Thursday, March 22, 2012

Distinguished Alumni Finalists

PLYMOUTH - Preparation has begun for this year's Plymouth Alumni Banquet hosted by the Plymouth Alumni Association.

This year's banquet is slated for Friday June 15 at the Plymouth High School cafeteria and will feature an after dinner concert by 1995 graduate Denver Bierman in the PHS Auditorium. Tickets for the banquet are $35 and include VIP seating for the show. You can purchase tickets online at http://plymouthalumni.blogspot.com/ by email at plymouthschoolsalumni@gmail.com or phone 574-952-4444.

The highlight of the banquet is always the annual induction of the year's members to the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. The initial screening of hundreds of candidates has narrowed the field down to 10 finalists for the honor, that the selection committee will make a final vote on.

The following are short bio's of this year's 10 finalists;


Dr. Arthur Becknell Jr.
Class of 1945

After graduation from Plymouth Dr. Becknell was given a one year language course in Japanese at Yale University in conjunction with his duties in the United States Army. He attended Oberlin College and received his Bachelor of Music Education degree. He earned his Masters degree at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and attained a PhD. in Music Education from the University of Michigan.

He was a Professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison, and led the men's Glee Club at the University with national recognition. He was National Chairman of the Dalcroze Society of America and in great demand as a eurythmics clinician throughout the United States. Dr. Becknell was a pioneer and world leader in the field of eurythmics…teaching music and rhythm through physical body movement.

He was a member of the Bethany United Methodist Church, Associate Conductor of the Madison Symphony Chorus, Rotary Club, Madison Opera Board, pianist with the Opera Showcase Ensemble, American Choral Director's Association, Music Educators National Conference, Dalcroze Society of America

Dr. Becknell died in 1993. He was known as an outstanding music educator who did groundbreaking  work in eurythmics - teaching music and rhythm through physical body movement.



Dr. Phillip A. Milner
Class of 1960

Dr. Milner received his BA from Vanderbilt University, and his PhD. at the University of Notre Dame.

He teaches in the Department of English at St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, and held similar positions throughout his career at Dickinson State College, Mount Allison University, and the University of Notre Dame. He was named St. Francis Xavier University Teacher of the Year 1996

Dr. Milner was President of the Board of Directors of L'Arce Antigonish an organization for the mentally challenged, and also the Nova Scotia Writers Federation.

Phil married Marilyn Fisher Milner, also a member of the PHS class of 1960. Marilyn ranked third among 126 graduates of that class. They have three children – Ellen, Beth, and Paul, who live in Nova Scotia, Boston, and Wyoming.

He is the son Robert Milner and Esther Head Milner. Robert worked at Powell’s Hardware in Plymouth, and was elected Marshall County Treasurer and Marshall County Recorder even after having had to quit school in the seventh grade to support his family.

Esther graduated from Plymouth High School in the first class to graduate from Lincoln High School which is now Lincoln Jr. High. Phil was in the last class to graduate from that building.

He was third team all CIC (Central Indiana Conference) conference in football his senior year and served in the army at  Fort Polk, La., Colorado Springs, and Camp Zama, Japan.

His most popular book published in 1993 is The Yankee Professors Guide to Life in Nova Scotia, with it's sequel The Yankee Professors Guide to Everywhere Else. He has had numerous short stories published in magazines such as Notre Dame Magazine, Pottersfield Portfolio, Reader's Choice; Canada's Short Story Magazine. In addition has also written a play produced in Nova Scotia, edited books and written numerous reviews of other work.




Dr. Robert Vore
Class of 1949

Dr. Vore has given his time and talents to many community service projects and boards in Plymouth and surrounding Marshall County. Just some of his activities include being a member of both the Plymouth City Council, and the Marshall County Council, Secretary and President of North Central Optometric Society, Director of Indiana Optometric Association Continuing Education Department, Plymouth Day Care Center Board of Directors, Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Board of Aviation Commissioners, PTA President Webster School, District Chairman Boy Scouts of America, Secretary-President and Regional Vice President of Jaycees, Board of Directors Price Memorial Park, Secretary and President of North Central Optometric Society

He won the IOA Meritorious Service Award, Key Man Award Plymouth Jaycees and the Boy Scouts Order of the Arrow.

