By: The River City News
Staff report/Photo: Covington Catholic students with Scott McKinley
A new endowment has been established at Covington Catholic High School to benefit the school's new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program.
The endowment was established in the name of Greg Keller, a 1980 graduate of Covington Catholic. Scott McKinley started the endowment in honor of Keller, his lifelong friend and fellow allumnus, who passed away in August of 2000 after a three-year battle with Hodgkin's disease.
"In my opinion, the STEM program is the most important new academic discipline that the school has ever sponsored. It will expand the career horizons of every young man in the program," said McKinley. "I hope this endowment will help draw publicity about the program, garnering it more financial support, but also attracting bright students from around the area."
At Covington Catholic, Keller was a member of the National Honor Society and a Second Team All-State linebacker for the football team. He attended Northern Kentucky University while working at St. Elizabeth as a phlebotomist. He did graduate work at the University of Illinois on a teaching fellowship, earning an Master's degree in biology based on research of the effects of heparin-binding proteins. Later, he also received an MBA and worked as a quality control manager for Coca-Cola, La Croix and Precision Packaging.
"Greg Keller emulated the essence of the program before the term STEM ever existed." said McKinley.