East High’s Hall of Fame and Academic Letter Ceremony
December 6, 2021
Many of us will spend our lifetimes hoping to make a small difference in our community. Most of us will go about our days, just doing what we need to do to get by. But there is a small number of us who will step out of our comfort zone and leave a legacy.
In mid-October, East High honored four former students for being that special kind of people who make a difference with enrollment in the Thunderbird Hall of Fame.
In addition to the hall of fame inductees, over 60 current students received an academic letter for maintaining excellent grades.
Lesa McCarthy Rust was the first person to be inducted into the hall of fame for the year 2020. Lesa graduated from East High in 1987. Lesa works at the Colorado State Veterans Living Center as a Certified Nursing Assistant and Recreational Therapist. She has been employed with the state of Colorado for 26 years.
Jenny Ostermiller was the next person to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for the year 2020. Jenny graduated in the Class of 1986 from East High. She was a member of East High’s swim team. She then went on to graduate from Laramie County Community College with an associate of Applied Science degree in Radiography 1991. She then began her 31-year career at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. Which then led to on opportunity to work at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD as well as the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver, CO. She then returned to Cheyenne in 2010 to work at Cheyenne Women’s Imaging Pavilion as a mammographer for 9 years where she was instrumental in providing breast cancer screenings and care for women across the city. Jenny is passionate about women’s health and continues to serve on the board for Wyoming Breast Cancer Initiative. She now currently works at Stitches Acute Care Center as a radiologic technologist.
Jenny Ostermiller’s reaction to being inducted into the Hall of Fame was, “I was just really unexpected, surprised, and honored.” Even though this event was about the inductees she liked seeing all of the students who got academic letters. “Mostly just seeing all of the success of all the students and how they still succeeded with Covid times and all of the change” Jenny said that this was her favorite thing about the whole event.
Jimmy Cole was the next person inducted into the Hall of Fame for 2021. Jimmy attended East High from 1983 to 1986. Jimmy lived in Cheyenne his whole life. Jimmy was the Quarterback on East High’s football team all three years. He was voted the most valuable player for two years. He was also voted offensive and defensive player of the year. Then he was voted second team all-conference quarterback and second all-conference outside linebacker. Jimmy attended the University of Wyoming where he graduated in 1994 with a degree in elementary education. He then earned his master’s degree in computer technology from Walden University in 2010. Currently his is in his 25th year as a teacher in LCSD1 with 22 of those as a 6th grade teacher at Rossman Elementary. He is currently a Social Emotional Interventionist at Saddle Ridge Elementary. He was awarded the Golden Apple award at Rossman in 2013 for excellence in teaching from KGWN Channel 5. Jimmy coached all sports at the elementary level for 27 years. He helped Rossman earn five city championships. The last three years Jimmy has served as the elementary Athletic Director with the responsibility of running the entire elementary sports program.
John Keen was the last person to be inducted into East High’s Hall of Fame for the year 2021. John Graduated from East High School in 1990. He lettered in track, football, and wrestling each year at East High. He was an All-State football player on both offense and defense. He was the wrestling heavyweight champion his senior year. He was also a member of the National Honor Society and Boys’ State. He played in the Shrine Bowl in 1990. He went to Washington University in St. Louis on an academic scholarship where he played football for four years. He graduated in 1994 with a degree in history and became a teacher at Lafayette High School in St. Louis and an assistant football coach at WashU and coached several roles at Lafayette. After 5 years he then went to law school at the University of Missouri where he graduated in 2002. He then moved to Denver with his family and eventually became a partner at the law firm Gordon and Rees.
The students that made the honor role had to overcome going to school everyday with covid protocols and focus on getting good grades also. Each student was faced with a challenge but still worked hard to keep their grades up. Every student former Hall of Fame inductees and present honor role students stepped outside there comfort zone to leave a legacy.
