Back in the day during his senior year, Richard Ruttenberg was a member of the New Trier West Jazz Ensemble.* Whenever an assembly was called, most kids would disappear. The one exception occurred when the Jazz Ensemble was playing. Then, you couldn’t even find a place to stand because everyone showed up. Those young musicians had a better chance than most at becoming professionals. Read more: Patch's "You Did WHAT?" homepage The next step was college. However, Richard found that his chosen school was not all that he had hoped it would be. After a few years studying music at University of …

Back in his days at New Trier High School, Jerry Karzen was a tad shy. But those who saw him play tennis knew he was an exceptional athlete. Karzen eventually attended the University of Michigan on a tennis scholarship and faced a big decision after graduation. Earlier: Check out another You Did WHAT? alumna who made a career in beauty writing. Professional tennis or a master’s degree in speech pathology? Karzen found a way to do both by joining the professional tennis tour right out of the gate, after which he attended graduate school. But his heart was always in tennis. “I started playing …

One of Marilyn Barrett’s favorite jobs was writing the jokes on McDonald’s Happy Meals. The New Trier West alumna pursued a career in marketing and advertising after finishing her graduate degree in English literature from Mills College. Earlier: Read more "You Did WHAT?" alumni profiles. After high school, Marilyn had every intention of majoring in violin when she went to college. Circumstances led her away from music to consider majoring in Spanish and French. Instead, she took the advice of a wise counselor. “She said, ‘Why don’t you major in English? You already speak it.’” Marilyn was …

After high school graduation, New Trier West alum Debby Moss Hoffman Berry entered University of Illinois as a Japanese major. She had spent her senior year in Japan as a Rotary exchange student. The problem was, she had become fluent in the language so it took her only two years to complete the major. Debby’s childhood dream was quite different: She wanted to become a veterinarian. Earlier: Read more "You Did WHAT?" alumni profiles. “Being a vet is just something that I absolutely always wanted to do but never actually thought I would,” Debby said. But Debby switched gears and reconsidered …

If you happened to be in any science classes with Carl Camras at New Trier East, chances are he was that student who made it all seem easy. Carl was an academic ace, part of his family’s legacy of brilliant people. His father, Marvin Camras, held more than 500 patents. Earlier: Read more "You Did WHAT?" alumni profiles. So, when Carl decided to attend medical school, it was no surprise that he was accepted at five Ivy League institutions. His early resume reads like this: undergraduate at Yale, medical school at Columbia University, internship at Harvard General, residency at the Jules Stein …

On that hot, sticky New Trier West graduation day in 1971, Rob Reilly might have been surprised to learn that 40 years later, he would be retired Rear Admiral Rob Reilly. He might also think that saying he has truly traveled the world was just hyperbole. After 30 years at sea, it's no exaggeration. Earlier: Read more "You Did WHAT?" alumni profiles. At that time, Rob was getting ready to attend the University of Washington in Seattle to study oceanography. Joining the military was not his immediate goal, rather something he had loved since he was a child. “The hook was set in me as a …

Nancy Bronstein Kaplan has not followed the typical road of a New Trier West grad, especially after finishing college. For one thing, Nancy had her first child not long after graduation. Equally important, Nancy loved the challenge of the financial world. Along the way, Nancy had her share of uncertainty about the future, went through a divorce, and faced the barriers of a male-dominated profession. Read more: Patch's "You Did WHAT?" homepage But it certainly worked out. Nancy has been married to her second husband for 26 years, has two grown children and two grandchildren, has lived in the …

Does Christine Ebersole ever get tired? Like the Cheshire cat, Christine changes location in an instant. One minute she is at home in Maplewood, N.J., then in a blink she is performing at Northwestern University, and, without losing a beat, she is filming her next movie in Connecticut. Tony Awards Christine hit the ground running soon after college. Her 35 years on Broadway earned her the “overnight success” of two Tony Awards for Best Leading Lady in a Musical, one for her role as Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street and another as Little Edie/Big Edie in Grey Gardens. In between, there have been …

Craig Kinzer’s professional life began quite differently from what he had expected. The New Trier East graduate’s first job was as a political assistant to anchor Walter Jacobson at WBBM-TV. Craig had recently graduated from Northwestern University. He soon learned that the world of television journalism, particularly when covering politics, can be so demanding that it can run a person right into the ground.  Craig left quickly. Eventually, Craig decided to go to graduate school at New York University, which had a graduate-level program in theater directing. So he found himself in the best …

Charla Krupp has always known what she wanted to do since she was 11 years old.  Good in English, she believed she would be an English teacher. But her mother thought her daughter would become a writer. Mothers just know. You might remember Charla as the editor of the New Trier West News. Today, she's the author of two New York Times best-sellers, "How to Never Look Fat Again: Over 1000 Ways to Dress Thinner Without Dieting," and "How Not to Look Old: Fast and Effortless Ways to Look Ten Years Younger, Ten Pounds Lighter, Ten Times Better." Charla's Early Career She also took summer jobs that…