The former Deputy Mayor of New Orleans, a USAF Brigadier General, and a 23-year old who manages the Trustees of the National Symphony Orchestra are among this year's 2007 Pillars of Northside's Foundation.
Ten outstanding graduates were honored at the Northside Education Foundation (NEF) annual Endowment Banquet and Pillar Recognition this past Wednesday, Sept. 5 at the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort.
Also known as the Six Pillars of Character, unique this year is that the 2007 Pillar of Responsibility award was presented to five siblings in one family. The winners are named for traits of good behavior taught in Northside schools: caring, fairness, respect, citizenship, trustworthiness and responsibility.
The Pillar Banquet is a benefit for NEF's Classroom Teacher Grants Program which has supported innovative education projects in amounts ranging from $100 (new teacher grants) to $10,000 (team grants).
The following are the 2007 Pillars of Northside's Foundation:
TRUSTWORTHINESS - honest, loyal, credible
Brigadier General Michael Wilson, Jay High School Class of 1972
Growing up in a military family, it is no wonder that Mike Wilson pursued his dream of being an Air Force pilot since the age of nine. After graduating from Jay High School in 1972 and the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. in 1976, he served 11 years in active duty. He then joined the Air Force Reserve at the 919th Special Operations Wing, an assignment which took him to Operation Just Cause in Panama and Desert Storm in Kuwait, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross in both instances. He also served in Saudi Arabia during Operation Enduring Freedom. Today, he is a mobilization assistant to the commander of the Air Armament Center at Elgin AFB, Fla. He is also a Delta Airlines 767 Captain flying primarily to South America and back. At a time when excelling in the military and serving one's Country requires military leadership, we can trust that Brigadier General Michael Wilson is an ideal Pillar of Trustworthiness.
CARING - compassionate, empathetic, unselfish
Andres Ramirez, Holmes High School Class of 1990
Born with a rare disability for which no cure has been discovered, Andres Ramirez has osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bones), but he would be the last to suggest that he "suffers from it." Now 35 years old, he is a greeter and information officer at the AT&T Center, a tutor at Raba Elementary School, and technology wizard. Stories about "Little Andy" abound - from the time he helped Dallas Cowboys Legend Bob Lilly find his lost book, to the time he recently shot and edited a movie. He began school in Northside by attending the District's school for severely handicapped Mackey, then Easter Seals. By fourth grade, he was determined to attend regular classes at Glenn Elementary School, Pease Middle School and Holmes High School. Today he travels everywhere in his electric wheelchair, including navigating VIA bus transportation rain or shine. His technology and digital photography skills take him where his legs may not go, but camping and fishing outings or trips to the deer lease are always a "go." As a volunteer at Raba Elementary School, he teaches other handicapped students to excel. It is entirely due to his interest in and sensitivity toward others - never himself - that Andy Ramirez is the 2007 Pillar of Caring.
CITIZENSHIP - law-abiding, judicious, responsive
Katy George, O'Connor High School Class of 2002
Living and working in Washington, D.C., the 2007 Pillar of Citizenship's office is at the Kennedy Center where Katy George manages the Trustees for the National Symphony. Her job involves domestic and international travel, educational outreach, and embassy relations. Her passion is classical music and the arts. The 23-year-old graduated was first in her class at Emerson College in Boston where she also worked with the Boston Philharmonic as a volunteer fundraiser. She returned for graduate studies in Arts and Cultural Policy and Diplomacy at The University of Texas in Austin where she worked at the UT Performing Arts Center, served on the Board of the Austin Symphony, and helped found a philanthropic organization for the Long Center for the Performing Arts. Last year, she was the National Endowment for the Arts scholarship recipient for Leadership in the Arts. Growing up in Northside, she attended Northwest Crossing Elementary School, Stevenson Middle School, and O'Connor High School where she played oboe in band and was a Captain in the Color Guard. Born in Taiwan and adopted at birth by Sheron and David George of San Antonio, George is the perfect role model for the Pillar of Citizenship.
RESPONSIBILITY - diligent, conscientious, stalwart
Jeff, Lisa, Sarah, Greg, and Doug Meffert, Marshall High School Classes of 1974, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984 respectively
Retired Air Force Colonel Jeffrey Meffert is Doctor Meffert to his patients at the Dermatology Center at Texas MedClinic and his students at UT-Health Science Center. He started school at Lackland City Elementary, then his military-connected parents went overseas, eventually returned to Leon Valley, and finished his last two years at Marshall High School. He attended Rice University as a National Merit Scholar, and after three years simultaneously entered medical school at UT-Health Science Center and began a career in the Air Force. Well-known in his specialty - Dr. Meffert's lectures have titles like "Saving Your Skin - Warriors versus The Environment" and "Bugs and the Dermatologists Who Love Them."
