Event Calendar

COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD RECIPIENTS
This year’s honorees are Leslie (Wiener) Hooker, EGRHS class of 1983, and Suzanne (Schuler) Wilcox, EGRHS class of 1980. Together, Hooker and Wilcox have more than 40 years combined working on behalf of people with disabilities, Hooker with the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Wilcox with the International Dyslexia Association. In 2018, Hooker and Wilcox founded Beer City Dog Biscuits, a West Michigan company whose core mission is empowering people with disabilities: “We believe all people, regardless of their abilities, enrich our community. Those with disabilities are essential; without their presence, our community is incomplete!”

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD RECIPIENT
This year’s Distinguished Alumni honoree is U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink,
who graduated from East Grand Rapids High School in 1987. After graduating from EGRHS,
Brink earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Kenyon College and a
master’s in international relations from the London School of Economics. She has worked for the U.S. Department of State since 1996 in hot spots around Europe, including stints in Belgrade, Cyprus, and Tbilisi, Georgia. She served first as U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia before becoming U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine in 2022. She took office during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.