Heritage High School - Class of 2015

Olivia Corcoran  graduated from Heritage with Honors in 2015 and pursued a life-long dream to become a teacher by studying Elementary Education at Michigan State University. She is a life member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority. Olivia graduated Michigan State with Honors in May of 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education . She completed her year of student teaching in 2019 in Wyoming, Mi teaching 3rd grade at Buchanan Elementary School. She is presently employed in the Byron Center District at R L Nickels Intermediate School teaching 5th grade Social Studies and Reading. 

Heritage High School - Class of 2013
Haley Hall is a proud alumna of Heritage High School and Howard University where she received her B.B.A. in Marketing. During her college career, Haley gained tangible experience in product & brand management, social media marketing, and product marketing. She interned for notable companies such as Allegion, Red Bull, & Apple and held challenging leadership positions in multiple organizations on campus.

Haley also expanded her international experience by interning with two start up companies: I Love Malva and MzansiStore.com in Cape Town, South Africa. She created marketing plans and managed social media accounts for several clients. She traveled to Havana, Cuba to participate in a case study with one of her classes and took a 3 week course in London on British Business. Haley has a passion for travel and is determined to gain more international business experience.  She recently started a blog called www.lifeashales.com to showcase her travel and career experiences.

Haley graduated from Howard in 2017, cum laude, and joined Accenture Consulting in Los Angeles, CA to expand her knowledge in all aspects of business.

Brianna Makaric is a 2016 Graduate of Heritage High School and a currently a junior at Michigan State University. She is pursuing an Advertising Management degree with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 

Bri is the Founder and CEO of BRITE bites. BRITE bites is an all-natural probiotic snack bite company, which stands true to its core values of Balanced. Real. Integrity. Trust. Energy. They offer three different flavors of dairy-free probiotic snack bites to fuel health-conscious, on-the-go, motivated people. Probiotics are live bacteria that help support the digestive and immune systems. Each BRITE bite contains 1 billion CFUs of live probiotics.

BRITE bites are available for purchase in multiple Michigan stores and online at https://www.britesnacks.com.

Bri's new venture has allowed her to travel and participate in pitch competitions around North America. She is passionate about entrepreneurship and excited to continue to grow BRITE bites. 

In her free time she loves traveling, working out, and reading. 

Douglas MacArthur H.S. - Class of 1968

Entered military service in September following his graduation. Served as a US Army paratrooper, parachute rigger and skydiver from 1968 through 1970.

Continued skydiving as a USPA Jumpmaster and FAA Senior Parachute Rigger until 1988 

Graduated Michigan State University majoring in Accounting and Finance.

Worked in public accounting, financial accounting and healthcare financial analysis. Retired January 2013 from healthcare financial administration after 30-years in that specialty.

Married with four sons and lives in Traverse City, Michigan. Currently volunteer manager with the Traverse City Film Festival and the Traverse City Community Theaters. An avid skier and hunter living in the north woods.

Heritage High School - Class of 2000

Since graduation I have earned a degree in interior design from Bowling Green State University, worked as a commercial designer in Orlando, Florida, and started my own wedding photography business called Capture Photography. But all of that is small beans compared to my third (and hopefully final!) career as an author—like of an actual real live book in stores.

I moved back to Michigan after three years of basking in the Florida sun to be near family and friends and grow my photography business. That was the plan anyway, until I got the writing bug. I landed a literary agent in 2010 and sold my first novel to Macmillan (FSG Books for Young Readers) in 2012.

My debut young-adult novel MY LAST KISS is on bookshelves and it takes place in Michigan. Check out the summary (and the amazing cover) below!

If there's one thing I've learned from my journey to publication, it's that English isn't the "easy" subject in school. If you're scoring straight As in your English/writing classes without breaking a sweat it means you're good at it and should think about a career in writing novels or screenplays or editing or all of the above. No matter how many people—including yourself—tell you that it's impossible to build a career that way, you should try. It is possible. Just look at me!

Heritage High School Class of 2004

Maria Provenzano is the creator of a lifestyle blog specializing in food and crafts called From Scratch With Maria Provenzano: www.FromScratchWithMaria.com

Maria is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband and son. Her work can be seen as a reoccurring guest on The Hallmark Channel's Home and Family as well as my YouTube Channel. She has been published in Taste of Home Magazine, and also been featured on such sites as LaurenConrad.com, Refinery29, SheKnows, CafeMoms, Luxe Life Magazine, and Locale Magazine.

Heritage High School, Class of 2005
Graduate Research Assistant, Ramesh Akkina Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology Department, Colorado State University

Education/Experience

• PhD Candidate in Microbiology, 2014, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

• Research Technician, 2010, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

• B.S. Biology, Minor in Biochemistry, 2009, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI

• Research Assistant, 2008, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

• Research Assistant, 2007, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Publications

• In vivo blockade of the PD-1 receptor suppresses HIV-1 viral loads and improves CD4+ T cell levels in humanized mice. The Journal of Immunology. 2013

• High antibody and cellular responses induced to HIV-1 clade C envelope following DNA vaccines delivered by electroporation. Vaccine. 2011

• Sustained suppression of SHIV89.6P replication in macaques by vaccine-induced CD8+ memory T cells. AIDS. 2008 

• Viral reservoir is suppressed but not eliminated by CD8 vaccine specific lymphocytes. Vaccine. 2010

Heritage High School Class of 1992
Brian Picklo graduated from Heritage in 1992. He started wrestling his junior year at Heritage. He went to Michigan State University as a student and decided to walk on to the wrestling team. He made the team and eventually made his way into the lineup. He was a 4 year varsity letterman for MSU. He was Team Captain his senior year. He was the Big 10 Conference Champion in 1996 and Big 10 Runner up in 1997.

Brian was a 2-time NCAA All-American, placing 5th both in 1996 and 1997. He was a 4-time Academic All-Big Ten and 2-time Academic All-American. In 1996, he was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor for Athletics and Academics.

After Michigan State, he came to Oklahoma where he was the assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1997-2000. Brian stayed in Oklahoma and now is a police officer for the Oklahoma City Police Department. While on the Police Department, he was able to make the 2008 US Olympic Team in Judo as an Alternate. 

Heritage High School, Class of 2010
Since graduating from Heritage, I've had the chance to learn, to teach, to travel, to act, and to grow in so many amazing ways. I am currently finishing my studies at Cedarville University, a Christian liberal arts college in southwestern Ohio. I am studying English education, with minors in Bible and French, and I cannot wait to keep using what I've learned once I enter the "real world." In the last four years, I have traveled from a Navajo reservation in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, to a refugee camp outside of Debrecen, Hungary, to an urban school in Atlantic City, New Jersey-- all for the purpose of teaching, learning, and sharing God's love. I've worked in Cedarville's Writing Center for the past two years; fall 2012, I flew out to San Diego, California, to present my research on high school writing centers. Last fall, I had the overwhelming blessing of playing Katherina Minola in The Taming of the Shrew at Cedarville.  

But it's not that I'm such an amazing, spectacular person. Any courage that I might display comes from Christ in me. This fall, I will complete my student teaching internship in Niamey, Niger, at Sahel Academy. I cannot explain how excited and nervous I am! And how grateful. I still think back to painting sets with Ms. Francis, discussing books with Mrs. Richardson, and flying through AP European history with Mrs. Markey. I'm grateful for the foundation that HHS gave me, and I'm so thankful for the journey I'm on now.