Outstanding Beaver Dam Alumni, Friends of Education Honored

(Beaver Dam) The twenty-first annual Beaver Dam School District Wall of Fame Awards Ceremony was held yesterday. Two “Friends of Education” were recognized. Tom and Judy Heffron were singled out for supporting the community various child-centered activities and programs. Tom says he and Judy are very honored to be part of the program considering the past recipients.

“It’s just tremendous to be part of that group,” he says.

The other Friend of Education recognized was the Alpha Xi Chapter of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, for encouraging reading at an early age in the Beaver Dam community for the past 50 years. Barb Link says their 30 members have a combined 593 years of membership. Link thanked the Wall of Fame Committee for being selected noting however that they do not do it for the recognition.

This year’s Outstanding Alumni was Gary Macheel, a 1970 graduate who had a successful 30-year career in Hollywood in sound design and editing, taking home eight Emmy trophies and eleven Golden Reel Awards.

Macheel says while the halls of the newly-renovated high school no longer look familiar, the recent graduates are all embarking on a similar path to the next phase of their journeys. He encourages this years graduating class to learn everything they possibly can because they have a lot of different options and may not be able to predict exactly what type of field they may find themselves in. Macheel was attending art school when he fell in love with sound design and had the school create a special major just for him.

“Aspire to your dreams,” Macheel tells us, “and let the [educators] nurture them for you.”

The Beaver Dam School District video streamed the ceremony on their YouTube page, BDHS Presents:

https://youtu.be/KBiel_GpsYo