pharmacy Leadership and Administration from the University of Houston to her impressive academic portfolio. She now serves as the Pharmacy Operations Manager with Harris Health System.
Flannery Hogan ('22) is a sophomore at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. She will complete a degree in astrogeophysics in the spring of 2026. Hogan thrived in the small school environment at TFS and knew she wanted to find a smaller school to further her studies, which led her to Colgate. “It has been a good fit,” said Hogan.
Sharon Durkan ('10) attended Smith College in Boston, Massachusetts, where she graduated in 2014 with a B.A. in government. After college, Durkan became a behind-the-scenes advisor to many local politicians in Boston and was heavily involved in grassroots activism, fundraising, and organizing for local leaders. Eventually, she ran her own business consulting for elected officials. After ten years of political experience, Durkan had the opportunity to run for Boston City Council.
Billy Burrell brought rays of light to homes across Northeast Georgia for seven decades through his “Sunshine Melodies” – the longest-running weekday radio show hosted by the same person in North America. At 92, Billy still preaches some Sundays at churches right here in Habersham County. He began his ministry as a preacher and radio host soon after graduating from Tallulah Falls School in 1948. Read more about Billy’s life and about what TFS was like for the young Billy 76 years ago here
Min Oh graduated from TFS in 2012. For Oh, TFS was a place where she could thrive in the classroom and in residential and student life. “Once I got to college, I was familiar with the culture of seminars, office hours, and talking to teachers and classmates about what we were reading and studying. The transition from high school to college was much easier because I had those opportunities at TFS,” she said. After graduating from Vanderbilt with a PhD in special education, Oh began working as a Research Analyst at the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Headquarters.
After graduating from TFS, Xiao (Tyler) Xin ('14) attended the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Indiana. He graduated with a degree in computer science in 2018. After graduation, he worked for Google for a few years as a software engineer. In 2022, Xiao started working for Meta, where he works on the system that delivers ads on social networks like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
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TFS was a life-changing experience for Stephanie Witham Dorantes when she came to TFS as a boarder in 2002. After graduating from TFS in 2006, Stephanie Witham Dorantes’ education and career path brought her back to TFS in 2020. Dorantes teaches graphic design, yearbook, technology, digital arts, and media production at the middle school. For Durantes, her time at TFS helped her to build character and to become the best version of herself, which she now brings to students at TFS.
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Everyone has a story, and Chaz Mullis (’21) wants to tell them. He steps into local communities, into people’s lives, and learns how they live. “I work to grasp and understand the community and love it so I can write about it,” he said. “Right now, I’m working on a story about a man who wrote a memoir.”
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