• Distinguished Alumni Class of 2015

    distinguished alumni 2015

    Pictured from left are Oxford Area High School Distinguished Alumni Class of 2015 inductees Brian Summers, Dr. Gammon Earhart and John Featherman. The inductees were presented with handmade wooden bowls created by former teacher Scott Gold.

    John A. Featherman, Class of 1956

    John A. Featherman was born in Nottingham and while at OAHS was involved in a number of student activities including playing trombone in the school band. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Penn State University, where he was president of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity.

    Mr. Featherman was an officer in the U.S. Navy and after his service attended the Vanderbilt University School of Law. He then began practicing law in West Chester, eventually becoming Principal/Managing Director of MacElree Harvey, Ltd. Attorneys At Law.

    Mr. Featherman also attended New York University, where he earned a Master's degree in taxation. After practicing law for 35 years, he was named CEO of the First National Bank of Chester County where he served until 2012.

    Since 2012. Mr. Featherman has been Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Elite Group, Malvern, which provides employee benefits consulting, human resources, benefits administration and other services. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Clark Capital Management, an independent investment advisory firm based in Philadelphia.

    Mr. Featherman has been involved with many non-profit organizations throughout his life. He and his wife Jane have three children and five grandchildren.

    Dr. Gammon M. Earhart, Class of 1990

    Dr. Gammon M. Earhart is a physical therapist and neuroscientist. After graduating from Oxford, she attended Arcadia University (then known as Beaver College), earning a Bachelor of Arts in psychobiology in 1994 and a Master of Science in physical therapy in 1996.

    Upon completion of her physical therapy training, Dr. Earhart enrolled in the Movement Science Ph.D. Program at Washington University in St. Louis. She studied nervous system control of movement, focusing on how the spinal cord and brain control walking.

    Dr. Earhart earned her Ph.D. in 2000, after which she pursued a post-doctoral fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University. As a post-doctoral fellow, she studied how people adapt their walking patterns to meet environmental challenges and how damage to the brain or inner ear impacts ability to adapt walking patterns.

    In 2004, Dr. Earhart accepted a faculty position in the Program in Physical Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine. In the past 10 years she rose through the faculty ranks from Instructor, to Assistant Professor, to Associate Professor with Tenure, to Full Professor.

    Throughout this time, Dr. Earhart has been a dedicated teacher of neuroscience to physical therapy graduate students and has been an active researcher. In 2014, she assumed a leadership position as the chair of the Program in Physical Therapy and also began serving her term as President of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Section on Research.

    Dr. Earhart directs two research laboratories, the Locomotor Control Laboratory and the Physical Activity Research Center. Her work focuses primarily on Parkinson disease (PD), and ranges from basic neuroimaging studies aimed at understanding neural control of movement to clinical trials that compare the effects of different forms of exercise on physical function and PD progression.

    Brian Summers, Class of 1994

    After graduating from OAHS, Brian Summers attended the U.S. Naval Academy where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering. He then attended Naval Flight School for three years.

    Mr. Summers served in the U.S. Navy from 1998 to 2008, flying over 40 combat missions, amassing over 200 combat flight hours, 1,500 total flight hours and 250 carrier landings in Afghanistan and Iraq.

    Mr. Summers is the founder, president and CEO of sgblue Inc. and is responsible for the acquisition, commercialization, development, manufacture and distribution of an innovative air and water purification technology for use in residential, medical, commercial and industrial applications. The purpose of the technology is to improve living conditions and wellness for those afflicted with asthma, allergies and immune-deficiencies. Thousands of individuals and numerous hospitals have benefited from the technology and it continues to grow under the license of Allergy Partners, the largest asthma, allergy and immunology practice in the United States.

    Mr. Summers is the corporate opeations officer, owwner and member manager for BarkClad International in Ashville, N.C., which manufactures commercial cladding products.