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 The
founders of the Albany Booster Club, a former Board of Education
president and a champion swimmer joined the ranks of those enshrined in
the City School District of Albany Hall of Fame this year.
The district inducted the members of the Class of
2015 on Sept. 18 in conjunction with this year’s Homecoming weekend
activities. The members of the class are:
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Steve Baum and Ron
Dunn, cofounders of the Albany
Booster Club – In 2000, Baum and Dunn, then parents of children in
the district, created the booster club, which provides financial
assistance and support to extracurricular district activities from
athletics to the arts. They stayed active in the booster club long
after their kids graduated from Albany High School and remain
staunch supporters of Albany public schools.
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The late Ward DeWitt, Philip Schuyler
High School Class of 1965 – Co-captain and standout lineman on the
Falcon football team; Section II champion heavyweight wrestler in
1965; after graduating from Wesleyan University went on to work in
criminal justice; eventually became adviser to Gov. Hugh Carey;
former Albany school board member and president.
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Wayne Jackson,
Albany High School Class of 1965 – Active in student government and
clubs at Albany High; Vietnam War veteran who earned a Purple Hear
t; began working in the state Assembly in 1975 as an intern and
became Assembly chamber sergeant-at-arms in 1979, a position he
holds to this day.
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Eileen Connell Kawola,
longtime alternative-education teacher – Taught at Street Academy,
which eventually became Harriet Gibbons High School, for 27 years;
awarded Fulbright fellowships in Costa Rica and Namibia; volunteered
for numerous local, national and international organizations,
including being a board member on the Underground Railroad History
Project of the Capital District.
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Kevin Paulsen,
Albany High School Class of 1988 – As a high-school swimmer, won
five state titles: the 200-meter freestyle in 1986 and 1988 and the
500-meter freestyle 1986-88, and was twice named outstanding swimmer
in the state championships in 1986 and 1988; at St. Bonaventure
University he broke more than 10 records and his 500-meter record
still held when he was inducted into the St. Bonaventure Hall of
Fame in 2010.
(Pictured above at the Sept. 18
inductions are, front row from left, Mary Ferguson-Dewitt, wife of the
late Ward Dewitt, Eileen Connell Kawola and Kevin Paulsen; back row from
left are Ron Dunn, Wayne Jackson and Steve Baum.)
The Hall of Fame was established in 2009 to recognize
accomplished graduates, exceptional district staff people and community
people whose efforts support Albany public schools. Each year, new Hall
of Famers are inducted after being nominated by the public and selected
by a committee of district staff and community members.
Click here to download a nomination form for the 2016 Hall of Fame.
The deadline to submit nominations is Feb. 1.
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