Oak Hills Local Schools

Alumni Highlights

What have you been doing since you left Oak Hills? Have you gotten married, have a new job or started a family? Let us know what you've been up to! We love to hear from our old friends and will post your information in the Highlander Highlights. Email your information to Emily C. Buckley or call 513-598-2682.

Oak Hills alumni and Franklin College student Matt Brems accomplishes perfection

Oak Hills '09 graduate and junior at Franklin College in Indiana, Matt Brems made history in the mathematics world. He received a perfect score on the major field test in mathematics (MFT). Brems, who is quadruple majoring in pure mathematics, applied mathematics, quantitative analysis and economics, received his results on November 10 immediately after taking the test.

Three hundred twenty colleges and universities across the country gave this test to 11,294 students from February 2004 to June 2011. A perfect score on this test is a 200, and the mean score of the participants taking this test is 156.3. Franklin College mathematics professor Dan Callon noted that Brems is the third Franklin student to achieve a perfect score.

Brems prepped for the test with a fellow classmate during early morning hours at Starbucks Café studying and reviewing material. "Starbucks coffee is a great fuel when you begin studying at 5:30 in the morning," said Brems.

Brems attributes his decision to pursue mathematics in college to one of his Oak Hills math teachers, Andy Schroeder. He said, "Mr. Schroeder got us to look at math differently. He would say you're so close, keep working the problem, and see how this fits into a real world application." Schroeder inspired Matt to continue his mathematics career into college and ultimately to a perfect score on the MFT.

Brems attended Springmyer Elementary School and Bridgetown Middle School in addition to Oak Hills High School.

Handlon wins Ohio State Alumni Award

Lauree Handlon, who serves on the executive board of directors for the Ohio Health Information Management Association, is a recipient of the Ohio State Alumni Association's 2011 William Oxley Thompson Award.

The Thompson Award is presented to young alumni who have demonstrated distinctive achievement in a career, civic involvement, or both. It will be presented to Handlon at the Association's annual awards gala on Friday, Oct. 21, at Columbus Renaissance Downtown.

Handlon earned a B.S in Health Information Management Systems and an M.S. in Allied Medical Professions from Ohio State. The Columbus, Ohio, resident is one of 11 Ohio State alumni who will be honored at the 53rd annual awards. The Ohio State men's volleyball team is also being recognized for its national championship with the E. Gordon Gee Award.

For more information on Handlon, visit go.osu.edu/LaureeHandlon. For more information on the Alumni Awards and other winners, visit go.osu.edu/Alumni Awards.

The Alumni Association is a dues-supported organization of graduates, former students, and friends of the university with more than 120,000 members.

Aaron Simms '94

Aaron Simms is an actor, director, writer, wardrobe and producer currently residing in New York. Aaron started his acting career on the stage at Oak Hills under the direction of Virginia Chizer, and was the first class to work with Skip Badonsky. He's happy to say

Aaron has acted in theaters in New York and regionally; having performed over half of Shakespeare's canon. He's currently acting in a supporting role on One Life to Live on ABC and writing a new play based off the legend of Robin Hood.

Aaron always tries to keep up on what's going on in the OHHS community and is glad to see so much Highlander pride bringing people together. If there are any other OHHS theater alums in NYC, give him a shout and he'll be happy to take you out for coffee in the city.