After graduating from our campus, Phillip attended Yale and Harvard and held a Research Fellowship at Princeton, all while volunteering in soup kitchens, Special Olympics, and as an EMT in Boston and Washington D.C. After four years as a Director with the National Fraud Information Center - a joint venture of the the National Consumers League, and taking timeout to study in a Catholic monastery, he bacame a full-time firefighter in Arlington County, Virginia.
McKee was just coming from a house fire on September 11, 2002, when American Flight #77 was crashed by terrorists into the Pentagon. Phillip and his entire firefighting team were subsequently awarded the Medal for Valorous Effort. Never a quitter, not one to let the 9-11 injuries that left him and other members of his crew disabled for life, the 2004 Pillar of Fairness is now a stained glass artist whose work is exhibited in Europe and at Yale.
Click here for Slideshow of Award Ceremony
Brainchild of Northside Education Foundation, a volunteer charitable organization which raises funds for innovation in NISD classrooms, the Pillar Program kicks off at a black-tie gala August 25, 2004, at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Hotel. According to NEF President Mary Etlinger, Exec. Assoc. to the President of UTHSC. Supporters of excellence in education are invited to support the Foundation and personally meet these amazing role models of outstanding character.
More information is available at 210/397-8599.