Written by Lisa Gaumnitz

Ten-year-old Donnel Thompson raced to get ready early for school so he could play touch football at the Randall Elementary playground before the bell rang. Teacher Fred Tiemann– Mr. T to the kids – quarterbacked for both teams and the diverse group of kids competed hard, had fun, and were back at it again every recess.   

“It was what we wanted to do,” recalls the West High alum, a walk-on for the University of Wisconsin football team who grew into a leading tackler, played for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and now leads as vice president of national accounts for Direct Supply, Inc. in Milwaukee.   

Written by Lisa Gaumnitz

David Aguayo learned to value education from his mother, a daughter of migrant workers, who earned her teaching degree while raising a family. 

He learned hard work and dependability from his father, an Ecuadorian immigrant.

And from Susie Hobart, his fourth and fifth-grade teacher at Lake View Elementary on Madison’s North Side, he learned he could do great things.    

By Tatiana Dennis

From an early age Alex Booker knew the importance of having hands in the soil. Booker’s grandparents were farmers in Mississippi, a skill that turned out to be generational. Booker started gardening when he was just 10 years old by caring for plants around the house. His mother saw not only the passion but the skills that Booker had for gardening and encouraged him to embrace it and provided him with the tools he needed to garden more extensively at home.

By Lisa Gaumnitz

Daniel Kigeya’s graduation from West High School in 1997 was one of the loneliest days of his life. 

“I remember walking across the stage and then leaving there and going home and not celebrating,” says Kigeya, (pronounced Key-gay-ya) who returns to West this fall as its new principal. 

By Tatiana Dennis

Justin Cruz and his family recently returned from a trip across the country. Cruz, his wife Wendy, and two daughters Emma (Madison East High Class of ‘18) and Maya (La Follette Class of ‘25) drove through the Badlands, explored Yellowstone National Park, and made it all the way to San Francisco. The trip was long and full, Cruz shared when we spoke in June, and he was happy to be back home in Madison.

By Tatiana Dennis

The early morning practices and countless laps Emmie Mirus churned out at Madison West High School’s aging pool has paid off for the Madison native.

"I never thought I would be that fast" says Emmie, recounting her lap time and 5th place finish in the state championship meet her senior year of high school that got her noticed by recruiters. Now Emmie crossed the final finish line of her swimming career at Kenyon College by setting three NCAA Division III records in relays with her teammates. Mirus also won the 100 yard freestyle.

By Tatiana Dennis

“I loved growing up in Madison, my parents were very intentional about having me know where home was,” Sylvia A. Hecht says. “Madison is where they wanted to raise a family, and the schools were a big part of that.”

Mrs. Murray’s third-grade classroom at Shorewood Elementary School was unlike any other Evan Marwell had been in before.

“For math, she let me play cribbage with other students,” recalls Marwell, a 1983 West High School alum Zooming from his San Francisco home. “I never understood why I was allowed to play during school, but I realized later in life it helped me with my quick math thinking and strategy.

“Her classroom was set up in a way for every student to pursue their own individual interests and I think that created a spark for my creativity.”

Walking the stands of Breese Stevens Fields, Omar Anguiano fist bumped and chatted his way through the deafening chants. At Forward Madison’s match against the Greenville Triumph last Saturday, the crowd was raucous, a constant rumble at the end of the field. “I haven’t seen the stands this hyped up in a long time,” Anguiano remarked.