The Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award is awarded annually to an alumni from Woodland Hills who has made an impact on our current students and/or community. The ideal winner will have not only achieved excellence in their career but also has volunteered or given of themselves and their time in an exemplary way.
The honoree will be asked to attend the 2025 Starry Night Gala at Edgewood Country Club at 6 PM on Saturday, March 8, 2025. There, the awardee will be celebrated for their achievements with the opportunity to address Gala guests.
A committee consisting of our Host Committee (community members representing the District, parents, business owners, Rotary clubs, etc.) as well as Woodland Hills Foundation board members, will choose the 2025 Alumni of the Year, using a predefined rubric.
The committee will choose the winner based on a rubric to award points to the top alumni nominee based on, but not limited to the following:
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The nominee has displayed exemplary achievement in the nominee’s area of specialization
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The nominee has received recognition, honors, and/or awards on the local, regional, national or international level
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The nominee was nominated by another alumni
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The nominee has demonstrated service to the community in which they live or have lived
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The nominee currently lives in, works in or has a business located in Woodland Hills School District
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If the nominee has children, the children live in Woodland Hills School District
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The nominee has been actively involved in the Woodland Hills Foundation or has provided support for the Foundation (either through volunteerism, financial support, in-kind support or other acts of charity or guidance).
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2025 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI OF THE YEAR NOMINEES:
Rashad Chambers
Class of 1997
After graduating from Woodland Hills in 1997, Rashad went on to Morehouse College, from which he earned a degree in 2001. He then matriculated at The Ohio State University, where he complete a dual JD/MBA program. Rashad moved to New York to pursue his dream of becoming a Broadway producer. Since making that transition, he has worked as a talent representative, developed numerous projects, and served as producer for a eight Broadway plays (and counting), including hit plays like Fat Ham and American Son starring Kerry Washington, and musicals like Ain't Too Proud (featuring fellow Woodland Hills alumnus E. Clayton Cornelius) and the recent revival of The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. Through his success, Rashad has remained connected with his roots at Woodland Hills, and visits frequently with staff and students. He remains the same diligent and humble human that he was in High School. Woodland Hills Performing Arts should be extremely proud of Rashad.
Rashad's productions have earned him 6 Tony Award Nominations and 2 wins: Best Play in 2020 for The Inheritance, and Best Revival of a Play in 2023 for Topdog/Underdog. Rashad is a founding member of The Industry Standard Group as well as a board member of On Broadway Performing Arts Training Program and Houses on the Moon Theater Company.
Valerie Gaydos
Swissvale School District Class of 1970
Look at what this woman has accomplished for this area...spent her lifetime building the Studio G Dance Company, while working as a Swissvale and WH School secretary until retirement, and as a consulting choreographer for HS MUSICALS for 50 years!
I would bet that any person that has met Val over the years remembers her smile and her kindness....Her vivacious and warm personality. What an ambassador for our district!Everyday she dealt with hundreds of students, parents, teachers, and administrators as a school secretary and a dance studio director and dance teacher. Unbelievable reach across the school district!
Ja'Juan Hill
Class of 2018
Ja’juan Hill should be the 2025 Distinguished Alumni of the Year because not only does he truly embody how hard work pays off, he consistently shows a genuine interest in the health and success of the people in his community and the generations coming behind him.
Jajuan landed a job in marketing without a marketing degree, wrote and self published 3 books before the age of 25, makes business connections with top brands through his presence on social media and so much more.
Jajuan continues to give back to the community by always spreading positivity and speaking life into others. He recently put together an event in Pittsburgh for black local creatives to have a space to showcase their work. In the 3 books he wrote, he talks back to the younger generation with encouraging and uplifting messages. Those books led him to speaking in front and college classes and to classes right at WHHS. Through his social media accounts he uses his platform to share his knowledge on marketing, encourage yoga & meditation, suggests mentally stimulating books. He is always putting positivity, light and love back into the community.
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Emily Mahler
Class of 2000
I strongly believe that Emily Mahler, a 2020 alumnus of the Woodland Hills graduating class, is a deserving recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Alumni of the Year and would be an outstanding representative of their Alumni body. Emily is a Partner in Margolis Edelstein's Employment and Labor Law Group. She represents corporations, small businesses, non-profit organizations, public entities, and individuals in all phases of labor and employment litigation in federal and state courts in Pennsylvania. She also represents employers in federal, state and local administrative proceedings and investigations. Emily also counsels and advises employers and insurers concerning all aspects of employment related best practices, prepares comprehensive employee handbooks and policies, and conducts training and educational seminars on labor and employment compliance.
Emily is admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the state of New Jersey. She is also admitted to practice in the United States district courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. Emily is committed to the education and mentorship of associate attorneys in employment and civil litigation. She is a member of the firm's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and has served as a member of the Pennsylvania State University's College of Liberal Arts Alumni Task Force. As busy as she is with her clients, Emily invariably finds time to volunteer at her church, her children's school and food banks around the city.
Maria Yezovich
Class of 1998
Maria exemplifies the Woodland Hills Alumni spirit. She has remained steadfastly engaged in the WH community since high school, particularly in her involvement as a community organizer with the WH Performing Arts Guild and performing artist in the Guild’s Alumni Musical Benefit Concerts. She was a wonderful student leader during high school as student President of the marching band, regular performer in regional and All-State music festivals as a singer and bassoonist, representing our school community with pride and distinction. She
continues her leadership as an alumnus with the same excellence, engagement and love, and I can imagine no Wolverine more deserving of this special honor.
She is a wonderful community organizer and performer with the WH Performing Arts Guild. As a community leader, she ongoingly promotes WH student and alumni events of all kinds, across the school district community.
Devan Zapadka
Class of 2014
Devan graduated in 2014, and in that 10 years, she has done nothing but excel in her time since being a student at Woodland Hills High school. After graduation, she attended Carlow University where she obtained her nursing degree in 2018. She found love caring for children and spent countless hours treating in the emergency room at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She found her true calling there so she returned to Carlow in 2019 to obtain her Masters in Nursing. She graduated in 2021 as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She treated in general family practice for some time, but decided to continue pursuing her love for pediatrics so she joined the UPMC Pediatric Advanced Practice Provider Fellowship Program with a focus in Gastroenterology and Nutrition. She is certified in Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition Nursing and works for the Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She sees a wide range of GI patients and also treats in the Infant Feeding Clinic.
Outside of her amazing career journey, Devan has found time to return to Woodland Hills to discuss college admissions, career pathways in healthcare, and is always available and open to the faculty to speak and give back to the school district that provided her with the education and confidence to succeed. She truly embodies the definition of compassion and selflessness when it comes to her students that she mentors and precepts for, the patients she treats, and the person she is to everyone.