The Belleville High School Distinguished Graduate program is looking for this year’s honorees, and the selection committee has a request for the community: don’t just think local.
Randy Brown, himself a 2009-10 honoree (Class of 1981) and now a decade-long member of the selection committee, said nominations tend to cluster close to home, but there’s no reason they need to.
“We’re looking for people who are unique to their own city. It doesn’t have to be Belleville,” Brown said. “What have you done different, or what distinguishes you from somebody else?”
Brown said the nomination files that cross the committee’s table never fail to astonish him: BHS graduates who worked at the White House, built careers in science, created things that advanced their fields.
“It amazes me what some of these graduates have done for careers. It blows my mind,” Brown says.
The only requirements: the nominee must be a BHS graduate of at least 10 years’ standing. The award can go to a grad living anywhere — even, and especially, alumni who left Belleville long ago.
The program dates to 1997, when then-Principal Bruce Romant, community member Don Juchartz and National Honor Society sponsor Claire Medley launched it. Juchartz had been inducted into the Hall of Fame at Wyandotte High School and was so taken with the honor that he brought the idea to Romant; the two men visited Wyandotte’s principal, borrowed the concept and named Belleville’s version the Distinguished Graduate Award.
Juchartz was himself a fixture in local life — a Belleville resident, a graduate of Wyandotte Roosevelt High School, the Wayne County extension agent and host of the radio show “The Garden Doctor.” His children attended Van Buren Schools and his daughter Debra Juchartz taught science at BHS. Another early figure, Mildred Baker, used to lead the honorees’ procession, but she passed earlier this year. Brown says it’ll be a little sad without Millie leading the procession.
From the start, the award was tied to the National Honor Society induction, held each year on the last Friday in April. Past Distinguished Graduates lead the procession of newly inducted NHS members into the ceremony. This is a deliberate pairing meant to show current students what BHS alumni can become. Honorees’ names are displayed on a plaque in the BHS auditorium.
Brown’s own story is heavily rooted in Belleville. He lived there all his life until he left for Michigan State, where he studied landscape architecture. He ran a small business in town and served on the board of the Chamber of Commerce, the CBC and a number of other organizations. He never held a political office, he says . He was simply working in town and volunteering, when the nomination came.
“All of a sudden, I was nominated to be Distinguished Graduate. I told them, ‘You couldn’t find anybody else? You’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel,” he joked.
He was nominated on the basis of his volunteer work that included years of charity work and service to groups around town.
“My grades weren’t that great,” he added, a reminder that the award isn’t about GPAs or school transcripts.
Distinguished Graduates are alumni who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in their professional fields or made significant contributions to the welfare and progress of their community.
The nomination itself is simple: a one-page form — a name, and a statement of what makes the person distinguished — available on the Van Buren Public Schools website at the BHS Distinguished Graduates page, at the Belleville Area District Library, or from a committee member. Nominations are due by the end of January 2027.
The committee reviews nominations in February and usually selects three honorees, occasionally four when a posthumous award is included. Recipients are expected to attend the spring ceremony; for posthumous awards, a family representative stands in.
Brown hopes this year’s crop is the widest yet. His pitch to anyone hesitating over a nomination: the form takes minutes, and the committee wants to be surprised.
“Getting people to submit — that’s the hard thing,” Brown says.
The committee includes Karen Mida, Linda Clayton, Nicole Crockett, Randy Brown and Tom Fielder. To nominate a BHS graduate, visit the Distinguished Graduates page on the Van Buren Public Schools website: https://www.vanburenschools.net/o/belleville-high/page/distinguished-graduates.