2023 OEF Annual Awards Banquet
November 15, 2023
Kellogg Center, East Lansing
2023 Award Recipients and Bios
Trisha Garvey
Commitment to Excellence Award
Trisha graduated from Michigan State University excited to start her life as a teacher. She completed her internship at Central Elementary with Debbie Stolz and then taught 1st and 2nd grade at a wonderful school in Marshall, MI for four years.
When a position opened up at Hiawatha in 2012 everything fell into place for her! Trisha feels so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing educators, students and families there! Coworkers have become family in those halls.
She lives in East Lansing with her husband Brandon, and their three beautiful daughters, Sutton, Rowan and Breckin. They love to be outside, be adventurous and just be together!
Elizabeth McNeil
Commitment to Excellence Award
With a B.A. in Spanish and an M.A. in Curriculum and Teaching, both from Michigan State University, Elizabeth begins her 23rd year as a Spanish teacher at OHS. This is the only district that she has ever worked for, and it was her top choice as well! Having been in the Lansing area since her freshman year of college, she always heard so many positive things about the Okemos School District and was thrilled to get the opportunity to be a part of it.
Elizabeth loves the Spanish language and has enjoyed being able to teach all levels at OHS. A definite perk to her time with students in the classroom, is the ability to travel abroad with them. She has been able to either lead or chaperone trips to Costa Rica, Cuba, and Perú and is excited for the upcoming trip, in June, to Ecuador. In addition to Spanish, Elizabeth has also taught English at OHS.
In her free time, Elizabeth is also a part-time instructor for Michigan Virtual. She is in her fourth year with Michigan Virtual where she primarily teaches Spanish.
Elizabeth’s husband is a 3rd grade teacher in Mason, where they live. They have three children, Jack, Sydney, and Alex. All three kids are Okemos Wolves, two at OHS and one at Chippewa. Next year, they will all be at the high school together with Mom!
Dawn Reed
Commitment to Excellence Award
Dawn Reed is currently in her 19th year as an educator. She believes that stories and words matter. She is continually inspired by our amazing OHS students!
At OHS, Dawn has worked with students beyond the classroom as an advisor to Key Club and Students Against Destructive Decisions. She has also served as Area Coordinator for the English department and as a leader on the School Improvement team.
Dawn’s passion for teaching led her to serve as a co-director of Red Cedar Writing Project at Michigan State University, a site of the National Writing Project. Dawn writes about education and literacy; she has numerous publications, including two co-authored books. Dawn supports educators through professional development instruction and leads summer programming for young writers. In appreciation of her excellence in teaching and leadership in the field of English education, Dawn was honored with the Ray Lawson Award in 2018 by the Michigan Council of Teachers of English.
Dawn values the relationships she’s made within the Okemos community; she is grateful for our OPS community’s dedication to education. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, writing, kayaking, and staring at the stars.
Dawn Reed
Commitment to Excellence Award
Joe Thornton is in his 8th year of teaching. He spent three years teaching 4th grade in Waverly before coming to Okemos where he is in his 5th year teaching 2nd grade at Bennett Woods. Joe graduated from Michigan State University in 2015 with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with a focus in language arts. He also studied Spanish. This past spring, he graduated with his Master’s degree in Teaching and Curriculum with a Literacy and Language specialization and is a certified Reading Teacher. It’s safe to say he is a Spartan.
Joe grew up in Somerset, Michigan with his parents, brother, and most of his family close by. After attending MSU for undergrad, he pretty much never left the area. He thoroughly enjoys the ins and outs of teaching, but is very adamant about a consistent exercise routine with a 4:15 am alarm for weekdays. When not at school or working out, you can find him catching up on TV shows or reading picture books. He is a certified #bookpusher and has recommendations for everything!
When asked why he enjoys teaching in Okemos, his answer was relationships and community. “I love my BW crew. They are THE best and never fail to amaze me with dedication, confidence, and humor. Without them, I wouldn’t be receiving this award. My experiences in Okemos in such a short period of time have been wonderful. The inspiration is unending!
Kortney Whitmyer
Commitment to Excellence Award
Kortney Whitmyer grew up down the road in Williamston. He earned two degrees from Michigan State University, first a B.S. in Social Science and Political Science, with a minor in Psychology; then an M.A. in K-12 Educational Administration and Leadership. Kortney never got very far away from the area, as he was offered the opportunity to teach at Okemos immediately after completing his teaching internship.
Now in his 19th year as a teacher at OHS, he enjoys being able to teach in a community that possesses the necessary resources to support its students and schools. He feels undeservedly blessed to be an educator in a place that allows teachers to learn, grow, and thrive, next to great colleagues, and work for absolutely incredible young people.
Kortney’s wife Jessica is a 2nd Grade teacher in the Holt district. Together they have four children Fiona (15), Charlie (13), Max (9), and Tyson (3).
Outside of school Kortney stays extremely busy being a father and pro-bono Lyft driver for his kids to their various activities. He loves supporting the Spartan football and basketball teams. He works to create a home where rock music isn’t dead.
Ashley Wilson
Commitment to Excellence Award
Ashley Wilson is beginning her 11th year with Okemos Public Schools, and her 18th year as a self-contained Emotionally Impaired Teacher. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education with an endorsement in Emotional Impairments from Hope College. Her teaching career began at Clinton County RESA, where she taught in an elementary and middle school self-contained EI setting. Ashley continued her education by earning her Master’s Degree in Reading and Literacy from Marygrove College. In the fall of 2013, Ashley joined the Chippewa staff as the self-contained EI teacher.
