Christina Annas began her talk by reminding us that she was once a “little sprout”.

This led to a delightful, insightful and humorous overview of her journey from Upstate New York to California to Massachusetts and then New Hampshire.  At times the talk was linear, and other points if was a winding road that took her on detours that highlighted her interesting life, and delightful sense of humor.

Christina Annas

She covered stories about her family, her educational adventures, work experiences, volunteering, domestic and international travel, her love of animals and various hobbies.

She grew up about 1 ½ hours from NYC.  She never developed a NYC accent, but she shared that when angry she can sound like she comes from Long Island.  As a child, because she was so tall, many could forget that she was a child, thus as an adult, she likes to remember that the child in her can still be present and playful.

It quickly became apparent that family is very important to Christina. 

She shared that at the age of 20 she packed her underwear and shoes to journey to California to be nearer her grandmother, her father’s mother. She knew her father wouldn’t “approve” of her talking this adventure, so she informed him of the plan about 24 hours prior to departure. She stayed in California until her grandmother died. She thoroughly enjoyed the time she spent with her grandmother.  She then journeyed back to New York with friends. It took over 5 weeks to get back east…the first of many travel adventure she shared.

She shared stories about her father, mother and her boyfriend and his son.  Since her father died about 4 years ago, she has been spending a lot of time with her mother traveling around the world. She cherishes the times they spend together.

She had many memories to share about her education path.  She had a dream of becoming a veterinarian but that wasn’t meant to be. She told us that getting into vet school is harder than getting into med school. She attended seven colleges before completing her bachelor’s degree.  While in school, she had a knack for understanding mathematics and tutored many of her fellow students.  When she graduated, she knew that becoming a vet wouldn’t be a career path she could take, she became a mathematics teacher. She taught for 15 years.  Her best teaching stories are from teaching middle school kid, who gave her a “run for her money”.

Tyler Hagen Classification Talk

Tyler Hagan

Short Biography

Tyler was born in Trenton, NJ, which was about 10 minutes from his parent’s home in Yardley, PA.  They moved to Sandwich, MA, where he attended grade school, and then they moved to Worchester, MA.  Here, he attended Middle School and High School.  He played Lacrosse, and this led him to seek a sports management degree from Anna Maria College.

He spent volunteer time in Jamaica coaching 200 Jamaican youth and high school students. 

He held a variety of seasonal jobs including being a ski instructor.  He worked in hospitality. He was a bartender at Applebee’s in West Lebanon. He grew tired of working many late evening getting home after 1 AM.

Tyler then accepted a full-time position with Global Rescue in Lebanon, working in sales. He shared that while there he learned a lot about operations and working with customers and fellow staff members. He was there for 5 years prior to accepting his current position with Casella

Before telling us about his current position, he let us know that a friend encouraged him to travel with him to Colby-Sawyer College. The pitch was that his friend’s girlfriend had 6 roommates.  This is where he met his wife, Justine.  It sounds like they had a whirlwind romance.  They have now lived in Lebanon on Poverty Lane.  They love living in Lebanon and plan to be here a long time. He describes their home as “a money pit” …by choice.

Justine and Tyler have a son, Henry who was born prematurely in January 2025.  He spent his first few months in the ICN at DHMC.  He described this as a stressful time, but so happy that they were so close to the ICN.  Henry is now thriving and entering his toddler stage. He has learned how to throw things. Tyler is looking forward to Henry learning more words so they can better understand what he is saying.  Tyler’s cellphone is loaded with pictures if you want to see a picture of Henry.

Tyler, Justine and Henry have a “fur baby”, a dog that they adopted from Texas, named Addy.

Now on to his work with Casella Waste System, Inc.