Art Jay grew up in Bridgehampton, a small town at the end of Long Island. He attended SUNY Fredonia [BS Music Ed.], Western Connecticut State University [MS Music Ed.], and SUNY Purchase [MFA in Music Composition]. He also holds certifications as a classroom teacher, school principal and school district administrator. He has been an Ossining resident for over thirty years.

In 2002 Art retired after thirty-seven years as a public school music educator, thirty-two of them in Ossining where he was the founder and artistic director of the Children’s Opera Company of Ossining. His music compositions include several children’s musicals, numerous song collections and choral works, and four children’s operas. He has received numerous awards for outstanding contributions to education, including a Life Achievement Award from the Cab Calloway Foundation, specifically for his contribution to the arts in Westchester. He served for fifteen years as director of the Westchester Arts and Science Program for Gifted Children. After many years teaching private piano, Art became certified as an adjudicator of student pianists for the New York State School Music Association.

Immediately after his retirement Art moved to France for a year, and continues to travel extensively in Europe, writing essays based on his travel experiences. His dream trip is an extended bike trip in France from Cherbourg in the north to Agde on the Mediterranean Sea.

Closer to home, he a member of La Boule New Yorkaise and the Pétanque Club of Westchester, promoting the sport of pétanque, the French equivalent of bocce. He and his wife, Patti, enjoy friends, grandchildren, and gourmet cooking. His twin sons, Jonathan and Jeremy graduated from OHS and are currently a music teacher and a computer specialist respectively.

Jaime Aguirre is a native of El Salvador and grew up in Queens before moving to Westchester. He has been a resident of Ossining since 1991. He attended Pace University where he earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a major in MIS. He also attended the University of Connecticut at Stamford and Pace University for post-graduate studies. He was awarded a Master's degree in Business Administration majoring in Information Systems from Pace University. He also holds a certification as a PMP (Project Management Professional) and is a member of PMI (Project Management Institute) and the IEEE Computer Society.

He has worked as Project Manager and Director in the information technology industry for various financial services companies over the past 19 years including General Electric, Pepsi-Cola, Ernst & Young and Prudential. Presently, he works as a Senior Project Manager in the Information Technology group for a private firm in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Jaime and his wife Luz have two children, Jaime and Jason. Both of whom presently attend Ossining public schools.

In his spare time when he's not playing with the family's pet Yorkie, Chloe, Jaime enjoys photography, US coin collecting and building computers from scratch.

Thomas Staudter grew up in North Tarrytown (now Sleepy Hollow), and has resided in the Town of Ossining since 1996. For the past several years Tom has owned and operated Green Man Media & Management, an independent media consulting business. As a freelance writer, Tom's articles have appeared in many newspapers and periodicals across the country. Tom earned his BA at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Communications and English, then received his MA from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. He and his wife Carol, a manager of subsidiary rights at Reader's Digest, have two children. A serious book collector, Tom also enjoys photography and cooking.

Reginald D. Bush Reginald D. “Reggie”/“Doc” Bush is a 1983 graduate of Howard Universitys College of Liberal Arts where he studied Zoology, Chemistry, and Political Science. He has engaged himself in the areas of youth, education, literacy, and affordable housing.

As a community leader in Ossining, Reggie has made his presence felt county wide by his dedication to the Board of Director for Westchester Community Opportunity Program (WestCOP), with Interfaith Council for Action (IFCA), a multi-million dollar organization that deals with affordable housing for low-income families & where he was elected Chairman of the Board (the first minority to hold this title in this organization’s 40 year history). Reggie is a former member of the Ossining Zoning Board of Appeals and subsequently was appointed by the Mayor of Ossining to become a member of the Planning and Architectural Review Boards of Ossining in 2005, a five-year position that was renewed in 2008 (ahead of the scheduled time).

Mr. Bush has equally been involved in Howard University affairs, having been selected by the President’s office to serve on the Founders Walk Council. He was selected and became a key member in the planning, implementation, and execution of the Metropolitan New York City Capital Campaign roll-out by President H. Patrick Swygert and then Chairman of the Board Frank Savage. In the past he has held the position of National Vice President and Regional I Representative. He was Region I Chair & held the position of President for the Howard University Alumni Club of Westchester/Rockland, NY for several years (he was bestowed the honor of President Emeritus in September, 2005). Reggie is immediate past Worldwide VP of HUAA.

More recently, Reggie was the first African American male and only the 3rd in total OHS alumnus to be inducted into the National Honor Society Hall of Fame. He was inducted in November 2006. In February, 2007, Mr. Bush was asked/appointed by Westchester County Executive, Andrew Spano, to sit on his county-wide African American Advisory Board, a position that had to be approved by the majority of the Westchester County Board of Legislators. Reggie was just asked to continue his work on the AAAB by County Executive Spano, affirmed by the Board of Legislators of Westchester County in January, 2009. This board oversees programs implemented by the County Executive and is charged to determine and offer resolve to issues that face people of color, a very prestigious seat. In April 2007, Mr. Bush was asked to sit on the expanded Board of Trustees of the Ossining Public Library.

Mr. Bush has been asked to be the keynote speaker at a number of key local and county events including; the District and Ossining Rotary Club to talk about affordable housing, OHS Project Earthquake to speak to the young at risk kids regarding the importance of education and community and social interaction, and the first annual PBIS (Positive Behavior Interaction and Support) ceremony to discuss the importance of being positively motivated, giving back to your community, and the importance of education and all its facets. He stood in for County Executive Andy Spano at the annual Links Dinner Dance on February 7, 2009.

On January 16, 2010, Reggie will receive a community service award from the Ossining Cooperative Scholarship Fund for outstanding service in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He will also be featured in the Howard University Magazine in February, 2010, for his outstanding community service work. Further, he received proclamations from US Rep Nita Lowey and NYS Assemblywoman Sandy Galef for outstaning service and commitment to Ossining community, school, and Westchester County.

Mr. Bush continues to be an asset and force throughout the Westchester Community.

Written by Dr. Fred Campbell; Howard University-1963, Greenburgh resident and community leader, NYC Board of Education, Union Baptist Church

Peter Capek worked for more than 30 years at IBM Research in Yorktown, where he worked primarily in the areas of computer operating systems and computer architecture. He was a member of the IBM Academy of Technology, and holds a number of patents. Peter grew up in New York City, and continues to visit there often. He lives in Yorktown with his wife, a professor of English Education at Teachers College, and son, a student at Ossining High School.

Mirla Morrison has lived in our community since 1969 and taught social studies at Ossining High School for 30 years before she retired in 2000. She has always been involved in community service including the Boards of the PTA, OPTS, the Ossining Children's Center, and the Ossining MicroFund. Mirla currently is an educational consultant and works as an On-Site Consultant for Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES in many of our region's school systems; a writer for Channel Thirteen's Wide Angle Curriculum; and the Project Director for an Integrated Web-based Social Studies/ELA Elementary Curriculum. Because of her interest in art and history she has become a guide at Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate. Mirla is married to George, a retired BOCES administrator and a Master Gardener volunteer. She has two marvelous adult children, and two grandchildren.