IN OUR COMMUNITY: ALUMNI
Flipping Expectations
Katherine“ Breese” Anderson Romano’ 03 has had a passion for design since she was a child— she just never thought she’ d have the chance to pursue it as a career. But as coowner of Cobblestone Development Group with husband Josh, she gets to apply her eye for design as they work to renovate some of Richmond’ s older homes and neighborhoods.
One could say she and her husband“ flip” houses, but the work involved is so much more, she said. The couple purchases homes and does complete ceiling-to-floor renovations. When a client becomes interested in purchasing a home, Mrs. Romano will work with him or her to design the interior space to their specifications.
She said the couple does many projects in Richmond’ s Northside / Brookland Park area, taking old, often run-down houses and turning them into stylish, modern homes for anyone from young professionals to older retired couples.“ Those homes are so versatile and just classic Richmond,” she said.“ Those are some of my favorite ones we do.”
In the company’ s four years of existence, its numbers have increased from 13 homes in 2013 to nearly quadruple that in 2016. Mrs. Romano said she loves getting the chance to pursue her passion while working alongside her husband, and she credits Steward for giving her the drive to do so.
“ A strong sense of self-confidence was always instilled in me throughout my years [ at Steward ],” she said.“ It assured me that I can take chances and do anything I set my mind to.”
Spreading Love and Acceptance
Meg Trepp’ 16 with Josh Kaplan( left), founder of Giving Opportunities to All who Love Soccer( GOALS), and Tim Harris, motivational speaker and founder of Tim’ s Big Heart Foundation
Meg Trepp’ 16 certainly made an impact on Steward during her time here, and her efforts have only led to more accomplishments after she left the school.
A freshman at Elon University, Ms. Trepp recently received the Lovin’ Award from Lovin’ Scoopful, an ice cream company founded by Maria and Tim Shriver to serve as an ongoing source of revenue for Special Olympics. She was awarded for founding Steward’ s Special Olympics Club in 2013, which is now the largest club at Steward with more than 50 members. She also organized a Bowl-A-Thon in the spring of 2015 as a service day / educational event for the entire community that focused on disability awareness.
As part of the award, Ms. Trepp’ s picture and story will be featured on one of Lovin’ Scoopfuls new flavors, to be introduced this spring.
“ I’ m so humbled and honored by the award— I do this work because I love it and I never expect or want recognition,” she said.“ In the spirit of keeping things inclusive, I ask that my friend Hope, who is a Special Olympian with Down syndrome, be honored as well for helping me with the Bowl-A-Thon. I also want to share the victory with Anna Kilduff’ 20, who helped me tremendously and has now taken over the Special Olympics Club at Steward.”
Ms. Trepp regularly participates in causes that benefit the Special Olympics, such as Over the Edge RVA hosted by Special Olympics Virginia. This past October, she raised $ 1,000 for the organization, and thus was given the opportunity to rappel down the side of the SunTrust Center building in downtown Richmond.
At Elon, Ms. Trepp plans on taking part in the two Special Olympics events the university hosts on its campus each academic year, and she aspires to start her own Special Olympics club.
24 | The Colonnade
Richmond magazine named Cobblestone Development on its "People & Places to Watch in
2017" list!