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CHARGER SPIRIT ALUMNI AWARD AND NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHT
Each year, the Suncoast Foundation recognizes one alum with the Charger Spirit Alumni Award. Nominated by Suncoast Foundation, each winner has demonstrated amazing achievement since graduation in their diverse careers. In addition, the Suncoast Foundation also highlights alumni in our quarterly newsletter. Congratulations to these amazing alumni!
Nominate an Alum
We want to hear from you! Do you have a fellow alum who is doing great things? Nominate him or her so we can highlight their accomplishments and continue to grow the Suncoast network.
2019: Eric Schwartz, Class of 2001, For Achievement in Innovation
Eric Schwartz is the manager of the Center for Strategic Intelligence at Florida Power & Light Company and NextEra Energy. He is responsible for forecasting, piloting and implementing cutting-edge technology in the unmanned drone space. He has served in other roles at the company, including Quality Deployment Lead, Smart Grid & Innovation Manager, Reliability Program Manager and Delivery Assurance Lead.
2016: Louis Beryl, Class of 1998, For Achievement in Entrepreneurship
Louis Beryl is the co-founder and CEO of Earnest, a technology-driven on-line lender which provides affordable refinancing for student debt and personal loans. Now living in San Francisco, Louis is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and completed undergraduate study at Princeton University.
2015: Lindsay Hayes, Class of 2001, For Achievement in the Natural Sciences
Lindsay Hayes completed a PhD at MIT and post-doctoral work at Harvard University in astrobiology. She is a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA where she has contributed to the Mars Rover exploration project (and other similar projects) working to understand our universe.
2014: David Kerner, Class of 2002, For Achievement in Community Service
After graduating from the University of Florida, David Kerner served the state of Florida as a police officer and a prosecutor for the State Attorney. In 2012, he was elected to the State House of Representatives for the 87th District in Palm Beach County and was re-elected in 2014.
2013: Brian Young, Class of 2001, For Achievement in the Arts and Media
Brian Young lives in Los Angeles and works as a writer and producer for the CW Network’s most popular series, The Vampire Diaries, which is now in its 8th season. Brian was previously a writer on the ABC Family Network series Kyle XY.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Rick Clark, Class of 2001, was featured in an article by the Palm Beach Post. Congratulations Rick!
Curtis Fonger, class of 2004, is CTO for Appetas. Recently, Appetas was purchased by Google (read story here). Prior to Appetas, Curtis was a software UI developer at Microsoft on the Windows Live Mesh and SkyDrive teams. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from MIT.
Kim Kaupe, class of 2004, was recently featured in Forbes Magazine’s 2014 list of “30 Under 30 Who Are Changing the World” in the music industry. Kim co-founded the music merchandizing startup ‘ZinePak. (www.zinepak.com), which works with creators, brands and agencies to provide custom memorabilia to fans of movies, music, and brands around the world.
Congratulations David Hale!
David Hale, Suncoast’s longstanding English professor, will be retiring after this school year. Beloved by many students, Mr. Hale leaves a lasting legacy, which ChargerPride is proud to highlight. Mr. Hale has been teaching for 42 years, spending a total of 26 years at Suncoast. Asked about his retirement, Mr. Hale said, “Teaching has been the best of what I am.”
In May of 2015 at the end-of-year IB Banquet, a group of alumni known as the ‘The David Hale 20’ presented their beloved teacher with a plaque dedicating his classroom to his many years of service. Congratulations, Mr. Hale!