CFS Welcomes Alumni From Seven Decades Back for Alumni Weekend 2023

Church Farm School welcomed back more than 100 alumni from the 1960s through 2020s, and every decade in between, for its annual Alumni Weekend May 12-14. Highlights from the weekend included a Career Conversations event, where current students were able to rotate by grade-level between four different panels – STEM, Business, Education & Activism and Creatives – to learn about how 20 of our alumni transitioned from Church Farm School to college to their varied careers as musicians, filmmakers, actors, nurses, attorneys, educators, engineering and more. Christian Raab ’99, who transitioned his success from the popular MTV show and films “Jackass” to a career in filmmaking and nonprofit advocacy, returned to the school for the first time in years. Maceo Whatley ‘18 shared how quickly you can turn your passion for music and activism into a career with the right network. Biographies for the presenters can be found here.   

 

Alumni honored three longtime supporters of Church Farm School on Saturday night during Alumni Dinner. Head of School The Rev. Ned Sherrill celebrated Priscilla Gabosch, a widow of Class of 1948 alumnus Karl, who attended every CFS event with her husband until his passing in 2011, and who continues to support their school through its Annual Fund, special fundraising campaigns and attendance at annual luncheons that support student scholarships. Major General Eric G. Weller (USAF-Ret) from the Class of 1974 received the first of the evening’s Alumni Achievement Awards. Weller’s long career with the United States Air Force earned him 29 major awards and decorations. In 2013, he was promoted to Major General and in 2016, he retired from the USAF and assumed duties as the Deputy Adjutant General for Veterans Affairs, supervising the administration of assistance programs for more than 894,000 veterans and their dependents, as well as the operation of six state-owned veteran’s homes. After a long career of service, he retired in 2021. Weller Co-founded the school’s Military Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to students whose family members have served, or are actively serving.

 

CAPT Paul Spear ’81 also received an Alumni Achievement Award for his long tenure with the United States Navy and his unflagging support of Church Farm School, even including the school in his estate plans. Spear enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1982, eventually rising to the rank of Captain. He served on seven submarines, with NATO in Afghanistan, was Commanding Officer of the USS Tucson (SSN 770) in Pearl Harbor for three years and then served in the Pentagon for the Chief of Naval Operations Undersea Warfare Directorate as the Director of the SSBN Security Technology and SSN/SSGN Survivability Program for nine years. Since retiring in 2018, he has worked as a government civilian for the Navy. He is currently the Director of the Full Spectrum Undersea Warfare Innovative Naval Prototype at the Office of Naval Research.

 

Says Sherrill, “It is always a joy to have our campus bustling with activity during Alumni Weekend and being able to facilitate brotherhood between not only our alumni network, but between our alumni and our students.”