Keystone Oaks to recognize three graduates with Alumni Achievement Award

Dormont High School graduate Ron Paul and Keystone Oaks High School graduates Ben O’Connor and Kyrk Pyros have been selected as the recipients of the 2018 Alumni Achievement Award.

Paul, a 1953 graduate of Dormont High School, served as a United States Representative for Texas’ 22nd and 14th congressional districts for 26 years between 1976 and 2013. Pyros, a successful business owner and volunteer member of the Strike Team 1 rescue squad that responds to critical situations, graduated from Keystone Oaks High School in 1985. O’Connor, a school counselor at Fox Chapel High School and current youth sports coach, is a 1994 graduate of Keystone Oaks High School.

In addition to representing Texas as a United States congressman, Mr. Paul also sought the presidency of the United States, both as a Libertarian Party nominee and as a candidate for the Republican Party. He grew up in Green Tree, attended Gettysburg College and earned his medical degree from Duke University’s School of Medicine. He served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force from 1963 to 1968 and worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist for two decades. He retired from Congress in 2013 and founded the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, a foreign policy think tank that is a project of his Foundation for Rational Economics & Education.

After graduating from Keystone Oaks, Mr. Pyros went on to earn his degree in Structural Engineering from Penn State University. He is now the owner of Full Circle Development, which is made up of Allegheny Crane Rental and the George Washington Hotel, a building that he purchased and restored nearly ten years ago. Kyrk is also a civic-minded individual, serving as president of his church’s board of directors and volunteering for PA Urban Search and Rescue’s Strike Team 1, a volunteer rescue squad that is called upon in critical situations when life is in danger in high risk situations including trench and building collapses. Last summer, an apartment building collapsed in Washington, PA and a victim was trapped in her apartment. Mr. Pyros helped direct the rescue and was the team member who extracted the victim through a hole from her collapsed apartment.

Mr. O’Connor has been involved in athletics both as a player and a coach since his days at Keystone Oaks High School. In the early 2000s, Ben coached the varsity boys’ basketball team, leading it to some of its most successful seasons. Since then, he has coached high school basketball at Fox Chapel and Bethel Park and collegiate basketball at Westminster College. Today, Mr. O’Connor coaches youth sports in Dormont, where he has worked with hundreds of children over the past three years, volunteering his time and giving back to the community.

“It is an honor to be able to recognize the accomplishments of these graduates and commend them for the pride that they bring to the Keystone Oaks School District,” said Dr. William Stropkaj, Superintendent for the Keystone Oaks School District. “Their personal and professional accomplishments are truly remarkable and will undoubtedly serve as a source of inspiration for the class of 2018.”