Michael J. Sabo, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1949, has literally left his personal and professional marks on many of the Shenango Valley's most popular buildings that, as an architect, he helped to plan and design.

After graduation from high school, he enrolled in the College of Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University where he received a bachelor's degree of architectural engineering in 1954.

Upon graduation from Penn State, he entered the U.S. Air Force as a second lieutenant and was assigned to the single engine jet training program. He completed his training in 1956 and received his wings and promotion to first lieutenant. He was honorably discharged from active service in 1958.

When he returned with his family to the Shenango Valley, he was employed in the architectural engineering firm of Hunter, Heiges & Gross as a structural designer. His first major design project was the original Reynolds Area High School that was erected in 1959. He became a registered professional engineer in 1960 and a registered architect in 1962.

He became a partner in the Sharon firm of HHSDR (Hunger, Heiges, Sabo, Douglass & Rogers) in 1962 as well. The firm designed many school projects including the Farrell High School and the Hetra Elementary School that received an Honor Award from the Pennsylvania Society of Architects.

Other projects that HHSDR designed that received Honor Awards were the Hermitage Municipal Building, First Federal Savings and Loan's main office building in downtown Sharon, and its branch office in the Hermitage Square Plaza.

As a principal officer of HHSDR, he supervised the structural and site planning of many projects including Sharon High School, Hickory High School, Sharpsville High School, Greenville High School, and Grove City High School, as well as many other school projects in the state. One of the largest and most complex was Mill Creek Middle School in Erie.

Other projects included the original Shenango Valley Osteopathic Hospital and the additions to it, the Monsour Hospital in Jeanette, Pa., St. Paul's Home in Greenville, and Meadville City Hospital.

He served on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Society of Architects and was elected to serve as its president in 1976. He has served on the United Way board of directors and was President of the Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce in 1977. He was on the French Creek Council, Boy Scouts of America board and received the Silver Beaver Award from the Custaloga District, BSA.

He and his wife of 55 years, Margaret, are parents of four adult children - Michael, Melanie, Marcia and Matthew. The family has been members of the Church of Good Shepherd in West Middlesex for more than 50 years, a church designed by HHSDR in 1965.

Joseph E. Scarvell, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1949, established himself as one of the area's leading directors of theater and has served in some capacity in more than 1,000 productions in his illustrious career.

After graduation from Farrell, he attended Slippery Rock State Teacher's College and later Youngstown College (Youngstown State University), earning a bachelor's degree in education from the latter in 1955. He earned a master's degree in theater from Kent State University in 1970.

He accepted a teaching position in the history department at Farrell High, continuing at that position until 1962 when he assumed the position of speech and theater arts teacher and director of dramatic productions, replacing his former mentor and good friend Kathryn Polyzou when she retired.

Upon assuming these new duties, he transformed the educational theater scene throughout western Pennsylvania by abandoning the customary selections of high school plays that often dealt with banal and mundane themes. He selected plays with themes that challenged the social consciousness of his students.

Thematically, the plays explored issues of social justice, responsibility to self, racial discrimination and other issues that are core to man's principles of ethics and moral standards of life. The avant-garde became the common trend.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education contacted him in 1968, requesting that he accept the duties of a newly-created position as coordinator of theater productions within the New Castle School District. His duties were to coordinate all theater productions in the district with the aim of advancing the dramatic arts in all the elementary and secondary schools. He retired from New Castle Schools in 1988.

After a one-year hiatus, he continued his teaching career with positions as adjunct faculty at Penn State Shenango, Slippery Rock University at Cranberry, and Kent State University's Trumbull Campus. He is an adjunct instructor at Westminster College and at Youngstown State University.

After several theater experiences on local stages, he entered the regional theater scenes by playing on stage throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. He was invited in 1960 to work at the prestigious Peterborough (N.H.) Players Summer Stock Company, and it was there that he had the honor of meeting with and performing in Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Our Town." He has performed in well more than 1,000 productions in his career as an actor, director or producer.

He is married to the former Joanne Kaschak, an accomplished actress and an adjunct instructor at Youngstown State. They met in 1958 while they were both performing at the Youngstown Playhouse and were married in 1961. They are the parents of four children and have 10 grandchildren.

Robert J. "Bobby" Hoffman, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1952, used his outstanding academic and athletic skills to carve a stellar career at Penn State University and to earn the rank of lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Air Force during a quarter century of service.

