Jackie Straub, Frank & Marilyn Bastian join Hall

Jackie Straub and Frank and Marilyn Bastian will be inducted as newest members of the Wayland Union Schools Alumni Hall of Fame at the Scholastic Honors Night Celebration, April 16.

Ms. Straub, who died of cancer several years ago, will be inducted posthumously with her brother, Robert Bilski accepting the award on her behalf.

Jackie Bilski, who graduated from Wayland High School in 1965, worked and served in the Wayland community most of her life. She was employed for 30 years at the Michigan State Police Wayland Post and for Wayland Area Emergency Medical Services. She worked tirelessly in the community volunteering on the WUS Athletic Boosters, Wayland Kiwanis and Wayland VFW.

Ms. Straub was a Wayland City Council member and director of the Wayland Chamber of Commerce.  Under her leadership, she started the first Wayland Chamber of Commerce Expo.  She was president of the Wayland Education Foundation.

She did all of this while single handedly raising two boys.

Frank Bastian was a former Wayland Schools transportation supervisor.  He started the auto mechanics program at Wayland High School and taught auto mechanics at Kent ISD.

His wife, Marilyn Bastian, served on the WUS School Board from 1971  to 1982 and on the Allegan ISD Board of Education from July 1981 to October 1998.  Marilyn also served on the Dorr Township Library Board.

She taught many years in area schools, including Wayland, before finishing her teaching career as a special education teacher at Kelloggsville Public.

Both Frank and Marilyn volunteered with the 4-H program for several years.

Wayland Union Schools established an Alumni Hall of Fame in the fall of the 2000-2001 school year. Since then 23 individuals have been inducted.

The Scholastic Honors Night will recognize students with a GPA of 3.5 or higher.  The keynote speaker for the evening is Jordan Velie, WUHS class of 2005, who is now serving at the U.S. Army Special Operations Center of Excellence.

While in high school, Velie was a member of the football, swim, and track teams, the marching band, and the National Honor Society. He was awarded a four-year U.S. Army scholarship to attend Norwich University, Vermont and then started his military career in May 2009 after earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

Velie was assigned as a platoon leader to the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. He deployed to Afghanistan from 2010-2011 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom where he earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He subsequently served as a Company Executive Officer prior to attending the Psychological Operations Assessment and Selection course at Fort Bragg, N.C.

He was then was assigned to the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School where his transition to the Psychological Operations (PSYOP) branch began. He served as a Detachment Commander for the 7th Psychological Operations Battalion, United States Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg and deployed to three African countries where he planned and led missions for Special Operations Command Africa with the intent to counter-terrorism and counter violent extremism throughout the Sahel. Jordan’s final deployment was as the Regional Detachment Commander for all Special Operation Force PSYOP teams operating within North and West Africa to counter terrorist organizations such as ISIL-West Africa, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram.

Velie in the last two years attended Duke University and earned his master’s degree in International Development Policyand was assigned to the U.S. Army Special Operations Center of Excellence where he currently serves.

He lives in Fayetteville, N.C., with his wife Julie and two dogs Zoey and Cooper

The Scholastic Honors Night will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, at the Wayland Union Fine Arts Center.