Bill Robinson grew up in a suburb of Hillyard widely known as Dog Town. Growing up Bill spent as much time as possible at the Great Northern Railway Yards and is very proud of his Northeast Spokane heritage. He attended Columbia Elementary, Shaw Jr High, and graduated one year early, from John R. Rogers High School in 1970.

Growing up Bill worked for a carnival and as a Plywood Distributors in Spokane Valley for eight years, holding several positions culminating in the role of General Manager.

Bill left the building materials industry in 1979 and was self-employed for many years before he was invited to join Market Trends of Bellevue, WA in 1985 where he served as Vice President of Market Trends and Manager of the Spokane office for six years. In 1991, Bill purchased the company and started Robinson Research where he employed nearly 60 individuals.

One of Bill’s hobbies has been designing and building large, outlandish costumes, some for profit and others just for fun. In 2001, two of Bill’s big costumes, starred in a TV ad series, winning an American Advertising Federation National Gold Addy Award.

In the fall of 1986, just for fun, Bill decided to build a huge turkey vulture costume. The costume is ten feet tall and sixteen feet across the wings. Bill wore The Vulture at the top of Doomsday Hill during Bloomsday 1987 and has worn it for every Bloomsday since to the delight of the Spokane Community and Bloomsday participants.

Tracy Cassel graduated in 1975, he grew up in Morgan Acres / Hillyard where he attended Arlington and Shaw Junior High School. Tracy was very involved in many activities at Rogers. He was involved in golf, tennis, men’s choir, drama, football, ASB Vice President, Yell Duke, and Hillyard Booster Club President.

However, wrestling was where he excelled. He was undefeated through Jr High School. As Co-Captain of the 1975 Co-Champion wrestling team, Tracy won District Championship.

After graduating, he spent 20 years in the restaurant industry, worked in every aspect of the business from dishwasher to manager in Spokane, the Bay area, and Hawaii.

He opened his own restaurant in 1982, Sammy’s Deli Express where he invented a Car Top delivery sign called the “AUTSOX”. He then turned his efforts to the sign business, selling delivery signs to the pizza industry worldwide.

Cassel Promotions & Signs expanded into signs for Gonzaga’s McCarthey Center, the Arena, and Spokane Indians Park.

Tracy and his family business was proud to support many schools, churches, and charities throughout Spokane for over 28 years. Tracy also supported the Big Brothers program.

He is so honored to be a part of the John R Rogers family and having the support of his teachers, classmates, and family.

Paul Hamilton AKA” The Sheriff of Hillyard” graduated in 1975. One of the toughest wrestlers to come out of Rogers High School. As Co-Captain of the 1975 conference co-championship wrestling team, Paul also won the State Championship. In 1976 he was ranked 3^rd in the nation and an all American at North Idaho Jr College. He completed his Associates Degree from North Idaho Jr College and went on to earn his Bachelor’s degree from Long Beach State in radio, film, and TV.

Paul has been a life-long resident of Hillyard and became an outstanding community leader with the Hillyard neighborhood council. He was the 40-year director of the Hillyard Festival and a volunteer wrestler for the past 25 years. He owned and operated the Allstate Insurance Agency in Hillyard which he just recently sold to finally go into retirement.

Paul was the Sgt of Arms for the Hillyard Booster Club and supported the Big Brothers Program. Paul continues to give his spare time to the Hillyard community and is a great representative of Hillyard.

Dr. Bonita Jean Burke (Smeby) graduated from Rogers High School in 1997. After graduating she went on to study Physics at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. She graduated Summa Cum Laude and was valedictorian in 2001. Her undergraduate research in fluid dynamics resulted in a publication in Physical Review Letters, the premier journal for academic research in physics.

She left academia for two years to teach in South Korea, only to return and earn two master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in nuclear engineering and physics by 2007. She then continued her studies until she achieved a Ph.D. in plasma physics.

She is also the chair of the Lincoln Laboratory Women’s Network, Executive Diversity, and Inclusion Council, pioneered a leadership development conference for laboratory staff.

She has received multiple awards for diversity and leadership, 2019 Color Magazine All-Inclusive Employee Resource Group, Leadership award, 2020 MIT Excellence Award, 2020 Diversity Best Practices, 2021 Lincoln Cultivating Leadership Achievement and Success. She has been awarded the 2005 Graduate Fellow, Department of Energy Fusion Fellowship, 1999 Van Vleck scholar, 2000 Datatel Scholar, 2000 Pacific Presidential Scholar, 1999 Ben B Cheney Foundation Scholar, 1997 Tracy Walters Scholar, and 1998 Air Force Association Academic Excellence award.