Thanks to everyone who sent me news about what Heights High Graduates are doing. Our graduates are definitely “taking the road less traveled, marching to the beat of their own drum and thinking outside the box” when it comes to continuing their post graduation studies! They see the world as an extended classroom. Here’s just a sample of what some of our graduates have been up to. I would love to hear more from Cleveland Heights and University Heights families about what their Heights High graduates are up to now. Email me at lita@valancy.com.

Taylor Raack graduated with honors from Northwestern University with a double major in Integrated Science and Computer Information Systems. He worked for a year at the Wrigley Corporation in Chicago designing a computerized retail shelf management system before moving on to Bank of America, also in Chicago. Taylor was recently promoted to Associate Vice President of BOA's Global Foreign Exchange Technology group and is also looking ahead to graduate school in the near future.

Class of 2004

Hallie Majewski graduated from The Ohio State University Honors Program on June 8. Her major degree is in comparative studies in religion and political science, with a minor in art. She hopes to go to law school, although not immediately. In the fall of 2006, Hallie circumnavigated the globe as a participant in the University of Virginia’s Semester at Sea program. She traveled to Hawaii, Japan, China, Myanmar, Vietnam, India, Egypt, Croatia, Spain and Fort Lauderdale! Her family received posts from her from all over the world and got emails from places like the Royal Library of Alexandria, Egypt.

Brittany Saafir graduated from Howard University. She plans on moving to Chicago to work on her Masters of Public Health. One day she hopes to work for the CDC researching disparities in minority health care.

Class of 2005

Michael Mac Donald just finished his junior year at the College of Wooster. He is studying biology with a minor in Chinese. He completed a cultural immersion program in Beijing, China last summer with the city of Xi’an International Studies University

Class of 2006

Selby Majewski just completed her sophomore year at Ohio Wesleyan where she is majoring in zoology and environmental studies. She will return soon from a 3-week tour of cloud rain forests in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Her summer job is at The Wilds (http://www.thewilds.org), a 10,000-acre conservation area (former strip mine) in southeast Ohio where rare and endangered species are protected by the International Center for the Preservation of Wild Animals, Inc. The Wilds does conservation work and research. In previous summers, Selby has had internships at the Lake Metroparks Penitentiary Glen Wildlife Center and at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History Perkins Wildlife Center.

Lita Gonzalez, a long time community volunteer, lives in Cleveland Heights with her husband Mark. Both her daughters are Heights High graduates.