Class of 2007: Tyrone Cratic-Williams is a police officer in the City of Madison. In 2020, he ran in the Democratic primary to be the nominee for Wisconsin 76th Assembly District and became the Cap Times “top pick” for the job; he was beaten by Francesca Hong in a packed race. He was educated at... Continue Reading →
Class of 1998 Marissa Holmes is the owner of Marie’s Soul Food on Monroe Street. She cooks up ham, fried chicken, baked chicken and ribs with sides, and those sell out quick for carry-out in the afternoons. She is a self-trained chef in this family business, and she is getting five-star reviews. Restaurants need a... Continue Reading →
Class of 1959: Fayth Kail is a leading disabilities activist. She was disabled by polio at the age of 14; because Madison East High school was not wheelchair accessible, she was sent to Milwaukee to a “school for the handicapped” leaving East High and her family, to go live in a foster home. When she... Continue Reading →
Class of 2001: Sa Seng Xiong came to East High School from a refugee camp in Thailand at the age of 14, and began learning English as his fourth language by taking ESL (English as Second Language) classes at East (his first three languages are Hmong, Lao, and Thai). He is a first-generation college student, the... Continue Reading →
Class of 2008: Momodou Jammeh is a vascular surgeon on the prestigious research faculty at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He earned a BS from UW-Madison, an MD from Duke University and trained as a post-bac researcher at the NIH. During his residency he is specializing in the role of inflammation in... Continue Reading →
Class of 1995: Nate Warnke is a master of many trades. He was the owner and master-brewer of Rockhound Brewing on Park Street in Madison. This brewery opened its doors in 2016 but is a casualty of the CoVID pandemic, and will close its doors before the end of 2020. Nate earned a BS in... Continue Reading →
Class of 1953: Paul Thomsen is the president of Schoep’s Ice Cream, a business that is an East side icon! Schoep’s started when E.J. Schoephoester started making ice cream in the back of his grocery store. Paul started work at Schoep’s as a production line employee in 1940, and made his way up the ladder to... Continue Reading →
Class of 1962: Muriel Simms is a renowned teacher and educational administrator, and provided leadership for the Madison school district for 30 years. She received a BS (English) and a PhD in Educational Administration from UW-Madison. She taught elementary and middle school children for 18 years and was appointed as Principal of Lincoln Elementary School in 1988. Dr. Simms was... Continue Reading →
Class of 1988: Kia Karlen is a musical director and community leader in the Madison area. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Music, and is the Director of Education at Madison Children’s Museum. This is the first Wisconsin museum to win the National Medal for Museum Service, in recognition of... Continue Reading →
Class of 1967: Martha Braun is an artist, who started her career in residential interior design and transitioned later into fine arts, specializing in large abstract works. She was awarded a BA in Interior Design (and Fine Arts) from the UW-Madison, and moved to San Francisco to work for a firm that designed interiors for Fairmont... Continue Reading →
Class of 1988: Gloria Reyes is currently serving as the President of the Madison Metropolitan School District School Board of Education. She was awarded a BS from UW-Madison (Behavioral Science, Law and Criminal Justice). Prior to serving in her current role in the Mayor’s office, Gloria spent 12 years working for the Madison Police Department serving... Continue Reading →
Class of 2012: Donale Richards was featured in the “Bright Ideas” section of the Capitol Times for his ideas on positive mentoring in entrepreneurship for at-risk youth. His approach to life was a solution to the troubles of his own upbringing. His family went into crisis when he was 13, spiraling down into poverty and instability,... Continue Reading →
Class of 2002: Brian Sanders is a world-class cello player. He was awarded a B.Mus in cello performance from Eastman School of Music, and a M.Mus from Mannes College. He is a versatile performer, living in Brooklyn, New York, and has performed and recorded with a wide range of musicians, including jazz legend Kenny Garrett, indie... Continue Reading →
Class of 1994: Sam Thayer is a renowned author and forager, and an internationally recognized authority on edible wild plants. His first presentation on edible wild plants was to his seventh-grade science class, demonstrating the foods that he collected on his three-mile walk to school. He began survival camping at 14 and started to lead “wild food... Continue Reading →
