(COLUMBIA, MO) – The Columbia Public Schools Foundation (CPSF) named its 2018 Hall of Leaders. The 2018 class will be honored at CPSF’s annual fall event, to be held Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 5:30 p.m. at the Kimball Ballroom at Stephens College. The event, with a “CPSF Rocks!” theme, will include a reception, program, and desserts.

“The Columbia Public Schools Foundation is pleased to honor this year’s Hall of Leaders,” said Lynn Barnett, president of the CPSF Board of Directors. “We celebrate those who have made outstanding contributions to the District, whether as alumni, educators or as volunteers giving of their time and talents.”

Honorees include Outstanding Alumni: George Galbreath, Dan Knight, Katie Mustard, and Susan Ford Robertson; Outstanding Retired Educators: Dave Carlson, Curt Fuchs, Joyce Hulett and Kathy Ritter; and Outstanding Volunteers: Karen Rawlings and Traci Rogers.

OUTSTANDING ALUMNI

George Galbreath is a Hickman High School graduate who currently serves as the art department chair at Westlake High School in Atlanta, Georgia.

Throughout his 15 years of classroom teaching, including three years at Rock Bridge High School and 12 years with the Fulton County School District in Atlanta, he has maintained a career as a working artist. During George’s tenure as an art teacher at Rock Bridge High School, his passion for art allowed him to leave a lasting impact on many lives.

Dan Knight is a graduate of Columbia Public Schools, having attended Fairview Elementary, Jefferson Junior and West Junior High Schools, and Hickman High School. Dan has served as the Boone County Prosecuting Attorney since 2007 and will begin serving his fourth term in 2019. In this role, he guides the prosecution of all criminal cases and has also personally prosecuted thousands of cases. He leads a staff of 41 employees, including 14 assistant prosecutors. Prior to his appointment as prosecuting attorney, Dan served as an assistant prosecuting attorney and as first assistant prosecuting attorney.

Katie Mustard is a graduate of Hickman High School. Katie has joined the Netflix International Production Team as the head of physical production for feature films and television series from Europe, Middle East, and Africa. She will be relocating to Amsterdam this fall with her husband and son. Katie’s passion for filmmaking can be seen with the many movies she has produced, including 38 movies, 20 short films, four feature-length documentaries and dozens of commercials. She has produced nine films that premiered at the Sundance International Film Festival. Her first feature-length documentary, American Shopper, was filmed in Columbia.

Susan Ford Robertson is a graduate of Hickman High School. She practices law in Kansas City at The Robertson Law Group, LLC, where she serves as appellate counsel assisting trial counsel across the nation in all phases of all complex civil litigation. She has over 160 published federal and state appeals. Susan is an elected fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and she is the first and only female attorney from Missouri so elected. She also is an elected fellow of Litigation Counsel of America and is the only Missouri attorney to be serving on the Super Lawyers Advisory Board of Directors.

OUTSTANDING RETIRED EDUCATORS

Dave Carlson began his teaching career at Jefferson Junior High School in 1964. He served as athletic director for most of his tenure at Jeff Junior, and also taught physical education and health. He is perhaps most remembered as the coach of football, basketball, and track for 7th, 8th, and 9th-grade boys and girls. In addition, he coordinated the intramural program that grew to include 80 percent of the students.

Curt Fuchs spent 31 years with the Columbia Public Schools. He began his career with CPS in 1977 as the audiovisual librarian at Hickman High School. Following that position, he became director of media services and then the director for instructional and information tech services for the district. Curt recently retired from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, where for 10 years he served as the coordinator of educational support services.

Joyce Hulett began her career with Columbia Public Schools at Rock Bridge Elementary School, where she taught second grade for 11 years. Following this, she served as CPS language arts consultant for 17 years. She chaired a committee to write language arts objectives for elementary schools, which became the framework for reporting to families on how a student was progressing in reading, writing, and spelling. Literacy for all children was her priority.

Kathy Ritter served as principal of Rock Bridge High School from 2007-2010 and assistant principal and director of student activities at Rock Bridge from 1992-2007. She previously served as a mathematics teacher at Rock Bridge, Hickman High School, and Jefferson Junior High School. After retirement, Kathy continued to work with educators as a consultant with the Heart of Missouri Regional Professional Development Center (now the Hook Center), helping secondary schools in their efforts to become more effective professional learning communities. She also coached new principals and assistant principals in Columbia Public Schools.

 

OUTSTANDING VOLUNTEERS

Karen Rawlings has been an active volunteer with the Columbia Public Schools since 1975. She has volunteered in the library, health room, at field days, book fairs, science fairs, and as PTA president, as well as PTSA president at Hickman High School. She chaired the Hickman Music Boosters organization, which raised more than $40,000 to send the school chamber choir to Vienna, Austria. She was the first non-student to receive the Super Kewp Award.

Traci Rogers moved to Columbia from Atlanta, Georgia, and has been an active volunteer and PTA officer at three schools. Traci is an IBM project manager and mother of two CPS students. She has logged more than 1,250 volunteer hours through the IBM Volunteer program, which issues grants for organizations each year. By logging over 100 hours annually, Traci has received four $2,000 grants for Paxton Keely Elementary and Jefferson Middle School.

The Columbia Public Schools Foundation is a private foundation established in 1996 by community volunteers dedicated to the enrichment of public education through community giving. The Foundation has funded projects in every school, allocating more than $1.2 million to enhance education in the Columbia Public Schools. CPSF has supported teachers and students for more than 22 years.