Harvard High School will induct four alumni into the Harvard Alumni Hall of Fame on Friday, Nov. 13, honoring a nationally recognized Chicago chef, an aerospace engineer and Air National Guard veteran, a U.S. Postal Service leader and a lifelong Harvard volunteer.
Harvard CUSD 50 and the Harvard Community Education Foundation will welcome the inductees during Hall of Fame Weekend, which begins with an induction assembly Nov. 13 at 1:30 p.m. in the Harvard High School South Gym. During the assembly, the honorees will share their stories with upperclassmen and offer career and life advice.
This year’s inductees are:
Charlie “Chuck” Beard, Class of 1986, built a 27-year career with Boeing as a manufacturing engineer after earning two master’s degrees in aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He also served 22 years in the U.S. Air Force and Washington Air National Guard, retiring as a master sergeant. As first sergeant of the 194th Medical Group, he was named Washington Air National Guard First Sergeant of the Year in 2005, and he trained fellow service members as an Air Force instructor. A four-year member of band and FFA at Harvard High School, Beard is known in his community for helping neighbors, sharing his garden produce and donating his woodworking skills to his church and others.
Steve “Crevie” Creviston, Class of 1975, attended District 50 schools from kindergarten through graduation and wrestled and played baseball at Harvard High School. He worked as a heavy equipment operator for Wm. Morris Excavating, Harvard Ready-Mix, Meyer Material and A.W. Oakes before retiring in 2012. Since the early 1990s, his pig roasts have fed fundraisers, graduations and weddings and supported groups including the Harvard Senior Center, Moose Lodge, Sportsman’s Club and Booster Club. He has prepared Harvard High School’s football, soccer, baseball and softball fields, cleared snow along Ayer Street for more than 25 years, helped with the Sportsman’s Club Smelt Fry since 2012 and served on Harvard’s Planning and Zoning Committee.
Javauneeka Jacobs, Class of 2015, is co-chef of Frontera Grill, chef Rick Bayless’ celebrated Chicago restaurant. After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in 2017 and interning at Disney’s Epcot, she worked her way through several Bayless kitchens and, at 24, became the youngest sous chef in Frontera Grill’s history. In 2023, she won Food Network’s “Chopped: Julia Child Challenge” with a French-Mexican cassoulet that became one of Frontera’s top-selling dishes, and she later appeared on Netflix’s “Next Gen Chef.” This year, she received the Jean Banchet Award for Rising Chef of the Year.
Rebecca “Becky” Stryker, Class of 1986, joined the U.S. Postal Service in 1997 as a rural carrier associate and rose to program manager for technical solutions integration at USPS headquarters in Washington, D.C. She has led complex operations, introduced Lean Six Sigma and Kaizen improvement strategies and helped keep mail service reliable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along the way, she mentored employees who went on to become supervisors, postmasters, managers and executives. In 2019, she founded 5 Oaks Farm & Greenhouse, a woman-owned business that serves customers across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. At Harvard High School, she played volleyball, basketball and softball, cheered and served as a class officer and student council member.
The celebration continues Saturday, Nov. 14, with the Harvard Community Education Foundation’s Black and Gold Ball at the Abbey Resort in Fontana, Wisconsin.
Each inductee will receive a personal plaque, and a second plaque will be added to the Wall of Honor at Harvard High School.
Established in 2009 in partnership with the Harvard Community Education Foundation, the Hall of Fame recognizes graduates who have shown outstanding achievement in their careers, communities, culture or athletics. It also gives current students a close-up look at what Harvard graduates go on to accomplish. Nominees must have graduated at least 10 years before induction.