Drew teDuits ’11 looks forward to U.S. team trials for Olympics

2014 photo by AJ MAST — Associated Press

According to a story in the Wisconsin State Journal, Drew teDuits has been training for the past year, in an attempt to represent the United States at the Olympics in Rio. He graduated from UW-Madison in 2015 with a degree in kinesiology, and after taking a year to focus on swimming, now intends to go to dental school in the fall.

Drew has qualified to compete in the 100-meter backstroke at the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha, Nebraska, which begin Sunday. He is aware he most likely sits outside of the top eight (the final heat, in which the top two swimmers qualify for the Olympic Games), but his time of 55.33 seconds placed him 28th of 217 qualifiers in the event heading into trials.

Read the full story by Chris Bumbaca at Madison.com.

Reunion season kicks off!

Members of the Class of 2006 — courtesy Ryan Boyd

Members of the Class of 1986

This past weekend, the Edgewood classes of 1986 and 2006 held their 30th and 10th anniversary reunions respectively. The class of ’86 held a variety of activities over several days and the class of ’06 met for a casual gathering at the Wisconsin Brewing Company in Verona.

Be sure to catch up with your classmates! Additional reunions are being held this summer and fall by the classes of ’47, ’48, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’56, ’57, ’59, ’61, ’64, ’66, ’71, ’73, ’76, ’81, ’83, ’91, ’96, ’00, ’01, and ’11. For more information, visit the reunion page on the Edgewood High School website.

Adam Johnson ’07 leaves educational impact as former high school director in Tblisi

Adam Johnson is returning to the United States in July after working for four years in the Republic of Georgia. For the past three years Adam has been the Director of the American High School in Tbilisi. Currently, most of the school’s students are Georgian, however language of instruction and the operational language of the school is English (with the exception of Georgian, French, and German classes). AHS welcomes students from all backgrounds, however, and is committed to diversifying the student body.

As Director, Adam led the school through the U.S. accreditation process, making American High School the only independent school in Tbilisi, Georgia accredited by AdvancED. Maestro Television of Georgia conducted an interview with Adam in 2014 (unfortunately, the YouTube video, including Adam, is only in Georgian without subtitles!).

Adam has received a full scholarship to graduate school at George Washington University, and will begin pursuing an MBA program in the fall of 2016.

Help Us Decide Edgewood’s Future Direction!

Edgewood High School is in the planning phase of an exciting capital campaign that will set a bold vision for the future of the school and enhance the educational experience of our students. We are very proud of our rich history and tradition of providing academic excellence in a faith-based environment, and we believe that further improvements would enable us to move forward as an even more competitive school in the 21st century. To help us plan and prioritize, we ask that you take the brief planning survey below. Your insight and perspective are both valuable and vital to our process. Act soon, the survey will only be available until June 20! My sincere thanks, Michael G. Elliott ’77 President Take the Survey

Teacher Margie Duwe ’00 participates in exchange program with school in China

Margie Duwe is a teacher at St. Mary School in Bloomington, in southern Wisconsin. In an article that appeared in the Madison Catholic Herald, the principal of St. Mary School, Julie Zenz, wrote about the exchange program St. Mary’s has had since 2012 with Shijiazhuang No. 40 Middle School in China. Margie traveled to the partner school and spent four weeks teaching science to the students (nearly 1,000 of them in classes averaging 55 students!) while three teachers from China came to teach science and reading at St. Mary’s.

Read about the exchange program, Margie’s experiences and observations, and the impact that visiting students and teachers have had on both schools.

Kate McMahon ’12 wins service award

Kate McMahon is a senior majoring in Chemistry, Spanish and Biochemistry at University of Minnesota Duluth where she plays soccer for the Bulldogs. At an April awards ceremony, she was the recipient of the Shjon Podein Community Service Award, which has been presented annually since 2003 to a UMD student-athlete who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the field of play and has made noteworthy humanitarian contributions in the Duluth and University communities.

Earlier this year, Kate was one of the recipients of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Awards. The honor, named for the late NCAA President Dr. Myles Brand, is bestowed to senior NSIC student-athletes who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher, are exhausting their eligibility and are on track to graduate.

Alumni gather under the stars

At this year’s 30th annual social and fundraiser, “Sailing into the Starlight,” alumna Cassie Zwettler Meiller ’01 acted as shipboard photographer for attendees and also captured this image of some of the many alumni who attended the event.

Back row: Callie Zwettler Meiller ’01, Mary Didier Kuypers ’78, Dennis McKinley ’63 (is that halo moon really appropriate???), Sue McDaniel Elliott ’78, Deb Wolfe Palm ’77, Mike Palm ’78, and Karen Wahlin Schieldt ’83.

Front row: John Kuypers ’78, Pete Rothering ’96, Mike Elliott ’77, Patrick Corcoran ’82, Colleen Murphy Penwell ’85, Ann Hackworthy Rodriguez ’84 and David Hackworthy ’80.