Wooster High School inducts new members into hall of fame
Corey Landis
On April 6 eight new members will be inducted into the Fine Arts Hall of Fame. The community is invited to purchase tickets to attend the dinner and induction ceremony at 5:30 p.m. with a social gathering, followed by dinner at 6 p.m.
This year’s inductees include Claudia Anderson, class of 1967, music; Chuck Armbruster, blue and gold service award; Tom Berend, class of 1989, visual art and design; Randall Carlisle, class of 1967, radio and television broadcasting; Melanie Cottle, class of 1968, music; Corey Landis, class of 1996, music, television, commercials, film and theater; Todd Patterson, class of 1974, arts educator; and Petra Soesemann, class of 1971, visual art.
The inductees include a broad range of fields and contributions from college professors to a professional actor and include those currently living in the area and others flying in from across the country.
After a 50-year career in broadcasting, alumnus Carlisle is currently the media and community affairs director at Odyssey House of Utah, the largest provider of behavioral health services in the state.
While a high school student, Carlisle participated extensively in plays and speech and debate. “It taught me to be confident in front of people,” he said, “and instilled in me the ability to think on my feet, no matter the situation I would encounter.”
Carlisle said he was humbled and thrilled to hear of his selection as an inductee this year.
Actor Landis credits his opportunities to explore the arts in school as opening his eyes to his chosen career path as a film and television actor. “I can tell you that if I didn’t have the chance to explore my interests as a young person, it’s unlikely I would’ve wound up doing what I do,” he said.
Armbruster is a retired engineer who has shared his expertise with the high school drama club and Summer Stage Wooster by helping to design and construct sets.
“Disbelief,” Armbruster said when he found out he was being inducted into the hall of fame. His advice to current high school students is, “Pursue your dream; it’s your passion.”
Anderson, Wooster High School alumna, Grinnell College professor and flutist, said she believes strongly in the value of music education, and the discipline and long-term dedication to practice has positive ramifications to other areas of study.
In addition to the beneficial social aspects of being part of a band or choir, one learns daily commitment to a task that cannot be crammed into one late-night practice session before the performance, according to Anderson.
Alumna and art professor Soesemann said she was honored and surprised to be named a 2019 inductee. Soesemann said the arts are unique in that no one can definitively tell you you’re right or wrong. “You have to learn to trust yourself,” she said.
Her professional career began in the ninth grade when a classmate purchased one of her artworks. “I have never forgotten that gesture of support,” Soesemann said.
The Wooster High School Hall of Fame was founded in 2005. It is a subgroup of the Wooster High School Alumni and Friends.
“We have had three previous inductions in 2006, 2008 and 2011,” said Todd Patterson, the committee chair for the Fine Arts Hall of Fame and also a 2019 inductee.
There are currently 25 hall of fame members.
Patterson, a retired educator and currently the assistant director of the Wooster High School Drama Club, began thinking about how arts students deserved recognition when he began working with the drama club.
“All too often,” Patterson said, “arts in our schools are underappreciated and under prioritized. We saw this Fine Arts Hall of Fame as a way to celebrate our arts legacy publicly.”
The mission of the hall of fame is to recognize and honor Wooster High School alumni who have distinguished themselves in their contribution to a fine arts-related field as either a professional or amateur or to the field of fine arts education.
There are three categories of awards available. To be eligible for the first category, an individual must have attended Wooster High School and graduated no less than 10 years prior to induction.
Evaluation is based on a nominee’s involvement and achievements in the arts while a student, as well as professional and/or amateur accomplishments in the fine arts.
The second category is for retired teachers, directors or advisors who have contributed through work in a fine arts activity or class at Wooster High School.
The blue and gold friends of fine arts award is available for those outside of the Wooster community who have made significant contributions to fine arts programs in the Wooster City School District.
The hall of fame further serves to raise public awareness and appreciation of the role of fine arts education in the Wooster City School District and to serve as a source of inspiration for current students.
Current arts teachers are invited to recommend an outstanding classroom student to be a guest at the induction ceremony.
The evening’s motto for the induction ceremony is “honoring the achievers, inspiring the dreamers.”
All the inductees appreciate and value the vital importance of arts education. Carlisle said, “Arts quite simply create a more human and well-rounded person as they enter the real world and deal with issues the rest of their lives. Science and technology are important and play a key role in today’s society, but I believe they alone send a person into the world that they see in black and white. The arts add color to that previously black and white picture.”
“If you want to get rid of the arts in schools because you think it’s not important,” Landis said, “just rent a dumpster and toss in all of your CDs and DVDs because the folks who created those films and songs are of the sort who were and are fostered by arts education in schools.”
“By honoring our hall of fame members, we are also celebrating the arts and their importance in the school curriculum,” Patterson said. “Art makes you whole. No soul is complete without it.”
Tickets are $35 each and are available online at www.ticketpeak.com/WHSFineArtsHallofFame. Tickets must be purchased in advance by April 1.
To nominate an individual for consideration for the hall of fame, forms may be found at www.woostercityschools.org. Printed forms are available upon request. Nominations are accepted anytime.
Email Patterson at wstr_tpatterson@woostercityschools.org for more information.