Hall of Fame

November 8, 2008

Grand Haven Schools Foundation

2008 inductees names to be revealed soon!

stay tuned...

GH Schools Foundation to Honor Alumni with Permanent Hall of Fame

The Grand Haven Schools Foundation, in collaboration with Grand Haven Area Public Schools, will celebrate the achievements of Grand Haven High School alumni with a permanent Hall of Fame display, announced Foundation Vice-President Lana Jacobson. She solicited the community’s participation in the nomination of alumni to be honored at the first GHHS Hall of Fame events on Saturday, November 8, 2008.

Jacobson and other Foundation board members presented their plans to Grand Haven Area Public Schools officials late last year and received their endorsement and support in the project. “As we celebrate the achievements of our alumni, we also hope that today’s students will be inspired, by the example our honorees have set, to unleash their own potential—and maybe one day earn their own place in the Hall of Fame,” Jacobson said.

Initial plans call for six awards given in five categories of nominations: 1. Academic/Career; 2. Athletic; (two awards, honoring both a male and female athlete or team for outstanding accomplishments at Grand Haven High School or at the college, semiprofessional, or professional level of competition); 3. Cultural/Performing Arts; 4. Major Contribution to Grand Haven Area Public Schools/Society; and 5. Special Honorary Achievement. All but the last category are restricted to GHHS/Central High School alumni, and posthumous awards will be considered in all categories. Alumni must have been graduated from GHHS at least 10 years before being nominated. Nominations not selected for induction will be kept in nomination status for four years. The Foundation hopes to hold an Hall of Fame induction every two years.

Nomination forms will be available throughout the community and at www.ghaps.org in February, and the Foundation is finalizing an advisory board of community members to review the nominations and make the final selections by June 15, when inductees’ names will be announced. “We want to give our inductees time to make plans to attend the community-wide celebration,” said Jacobson.

That celebration will include a daytime community rally at Buccaneer Stadium on Saturday, November 8, followed by an awards dinner in the evening at the Grand Haven Community Center. Organizers are hoping that honorees will be available on Friday before the event to visit the schools and talk to students.

Plans also call for a permanent plaque for each honoree to be displayed on a “Wall of Fame” at Grand Haven High School, and the Foundation is working with school officials to determine where best to place that display.

Through private and corporate sponsorships, donations, and sales of tickets to the dinner, the Foundation also hopes to boost its ongoing effort to build its permanent endowment to one million dollars. Begun just over two years ago, capital campaign gifts and pledges to date total approximately $650,000

“By combining the goals of building our endowment with celebrating our alumni, we’ll be honoring the past while we build for the future,” Jacobson said. In recent years, GHSF has focused its grant making on providing preschool scholarships to at-risk three year olds and grants for after-school programming for at-risk middle school students.

The nomination form and instructions are available by clicking on the links below. (Adobe Reader is required to view the documents. Click here to download the free reader.)

Nomination Form Nomination Instructions

Grand Haven High School Hall of Fame
Advisory Council

Hall of Fame Advisory council members are, front row (l-r) Mary Jane Evink, Shirley Lemon, Carl Treutler, Jack Provencal; back row (l-r) Scott Grimes, Jim Query, Floyd Fonte, Lane Smith and Roger Jonas.

Biographies:

Mary Jane Evink. A GHHS graduate (1987) Mary Jane began teaching history there in 1992, following in the footsteps of both her parents, who retired from teaching careers at GHHS. She received the GHAPS Excellence in Service Award in 1997. While a GHHS student, she ran track and cross country for four years and served as editor of the Blue and Gold yearbook. As a faculty member, she coached Girls’ Varsity Track for 12 years, four as assistant coach and eight as head coach. She has served for 14 years on the social studies curriculum committee, volunteers for United Way as a school district representative, and chairs a committee on sportsmanship for the Buccaneer Sports Boosters.

Floyd Fonte. A 1975 graduate of Grand Haven High School, Floyd was an outstanding athlete and earned seven varsity letters in football, swimming and track. He founded the Mariners’ semi-professional football team, coaching it from 1982-1986, and has volunteered as an assistant coach for GHHS freshman and junior varsity football teams. Since 1979 he has worked as a probation officer for the 20^th Circuit Court/Family Services/Juvenile Division and is an active community volunteer for such organizations as Children’s Advocacy Center, Salvation Army, and Crossroads Catholic Social Services.

