Kenwood Academic Hall of Fame Inducts New Members Each Year

Kenwood’s Academic Hall of Fame is to recognize former graduates who have accomplished great things in their careers and/or provided a number of items back to the school and/or our direct community.The Hall of Fame has been around for over 20+ years, celebrating achievements and goals being reached by Kenwood graduates.

Those inducted into the Kenwood Hall of Fame are nominated by members of the community, staff, and alumni. The application to nominate someone is posted on the KHS website and nominations are due by the last day of February each year. Once a person is nominated, they are sent a nomination packet where they complete information on their accomplishments and/or services and supports provided back to the school and/or community. The Kenwood Alumni Association then votes on who is elected into the Hall of Fame. There’s a new class of inductees into the Hall of Fame each year. Delegate Ric Metzgar was the Class of 2021 inductee this year.

Mr. Ric Metzgar was a graduate of the class of 1973. Mr. Metzgar like many people had a lot of goals for himself after high school and for him, many of those goals were accomplished. “I’ve been a chef, businessman, selling cars and owning a limo service, a preacher (still am) and as a result have been a funeral director and am currently a political figure.” He doesn’t like to call himself a politician because he says, “A politician looks for the next vote. I look for how to help the next generation.” Mr. Metzgar teaches us all a valuable lesson. When you are public figure, you shouldn’t only be worrying about the present but the future as well. “I like to look for the good in any story or situation. My goal is to leave the world in a better place than I found it,” he shares.

Though he hopes he’s a mentor to the next generation, Mr. Metzgar attributes some of his success to his time at Kenwood. He feels there were many teachers and staff that helped him reach such a successful life. “My teachers helped me excel in my career. They made statements at the time of my youth that continued to resonate with me the rest of my life.” Mr. Metzgar doesn’t want to just see change; he wants to be the change. He wants to see the next generation strive beyond their limits and make a name for themselves. “We all want to leave the world in a better place than when we entered it. Kenwood as school program works towards that. There have been many prominent people to come out of Kenwood over the years.”

Kenwood High has a history of great staff and teachers that help motivate their students to be the best they can be in school and beyond. Mr. Raymond Grahe was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 2020. He graduated from Kenwood in 1967 and was part of the first ever football team at Kenwood. From there he did his undergrad at the University of Maryland and masters at Loyola. He’s been a Maryland Public Certified Accountant since 1975. He was the Vice President/ CFO of financial services for Meritus Medical Center from 1979-2014. From 2014-2019 he was the CEO and President of Trivergent Health Alliance “which was created for common health savings for patients,” that are shared by the participating health systems. He now does volunteer work in his church but also with a pediatric children’s hospital in Africa through an organization called “Kids of Malawi USA” which is “a newly formed charitable organization formed to support Kamazu Central Hospital Pediatrics in Lilongwe, Malawi. We bought them digital thermometers,” he shared which might seem like a common practice to us but not in the remote villages of Africa.

Mr. Grahe remembers his time at Kenwood fondly. He remembers, “I learned at Kenwood how to get the best out of each course.” His time at Kenwood prepared him for community interactions and being able to keep focus and stay on track with his goals. “The social environment of Kenwood aided with the community interactions that would help my various enterprises. Kenwood was a very good beginning point for me and taught me to focus,” shares Grahe. He wants to remind the Kenwood youth of today, “It’s not what you’ve done lately but what you’re doing to get better. What you get out of school is dependent upon what you put into it.”

Kenwood has produced many great figures from county executives, state senators, doctors, proud graduates, astronauts, and lots of businessmen and owners through the years and each year a new one is nominated and recognized for their achievements after their time at Kenwood. As Principal Powell shares, “We are very proud of our alumni and greatly appreciate the support many give back to our school community. We are very excited each year to induct a new class of inductees to our KHS Academic Hall of Fame in order to celebrate their accomplishments, representation of our great school, and ongoing support of our school community.”