Soper, Stumpenhorst to receive Alumni Awards during 2013 Homecoming

William Soper ’68, M.D., and Josh Stumpenhorst ’03 are two of seven alumni who will be honored during the 2013 Homecoming Convocation on Friday, Oct. 25. Soper is among five recipients of this year’s Outstanding Alumni Awards and Stumpenhorst will receive the Alumni Recognition Award.

Soper has extensive experience as a board-certified general surgeon at Advanced Surgical Associates, S.C. in Arlington Heights and has built his career around general surgery and transplantation. He has held several leadership positions at area hospitals, including chief of general surgery at Northwest Community Hospital. A biology major and member of the swim team at North Central, Soper went on to receive his medical degree from University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago and completed his surgical residency at the University of Illinois Medical Center. He also completed a two-year fellowship in transplant surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, then served as director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at the University of Illinois Medical Group. He received North Central’s Young Alumnus Award in 1984.

Stumpenhorst teaches sixth-grade language arts and social science at Lincoln Junior High School in Naperville Community Unit School District 203. He has earned recognition in Illinois and nationally for his contributions to his students, his school and the field of education. He was named the 2011-2012 Illinois Teacher of the Year by the Illinois State Board of Education and 2012 Teacher of the Year by the Illinois Education Association. Also in 2012, he received the California Casualty Award for Teaching Excellence, one of the nation’s most prestigious honors for public educators. In 2013, the NEA Foundation recognized Stumpenhorst as a Pearson Foundation Global Learning Fellow. At North Central, he majored in social studies and minored in secondary education, was the 2003 Outstanding Senior Man and a CCIW champion in the triple jump. He holds a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and National Board Certification in early adolescence social science.

Others being honored during Homecoming 2013 are Outstanding Alumni Award recipients Charles Bartsch ’73, John Giannini ’84, Ph.D., Steven Hoeft ’73 and the Rev. Dr. Tracy Smith ’90 Malone. The Rev. Dr. Wilber C. Harr ’30 will be honored with a posthumous Wall of Witness recognition.