Scott Grimes. Scott began teaching at GHHS in 1989 and was named principal in 1999. Before taking the helm at the high school, he taught business education, coached boys’ basketball and girls’ softball, and was assistant principal from 1996-99. He serves on the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Representative Council as a state-wide elected member and was twice named Girls’ Softball District Coach of the Year (1994 and 1996).

Roger Jonas is a retired businessman and now refers to himself as a “professional volunteer.” He is currently on the Board of the Grand Haven Schools Foundation where he served as President from 2001-03 and from 2005-07. He has been a Middle School Science Olympiad coach for the past six years, serves on the Advisory Board for the Gene Rothi Athletic Endowment Fund and was a member of the GHAPS School Board from 1994-98. He currently serves on the Ottawa County Parks and Recreation Commission, as Chairman of the Ferrysburg Planning Commission, Chairman of the Musical Fountain Committee and Chairman of the Public Policy Committee of the Chamber of Commerce as well as a member of the Grand Rapids Chamber Task Force on Education and Workforce Development. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Grand Haven and was Chairman of the Rotary Musical Lights Committee.

Shirley Lemon. During 27 years of teaching at GHAPS, Shirley has taught music at every school in the district. She is now the director of the GHHS perennially award-winning high school choirs as well as the music director for the high school musical and a Science Olympiad coach for the “Sounds of Music” event. She has served as the GHHS Music Department Chair, on the School Improvement Council, and was a member of the Celebration of Learning Committee. In 1991 she was honored with the GHAPS Excellence in Service award and in 1995 was named Michigan School Vocal Music Teacher of the Year.

Jack Provencal. Now in his 39^th year in public education, Jack joined the faculty of GHHS in 1989. Currently the Director of Athletics for GHAPS, he previously served as a Guidance Counselor and Assistant Principal at GHHS as well as wrestling coach. Jack convened a task force that led to the successful millage campaign for the Buccaneer Athletic Complex at GHHS and shepherded the construction project to an on-time, under-budget completion in 2007. His efforts led to the creation of the Gene Rothi Athletic endowment and he serves on its board of directors. He is a member of the Michigan Wrestling Association Hall of Fame.

Jim Query. Jim taught at GHAPS for 35 years, beginning as a student teacher in 1968. He was hired that same year and taught English at the former junior high school for seven years before transferring to GHHS, where he was head of the theater program for 17 years as well as the English Department Chair for many years. He received four Renaissance Awards from the senior classes for excellence in teaching and in 2003 received the district’s Excellence in Service Award. Since retirement, he has remained active in local theater and donates his time to assist with the GHHS all-school musical. A member of the Coast Guard Festival Board of Directors since 1978, Jim presently serves as co-chair of the Festival’s Grand Parade.

Lane Smith. As a teacher of physics and electronics at GHHS, Lane established the Science Olympiad program there and coached its teams to three national championships (1993, 1994, and 1997) as well as many more state and regional championships. He also coached track for five years, built sets for GHHS musicals for five years, and for 25 years he employed his three children in a family construction company that built a house every summer. He retired in 2005 after 37 years of teaching and inspiring students and began a second career driving a truck. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Christian Care Nursing Home in Muskegon and is currently chairperson of its building committee.

Carl Treutler. Carl taught mathematics and coached both football and track at GHHS for 35 years, retiring in 2000. He was the head track coach for 31 years and a varsity assistant football coach for 23 years. He was named Division 1 Assistant Football Coach of the Year in 1997 and inducted into the Michigan High School Football Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame for both track and football in 2002. In 1997, he began attending law school and currently practices law in Grand Haven with his partner Mike Van Tubergen at Van Tubergen & Treutler, PLLC. He was elected to the GHAPS Board of Education in 2007.

The GHSF would like to thank our first promotional partners: Grand Haven Area Public Schools, The Grand Haven Tribune and WGHN

Contact Information
Grand Haven Schools Foundation
1415 Beechtree St.
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Phone: 616.850.5066
Fax: 616.850.2010

Webmaster: John Siemion