He was a member of the Manchester College varsity tennis team and was a member of the 1951 squad that won a conference championship. He is an accomplished racquetball player and continues to teach the game today.

To those around him Dr. Vore has been an incredible role model demonstrating enormous energy and positive attitude in a lifetime of service to the Plymouth community. He has devoted many hours to providing free vision screenings to the students of Plymouth Community Schools. He has also been instrumental in helping and encouraging numerous PHS grads to enter the field of optometry.




Suellen Glaub-Long
Class of 1959

Suellen is President of Bridgeview Bank in uptown Chicago, and owner of Long Promotional Group in Chicago a PR firm that serves non-profit organizations throughout the city.

Her achievements in service to the city of Chicago are many including Implementing an "incubator style" plan to lease space to non-profits organizations. She is a Board member and past Chair of the Heartland Alliance working to create viable communities for immigrants to seek their fortunes, raise families, nurture and fulfill the dreams that brought them to America.

She won Five consecutive Golden Trumpet Awards from the Publicity Club of Chicago, awarded to Long Promotional Group for outstanding campaigns for nonprofit partnership, the Mercedes Benz Award, the Florence Bezazian Citizenship Award, the W. Clement Stone Business Person of the Year Award, the Athena Award for Professional Women, the People's Music School Award, Supporting the Spirit Foundation Award, President's Council Award, Ravenswood Hospital award, and the AIDS Memorial Quilt Hopeful Spirit Award. She was the Chairperson of the Uptown Chamber of Commerce, Uptown United, McCormick Boys & Girls Club Women's Board, and was a major fundraiser for People's Music School, Illinois Action for Children, AIDS Memorial Quilt and the 48th Ward Aldermanic Office.


Duane M. Davis
Class of 1951

After graduating Plymouth Duane attended Purdue University earning a BS-AE with highest distinction He then earned his MS-ME at the University of Pittsburgh, and his PhD.-AE at Purdue University.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the Air Force, and served at Westinghouse Bettis Atomic Power Division building nuclear reactors for the Navy. During his active duty career with Air Force he was a B47 Pilot at Strategic Air Command and stood nuclear alert at Whiteman Zaragossa Air Base in Spain and Fairford Air Base in England. He served as Associate Professor of aeronautical engineering at the Air Force Academy. He volunteered for service in Vietnam and flew AC-47 gunships supporting ground troops at night. He flew 200 combat missions in Vietnam and after his active duty career became the Chief Engineer on the Laser Guided Bomb project the weapon of choice in Desert Storm, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Duane is a National Pi Kappa Phi Scholar, Sigma Gamma Tau National Honorary Aeronautical Engineering Society, Tau Betta Pi National Engineering Honors Society. He won the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 7 oak leaf clusters, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with valor and 3 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Presidential Unit Citation, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with silver palm, Vietnam Service Medal with 4 oak leaf clusters.  He was the Air Force program director for development of the Low Level Laser Guided Bomb which achieved outstanding results in Desert Storm.