While at Farrell High, he quarterbacked Coach Tony Paulekas' Night Riders to the 1951 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League championship and was named to the Wigwam All-American Team in his senior year.

Teaming with the legendary Julius McCoy, he was a starting guard on Coach Ed McCluskey's 1952 Class AAA state championship team. It was the first of seven big-school championships for Coach McCluskey's Steelers. In addition, he was a shortstop on Farrell's baseball team.

After graduating from Farrell High, he attended Penn State, where he lettered for two years in football as a quarterback and defensive back, playing for Coach Rip Engle. A young Engle assistant, Joe Paterno, served as the coach of quarterbacks.

A two-sport Nittany Lion, he was a four-year letterman on Penn State's basketball team, serving as captain for his senior season in 1955-56.

After graduating from Penn State with a bachelor's degree in Journalism, he entered the U.S. Air Force and the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, where he retired as a lieutenant colonel after 25 years of service. While a member of the Air Force as a navigator and radar officer, he compiled more than 7,000 flying hours in his career.

He worked as a manager for the Ingersoll Rand Company for 35 years until he retired. Ingersoll Rand is an industry that provided mining and drilling equipment to quarries, mines and wells.

He married the former Theresa E. Kulka, a 1952 Farrell High graduate as well. They are parents of six children and have eight grandchildren. They live in Lititz in eastern Pennsylvania.

Arthur A. Gatty, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1954, saw his love for music and education serve as the foundation of a career that led him to being named the first director of Pennsylvania's top arts program.

After his graduation from Farrell, he earned a bachelor's degree in education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1958 and a master's degree in music education from Duquesne University in 1962. He was chairman of the music department at Forest Hills High School in Sidman, Pa. from 1958-1973. He left Forest Hills to become founding director of the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts, a program that he nurtured until 1988.

In the early 1960s, the staff at the Pennsylvania Department of Education had embraced and was committed to innovative curriculum and program planning, especially in the arts and sciences. After a few years of experimentation (several summer programs at Westminster College) and a final "go ahead" from the governor, the department was ready to launch a state-supported arts program, the first of its kind in the nation.

The top priority was to identify an exceptional teacher/leader/administrator who knew and loved all aspects of arts education and who displayed the energy, talent and intelligence to make this unique challenge a success. The long and careful search ended with Arthur's appointment.

During the next 15 years he developed and refined the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts. His work and service transformed the way that arts education for the talented and gifted students was organized and presented.

Because of his vision and leadership abilities, the idea of a Governor's School for the Arts evolved into a number of other Governor's Schools in Pennsylvania, most notably those for the Sciences, Teaching, Medicine, and Finance. As these programs were established, Art was appointed the state director of all the Governor's Schools in Pennsylvania, a position he held until he retired.

His efforts to integrate the arts into a broad-based curriculum for each student, while maintaining focus upon a particular art goal, inspired students to think in bold terms about their general education. More than 39 states have developed educational programs modeled after the state Governor's School and inquiries about the concept have come from the far reaches of the world.

He served as pianist and entertainment coordinator at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, Fla. from 1995-2006. In his retirement, he continues to perform regularly at local nursing homes and other venues, and in 2006 performed for President Bill Clinton and Sir Paul McCartney at a private Super Bowl party. He and his wife Janet live in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

Ted Pedas, a 1956 graduate of Farrell High School, used his love for astronomy and his grit and determination to establish and fund planetarium programs at his alma mater as well as Youngstown State University.

After graduating from Farrell, he earned a bachelor's degree from YSU in 1962 and a master's degree in 1969 from Michigan State University. He earned a master's in education in 1969 from YSU and has studied at other major universities such as Pittsburgh, Akron and California at Berkley.

He served as planetarium director at Farrell High since 1969 and was planetarium and science education specialist at YSU from 1968-1993. He was a weekly columnist for the Youngstown Vindicator for 35 years and a national freelance columnist on astronomy, space science and travel.

He has served as a science education curriculum consultant for Youngstown City Public Schools and other districts in Ohio and Pennsylvania. He launched the concept of shipboard educational travel nearly three decades ago and is acknowledged as a pioneer in the specialty field of ocean-going science travel programs. Since 1972, when he co-organized a solar eclipse cruise, he has participated in scores of astronomy-related voyages, including world cruises. In 1983 he was selected by NASA to write and co-produce a planetarium show documenting America's first quarter of a century in space in honor of NASA's 25th anniversary.

He may be a world traveler, but he has never forgotten his roots at Farrell High, and throughout the years has donated more than $600,000 to the school for various programs, including seed money to start the Farrell Alumni Hall of Fame.

