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 Beech Grove names Teacher of Year

5/28/2014

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Jeff Ott
By B. Scott Mohr
Associate editor 

The Beech Grove High School Alumni Association has named Jeff Ott as its Teacher of the Year.
A pillar in the educational ranks, Ott has been a mainstay at  the middle school since 1974. He has primarily taught social studies, although he did teach English for a while early in his career. He taught world geography to members on the school’s Team Einstein from 2002-13 and coached football from 1974-78 and track and field from 1982-84.


And Ott was a Hornet long before joining Beech Grove Schools, as he graduated from Angola High (also the Hornets) in 1970. He was in the top 10 of his graduating class and won various awards in football and baseball. He worked in a soft drink factory during the summers. 
The son of Phyllis and Leonard Ott and a former member of the Air Force, he was born Oct. 29, 1951, in Angola. 


 He graduated from Ball State in 1974 with a degree in education and major concentrations in U.S. history and political science and a minor in English. He earned his master’s from Butler in 1979.
Ott married Laura Miller on June 21, 1986. Their daughter, Hillary, attends college and plans on becoming an occupational therapist
. 


Outside of the classroom, Ott started working at basketball games at Market Square Arena in 1977. When MSA was imploded, he took his talents to Conseco Fieldhouse, later Bankers Life, where he still works at Indiana Pacers, college and high school games. He said the most thrilling moment in his 37 years of all those events was when the Lady Hornets won the 2003 state championship. 

He enjoys attending Beech Grove athletic events and has been an avid fan of the Pacers since 1974, Indianapolis Colts since ’84 and Detroit Tigers since ’62. 


Ott has found memories of trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northeastern Minnesota during the 1970s. He has canoed various streams and rivers in Indiana and has been a frequent visitor to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks over the years. 


He was a desk clerk and bellman at Yellowstone hotels during the summers from 1980-85. Hiking, mountain climbing, camping, rafting, canoeing and photography occupied all of his free time.


Ott enjoys reading nonfiction and poetry and watching news and sports programs and documentaries produced by PBS, the History Channel and National Geographic.


When traveling, he and his wife like to visit friends, sightsee and explore museums and historical sites. 
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 Beech Grove names Alum of the Year

5/28/2014

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Lloyd Wright
By B. Scott Mohr
Associate editor 

Lloyd Wright, president and CEO of WFYI Public Media, has been name the Beech Grove Alumni Association’s Alumnus of the Year.


Wright has nearly four decades of experience in public service media and oversees Indiana’s flagship PBS and NPR stations, which include six 24/7 broadcast services, WFYI Productions, WFYI Learning Services and Indiana Reading and Information Services. 


He has held his current position since 1989 and was previously the programming director. He also served as broadcast operations manager for WTTW Chicago and was employed by the Indiana University News Bureau after serving as director of instructional broadcasting for the Indiana Department of Education.
A 1972 graduate of Beech Grove, Wright earned his bachelor’s degree in telecommunications from IU in 1976. He also graduated from the University of California-Long Beach and the Stanley K. Lacey Executive Leadership Program in Indianapolis. 


Wright has fond memories of his school days in Beech Grove and boasts that he can name every teacher he had. He played baseball and basketball and wrote a trivia column, “Answer the Wright Way,” for the high school newspaper. “I loved speech class,” he said. “My teachers saw something in me that I didn’t even know was in me. They gave me a great foundation for a rewarding career.”


During his tenure at WFYI the annual operating budget has grown from $2.5 million to more than $10 million. The station’s services and community-based programs have also expanded significantly in scope and impact. WFYI relocated in 2008 to new a facility in Downtown Indianapolis and established an innovative partnership with the Economic Club of Indiana, of which he sits on the board of trustees.


The station has evolved from a local programming producer into an award-winning one that distributes nearly a dozen documentaries and public affairs programs nationwide each year. WFYI was honored with three PBS Development Awards in 2008, including the coveted Award of Excellence for Overall Membership.
Wright is the recipient of numerous honors, including an Emmy Award for technical achievement, the William Kobin Public Television Leadership Award and two Sagamore of the Wabash honors — the highest commendation given by the governor for distinguished service to the state. 

 
He is serving his fourth term on the PBS board of directors and is a trustee of American Public Television. He serves on the boards of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, the Economic Club of Indiana and The Confucius Institute at IUPUI.


His accomplishments are too numerous to list individually, but in addition to relocating the station, they include raising $21 million for the station’s capital campaign in 2008, the implementation of many educational initiatives and creating a joint operating agreement with WTBU-TV to manage public TV on behalf of Butler. He is the founder and president of the WFYI Foundation and was inducted into the Richard M. Fairbanks Indiana Broadcast Hall of Fame in October.

  
 A member of the Downtown Rotary Club, the Indianapolis Press Club and the IU Alumni Association, Wright has three children, Zach, 26, a medical student; Emily, 22, an IU graduate who majored in communications; and Lindsay, 20, a sophomore journalism student at IU.

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