Class of 1988: Kathrine Kelm is a senior land administration specialist at the World Bank based in Washington DC. After earning a BA in French and graduating from the UW-Madison Law School she has lived and worked on international development projects in more than 15 countries, advising governments on land reform and related economic development initiatives.... Continue Reading →
Class of 1966: David J. Dean was an instructor at the Madison College and advocate for workers’ rights. When he was at East High, he earned Eagle Scout status at Troop 41, sponsored by Trinity Lutheran Church. He was awarded a BA in Computer Programming from UW-Whitewater, and became an instructor in information technology at Madison... Continue Reading →
Class of 1997: Megan McGlynn Scanlon is a community and international development professional with experience in Afghanistan, Bolivia, Commonwealth of Dominica, Kenya, Senegal as well as New York City and Madison. She currently works in the Washington DC offices of the Aga Khan Foundation supporting programming in Africa and Asia. After graduating from East, she worked... Continue Reading →
Class of 1997: Briseis Aschebrook-Kilfoy, PhD, MPH, MPhil, is an epidemiologist (an Assistant Research Professor) at the University of Chicago in the Department of Public Health Sciences. She was awarded a BA from University of Chicago, and then moved to Yale University to pursue her graduate degrees, specializing in the epidemiology of chronic disease, environmental health sciences... Continue Reading →
Class of 1966: Randolph Haines is a judge in Arizona, and was the Chief Judge for the US bankruptcy court, District of Arizona, serving for 14 years before retiring in 2014. He graduated the University of Wisconsin with a BA in 1970, a PhD in philosophy from Yale University in 1975, and a JD from Stanford... Continue Reading →
Class of 2007: Brittany Faust is an award-winning water steward. She attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN and was awarded a B.A. in Environmental Studies. She currently works as an Environmental Specialist for the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization in Minneapolis, monitoring the water quality of the Mississippi River as it flows through the watershed. She... Continue Reading →
Class of 1954 (died 2015): Don Heiliger was a UW-Madison accounting graduate, but joined the Air Force in 1958. He was flying jets solo by 1964, and deployed to fight in the Vietnam War. Major Heiliger was on his second tour of duty in May 1967, flying an F-105 jet (the “Thunderchief”) on a low-level bombing... Continue Reading →
Class of 1966: Lucy Sanna is a novelist and science writer. She moved to Madison East from rural Wisconsin at age 16, and attended St. Norbert College to study English. She left her graduate studies in English literature at UW-Madison to work in the editorial department of the notable publisher, Scott Foresman. When she followed family... Continue Reading →
John T. Schiller (East High Class of 1971), together with his long-time collaborator, Douglas R. Lowy, were awarded the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for their discoveries related to the development of the human papillomavirus (HPV) virus vaccines, which aim to prevent cervical cancer and other tumors. Both scientists work at the National Cancer Institute. The Lasker... Continue Reading →
Class of 1986: Chris Ware is currently Legal Director of two of Johnson Controls Global Divisions, which have a combined annual revenue of 3 billion dollars and operations on 4 continents. Johnson Controls is Wisconsin's only Fortune 50 company. He was raised in a home on East Washington Avenue, 4 doors away from East High. He attended Northern... Continue Reading →
Class of 2006: Maichou Lor is a Registered Nurse, who graduated with a Ph.D from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Nursing. She has distinguished herself as one of the first Hmong-American registered nurses to be awarded a PhD. Her research focuses on reducing health disparities in non-English speaking older adults, and she has developed new tools... Continue Reading →
Class of 2003: Shayle Kann is the Senior Vice President of Research for Greentech Media (GTM). He has spoken in conferences around the world and been cited in publications such as The Economist, New York Times, Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, Forbes, Bloomberg, Reuters, Financial Times, and more. He has also testified in front of the... Continue Reading →
Class of 1927: Harry Vogts was a business man, entrepreneur, musician and sportsman, and an early graduate of East High School. His father founded the Madison Brass Works (now converted to the Goodman Community Center), one of several businesses that formed the basis of the metalworking industry in Madison in the early 1900s. Harry was an... Continue Reading →
