Evanston Township High School honored five distinguished alumni Monday evening with a reception, dinner and awards ceremony where current ETHS students introduced each awardee.
The school has celebrated the achievements, service and community engagement efforts of its alumni since 2003, awarding a few the title of “distinguished” each year.
The honorees brought their own guests — including friends, family, former classmates, instructors and coaches from their Wildkit days — who joined them in the school’s Alumni Hall for the event.
Before the evening, though, the five had already spent a full day at ETHS, speaking to the current senior class, stopping in classrooms, engaging with sports teams and generally seeing the students and school.
The RoundTable joined the evening’s pre-dinner reception to hear from the recipients and their friends and families.
Leader in innovative and sustainable design
Scott Byron, class of 1971, has been involved in a number of design and maintenance projects for public spaces, from the English Walled Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden to the plaza and outdoor history trail at the Chicago History Museum.
Byron also played a key role in establishing the Education Fund for the National Association of Landscape Professionals and has supported educational opportunities for aspiring landscape designers.
Byron is also a co-founder of the Education Fund for Visiting Practitioners at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
He attended the evening with a number of guests, including some of his classmates who not only went to ETHS with him but went as far back as College Hill Elementary School, which closed in 1976. The group even looked at photos of their first-grade class.
Byron mentioned how surreal it felt to walk the stage in the school’s auditorium earlier in the day when the awardees spoke to the senior class.
“The last time I was on that stage was my high school graduation, 1971,” he said. “That was really strange.”
He recalled that he saw himself as just an average student, but that in Evanston, there were so many opportunities to succeed, and class rankings were only one piece of the puzzle.
BP’s highest-ranking Black executive
In 1969, the year he graduated, Alvin Keith received the Noyes Cup, an award for the top ETHS athlete.
He carries quite the athletic resume: He was an all-state football player who was a captain of the 1968 iconic state champions, a member of the 1968 Illinois High School Association state champion basketball team and a member of the 1967 state runner-up track squad. But Keith didn’t stop at athletic success. He also earned recognition as a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist and went on to earn a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Keith spent more than 30 years working for BP (formerly British Petroleum), rising through the ranks to general manager of major refinery facilities and eventually becoming the president of Amoco Pipeline Company and in charge of worldwide refinery coordination. Prior to his retirement, Keith was BP’s highest-ranking Black executive.
Lifelong community supporter
Anthony “Tony” Mason, who graduated with the class of 1984, was co-captain of the 1984 state runner-up boys basketball team, losing only the last game of the season.
Since high school, Mason has focused his career on improving the quality of life for Indianapolis residents through education, economic development, sports, civic engagement and community service.
During his time as the president and chief executive officer of the Indianapolis Urban League, the organization has provided meals to more than 300,000 people and rental assistance to more than 50,000 people each year. Mason has also received the Sagamore of the Wabash Award, the highest honor bestowed by the governor of Indiana.
Mason brought several of his basketball teammates to the event and described how it felt to receive this award with them by his side, along with other family and friends.
“They’re my family, they’re my village,” he said. “Not just as friends or coaches, but people who genuinely cared about me as a person.”
Evanston Scholars executive director
Steve Newman graduated from ETHS in 1986 and has given back to the community in a number of ways since then.
He worked as a Camp Echo counselor and a McGaw YMCA teen program leader before finding himself drawn to teaching and the classroom.
In 1997, Newman returned to ETHS as an English teacher, and was involved in co-creating and teaching the Senior Studies Program. He received the prestigious Golden Apple Award in 2004 for his work as an educator.
In 2011, Newman created the Evanston Scholars program, which supports primarily low-income and first-generation college students in the application process, providing mentorship and support. He now serves as its executive director.
Newman had friends from high school, family members and even a third-, fifth- and sixth-grade teacher in attendance.
“Things I learned inside and outside the classroom really formed who I am today and led me to find my own interests,” he said.
From Wildkit to police chief
Evanston Police Department Chief Schenita Stewart, a third generation Wildkit, graduated from ETHS in 1992. The high school basketball star went on to earn a degree in criminal justice from Illinois State University and a master’s degree from Chicago State University.
Stewart spent the next 23 years working in law enforcement in Lincolnwood and East Dundee, and also served on the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force.
She returned to her hometown in 2022 when she was appointed the police chief.
Now, she’s an active leader with The Charmm’d Foundation and other organizations that support both children and community.
“This is an unbelievable award, but I think what’s more important is me sharing this with my family and friends, and my high school basketball coach, Cynthia Bumbry,” Stewart said.
Bumbry coached the girls basketball team at ETHS from 1985 until her retirement in 2020, and attended the ceremony as Stewart’s guest.
Stewart said she saw herself in the students who she interacted with on Monday.
“You see yourself in them, and see yourself sitting there,” she said. “You see what the future holds, and that you’re happy to be part of this.”
Editor’s note: ETHS Senior Director of Institutional Advancement David Futransky provided biographical information to the RoundTable.
ETHS honors five distinguished alumni at annual awards fete is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.