There seems to be no correlation between Rainn Wilson, Christie Hefner, Donald Rumsfeld, and Rahm Emanuel.
After all, how does Wilson, an Emmy award-winning actor best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the “The Office,” have any connection to former White House Chief of Staff and current mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel?
The answer is simple, yet speaks volumes. They graduated from the same high school, New Trier.
It seems unthinkable that a high school could boast such a wide range of distinguished alumni. Wilson (‘84), Emanuel (‘77) are just a few of the names most associated with New Trier.
Other distinguished Trevians are actor Charlton Heston (‘44), current CEO of Boeing James McNerney (‘67), dean of Harvard Law School Martha Minow (‘72), three time Pulitzer prize winner Archibald McLeish (attended), and Fallout Boy front man Pete Wentz (attended).
“I think it is very cool to know that New Trier has a consistent track record of preparing students for the real world,” said junior Meg Riordan.
Communication between New Trier and it’s alum is maintained through the alumni community website, which keeps communication between alumni and New Trier in ways such as promoting upcoming events, donating to New Trier, spirit wear, and an alumni directory.
However, one way that alumni are giving back to the students of New Trier is by coming back to speak to students about their past and present experiences in order to give students a look at life after high school.
Nicole Dizon, Director of
Communications said, “One of the greatest benefits for students is hearing about the very different paths these leaders took to rise to the top of their fields and how their New Trier experience helped set them on those paths.”
Senior Jack Klein said, “It would be great to hear from Bruce Matthews [‘07 NFL Hall of Fame]. Being a Hall of Fame offensive lineman, I feel like he would have great advice for up and coming college football players such as myself as I am playing football at Saint Olaf next year.”
Alumni from New Trier have no problem with success in the real world, but for those who go above and beyond, the alumni association has come up with a way to honor such achievers. The Alumni Hall of Honor was created in 2011 to honor the best and brightest from New Trier and celebrate their success.
The 2015 class of the New Trier Hall of Honor are: James Collins (‘57), Christine Ebersole (‘72), Peter Henry (‘87), William Kellogg (‘87), Mark Kirk (‘77), Michael Pyle (‘57), Mary Lu Roff (‘72), Sarah Ruhl (‘92), Michael Shamberg (‘62), Clifford Tabin (‘72), and Paul Zelinsky (‘70).