Michael Cimarusti and Debbie Ryan were both inducted into the Hopewell Valley Central High School Distinguished Scholars Hall of Fame on Oct. 17, but they didn’t go in alone.
Jill Gora, Class of 1987, and Annette Compton Fiertz, Class of 1977, also received their plaques.
Annette Carroll Compton, daughter of Raymond Hayden Compton and Patricia Carroll Compton, received the award posthumously for her work as an artist in many mediums. She died on May 11, 2012.
She grew up in Pennington and attended Wheaton College, in Norton, Mass., where she received a degree in art history. In 1995, she graduated from the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, with a M.F.A. in illustration, winning the Paula Rhodes Award for distinguished work.
She was author and illustrator of Drawing from the Mind, Painting from the Heart, published in 2002, including 144 pages and 200 original drawings and watercolors. She illustrated the award winning children’s book, God’s Paintbrush. She taught painting workshops all over the world.
Dr. Jill Gora is now assistant director of the Somerset Family Medicine Residency Program in Somerville. She was recently named Pediatric Volunteer of the Year by Operation Smile, an international charity that performs free surgery on children all over the world with facial deformities such as cleft palate.
Gora graduated with honors from Boston College with a degree in biology/pre-med in 1991. She earned her medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where she got several awards for academic excellence. She completed her residency in family medicine at Overlook Hospital in Summit, where she served as chief resident.
At the Somerset Family Medicine Residency Program, she teaches a team of 21 resident physicians each year. She is also a clinical instructor at Rutgers Medical School. She has said she was inspired by her teachers at HoVal. She saw their commitment to their students and the sacrifice they each made in devoting their lives to help children.
Her first medical mission trip with the group was to the Philippines. She later returned there to adopt her children, Erin, now 12, and Joseph, 10.