Dr. James E. Keith
Class of 1946


After graduating from Lincoln High School, Dr. Keith attended Wabash College, receiving his AB degree in 1950.  He entered graduate school at Purdue University the following autumn.  
His graduate studies were interrupted by his service in the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a communications officer.  After discharge, he returned to Purdue to complete his work in physical chemistry, receiving his MS degree in 1954. He spent a year at Kingsbury Ordinance Plant as a process engineer and reentered graduate school at University of Chicago to study nuclear chemistry at The Institute for Nuclear Studies.  He received his PHD from the University of Chicago, and joined Sandia Laboratory, an adjunct of Los Alamos Laboratory, in Albuquerque, NM.  
He specialized in the detection of very small amounts of radioactivity in the upper atmosphere which is due to weapons testing by various nations.  He also worked in cosmic-ray physics.  At the time, he was one of maybe a couple of people in the world who could do what he did.  One detection test permitted him to fly around the world in Laboratory aircraft to measure the intensity of cosmic radiation as a function of longitude.  While at Sandia, he married fellow worker, Joan Jackson,  and helped raise her three children, two boys and a girl, of whom he is very proud.
His expertise in the precise measurement of very small amounts of radioactivity attracted the interest of the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at NASA's Manned Space Center in Houston, Texas.   There he ran an underground laboratory which was built to measure the very small amounts of radioactivity in lunar samples and meterorites as precisely as possible.  About a third of all freshly returned lunar samples passed through his laboratory.  He presented scientific papers in Europe concerning his research.  He also made the first accurate determination of the energy spectrum of the neutron flux experienced by flight crews during earth-orbital flights.  
He retired at age 67 and now lives in Houston, Texas.



Dr. Ronald G. Probst
Class of 1967


Dr. Probst began his studies at Indiana University with a BS in Astrophysics, achieving a Masters in Astronomy and his PhD. at the University of Virginia. He was a Postdoctoral Research Associate NASA/Ames Research Center

Dr. Probst is a Project Scientist and resident astronomer at Kitt Peak National Observatory, centrally involved in the development and deployment of infrared imaging systems in the United States and Chile. His areas of interest in research are star forming regions, low mass stars and infrared imaging instrumentation. He has published many papers and studies.


Don and Evelyn Heim
Class of 1958

Don has a BS in Physics from Purdue University and completed classes at UCLA in Russian, Solid State Physics, Gas Lasers, Solid State Lasers, and courses in Swedish  at an adult education school . Evelyn has a BS in Chemistry from Purdue University and a Certificate in Engineering from Cal State University, Northridge.

Not only were this couple leaders in the field of aerospace, they were also able to raise three daughters who have all gone to have their own successes and families. Evelyn was a ground breaker in her  field bringing status to women in a previously male dominated career field.



Don is proficient in all phases of instrumentation engineering applied to rocket engine and high energy laser development and testing. He worked for Rocketdyne, a division of North American Aviation making rocket engines for Atlas, Thor, Delta and Peacekeeper systems. They were also prime contractor for F-1, J-2 and other engines that propelled men to the moon. He won the NASA "Silver Snoopy" Award - the astronauts Personal Achievement Award - presented by astronaut  L. Blaine Hammond in 1985 for his contributions to the Space Shuttle development  program at Rocketdyne. He won the NASA Apollo Achievement Award, Certificate of Appreciation from Rocketdyne Advanced Chemical Laser Programs, Engineering Excellence Award for design for his preparation and checkout of the engine test facility for THAAD Missile Defense System engines. He was one of  Rocketdyne’s Engineer of the Year nominees.  He worked at Rocketdyne's Santa Susana test and development facility in the Santa Susana mountains and entered management in the late 1980's.

Evelyn raised the couple’s three daughters and was actively involved in their activities.  Having been accepted into a new National Science Foundation grant program in engineering, Evelyn  returned to the workplace at Hughes Missile Systems. She became technical supervisor and moved on to become product design engineering authority. She was assigned to Norway to partner with a Norwegian Company to design and develop equipment for mobile ground based missile launchers for use by the Royal Norwegian Air Force. She held a product design position in Space and Communications division famous for satellite construction program. She was the second woman to be a member of the Technical Staff at Hughes Missile Systems group in Canoga Park, CA and at the time of her hire she was the only woman in the product design discipline.



Both met in Science Club at Plymouth High School and began dating.



Howard Menser
Class of 1948

Howard attended Ball State University where he received a BS, and did graduate work at IUSB.

He taught at Lincoln High School in Plymouth upon his graduation from college and went on to become the founder and President of Menser Industries, and President of MiPly Equipment Inc.

His invention of the Hydrodynamic Pressure Saturator was voted one of the top 100 most significant new technical products of the year in 1987 by Research and Development Magazine. The invention displayed at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. He was the founding President of the Plymouth Jaycees, Marshall County Republican Chairman, Member and Elder of the First United Church of Christ

Served in the U.S. Army, taught an artillery class at West Point. While there designed a slide rule for control of artillery fire.



