CUSD 303 to Honor 2019 Distinguished Alumni at April 6 SCEF GALA

March 7, 2019 - St. Charles Community Unit School District 303, in conjunction with the Distinguished Alumni Award Committee and the St. Charles Education Foundation, is proud to announce the recipients of District 303’s Distinguished Alumni Award for 2019. The award is given to nominees who graduated from District 303, and have demonstrated a high level of achievement in their field of endeavor or in their contributions to their community.

The 2019 recipients are James Gaffney, Jr., Rachel Kruzan, MD and Marci Miller Jobson.

Mr. James (Jim) Gaffney Jr. graduated from St. Charles High School in 1965. In the 1970s, Jim founded the Gaffney Electric, a successful St. Charles business that employed many local residents. During his thirteen years on the District 303 School Board, Jim served as Board President and Chairman of the Business Services Committee. He was an integral part of a Board that worked to provide the best for its students with technology upgrades, safe and secure learning environments, and upgraded transportation services. In addition to his time on the School Board, Jim was elected Trustee of the Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District in 2013. He served as the President of the Board from 2010 to2015. His other community service activities included being a paid on-call firefighter for the St. Charles Fire Department, a board member of the Private Bank and Trust, a Shriner and a member of the Lions Club.

Dr. Rachel Kruzan graduated from St. Charles North High School in 2004, before attending University of Notre Dame and Rush Medical Center. She completed her internal medicine training and chief year at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Rachel is an internal medicine physician at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD, with a focus in urban health primary care and advocating for underserved populations. She serves as the Associate Track Director of the Internal Medicine Urban Health Residency program at Hopkins. She is an advocate for the Latino immigrant population in Baltimore, where she has led “Lay Health” discussions in Spanish, organized well-being fairs, and translated documents for Spanish-speaking patients. Rachel also fights to end health disparities outside of her community, with prior Op-Ed publication in USA Today, and engagement in larger efforts for achieving health equity at a national and global level.

Mrs. Marci (Miller) Jobson graduated from St. Charles High School in 1994 where, as a standout soccer athlete, she was named a two-time high school All-American and lead the Saints to two State Championships. Marci mentored and trained a generation of players that led the St. Charles High School Girls’ Soccer program to a #1 national ranking and eight state championships within a decade. Marci attended and played college soccer for the nationally ranked University of Wisconsin–Madison and Southern Methodist University. After her successful college career ended, she played professionally in the United States and Europe. Marci has been the head coach of two Division One soccer programs having served as head coach at Northern Illinois University where she led the Huskies to a pair of Mid-American Conference

The 2019 recipients will be recognized at the St. Charles Education Foundation’s Gala event, which will be held on April 6, 2019, at the Baker Hotel. Tickets for the event may be purchased by going to www.stced.org