Among his many honors and awards in a lifetime of service to education, in July 2006 he was the recipient of the Outstanding Philanthropist Award sponsored by the Mahoning/ Shenango Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and in July 2001, the recipient of the City of Farrell's Centurion Award honoring the citizen of the century.

He is the founder and principal contributor to the Farrell Area School District Foundation, started in January 1999, and was elected a Fellow of the International Planetarium Society in 1996.

To honor its founder, Farrell Area School District dedicated its planetarium as the "Ted Pedas Planetarium" in 1993, and he has been a finalist for Pennsylvania Educator of the Year and the Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

He was designated "Planetarium Administrator Emeritus" at YSU in 1993 and was a Buhl Day Honoree for extraordinary community service and volunteerism in 1991. He was the recipient of the Farrell Area School District Alumni Association's Blue & Gold Award for dedicated service to alumni.

Dr. Donna DeBonis, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1967, has enjoyed a fulfilling career in education, from teaching elementary grades at a local parochial school to becoming superintendent at one of the largest school districts in Mercer County.

After graduation from Farrell High, she attended Edinboro University, graduating in 1971 with a bachelor's in education. She earned a master's in education from Edinboro in 1974 and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1987.

She started teaching grades 4-8 at St. Anthony's School in Sharon from 1971-1976, and later as a reading specialist and consultant at the Shenango Campus of Penn State from 1980-81. From 1976-1989, she was employed by the Farrell Area School District as computer coordinator, a reading specialist in grades 7-12, and computer instructor in grades K-12.

She was hired by the Sharon City School District in 1989 and during a 13-year period until 2002 served in numerous capacities. She was the district's lead grant writer, an educational technology specialist, supervisor of curriculum and instruction, acting superintendent and substitute superintendent.

She was named superintendent of schools in July 2006, a position that she held for four years. For a year until July 2007, she served as chief grant writer for the district. She left the district and became part-owner of GrantWrite Consulting, Inc. and serves as a chief grant writer.

She has been a discussion participant on many occasions, some of which include the Keystone State Reading Association, 1980 Conference, Bloomsburg State Reading Conference, University of Pittsburgh's Computers and Writers Conference, Second Institute on Writing and Thinking in State College, Pa., and the League of Women Voters.

She is proud of her excellent grant writing capabilities, and it has been estimated that she has acquired millions of dollars in funding for her clients throughout the years. Joe Chavara, one of Donna's classmates, said in his nomination of her:

"I have been away from the Shenango Valley since I graduated from Farrell High. I visit often because my family, a large one, still lives there. Because of my family, and because of other connections to the valley, I am well aware of Donna's contributions. I am very proud to tell people that I am from Farrell, and I am very proud that Dr. Donna DeBonis is my high school classmate."

Michael L. Wright, who graduated from Farrell High School in 1971, has contributed mightily to enhancing the quality of life in the area through his dedicated service to the Community Food Warehouse of Mercer County and the Urban League of the Shenango Valley. He is the epitome of community service.

From its inception in the mid-1980s until 2005, Michael served as executive director of the Food Warehouse, overseeing its growth from humble beginnings in the basement of The Sharon Herald building to its location in the former First National bank building in Farrell.

After 20 years of service to the warehouse, Michael resigned to become president and chief executive officer of the Urban League, a position where he has used his passion and love for community to further improve the lives of many area residents, young and old alike.

After his graduation from Farrell, Michael earned a bachelor's degree in administration management from Point Park College in Pittsburgh and a master's degree in business administration from Geneva College.

In addition to serving as choral director at Greater Morris Chapel AME Church, he is a member of the Farrell Planning Commission and is a board member of the Laurel Technical Institute and the Food Warehouse. He is an advisory board member of the Neighborhood-Based Family Intervention Center and served on the Farrell Area School Board for nearly 10 years, the last four years as board president.

He has received numerous awards throughout his career, and among them are the Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce's Applause Award for service to community, the Pennsylvania Governor's Keystone Award of Merit, NAACP Image Award, the Urban League's Community Service Award, Community Counseling Service's Community Service Award and the Marine Corps League's Distinguished Service Award.

In addition to his role at the Urban League, he continues to be an active participant in programs aimed at making the Shenango Valley area a better place to live and authors a regular column in The Herald called, "The View from My Window."

Michael and his wife Rosalyn live in Farrell and are the parents of two sons, Marcus and Maurice.