Class of 1977: Tony Arneson is an owner and Vice President of Neckerman Insurance Agency. He graduated from University of Wisconsin Business School (Risk Management and Insurance); he was a swimmer and athlete at school and a varsity swimmer at college. He is an advocate of sports as a teacher of hard work and team play.... Continue Reading →
Class of 1960: Kathryn Morrison (d 2013) was an American educator and Democratic Party politician, who was the first woman to be elected to serve in the Wisconsin Senate. She was born in Madison, attended East High, and was awarded an BA and MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was elected November 1974, seated January... Continue Reading →
Class of 1997: Maxfield Flynn is a clinical endocrinologist at the University of Wisconsin. He graduated with a BS from Tulane University and completed an MD/PhD at Northwestern University. He then went on to complete internal medicine residency and endocrinology fellowship training at Northwestern University before joining the faculty at the University of Wisconsin. As a... Continue Reading →
Class of 1985: Otto Gebhardt III grew-up in Madison’s east side Orton Park neighborhood in the real estate investment business. He started work at the age of 7 in the family run business Gebhardt Realty, made his first offer on a property at age 13, owned his first property by 18, and at 19 began more... Continue Reading →
Class of 2006: Thaddeus McCants is an actor, writer and comedian living and working in New York City. He was a 4-year member of East High’s Encore Show Choir, and performed in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” in his Junior year. After East High, he graduated with a BFA in Acting from Ithaca College, in Ithaca,... Continue Reading →
Class of 1947: Bill Mattison is an inventor, entrepreneur and sailing sportsman (inducted into the Madison Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 for his record-breaking accomplishments in ice-boating, 11 times world champion). Though his school work at East High may not have reflected his potential, he was a highly motivated, self-taught problem-solver, and his accomplishments during... Continue Reading →
Class of 1976: Danilyn Rutherford is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a former Chair of her department and in July 2017 will become the President of the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. She graduated with a BA in History and Biology from Stanford University, an MA and PhD... Continue Reading →
Class of 2010: Marquis Mason was an outstanding athlete at East High School, driving winning seasons for the basketball and football team. He was recruited to the Wisconsin Badgers football team and earned a degree in non-profit management. Since graduating, he has founded a program for mentoring young and gifted students on Madison’s north side. This is... Continue Reading →
Class of 2002: Derek Johnson is an educator and mentor for students, currently working as the Director of Freshman Admissions at Edgewood College, and also the manager and lead mentor for Phredum Mentoring, aimed at developing new resources for connecting youth and their families to positive community resources and educational opportunities. Derek founded the organization Generation... Continue Reading →
Class of 1984: David Mooney is a BioEngineering Professor at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. He graduated with a BS from the University of Wisconsin in 1987, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992. He studies how cells in our bodies communicate with their... Continue Reading →
Class of 1931: Betty Martin Harrington was a pioneer of ceramics. On North Blount Street in Madison there is a historical marker to the Ceramic Arts Studio of Madison (1940-1956). It was the largest manufacturer of figurines in the world, and distributed (at its peak) up to 500 000 pieces annually, often distributed by Marshall Fields’... Continue Reading →
Class of 1997: Romano Johnson is an artist, one of the fastest rising talents on the Midwestern art scene. He is one of 40 artists who recently won a spot on the 2016 Wisconsin Triennial, a prestigious showcase of works from some of the most innovative artists working in the state today. His works have been... Continue Reading →
Class of 2006: Vicki Powell is a world class viola player, who returns to Madison to perform with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, as a guest artist for their masterworks series. She studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Roberto Diaz and Misha Amory, and pursued her graduate studies with Misha Amory at the Juilliard School. She has... Continue Reading →
