Crestview alumni plan hall of fame

The first inductees will be announced in May 2008.

By BOB JACKSON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

NEW WATERFORD — Call them Rebels with a cause.

Alumni from Crestview High School and its predecessors, Fairfield and New Waterford Centralized high schools, are putting the finishing touches on plans for a hall of fame to honor distinguished graduates from those schools.

“It’s been in the works for about three years,” said Elwood Woolman, who is coordinating the project. “We always talked about it but just never really got it organized and off the ground. We finally just pushed to get it done.”

A committee was formed and a nomination process was established several months ago. The committee is accepting nominations through March 31 and plans to induct the first class into the hall in May 2008, Woolman said.

The Crestview Local School District was formed in the late 1950s, when the Fairfield and New Waterford schools merged. The school’s mascot is the Rebel. Woolman is not a graduate of Crestview or its predecessors, but said he’s taught in the district for 31 years. He is currently the high school guidance counselor.

“I’ve just always been impressed by the things that our graduates have done, just in the time that I’ve been here,” he said, noting that alumni have gone on to distinguished careers in fields including medicine, literature and the military.

To qualify, nominees must have been out of high school for at least 15 years prior to the year of nomination. According to the nomination form, nominees must have made a “significant and recognizable contribution to society or their profession; must have been recognized for performance in the arts, athletics, government or public service; advanced the cause of education, science or medicine through practice or research; or have been recognized for other outstanding achievement.”

Candidates may be nominated and inducted posthumously, Woolman said. Nominations must be made on an official nomination form, which is available through the school district’s Web site. Forms will be kept permanently and re-evaluated each year.

Inductees will be recognized with a plaque bearing their photograph and a narrative outlining his or her achievements, Woolman said. The plaques will be displayed in a corridor at the high school, between the high school and middle school gymnasiums.

Woolman said the screening committee is made up of alumni from Crestview, Fairfield and New Waterford school districts, so all generations and schools are represented.