By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

Each year, Lake Orion High School sees hundreds of students venture out in the hopes of achieving success.

LOHS’s “Wall of Excellence” began in 2017 with the intention of honoring past students who have gone above and beyond in their career paths in order to achieve outstanding success.

“The goals are two fold — to recognize alumni from Lake Orion High School who have gone on to have extremely successful careers and to provide inspiration, and motivation to current students,” said Assistant Principal Kyle Meteyer. “They can look up and say, ‘I can do that, too.’”

Past inductees include: footwear designer Caroline Swierszczyk, scientist, inventor and business executive Bo Zhao, Commander James Ramirez, radio anchor Greg Bownman, astronaut Andrew Feustel, Col. Daniel Choike, musician John Upton, teacher Blanche Sims, CEO Fritz Henderson and judo champion Dr. Ronald Tripp.

This third induction class honors David M. Carlson, Ph. D. from the class of 1958, Cynthia Watros from the class of 1986 and Jeffrey Heath from the class of 2009.

Carlson is a business executive and author. He served in the Army twice and earned Bachelors, Masters and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan, where he also taught psychology and engineering. He authored a textbook about business startups and was a senior executive for several New York Stock Exchange companies. He also has awards from the Smithsonian Institution, Wharton School of Business and the California State Senate.

At LOHS, Carlson was a member of the chemistry and physics clubs, was sophomore class president and ran track and field.

Watros is a successful actress who has appeared in roles on shows such as Guiding Light, General Hospital, Titus, LOST, The Drew Carey Show, House and Finding Carter. Additionally, she is a winner of a Daytime Emmy and a Screen Actors’ Guild Award.

At LOHS, Watros found her passion in an acting class with Ms. Zelaya.

Heath is a defensive back in the National Football League where he plays for the Dallas Cowboys. Each year he returns to Lake Orion in the summer to run a youth football camp, with all proceeds being donated to LOHS Football.

At LOHS, Heath was a multi-sport athlete and an exemplary academic student with tremendous character.

This year’s class of inductees brings the total number of Dragons on the “Wall of Excellence” to 13.

Nomination forms can be found at www.lakeorionschools.org/district/alumni/wall-of-excellence.

Nominations are open to the public. Anyone can nominate someone; they do not have to be a graduate of LOHS. However, all nominees must be LOHS alumni.

This year’s induction ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. Oct. 25 inside LOHS and during halftime at that night’s football game.