Class of 2000: Gail Bennett is a musical theatre star. She grew up watching her father rehearse community theatre from the hayloft of a barn converted to a performance space in Madison Wisconsin. She began voice lessons at the age of 12 and received a first place ranking at the State Solo/Ensemble competition in the... Continue Reading →
Class of 1984: Jennifer Nelson is the Department Chair and Professor of English at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. At East High school, in addition to her academic studies, she was a diver and gymnast, creating art in many different media. She was awarded a BA from George Washington University (English and Creative Writing), and a... Continue Reading →
Class of 2001: Rudy Powell is currently a Field Tech Service Manager II at Dell Inc. After graduating from East High, Rudy studied Computer Information Systems at Madison College followed by a bachelor’s degree in Business Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Accolades received while at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater include a Ronald E. McNair Scholarship and... Continue Reading →
Class of 1991: Nathan Larson earned a Bachelor's degree in History and a Master's degree in Geography from UW-Madison. Since 1999, Nathan has worked to grow farm- and garden-based education locally, statewide and nationally. Locally, he co-founded the award-winning Troy Kids’ Garden and the Goodman Youth Farm in collaboration with East High staff and students and... Continue Reading →
Class of 1986: Ruth Conniff was a track star at East High school, and went on to attend Yale University, where she received her BA Cum Laude in 1990. She is the Editor-in-Chief of The Progressive monthly magazine, a 100-year-old publication that publishes political commentary, investigative reports, cultural coverage, cartoons and poetry. This magazine was founded... Continue Reading →
Class of 1948: Charles S. Anderson was President of Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN for 17 years, from 1980 to 1997. He earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College in 1951 and went on to serve as a Marine Corps officer. He later continued his studies, earning a master’s degree in English from the University of... Continue Reading →
Class of 2003: Michael Alston is currently a film director at Cash Money Records, Los Angeles, working with many world famous recording artists and actors. He is also the head of Michael Alston Productions, providing videography and postproduction on music videos for up-and-coming artists, corporate in-house presentations, and TV commercials. Mr. Alston tried college when he... Continue Reading →
Class of 2004: Keaton S. Miller is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Oregon. After graduating from East High, Prof. Miller studied economics, math, and computer science at UW-Madison. He worked in the private sector during the 2008-2009 financial crisis to help small businesses stay afloat, before attending the University of Minnesota's doctoral... Continue Reading →
Class of 1949: Rear Admiral Ronald J. Kurth enlisted after East High School in the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1954 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. He qualified as a naval aviator and later flew missions over Vietnam during the Vietnam War. A Russian studies scholar, Kurth later earned his master's degree in... Continue Reading →
Class of 2005: Dylan Brogan is a journalist covering city government, Wisconsin politics and local issues in Madison. He’s a staff writer at the weekly newspaper Isthmus. Previously, he was the assistant news director at WORT 89.9 FM. He still produces news segments and podcasts for the community-supported station as a volunteer. After graduating from UW-Madison, he... Continue Reading →
Class of 1952: Stefan S. Anderson received a BA degree from Harvard University, followed by an MBA from the University of Chicago. He became a banker, for 25 years serving as CEO and Chairman of First Merchants Corporation, a Midwest regional banking company, headquartered in Indiana. He was a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of... Continue Reading →
Class of 2003: Quilen Blackwell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in History from UW-Madison in 2006. He was a Powers-Knapp, McNair Research, and Harvard University John Galbraith Scholar, and founded the student organization People Opposing Prejudice, which aimed to improve race relations on campus while in college. After graduating, Mr. Blackwell joined the Peace... Continue Reading →
Class of 1952: Peter Jones Barrett (February 20, 1935 – December 17, 2000) won Olympic medals for sailing in 1964 and 1968. He is the Sailing Hall of Fame (2012). Despite his thick glasses, and lack of an athletic build, Barrett played quarterback at East High school. He was known for his strength and determination. He... Continue Reading →
