Senator, Tony Winners, NFL Player Among New Trier's 2015 Alumni Achievement Winners

The following is from New Trier High School:

Eleven outstanding New Trier High School alumni will receive the school’s Alumni Achievement Award this March, joining 30 of their peers in the Alumni Hall of Honor. They are:

· James F. Collins, Class of 1957. Collins is Diplomat in Residence and Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 1997 to 2001, Collins served as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation and previously held a number of diplomatic roles in the Foreign Service beginning in 1969. He was Charge d’Affaires in Moscow during the 1991 coup that eventually led to the breakup of the Soviet Union.

· Christine Ebersole, Class of 1971. Ebersole is a two-time Tony Award-winning actress whose resume includes starring roles on Broadway, television, and film. She was named best leading actress in a musical for her performances in Grey Gardens in 2007 and 42nd Street in 2001 and continues to record and perform on the stage and screen. Ebersole regularly performs at benefit concerts for causes including The Names Project, Equity Fights AIDS and Women in Need.

· Peter Henry, Class of 1987. Henry is Dean of New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a member of the board of directors of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Council on Foreign Relations. Born in Jamaica, Henry moved to Wilmette at age 8 and was inspired by the differences he witnessed to pursue a lifelong interest in international economics. A Rhodes Scholar who earned his PhD in Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Henry also has served as an economic advisor to President Barack Obama.

· William Keith Kellogg III, Class of 1948. Kellogg is the former longtime president of General Packaging Products in Chicago and founder of the Kellogg Cancer Center with his late wife, Jacqueline. Kellogg spent 22 years volunteering weekly as an English Literature teacher for Chicago junior high students and also was known for his personal support of employees at his packaging company. He is the great-grandson of the founder of the Kellogg cereal company.

· Mark Kirk, Class of 1977. Kirk has represented Illinois in the U.S. Senate since 2010, winning election to his seat after serving five terms as a Representative in the U.S. House. While a practicing lawyer, Kirk joined the U.S. Navy Reserve as an intelligence officer in 1989 and has long supported veterans’ issues. Since suffering an ischemic stroke in January 2012, Kirk has become a public advocate for stroke awareness and stroke research.

· Michael Pyle, Class of 1957. Pyle played center for the Chicago Bears from 1961 to 1969, earning NFL Pro Bowl honors in 1963 and serving as offensive team captain until 1969. Pyle also spent many years hosting Bears shows on WGN and is a member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame. Pyle was a public spokesman for the American Diabetes Association after his diagnosis in 1964 and supported causes including the Better Boys Foundation of Lawndale.

· Mary Lu Roffe, Class of 1972. Roffe is a three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer whose credits include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Addams Family, Chinglish, Boeing-Boeing, and Spamalot. Her most recent production, The Realistic Joneses, closed on Broadway this July after earning critical acclaim. Roffe is a longtime board member of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and is involved with local theater charities.

· Sarah Ruhl, Class of 1992. Ruhl is an acclaimed playwright and MacArthur Fellow whose works include In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, Tony Award nominee), The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist) and Passion Play, a cycle (Pen American award). Her latest play, The Oldest Boy, is in previews at Lincoln Center Theater, and Ruhl recently published the collection 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write.

· Michael Shamberg, Class of 1962. Shamberg is a two-time Oscar-nominated producer whose long list of Hollywood credits includes Erin Brockovich, A Fish Called Wanda, Pulp Fiction, The Big Chill, and Reality Bites.In the 1960s and 1970s, Shamberg pioneered the use of film to effect social change, calling his method “guerrilla television.” He is a longtime supporter of the ACLU and civil rights causes.

· Clifford Tabin, Class of 1972. Tabin is chair of the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2007. His groundbreaking research in molecular biology has led to greater understanding of birth defects. Tabin has been recognized by groups including the March of Dimes and NIH. Encouraged by his brother, 2011 Hall of Honor recipient Geoff Tabin, he helped open a medical school to train doctors in Nepal.

· Paul Zelinsky, Class of 1970. Zelinsky is a Caldecott Medal-winning children’s author and illustrator whose illustrations have appeared in over 30 works including Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin, Swamp Angel, and the recently published Circle, Square, Moose. Zelinsky is an active volunteer in many literacy organizations and works with the Golden Baobab, an organization that develops and recognizes children’s authors and illustrators in Africa.

The Class of 2015 will receive their Alumni Achievement Awards at a dinner hosted by the New Trier Educational Foundation on Thursday, March 12, at the Hilton Orrington Hotel in Evanston. Tickets and sponsorships are available for purchase online at http://bit.ly/ntalumnitickets or via the New Trier Educational Foundation, c/o Executive Director Marianne Breen, 7 Happ Road, Northfield, IL 60093. For questions about the event or to make a reservation, please call 847-784-2667.

Since New Trier’s Alumni Achievement Awards began in 2011, 41 recipients have joined the Alumni Hall of Honor for exemplifying the school’s motto: “To commit minds to inquiry, hearts to compassion, and lives to the service of humanity.” The majority of honorees also have participated in interactive discussions with current students during the week of the awards dinner.

”My favorite part of the Alumni Hall of Honor induction is the time the honorees spend with students. These extraordinary alumni are often candid about the fact that they may not have been the top students or athletes during their time at New Trier, but that they took the lessons learned here to heart after they left high school,” said District 203 Superintendent Linda Yonke. “Their stories are so inspirational, and we are honored to welcome them back to their alma mater.”

A Selection Committee made of alumni, New Trier staff, a current student, and representatives of the New Trier Educational Foundation met several times in the late summer and fall to choose the 2015 honorees from a large field of nominations. For more information, visit www.newtrieralumni.org