A team is being formed to bring back a program recognizing distinguished graduates of the New Kensington-Arnold School District and its predecessor districts.
The team is expected to include area historians, former district administrators and teachers and community leaders, school board member Sarah Yurga said.
“Once we form that team, we are going to accept applications for alumni of distinction from either Ken Hi, Valley or Arnold High,” Yurga said. “I’m excited to get started and to put this team together.”
A meeting is planned for Sept. 12 for the group to begin developing the program.
Yurga said they will be looking to recognize people, living and deceased, who have had “extreme success” in their life.
“One thing our district was lacking was a sense of pride,” she said. “There are so many distinguished individuals who are Valley Vikings or came out of Ken Hi or Arnold High. And I think that some acknowledgment to them will not only thank their families for their contributions to society, but it will also give our students something to aspire to.”
Yurga said she has been working on the effort with Assistant Superintendent Jon Banko, who suggested it.
The district had a “Distinguished Alumni” program under former Superintendent George Batterson. The first group of six honored in 2010 were Phillip Ayers, Baron “B.B.” Flenory, Liney Glenn, Tiffany Burress, John Pallone and Larry Rowe.
The program died out after a second group was recognized in 2011, Banko said. That group consisted of Donetta Ambrose, Frank Livorio and Judith Thomas.
“Sometime in the last five or six months, I was at a committee meeting and we were talking about somebody who graduated from here who was super successful. And we started talking about all these people who are really successful who are alumni from the school district,” Banko said. “That’s when the topic came up about reinstituting the distinguished alumni program.”
After the committee is established, Yurga said, she hopes to begin accepting nominations from the public in October. Honorees would be announced in the spring.
Banko said he wants to keep the nomination process simple and leave the work of determining eligibility to the committee.
“It will be exciting when we start getting nominations,” he said.
To be recognized, Yurga said, she is anticipating a nominee would need to get a favorable vote of 70% to 75% of the committee.
“I don’t think it should be the decision of the school board or any one person to decide who is an alumni of distinction,” she said.
Yurga said there isn’t a limit on how many people could be honored, but she would like the bar to be set high. She is hoping for a wide range of honorees.
“We have a lot of stories to share, and there’s room to celebrate every success,” she said. “There is success in sports and business. There’s also amazing things that are occurring that are not recognized with major awards typically.
“What makes a success is a person’s character, sometimes. We want to acknowledge the people who are making a difference in the world.”
Banko said the first group could be pretty extensive.
“We got a lot of years to catch up on,” he said.