Merritt W. "Redd" Smith
Class of 1948

Mr. Smith Attended college at Indiana University after graduating from Plymouth High School

He was the Vice President of Indiana National Bank, Director, President, CEO, Chairman of the Board Baldwin & Lyons Insurance. After "retiring" founded M.W. Smith & Associates Insurance and Mid-American Brokers. He received a Special Award from the National Accounting and Finance Council and the IU Athletic Directors Award for distinguished service.

He was Chairman of Allied Industry Committee, Chairman of Finance Committee Indiana Motor Truck Association, Steering Committee for Industrial Development for the State of Indiana and was very involved in the community with the Boy Scouts of America, Broad Ripple Little League, Director Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, Director Marion County Heart Association, Chairman Joint Red Cross Heart Association Committee, President of I.U. Men's Club, Executive Council Indiana University Alumni Association, President "I" Men's Association, Member of the Athletics Committee (IU), Hoosier Hundred Well House Society,

Mr. Smith served in the military attending Advanced Officer Training School U.S. Army Infantry. He was a Rifle Company Commander 31st Division and received the 8th Division Unit Citation Superior Rating in the 5th Army.

While at PHS he was all conference in football, basketball, and lettered in track. He was named All State in football his senior year and ran the 440 and mile relay in the state track meet. He received three letters at Indiana University and was drafted by the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles as well as the United States Army.

____

This year's banquet is slated for Friday June 15 at the Plymouth High School cafeteria and will feature a concert by 1995 graduate Denver Bierman in the PHS Auditorium. Tickets for the banquet are $35 and include VIP seating for the show. You can purchase tickets online at http://plymouthalumni.blogspot.com/ by email at plymouthschoolsalumni@gmail.com or phone 574-952-4444.

BPA team will send 3 to Nationals

INDIANAPOLIS - On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of this week members of the PHS Business Professionals of America Team (BPA) competed at the State Finals in Indianapolis.

Students at this competition compete by presenting case studies, solving problems, and demonstrating competencies in business related activities.

Kelly Bryant (Fundamental Word Processing) and Jessica Cleveland (Desktop Publishing) both were named State Champions and advanced on to the National Competition to be held in late April in Chicago.

Also advancing to Nationals was Logan May who finished 4th in Computer Security.

Other competitors placing in the top 10 in the state were: Small Business Mgmt Team- top 7 Makayla DePoy, Emily Denney, Luke Bumpus, Logan May- PC Service and Trouble Shooting 7th place, IT Concepts - 5th place, Financial Math and Analysis- 10th place - Tucker Pletcher

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

State finals next stop for Performance Ensemble

PLYMOUTH - In a season that has already seen much success, the Plymouth High School Winter Performance Ensemble (drumline and color guard) have advanced to the Indiana Percussion Association's indoor drumline state finals on Saturday.

After recently being promoted from Class 2A to Class A by the I.P.A. Board of Directors, the Plymouth band students again set new records for the group by placing near the top of the field of nearly thirty schools competing for a chance to perform at the state finals.

In addition to qualifying for state finals, the Plymouth students placed first in the “visual” category and also placed third overall in their round of fourteen schools.

“To place that high in our very first state level event in a new class was really exciting for everyone,” said band director Bryan Ames. “This was a year of firsts for the group and the season is ending the beyond what we had expected when we started back in November.” 

The state premlims were only the second time Plymouth competed in Class A this season. The ensemble started the season in Class 2A (one level lower than Class A). 

“Class A is much harder than Class 2A,” Ames said. “The competition is much stiffer and the ensembles in this group are much stronger performers. Receiving a promotion into Class A was a huge reflection of the hard work and discipline that the Plymouth students have put into this activity.”  Senior band member Elizabeth Wolford said, “I was extremely excited that we placed so well in our new class.


The drumline will now move on to the state championships to be held on Saturday, March 24th at Ben Davis High School. Plymouth will perform near the end of the competition as the state finals is “seeded” in ranking order.


