Westerville South High School Hall of Fame inductees Jim Day, Jay F. Whitacre, Ph.D., and Michael W. Corrigan, Ed.D.
Westerville South High School inducted three alumni into its Hall of Fame at a luncheon and ceremony held April 24 – Michael W. Corrigan, Ed.D., Jim Day, and Jay F. Whitacre, Ph.D. The school’s Superintendent’s Student Advisory Committee selected those honored from a pool of applicants who graduated at least 10 years ago, have demonstrated success in their career, and have made significant contributions to their community.
Superintendent John Kellogg meets with the Student Advisory throughout the school year and he praised the pupils for their honesty and respectful perspectives which help identify and find solutions to district-wide concerns. He also thanked this year’s group of Hall of Fame inductees for the example they have set.
Dr. Michael Corrigan graduated from Westerville South High School in 1984. During his high school career, he participated in track, wrestling and football. He was a member of the Student Council and the Future Farmers of America. Dr. Corrigan earned his Bachelor of Arts in Interpersonal Communication from Bowling Green State University. He continued his studies at West Virginia University, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies and a Doctorate of Education in Educational Psychology.
Dr. Corrigan is currently a tenured Professor of Child Development and Research Methodology and Marschall University. He is also a partner in Multi-Dimensional Education Incorporated, which provides valuable evidence essential for diagnosing what changes are needed to improve educational achievement and educator effectiveness.
Dr. Corrigan’s research into child development, moral and ethical youth behavior and education has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Justice. His research has helped families with children facing mental health issues. He also works with more than 100 school districts nationwide as well as organizations such as Rachel’s Challenge, Love and Logic and School Connect to help develop safer schools.
In February 2014, Dr. Corrigan’s book was released, Debunking ADHD: 10 Reasons to Stop Drugging Kids for Acting like Kids.
Jim Day graduated from Westerville South High School in 1984. During his high school career, he played football, basketball and baseball. Until recently, he held the school record for the longest touchdown pass – 92 yards. He began his post high school career at Bowling Green State University, and finished his degree at Otterbein College where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications.
Day began his professional career in 1988, when, while still in college, he managed to work his way on-air for a network affiliate in a Top 35 market. He spent seven years fulfilling many roles at WSYX-TV, Channel 6, and then five years in Tampa, Florida working for ABC affiliate WFTS-TV. He returned to Ohio in 2000 and has been with Fox Sports Ohio ever since. He currently hosts “Reds Live,” the pre- and post-game shows of the Cincinnati Reds. During the 2011 season, Day filled in as play-by-play announcer for the first time. He has also worked for the News Department of Fox Sports and has covered every major sport for the network. Recently, he served as lead host for “FSN Live at the BCS Championship.” Day hosted Musketeers Live 2010-2011 for Fox Sports Ohio broadcasts of Xavier Musketeers men’s basketball. He was also the host of Blue Jackets Live for Columbus Blue Jackets broadcasts on Fox Sports Ohio.
Day is Senior Advisory Board Member for the Reds Community Fund. In addition, he is a board member of the DragonFly Foundation, which provides comfort and joy to kids and young adults enduring cancer and bone marrow transplants.
Day has received two Emmy awards and a Community Broadcasters of America award for his work in news and sports reporting.
Dr. Jay Whitacre graduated from Westerville South in 1990. During his high school career, he was a member of the marching and jazz bands, orchestra and the Columbus Youth Orchestra. He was also a member of the school’s “In the Know” team.
Dr. Whitacre earned a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Oberlin College in 1994, followed by a Masters (1997) and a Ph.D. (1999) in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan, where his doctoral work was focused on thin film and surface preparation and characterization. He was then a Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology from 1999 to 2000, where he labored to characterize and optimize the performance of thin film solid-state electrochemical devices. He subsequently accepted a technical staff position at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and was promoted to Senior Member Technical Staff in 2003. His work at JPL was focused on developing materials systems for energy storage technologies. During this time, he was also trained as a systems engineer and became a member of several mission design groups as well as the Mars Science Laboratory development team.
Dr. Whitacre became an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the fall of 2007.