Dr. Lisa Meffert, Marshall High School Class of '78, is a Rice University Professor and evolutionary biologist. Her research has been published in cartoon form in Discover Magazine for a science classics series called "Flies in the Face of Everything." She attended Purdue University and University of Houston - where she became a teacher before moving to Assistant Professor in the Rice Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Most likely to be found wearing a lab coat, Dr. Meffert has managed large grants from National Science Foundation and NASA. As a speaker, her message inspires women to pursue careers in science. She also appeared on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's science special, "Quirks and Quarks," and is dedicated to saving endangered species.
Sarah Meffert Becher, an Audio Visual Design Engineer, has rare letters following her name: CTS-I which stands for Certified Technology Specialist - Installation. Only a few people have achieved this highly-regarded credential world-wide and of those, even fewer are women. The InfoComm certification assures Sarah is an experienced AV professional who has passed a rigorous program of study in setting up best-practice audio visual systems that are reliable, structurally safe, and perform to customer specifications. At Wrightson, Johnson, Haddon & Williams, Inc., in Dallas, she has designed everything from a multi-media auditorium to high-end signage applications. She graduated from Stephen F. Austin University where she majored in Radio/TV Communications and minored in Physics (Electronics).
Greg Meffert, founder of the tech encryption company Logistix, literally volunteered to be the first-ever Chief Technology Officer of the City prior to Katrina and was given the title Deputy Mayor. When the storm hit, Deputy Mayor Meffert and his crew managed the only links the international media had to City Officials. Mega-companies from Sony to Microsoft cited the surveillance camera security canopy and wireless network he implemented for the New Orleans Police Department as the number one design in the U.S. He has a bachelor's degree. in Psychology and Computer Engineering from Baylor University and the equivalent of a master's degree in Computer Applications from Tulane University. An inventor, he holds numerous patents for internet technology and awards such as Computer World Magazine's 2006 World Premier IT Leader Award.
Dr. Douglas Meffert, Marshall Class of '84, environmentalist, has recently been named a Harvard Loeb Scholar and United Nations Advisor (for UNESCO). A rare combination of scientist and community activist, he led the "Bring New Orleans Back" sustainability initiatives which brought his work to the attention of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy where he will be working next year. He attended University of California at Los Angeles, and attended and is a professor at Tulane and Xavier universities. His dream is to open the RiverSphere, a new riverfront research center and museum which was sidetracked by Hurricane Katrina. A New Orleans resident, his hobbies include cartoon-drawing and running (3 marathons) including the San Antonio Marathon which he ran with his oldest brother, Jeff.
RESPECT - courteous, intuitive, unbiased
Dr. Gurpaul Singh, Marshall High School Class of 1988
Dr. Gurpaul Singh came to San Antonio from Auckland, New Zealand, at age 14. He enrolled in all-honors classes at Marshall High School (including Latin, French, physics and pre-calculus). A favorite class he remembers was called "United Nations." Following graduation from Marshall with an Advanced High School Diploma, he returned to University of Auckland School of Medicine. After six years of college and four years of practicing medicine, he rejoined the San Antonio branch of the family to combine his medical background with the technology-based training which is the foundation of Karta Technology company. He is now Senior Vice President of Training Solutions for Karta Technologies, Inc., the largest privately-owned defense contractor headquartered in San Antonio and soon-to-be publicly held and traded as part of an even larger company. At work, he creates modern-day how-to dvd's, cd's, and videos to train everyone from FBI Information Security employees to medical personnel acquiring new equipment.
FAIRNESS-equitable, open, reasonable
John Igo, Locke Hill* Class of 1942
To be selected as a Northside Pillar, you must be a graduate of a Northside high school, the first of which was Northside High School - now Marshall, where the first graduating class was in 1951. However, John Igo is the first Pillar with an asterisk, because he attended and received a diploma after attending only 10 grades (the highest number at the time) from a two-room rural school house known as Lock Hill School in 1942. (Spelling of the school was later changed to Locke Hill as we know it today.) In November, the San Antonio Public Library System will open John Igo Library near Northside's newest high school, Brandeis High School. A man of many talents, Igo has published a dozen books of poetry, written 25 plays, and taught literature and writing for 45 years at San Antonio College. With two degrees from Trinity University, he still (at age 80) teaches at Incarnate Word University. Igo still lives near Locke Hill School, where his family goes back - as students - more than one hundred years.
