IOWA CITY — Six alumni of Regina Catholic Education Center and two couples received Regina alumni awards during the school’s homecoming ceremonies Sept. 23.
Receiving the 2011 Distinguished Alumni Awards were Christine Scheetz ’80 and Father Walter Helms ’61.
Scheetz is president and CEO of United Way of Johnson County, where she has led efforts to raise over $9.5 million and helped develop the community’s 2020 Vision goals for education, income and health.
Fr. Helms has been a priest of the Diocese of Davenport for 42 years, serving at 12 different parishes. He is currently the pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in Coralville.
Jan (Madsen) Beaver ’81 and Tom Haverkamp ’80 received the Alumni Appreciation Award. Both have volunteered for special event fundraisers, taken leadership roles in the Regina Booster Club and other athletic programs, and served on committees that address teacher retention and facility/ground maintenance.
Katy Miller ’03 and Tim McCue ’03 received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award. While a student at Regina, Miller founded Regina’s Operation Smile program. Internationally, Operation Smile provides reconstructive surgery for children born with facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate. Miller is currently in her second year of medical school at the University of Iowa.
Born with cerebral palsy, McCue earned his master’s of student affairs in higher education degree from Miami University of Oxford in Ohio and is currently a hall director at North Dakota State University. He continues to run marathons in his wheelchair.
Two couples, Jim and Gloria Butler and Tim and Pat Brandt, received the 2011 Regina Distinguished Honorary Alumni Award. The Butlers were instrumental in forming the Regina Foundation in the early ‘70s and continue to help with special-event fundraising, planned giving and recruitment of high school students. The couple also helped create the school’s annual Grandparents Day.
The Brandts have volunteered for many years in school, church and community. Both have held key volunteer leadership positions at Regina, the Regina Foundation and St. Patrick Parish in Iowa City, and they helped build the Regina Teacher Endowment Fund.
