7 to be inducted into Warren High Schools Hall of Fame
WARREN — The Board of Directors of the Warren City Schools’ Foundation and the committee of the Warren High Schools Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame will induct seven new members into the Class of 2024 during the 32nd Annual Awards dinner on April 27.
The purpose of the award is to honor those individuals who, through their performance and achievements, reflect credit on the Warren High Schools (Warren High School, Warren G. Harding and Warren Western Reserve), so that today’s students may find inspiration from the past and establish goals for the future.
The Alumni Hall of Fame’s committee and the Warren City Schools Foundation Board of Directors also will honor two “Distinguished Faculty” members of the Warren City Schools. Each year, the Board of Directors requests that each inductee of the Hall of Fame name the educators who influenced and inspired their success.
The 2024 recipients of the “Distinguished Faculty Award” are Carol Hyde and Gayle Thomas.
This year’s Hall of Fame inductees are:
• Jenna Bolino is a 2008 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School. She attended The Ohio State University, where she studied architecture, participated in multiple study abroad programs and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in architecture in 2012. She then attended the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with a Master of Architecture in 2014.
After completing her education, she moved to Washington, D.C., and began working at a small architecture firm, working on a variety of different project types, including single family homes, parks, schools and commercial development. She began exploring opportunities to work in the public sector in design and construction and joined the D.C. Department of General Services, working on school modernizations. She is now the executive program manager of School Modernizations, overseeing $1.5 billion of design and construction projects.
• Rachaell Davis graduated from Warren G. Harding High School in 2002. She attended the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, an HBCU, on a four-year academic scholarship and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness. She went on to work as a senior program coordinator and web content manager for the American Bankers Association in Washington, D.C., for five years before relocating to New York City to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a writer.
To date, she has worked as a scriptwriter, digital content director, UX writer, live and virtual event programming lead, senior editor, lead copywriter, and media correspondent for an array of notable brands, including ESSENCE Magazine, Spotify, Coca-Cola, BET, Disney, OWN, ESSENCE Festival, AT&T, The Source Magazine, and Beautycon.
• Jason T. Elias graduated from Warren G. Harding in 1999. He completed his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baldwin-Wallace College in 2003, his Master of Business Administration from Youngstown State University in 2005 and his Master of Sports Administration from Ohio University in 2007.
Upon graduation, Elias started his career at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida as a baseball coach. Over time, he navigated IMGA Academy going from Assistant Coach to National Team Head Coach where he oversaw all aspects of player development in the program. For the following four years, Elias moved into a sales and outreach role with oversight of baseball recruiting and revenue generation. In 2015,he took over the entirety of outreach oversight of the Boarding School Product line for all offered sports at IMGA. He settled into the Athletic Department in 2018 as the Senior Associate Director of Athletics. His time in the realm has seen 10 National Championships with over 1,800 students matriculating to the college level for sport participation. More than 100 athletes have gone on to the professional world over his time at IMGA. Jason has also led the camp product line through massive growth which brings over 8,000 campers to campus each year from over 65 countries and all 50 states.
• Jake E. Jones Sr. graduated from Warren Western Reserve High School in 1981. He attended Youngstown State University on a football scholarship. Majoring in criminal justice, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He holds several professional licenses.
He has worked in the criminal justice field for the past 34 years. He has also been a part-time criminal justice instructor at Youngstown State University and Kent State University. He is active in the Warren community. He was appointed to the OneOhio Region 7 Collaborative Board, a 12-member board formed to oversee the spending of grant funds to address the opioid epidemic in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.
• Tameka (Washington) McBride graduated from Warren G. Harding High School in 1999. She attended Clarion University of Pennsylvania, where, in 2003, she graduated cum laude, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and marketing. From there, she started her career in the consumer packaged goods industry.
She spent more than two years with the Kellogg Company, from 2003 to 2005, prior to joining PepsiCo in July 2005. She now serves as senior vice president for PepsiCo, a Fortune 50 company, where she operates as the chief commercial officer overseeing sales, revenue management, and franchise relationships for the Central Division of PepsiCo Beverages North America. She has earned several honors over the years, including being inducted as a PepsiCo Ring of Honor recipient (2009), being named as Progressive Grocer’s Top Women in Grocery (2018), and graduating with her Master of Business Administration degree from Northern Illinois University (2008).
McBride gives back to several nonprofit organizations. She serves as a board member of the INROADS Alumni Association Chicago Chapter, which is an organization that mentors minority college students participating in corporate internships. She and her family reside in the greater Chicagoland area of Chicago.
• William Mullane graduated from Warren Western Reserve High School in 1974. He then earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in art education and an M.S. Ed in educational administration. He joined Warren City Schools in 1978 as an art teacher and career specialist. He then became a school administrator serving the Warren schools as the assistant principal and principal at the Turner Seventh Grade Building; principal at Western Reserve Junior High School; and principal at Warren G. Harding High School.
Since 2005, he has been the Supervisor of School Improvement Ashtabula County Educational Service Center and Jefferson Area Local Schools. In the arts, he has served on the boards of the Trumbull Art Gallery, Power of the Arts, Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County, Advisory Board College of Fine and Performing Arts, YSU, Advisory McDonough Museum of Art, and Facilitator Ohio Arts Council’s State Visual Arts and Crafts Panel. He has also been involved in the region’s philanthropic community, serving on the boards of the Turning Foundation, The Raymond John Wean Foundation, and the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley.
• Alvin L. Saafir (formerly known as Alvin Jeffries) is a 1977 Warren Western Reserve High School graduate. He attended Bowling Green State University, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in statistics in 1982. He later went on to the receive a Master of Business Administration from Baldwin-Wallace College in 1991.
He spent more than 20 years of his career in finance at KeyBank, where he served as vice president in the Community Development Lending division. In that role, he structured and underwrote commercial real estate developments that focused on the revitalization of underserved communities. In 2009, Saafir established a construction management and material supply company known as MBE Construction Solutions, where he currently serves as president and CEO. In addition to MBE Construction Solutions, he is senior vice president and chief credit officer for Community Housing Capital. This company has a national footprint that focuses on providing capital to nonprofit organizations that develop affordable housing throughout the United States. He is committed to housing solutions and wealth building for the underserved.