Winter Performance Ensemble members include:
Snares: Lindsey Holloway and Zach Lee
Tenors: Patrick Gouverneur and Konnor Smith
Basses: Ben Piazza, Chandler Price, Elizabeth Wolford, Justin Buchert, and Wesley Seidelman
Cymbals: Kent Gosky, Tonya Roeder, and Shelby Haisley
Percussion: Brandon Knepper, Daniel Johnson, Will Houser, Adam Fish, Sarah Iwinski, Marissa Hill, Sophia Smith, Taylor Scott, and Jon Eberly
Color Guard: Tori Fox, Rinda Scott, Ana Miranda, Katie Lee, Jessica Celmer, Colleen Scarborough, McKenzie Goble, Kelcy Berger

PHS artist earns Key Award

PLYMOUTH - Brandon Baird is the recipient of a Silver Key Award for the 2012 Scholastic Art and Writing Competition.  He received the award for his Self-Portrait Painting completed in Advanced Painting class last trimester. 

In order to be considered for this prestigious award you must receive a Gold Key at the Regional level and only 7% of entries at the Regional level get this award.  The Gold Key awards are then sent to New York for judging at the National level.  This year only 66 students in the state of Indiana received awards at the National  and approximately 1,400 top students received National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards total.  National Award winners are invited to New York City to receive recognition on the country's most celebrated stage–Carnegie Hall–as part of the annual National Awards Ceremony on May 31, 2012.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Burroughs headed for Germany as part of Purdue team

The Purdue team for the xplore New Automation Award 2012 includes, from left to right, Derek Andrews, Jason Wintz, Aaron Burns, David Burroughs, Mike Harrington, George Hinote and Ryan Streu. All are seniors studying manufacturing engineering. (Purdue University photo/Andrew Hancock)
By Rusty Nixon
Director of Development and Alumni Affairs


PLYMOUTH - Plymouth grad David Burroughs will be taking a "spring break" trip Monday to Germany but it won't be for relaxation.

The Purdue engineering senior is part of a team of students from the University that will be competing against five top teams from around the world for the Xplore New Automation Award. The contest is one of the most prestigious in the world and previously has been limited to teams from just Europe. This year the competition went international and Purdue's team rose to the top of hundreds from around the world competing in the "Factory Automation" category.

"This year my major (manufacturing engineering) will graduate 12 seniors. We're a pretty small tight knit group," said Burroughs. "In the past the competition has been limited to European teams, but a Purdue grad went to work for (Phoenix Contact, a leading manufacturer of electric connection and industrial automation technology) and when it came open to teams from all over the world he contacted the school to say we should get involved. We got a team together and we were able to get to the finals."

International teams were allowed to submit ideas for innovative automation - using Phoenix Contact products - in six categories. Burroughs and his team are specialists in engineering in an industrial setting. Their entry is in the "Factory" category.

"We look at approaching automation on the assembly line," he said. "A lot of that work is still manual work - putting small parts together and that sort of thing."

Burroughs team put together an idea that would meet the criteria of the competition and allow Purdue to generate excitement for the course of study.

"Our professors encouraged us to do something that would generate excitement about our program," he said. "We wanted to create something we could have in our laboratory to show prospective students. We've got 'Purdue Pete' and his hammer making all those boilers so we designed a machine that could make that hammer in several different versions."

Not only create it, but literally create it from almost anywhere.

"The machine is designed to be a highlight at something like a trade show and we incorporated as many Phoenix Products as we could," said Burroughs. "We have a touch panel that people can choose their options and we've incorporated wireless technology so that someone can place an order from anywhere on their iPad and the machine will make it for them."

All the teams were given $4,000-$5,000 in Phoenix Contact automation equipment to help implement and execute their designs. The Purdue team earned a trip to Bad Pyrmont, Germany to present their final project to the panel of judges on March 23.  The other four teams competing are from India, Slovakia, Belgium, Sweden, and Germany.

