The Garden City High School Hall of Fame Committee has selected Duane Koster, in-town inductee, and Stephen A. Boppart, M.D., Ph.D., out-of-county inductee, to be inducted into the Garden City High School Hall of Fame on Friday, May 17, 2024, at 7:30 p.m., in the Garden City High School Commons Area, 2720 Buffalo Way Blvd. The public is invited to attend the ceremony.
Tours of the high school will be offered at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, May 17 and a buffet dinner will be served promptly at 6:30 p.m. in the high school Commons Area, prior to the induction ceremony. Reservations for dinner are required. Cost of each dinner is $15.00, payable in advance. For dinner reservations or more information, call Roy Cessna, Garden City Public Schools, at 620-805-7014.
The local inductee for the Garden City High School Hall of Fame is Duane Koster. He is a 1961 graduate of Garden City High School. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Kansas State University and attended one year of graduate school at Fort Hays State University.
Duane developed a passion for farming and equipment at a young age, and wanted to continue in that field, and became employed by the John Deere Company. His first two years with John Deere were at their training facility in Wichita, Kansas. He wanted to be closer to home and aspired to own his own dealership. That opportunity came about in late 1969 when the local John Deere dealer planned to retire. Duane purchased the business and January 2, 1970 he started American Implement in Garden City with four employees. He has grown his John Deere dealer enterprise to fifteen locations across the western one-third of Kansas and has one store in Walsh, Colorado. American Implement now has 400 employees today. He is still very active in the company today.
He did not limit his interests in business along with farming endeavors and cattle feeding operations. He has owned car dealerships, hotels, country clubs, fine eating restaurants, golf courses, tire stores, commercial real estate, and most recently an IT service company.
He has also given back to the community and has served on a number of boards including the Garden City Chamber of Commerce, United Methodist Church board, YMCA board, Garden City Country Club, 3i-Show, and Beef Empire Days. Today, Duane likes to sponsor activities that involve children. He and his wife Kathy have sponsored two parks in the community, Wildcat Park and Buster Park. They have sponsored and worked tirelessly for 30 years to make the Southwest Kansas Pro-Am golf tournament a success. He has a passion for Kansas State University, and actively supports the School of Business as well as Kansas State Athletics. He also sponsors college scholarships for graduating seniors throughout the area wanting to pursue a career in the Ag industry.
Stephen A. Boppart, M.D., Ph.D., is a 1986 graduate of Garden City High School. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Electrical Engineering / Bioengineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from the same university. He received his Ph.D. in Medical and Electrical Engineering from MIT, his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and specialty training in Internal Medicine.
He is a Professor and Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering at the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign (UIUC) with appointments in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Bioengineering, the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. His Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory is focused on developing novel optical biomedical diagnostic and imaging technologies and translating these into clinical applications.
He has published over 475 invited and contributed publications, delivered over 1000 invited and contributed presentations, and has over 55 patents related to optical biomedical imaging technology. He has mentored over 200 interdisciplinary undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate researchers.
He was recognized by MIT Technology Review magazine as one of the Top 100 Young Innovators for his development of medical technology, and with the Paul F. Forman Engineering Excellence Award from the Optical Society of America for dedication and advancement in undergraduate research education. He received the international Hans Sigrist Prize in the field of Diagnostic Laser Medicine, the IEEE Technical Achievement Award, and the SPIE Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award.
Dr. Boppart has co-founded four start-up companies to commercialize and disseminate his optical technologies for biomedical imaging and was recently elected a member of the National Academy of Inventors. He is also a Fellow of AAAS, IEEE, OSA, SPIE, AIMBE, BMES, and IAMBE. He established and served as Director of Imaging at Illinois, a university-wide program to integrate imaging science, technology, and applications across multiple modalities and fields, and is currently Director of the GSK Center for Optical Molecular Imaging, supported by an academicclinical-industry partnership with GlaxoSmithKline. He is directing the newly awarded NIBIB P41 Center for Label-free Imaging and Multiscale Biophotonics (CLIMB), which is in support of a national NIH Biomedical Technology Research Resource.
He has been a strong advocate for the integration of engineering, technology, and medicine to advance human health and our healthcare systems. He played an active role in the initiation, visioning, launch, and growth of the new engineering-based Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and served as Executive Associate Dean and Chief Diversity Officer. Currently he is serving as the Interim Director for the university's Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute, and as the Illinois Co-Chair of the Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance for Technology-Based Healthcare. He is also leading the Chancellor's charge to develop a new cross-campus model for research and education in technology-inspired health innovation.
GCHS Hall of Fame Background
In 1984, an idea was conceived among administrators and Board of Education members of the school district, to recognize past graduates of Garden City High School who had gone on to distinguish themselves through outstanding accomplishments. This idea was brought into action the following spring, when the first members of the Garden City High School Hall of Fame were inducted. The purpose for the formation of this select group is twofold: It is to honor past graduates of the school for their accomplishments in their chosen professions. It is also to present positive role models to the current graduating seniors as well as to the rest of the student body.
The Hall of Fame's purpose is to communicate to Garden City residents and the rest of the world that Garden City High School produces graduates who are second to none.
Each year two distinguished graduates of Garden City High School are added to the Hall of Fame. To date 76 people have been inducted into the Garden City High School Hall of Fame.