Ashley met her husband, Philip, when attending Hope College. He is also a special education teacher and is now teaching at Chippewa. They have two children, Brayden (14) and Landen (11), and one family dog, Barkley. They also have an exchange son, Shion, and an exchange daughter, Rin, from Japan. Shion and Rin are biological siblings and chose to come to America for a year abroad. Rin is currently living with their family for the 2023-2024 school year.
As an educator, Ashley strongly believes building relationships within the school setting creates a safe, positive learning environment. To this day, Ashley continues to enjoy impacting her student’s lives, as she watches them grow socially, emotionally, and academically.
Debbie Doss
Special Recognition Award
School year 2023-24 is Debbie Doss’ 21st year serving with Okemos Public Schools. Her previous career had been one of learning her trade in commercial print shops and weekly newsprint publications. Those encompassed everything from the creation, typesetting, production and distribution of print materials to overseeing day to day operations and bookkeeping. This preparation has served her well in her role as the “Okemos Print Shop Lady”.
When she’s not in the shop Debbie enjoys spending time with her husband Roger, their 3 adult children Melissa, Rodger, and Roxanne, their significant others, and their 4 grandchildren Desmond, Donovan, Dylan, and Arlo. Her dogs Zevon, Zimmy, and Zappa, have been close companions.
In her free time she crochets, knits, diamond paints, reads, collects and occasionally completes jigsaw puzzles!
Being behind the scenes, but still very much a part of the team, of the learning process, is exactly where Debbie likes to be. “One of my favorite things is the handmade poster Christine Batora’s class gifted to me shortly before Covid. It reads ‘We appreciate everything you copy’ and is signed by all of the students. The poster still hangs in the shop where I can see it daily and remember why I do what I do”.
Renée Schwienhorst
Special Recognition Award
Renée has been a lifelong Michigan resident. She is an Okemos Public Schools alumnus, beginning 2nd grade at Cornell Elementary School, followed by Kinawa Middle School, and graduating from Okemos High School in 1990. From there, she attended Michigan State University, in the College of Education, and earned her Bachelor Degree, with the intent to teach high school.
Renée began substitute teaching at Okemos Public Montessori 16 years ago when her children began PPK there. In addition to substitute teaching, her past roles include Kids Club Childcare Director, ASD paraprofessional, and PPK paraprofessional.
Since 2022, Renée has served as OPM’s office clerk. Her favorite part of her job is interacting with children and their families, her colleagues, and fostering the positive relationships and environment that make Okemos Public Montessori such a great place to be!
Renée is married to the love of her life, Reinhard, who is a physicist at MSU. Go Green! She has two adult sons, Alex (21) and Andrew (19), both of whom continued the Okemos Public Montessori program through 8th grade, and graduated from Okemos High School.
In her spare time, Renée enjoys relaxing, grilling and spending time with her family.
Sharon Basil
Dean Bolton Volunteer Award
Sharon lived the first 71 years of her life in Ohio. After the passing of her husband Bruce and youngest daughter, Tracy, she decided to move to Michigan to be closer to her daughter, Amy Petersburg, and her family.
While living in Ohio, when her daughters were in elementary school, she served as President of their school PTO. She was also a cheerleading advisor, 4-H advisor, and Sunday School teacher. She was an Administrative Assistant for the YMCA Child Care Center in Findlay, Ohio for 20 years.
After moving to Michigan, Sharon wanted to volunteer at Cornell Elementary School where her daughter Amy Petersburg is a Kindergarten teacher. She met Dorothy Rush who was a Foster Grandparent in Amy’s Kindergarten classroom and Dorothy recommended Sharon become a part of the program. Sharon knew she wanted to volunteer in Christena Sinila’s 4th grade classroom. She was excited when Christena said she would be happy to have her help in her room. Sharon started in the Fall of 2019 and now volunteers 15 to 20 hours a week. During Covid she worked with the children on math, reading or whatever they needed help with while holding class on Zoom.
Sharon says she enjoys reading the students’ Monday morning journals as she learns so much about each one of the students. It helps her be able to connect with each child on an individual basis. She loves being able to play games with them during Catsup and Pickle time. Last year one of the students was teaching her how to play Chess. Sharon believes you are never too old to learn.
In addition to working with Mrs. Sinila’s classroom she helps students in all 4th grade classrooms. She is known as Grandma Sharon by everyone at Cornell Elementary School.
Dr. Mark White
Distinguished Alumni Award
Mark White shares his story in Life of a Disease Detective which combines the memoir of his medical school experience with a revised version of the memoir of his work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including seven years in the Philippines and two in Uganda.
Mark’s humor is legendary as demonstrated by the stories he shares. During his medical school and residency, he sat in the front row of a Tina Turner concert and enjoyed the mist of saliva. Twice, professors tried to have him thrown out, but the school kept him in.
At CDC, Mark and Budsy, his Filipina wife, were assigned to Manila in the early days of the People Power revolution. With their students, they investigated epidemics of the Ebola virus, typhoid, malaria, and other tropical diseases. They were on the slopes of Mount Pinatubo when it erupted, blasting so much ash into the atmosphere that the global temperature dropped by two degrees C for two years.
Returning to Atlanta, Mark was named Director of the Division of International Health in the Epidemiology Program Office, which supervised global training programs. He created programs in China, Central America, Central Asia, and several other countries.
Budsy and Mark were married for 13 years when she died of breast cancer after a long battle. A year later, he married an old friend, Shelly Ahmann, a breast surgeon. They’ve been happily married for 24 years. Mark hopes you enjoy the story of his life.