Class of 1977: Bradley Whitford is an American film and television actor. After he graduated from East High School, he majored in English and Theater at Wesleyan University (B.A. 1981) and went on to the Juilliard School. He has played White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the NBC television drama The West Wing, Danny Tripp on... Continue Reading →
Class of 1987: Melissa Sargent was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly in In November 2012, winning 83% of the vote to represent the 48th Assembly District (the north and east sides of Madison and the Village of Maple Bluff). She was elected by the incoming Democratic freshman as co-chair of the Freshman Democratic Caucus, and has many... Continue Reading →
Class of 1971: John T. Schiller, Biomedical Scientist, National Institutes of Health (Bethesda). Together with Dr. Doug Lowy, John Schiller made discoveries that led to the development of a vaccine for the HPV virus. This virus causes the majority of cervical cancers, which is responsible for killing approximately 230,000 women worldwide every year. Research from the... Continue Reading →
Class of 2003: Svetha Janumpalli is the CEO of New Incentives (www.newincentives.org). She graduated from East High and trained at University of Minnesota in economics and public health. Together with her partners at New Incentives, she applies micro-economics to improve outcomes for pregnant women in Nigeria. By distributing “conditional cash transfers” (CCT) to women with high-risk... Continue Reading →
Class of 1988: Tari Kelly has been living in NYC for over 16 years, performing on Broadway in such shows as Show Boat, The Boy From Oz with Hugh Jackman, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Anything Goes with Sutton Foster, and is currently in the smash hit musical Something Rotten! She toured the country in... Continue Reading →
Class of 1988: Jessie Garcia was the first female sports anchor in the state of Wisconsin. She further broke gender barriers by hosting "The Mike Holmgren Show" and "The Mike McCarthy Show," interviewing Packers coaches and players in front of a live audience for a 30 minute show that aired statewide weekly. Garcia went on to... Continue Reading →
Class of 1998: Trevor Easton is a local micro-brewer and entrepreneur. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he majored in Industrial Engineering. When he graduated, he worked as a Lean Engineer for the Red Cross (an engineering discipline aimed at increasing the efficiency of engineering processes), both in Madison and Chicago. With an MBA... Continue Reading →
Class of 1992: Henry Sanders Jr. is a community organizer, small business advocate, and CEO and publisher of the online media source, Madison365. He was recently recognized with an award from the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce. He was a leader and athlete at East High, and was awarded a degree in political science with a... Continue Reading →
Class of 2011: David Aguayo is a rising star in administration and politics. He graduated from UW-Madison with a BA (Legal Studies, Minor in Criminal Justice); as an undergraduate he was nominated to serve as the first Chair of the Leadership Development Committee of PEOPLE Program, with the goal of developing diverse leaders for today's world. He ran... Continue Reading →
Class of 1997: Kelda Roys is an attorney, an entrepreneur, a real estate broker, and a former Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly (2009-2013). After she graduated from East High, she attended New York University where she designed her own major in politics, drama, and cultural studies, and received a B.A. degree in 2000. She... Continue Reading →
Class of 1979: Julia Bolz is a nationally recognized humanitarian and social justice activist, who has been dedicated to engaging, educating and empowering the poor in the developing world. She graduated from Smith College and Northwestern University School of Law, but in 1998 she traded a successful law career to help people in the world’s most desperate... Continue Reading →
Class of 1977: Mike Seversin is a local business man who owns and runs Seversin’s Service Center on Milwaukee Street, providing full service auto repair and service. He started work at his father’s gas station in middle and high school and got a degree in auto mechanics from Madison College (then MATC). He went into business on... Continue Reading →
Class of 1953-4: Ice-cream makers, Nancy (Hockett) and Charles Deadman opened the doors of Chocolate House Candy and Ice Cream store in 1962. They began with 19 flavors of their homemade super-premium ice cream. As their ice cream gained in popularity in the Madison area and throughout the State of Wisconsin, they began distributing to local... Continue Reading →
The East High Wall 