Distinguished Alumni Award
The Mason High School Distinguished Alumni Award is sponsored by the Mason Schools Foundation and was created to honor alumni who are noted in their field of endeavor or recognized for their expertise and good works by their peers and others. These alumni must have distinguished themselves through achievement, service or contributions to society either locally or to the broader community.
Applications are being accepted now. Download application.
2011 Recipient
Al Voorhis, MHS Class of 1944
Voorhis was born on October 31, 1926. One of five children, he grew up on a farm on Tylersville Road, across from the WLW Tower. Voorhis joined the U.S. Navy and served in World War II. He later attended The Ohio State University and received a degree in architecture in 1951.
In 1952, he returned to Mason and started his architectural practice. From there, he went on to design many local schools, churches and county projects. Voorhis was the architect for the Warren County Jail and Otterbein Retirement Community, and his firm has designed or remodeled each Mason City School.
Al Voorhis has had a significant impact on the Mason community in his 84 years of living in the area. He is one of the founding members of the Mason Kiwanis Club and has been actively involved for the past 55 years. He was a member of the First Mason Bank Board and a Mason City councilman in the 1960s. He has served on the Board of the Countryside YMCA for 25 years. He was a Board member for the Mason Historical Society and has been a member of the Mason United Methodist Church for 73 years.
Al is a sixth generation of the Voorhis family to grow up in Mason, Ohio. His mother and father – one-fourth of their graduating class – graduated at the 25th Mason Commencement Ceremony in 1910. Four generations of Voorhises have now graduated from Mason schools.
2010 Recipient
Mike Chipman, MHS Class of 1965
Mike Chipman was honored in 2010 as the first William Mason High School Distinguished Alumni. Over 700 MHS graduates and their families honored Chipman during the school’s June 6 Commencement Ceremony where Chipman told graduates,” I’m very sure that, like me, you will be proud to say you’re from Mason, Ohio.”
Chipman made a huge impact in the computer software industry in the early 1980s when he founded Chipsoft, Inc., the original owner and developer of TurboTax-- one of the most popular income tax preparation software packages in the United States. Chipman is currently one of three general partners who possess the largest financial stake in the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise.
During his return to Mason, Chipman met with a variety of MHS student leaders and answered students’ questions. He admonished students to “Find something you like to do, and then take the time to get good at it.” Later that evening, he was honored at a Long Cove reception sponsored by the Mason Schools Foundation where he was presented with a framed picture of his football teammates from 1965.