On Oct. 6, seven Chagrin Falls alumni were inducted into the Alumni Association’s Achievement Hall of Fame...
Achievement Hall of Fame
On Oct. 6, seven Chagrin Falls alumni were inducted into the Alumni Association’s Achievement Hall of Fame. Tom Anderson, class of 1966, was recognized for his career as an independent recording engineer, producer and studio design consultant. Anderson worked in all genres of music for labels like Warner Brothers and A&M Records. During his career, he was an engineer on the albums for REO Speedwagon, The Rolling Stones and Rick Springfield, to name a few. He also was nominated for three Grammy Awards and earned multiple Recording Industry Association of America Gold and Platinum Album awards. Today, Anderson resides in Chagrin Falls where he is a college instructor for audio engineering and runs a sound engineering firm called T A Audio.
Scott Lax, class of 1970, was recognized for his career as a writer. Lax has written two novels, based off of Chagrin Falls; “The Year that Trembled” and “Vengeance Follows,” which was named Vermont Book of the Year Runner-Up and one of 1998’s “Milestones in Fiction” by the Denver Post. He later would turn “The Year that Trembled” into a film and earn four first place international film festival awards for it. Today, Lax is a liberal arts faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Art teaching screenwriting.
William “Skip” Church, class of 1971, was recognized for his career in television and his community involvement. In college, at age 20, Church became the youngest sports director of a commercial television station in the country for WBKO-TV. After college, he became a sports anchor, producer and feature reporter, which resulted in two Emmy Awards and five Emmy nominations. Church also gave back by being on the board for both the United Way and the Special Olympics. When his youngest son was killed by a drunk driver in 2004, he fought to help pass legislation that required convicted drunk drivers to use an ignition interlock device that prohibits engine starts for those who are impaired.
Jonathan Engel, class of 1973, was recognized for his passion to promote informed decision making in the complex world. Engel worked as both a journalist and in television where he helped create a network dedicated to financial news. He later helped create new techniques for navigating news sources better in web-based searches.
Mark Gebler, class of 1975 was recognized for his extraordinary service to the community. Like many fathers in Chagrin Falls, Mark Gebler became involved in the youth programs of his sons (Scott ‘00, Brett ‘02, and Zak ‘05) from Indian Guides to football and wrestling. However, Mark not only took lead roles in these ventures, he continued on with them when his sons went on to high school and college. His volunteerism began with the Chagrin Valley Jaycees, where he was co-chairman of Blossom Booths and Games from 1983-86. He was also chairman of Blossom Time Run water stops for 14 years. His efforts were recognized in 1995 with the Chagrin Valley Jaycees Distinguished Service Award as the Outstanding Jaycee. From 1989-93, he was nation chief for the Geauga County YMCA Indian Guides. During the 1990s, Mark was the head wrestling coach and commissioner of wrestling, building the program from 16 wrestlers to 61. Additionally, he was a head football coach in CAA at this time. He would later volunteer as a football coach on the CFMS staff for 12 seasons. Further, he has continued to volunteer as the head statistician for the CFHS varsity football team, a role he began in 1997. Mark had a 36-year career in the postal service with 10 years as the postmaster of Chagrin Falls. Mark continues to volunteer in a number of roles in Chagrin today with his wife Debi Shukys Gebler ‘75.
Tim Swan, class of 1975, was recognized for being a leader in the Denver, Colo., commercial real estate market. He has completed over $7.5 billion in transactions and has received several awards for his achievements. He won the Commercial Real Estate Association Denver Chapter’s “Investment Broker of the Year Award” three times and the “Heavy Hitter” Award. He has also been a volunteer for the National Association of Office and Industrial Parks Project Healing Waters, Colorado Association for Viticulture and Enology, the Denver International School and the Cultural Food Guild.
Wendy Diamond, class of 1988, was recognized for being a social entrepreneur, humanitarian, endangered animal and rescue advocate, World’s Premiere Pet Lifestyle expert and a bestselling author and TV personality. Diamond has spent her career advocating for animals through fundraisers and helping people understand their animals through her books. She also created Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) to empower women to become entrepreneurs. She has received a countless number of honors for all of her work as well as three Guinness World Records.
New Arabic Course at CFHS
By CFHS sophomore Tylee Nguyen
This year, Chagrin Falls High School has renewed the opportunity to take Arabic as a foreign language.
Sixteen students are currently challenging themselves to try something new. The majority of students enrolled in this class say that they are fascinated by the language and culture.
“The class was created just due to student interest,” said teacher Anita Boumitri.
Boumitri surrounds her students in an extremely positive and encouraging environment, allowing student to work at their own pace. Students get to learn much more than just the language, but also the culture.
“Arabic has a long and interesting history behind it,” said freshman Liam Childs. “Arabic also provides so many benefits for our future.”
The expanding Arabic culture is becoming more prominent in today’s society, making it a topic of interest among students. The course aids students aiming to deal with international relations in a future career.
Currently, the class is a success and Boumitri hopes to expand the course to higher levels as well. With the ever-growing attention shown to the Arabic language and culture, Boumitri will have no problem continuing the course triumphantly.
Submitted
Chagrin Falls alumni Tom Anderson, Scott Lax, William “Skip” Church, Jonathan Engel, Tim Swan and Wendy Diamond were recently inducted into the Alumni Association’s Achievement Hall of Fame.
