Some Stevenson connections have a way of lasting long after graduation. For Sabrina Hiltunen ’99 and Nichole Simonsen ’01, that connection began more than three decades ago and eventually brought them together again – not just as longtime friends, but as colleagues working to strengthen the Monterey community they both love.

Today, Hiltunen is the executive director of the Old Monterey Business Association (OMBA), while Simonsen serves as administrative assistant. The two work alongside a small team of board members to support businesses, organize community events and foster connections across two of Monterey’s five business districts: Downtown and the Lighthouse Business District.

“We’ve known each other since 1992,” says Hiltunen, who started at Stevenson in Grade 6. Simonsen was already there in Grade 4, and her brother, Paul Simonsen ’99, was Hiltunen’s classmate. “There’s just that foundation of connection that you went through this childhood together.”

That foundation remained even as their lives took them in different directions. Both left Monterey after Stevenson, pursued careers and lived elsewhere before eventually returning to the area. Their paths crossed occasionally over the years, including at local events, but it wasn’t until Simonsen saw an OMBA job posting, with Hiltunen’s name at the bottom, that their Stevenson connection became a professional one.

“I already knew I wanted the job,” Simonsen recalls. “There was this warm and fuzzy feeling of, ‘Well, now I know it’s a safe place. Now I know this is somewhere I could really thrive.’”

The timing felt right. Both had developed a renewed appreciation for Monterey and a desire to do meaningful work in their hometown. At OMBA, that work takes many forms: supporting local businesses, promoting events, collaborating with the City of Monterey and creating opportunities for business owners and community members to connect.

The Lighthouse Business District is a particularly important part of that mission. The district is home to many small and women-owned businesses, and OMBA works to promote the area and help its businesses thrive. Through events such as Movies in the Park and seasonal celebrations, the organization creates opportunities for residents and visitors to discover the businesses and people that make the district unique.

In Downtown, OMBA also manages the weekly Tuesday farmers market and works with the city on major community traditions, including Monterey’s Fourth of July parade and Traditional Tree Lighting

This year’s Fourth of July parade was a particularly memorable milestone for Hiltunen and Simonsen. With more than 20,000 attendees, 78 entries and thousands of participants, the parade was the largest ever organized. It also featured a 130-member drum and bugle corps from Southern California and was televised live nationally on C-SPAN as part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations.

For Hiltunen, there was something especially meaningful about the experience. Just a year earlier, she had been watching the parade with her husband and son. The following year, she spearheaded the parade.

“It’s an event that the whole city comes to,” she says. “It’s really special to be able to give back to our community in that way.”

For Simonsen, the work has offered a different perspective on the place she grew up. She loves seeing small businesses evolve – from a vendor at the farmers market to a new storefront, for example – and getting to play a small role in their success.

“I think we take for granted how beautiful and special Monterey is when we’re raised here,” she says. “It’s just this loving, collaborative community.” Hiltunen added: “That’s an important part of the partnership Nichole and I have. We can relate to each other because we’re both invested in building a community that we want to continue to make great, not just for ourselves, but for our sons and for the next generation. That’s a big part of what inspires us to do this work.”

That appreciation is something both women trace, in part, to growing up in Monterey and attending Stevenson. When Simonsen recently returned for a reunion, she was struck by both the changes on campus and the continuity she felt among her classmates. Hiltunen remembers the creative and extracurricular opportunities that shaped her own Stevenson experience, including her work at KSPB and involvement in the performing arts.

Decades later, those experiences remain part of the larger network that connects Stevenson alumni.

For Hiltunen and Simonsen, that network has come full circle. Their Stevenson years helped form a friendship. Then, life took them elsewhere, and now, years later, they find themselves working side by side in service of the same community where they grew up.

Their advice to current students and recent graduates reflects the winding paths their own lives have taken: try different things, follow your interests and don’t become too attached to a single definition of success.

“You might think your life goal is to be one thing, but life can take you in all different directions,” Hiltunen says. “Things kind of work out.”

Simonsen agrees. “All of that can change a million times over,” she says. “I think that’s kind of the gift of life – experiencing it.”