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2022 Brush Alumni Wall of Achievement

Original Release: 6/26/2023

The 2022 Brush High School Alumni Wall of Achievement Induction dinner was held on November 10, 2022, at The Venue at Stonewater.

Five impressive Brush alumni and one retired staff member were recognized at the event along with 26 top performers from the Class of 2023.

The purpose of the Wall of Achievement is to recognize and honor graduates of Brush High School who have displayed outstanding achievement in areas such as leadership, service to the community, service to Brush High School, humanitarianism, creativity, courage, and careers which have benefited others. Staff members who may not have graduated from Brush may also be honored.

Approximately 140 attendees were present to honor our guests at the event chaired by Debbie Cassidy, '79 and Deb DiLillo Betz, '76. The full biography on each of the recipients is long, and only a few highlights are included here:

Lary Bloom ~ Class of 1961: Military veteran, writer, editor, teacher. Has written or co-written numerous books including Letters from Nuremberg which was reviewed by Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel, who wrote that Lary's book is an “important contribution to history.”

Joe Hennes ~ Class of 2000: If you are looking for someone who can “tell you how to get to get to Sesame Street”, Joe can! Joe worked for, and made significant contributions to, the Sesame Workshop. He prominently appeared in “Sesame Street” episodes and wrote several scripts. He is co-owner and editor-in-chief of the popular fan blog, Tough Pigs and is the Creative Development editor of Audible.

Simone Jelks ~ Class of 2004: After playing basketball on a full scholarship to the University of Southern California, Simone became an NBA referee, making her the fifth woman and only African American woman to hold that title in the league. She is also the author of One-on-One, which uses basketball as a framing device to advise men on dating ambitious women.

Robert Kain ~ Class of 1979: Bob is a successful entrepreneur, Biotech executive, inventor, and the architect and program manager for the sequencing instrument that broke the barrier for delivering a human genome sequence for under $1,000 in 24 hours. He was responsible for developing next generation genomic analysis systems which is used by 23 and Me, Ancestry DNA and other companies to provide consumer genotyping information.

Barbara Roman ~ Class of 1968: A partner with Meyers, Roman, Friedberg and Lewis, Barb is well recognized by the legal community in Cleveland. She has been named a Super Lawyer by Inside Business for each of the past twelve years. In 2019, she was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Ohio and the Top 25 Women Lawyers in Cleveland. Crain's Cleveland Business recognized her as a “Woman of Note” in 2011, when they named her to “Who's Who in Northeast Ohio.” The City of Beachwood honored her by proclaiming “Barbara K. Roman Day”!

David Nichting ~ Retired Assistant Principal: As an assistant principal at Brush High from 1971-1997, Mr. Nichting exemplified excellence as an administrator. In his nomination, Dr. Neil Brofman states that Dave has always been a “heart and soul” member of our school community. “He was always there with kindness and support, yet was traditional, professional, and a strong disciplinarian. This served us well as students.”