After the presentations the judges will announce a single winner in each category.  These winners will be invited back to Germany to be recognized and present their projects at the Hannover Messe technology and automation trade show in Hannover, Germany on April 23rd.

"We liked the creativity of the ideas a couple of the teams had but we really focused our project on execution of the task," said Burroughs. "It all kind of depends on what the judges are looking for. If its a really creative idea or the execution of that idea. We feel we have a really good chance to win."

The bad news is that Burroughs will have to take some vacation time from work to be involved. David is currently commuting between Purdue and Plymouth as he works for ITAMCO while finishing his degree.

"It has taken some pretty severe time management skills," said Burroughs of his wild final semester. "ITAMCO is a really great company and a great opportunity for somebody in my field."

ITAMCO has been very supportive, not surprisingly realizing the opportunity for their company.

"I'm really taking away some skills that I will be able to use," said Burroughs. "Something that I think sometimes get's lost is making a machine easy for the operator. We can incorporate all the latest and greatest technology but if it's too complicated or difficult for the operator to use easily it's no good. We don't want to just make a great machine, we want to make one that's easy to use."

You can see David explain the team's project on YouTube at http://youtu.be/IOoTg-tQJBk

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Tradition of Gold continues for PHS jazz

PLYMOUTH - The jazz program at Plymouth continued a tradition of excellence with two more in a long line of "Gold Award" rankings in state competition.

These outstanding performances also complete the third requirement for the PHS band department to earn the prestigious “All-Music Award” from ISSMA.  To get this award, a band program must earn Gold Award ratings in marching band, solo and ensemble district contest (in Group 1), jazz contest, and concert band contest.  Plymouth is one of a small group of schools in Indiana that have earned this state recognition annually for nearly a decade.

At last Friday's annual Indiana State School Music Association's (ISSMA) Jazz Contest the Ensemble brought home the necessary honors for the All Music Award.  At this event, the Plymouth Jazz Ensemble entered two groups in the “Jazz Combo Division.”  A jazz combo is defined as a small performing group with no more than nine musicians in each group.


“Performing as a combo is usually a pretty difficult task as you have to re-score a lot of the music and each student must be totally accountable for their music,” said band director Bryan Ames.  “We are also judged on how well our students perform on improvisational solos.”

The first group to perform was the Intermediate Jazz Combo.  For this group, senior Michael Berger was the soloist that was evaluated.  This group included Kent Gosky and McKenzie Goble on saxophones, Tylor Borggren and Tonya Roeder on trumpets, Michael Berger and Anthony Boener on trombones, and Lindsey Holloway, Konnor Smith, and Charles Arce in the rhythm section.   This combo earned the top score of a Gold Rating from all three judges.

The second group from Plymouth was the Advanced Jazz Combo.  In this group, Jack Garrison and Eric Johnson both gave solo performances.  This group included Justin Buchert and Kyle Barry on saxophones, Taylor Jones and Libby Read on trumpets, Jack Garrison and Eric Johnson on trombones, and Patrick Gouverneur and Charles Arce in the rhythm section.  Jack Garrison also performed a piano solo during one of the selections.  This group also earned the top score of a Gold Rating (and nearly perfect scores) from all three judges.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Another in a long line of Championships




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Add another Sectional Championship to the string of more than 30 consecutive!  The Plymouth Speech Team out-distanced 2nd place Elkhart Central by a score of 234 to 85 in the 12-team field.  The dominant performance was executed as PHS became the only team in the state to advance all 36 of its entries from the Sectional to the State Finals AND won 10 of the 14 events at the Sectional.  Individual champions included Rebecca Brumbaugh and Shelby Pratt in Memorized Duo, Jessica Cleveland in Drama, Patrick Felke in International Extemp, Cassie Gaines and Olivia Hilliard in Scripted Duo, Pauline Dagaas in Declamation, Michaila Nate in both USA Extemp and Impromptu, April Bowen and Kate Peters in Original Performance, Gracie Gilbertson in Poetry, and Shelby Pratt in Humor.  This weekend, the team turns its attention toward national qualification as it prepares for a very competitive district tournament here at PHS on Saturday.