HILLTOPPER HONORS
2022 HONOREES
Reprinted from The Hilltopper Magazine, Spring 2023
Each year, the Hilltopper Honors Awards celebrate alumni who have excelled in their personal achievements, professional lives, or in service to society, and whose accomplishments have brought credit to the legacy of Marshall School and Duluth Cathedral.
The award committee was pleased to induct the following four alumni into our Hall of Fame at the 2022 Hilltopper Honors Awards Ceremony on October 25, 2022 in Marshall’s Fregeau Auditorium. Awardees had an opportunity to give a speech to inspire our current Marshall students.
DISTINGUISHED YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD
CB BAGA ’08
The Distinguished Young Alumni Award honors an alum who has received recognition as an emerging leader, has had a positive influence on their community, and shows clear potential for continued success.
CB Baga ’08 graduated from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and a law degree with a civil litigation concentration. They recently began working as a Trial Attorney Associate with Zinda Law Group in Denver, Colorado. CB’s career has interlaced deep community connection with personal-professional interests; as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, they chose to give back in a relevant, sustainable, and structured way. In 2016, while working at the law firm Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath in Minneapolis, CB founded a pro bono clinic to provide free legal services and advice to members of the LGBTQ+ community. The clinic continues to run as a partnership between the Volunteer Lawyers’ Network and other Twin Cities nonprofits.
CB’s professional ethics are further driven by a mission to serve the local business community while partnering with clients to manage risk, resolve disputes, and litigate to gain strategic outcomes. They have particular expertise in helping clients manage high-stakes sports and recreation issues. CB publishes and presents on Minnesota state contract law and complex commercial litigation issues, while also training the legal community on skills to serve LGBTQ+ individuals in the legal system. Their work has been highlighted in awards and recognitions, including a Baker Benson Pro Bono Award for complex pro bono litigation and the 2020 Business of Pride Award from the Twin Cities Business Journal.
ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME
GREGORY CANE ’79
The Athletic Hall of Fame Award honors an alum, coach, or athletic director who has excelled in their athletic and community achievements.
Gregory Cane ’79 has had an illustrious career piloting and growing successful collegiate soccer programs. As a student at Duluth Cathedral, he was a three sport athlete, playing soccer, hockey, and golf. Following graduation, he went on to play varsity soccer for three seasons at The College of St. Scholastica. After earning bachelor’s degrees in both secondary education and history, he remained as the head coach of the men’s soccer team. In his nine years with the Saints, his team won two NSCAA National Championships and five NAIA District 12 titles. He played a pivotal role in establishing St. Scholastica’s women’s soccer program and became its first head coach, and then went on to create the first women’s soccer team at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Now in his 29th season, Greg is UMD’s longest active coach.
Greg has continued to maintain connections to Marshall and our athletes throughout the years. He coached the Nordic Ski Team in the early 1990’s, and coached numerous Marshall students and alumni through the Gitchi Gummi Soccer Club, a competitive youth soccer organization he founded in 1991. At UMD, Greg currently has two Marshall alumni on his roster. He has received numerous awards for coaching and holds many records for wins, including being ranked 12th for victories in Division II Women’s Soccer. In recognition of his many accomplishments, he was inducted into The College of St. Scholastica’s Hall of Fame in 2013.
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
IAN GRANT ’87
The Global Citizenship Award honors an alum who has made a distinct and recognizable effort to contribute to global society while carrying out the core Hilltopper tenets of respect, compassion, and integrity. The award is not confined by geographic location; nominees’ accomplishments and contributions are considered equally whether they are made domestically or abroad.
Ian Grant ’87’s awareness of global citizenship began in childhood; as the son of Irish and Scottish immigrants, he grew up in a household that traveled internationally and ignited his love of art and culture. After high school, he attended Gustavus Adolphus College, where he received bachelor’s degrees in history and art history. He continued to pursue art and culture in his professional career, traveling around the world for his custom furniture company, Bjorling & Grant, and as a host of travel television programs. His Daytime Emmy Award-winning series, The Relic Hunter with Ian Grant, aired on the Travel Channel from 2007-2009. He currently hosts PBS’s Culture Quest, a series that PBS says, “looks at life through the lens of the world’s artists, artisans, and keepers of culture. It’s through that lens that we not only look at the day-to-day struggles and successes of the individual people we are spending time with, but also look at the larger issues that are affecting the places they call home.”
Ian believes that a driving force in his work and personal life has been finding a way to create commonality between people who may look like they have very different lives with different histories, but who often share core goals of security, health, and happiness.
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI
MICHAEL JAROS ’64
The Distinguished Alumni Award honors an alum who has had a positive influence on their community and who has been a steward of the school’s mission following graduation, embodying its core values of global citizenship, respect, compassion, integrity, self-discipline, and intellectual curiosity.
Michael Jaros ’64 is a proud immigrant and long-time public servant for Northeastern Minnesota. He was born in a German labor camp during World War II to parents of German and Polish descent. Following the war, his family moved back to their farm in Bosnia, then to Serbia, where he spent his early childhood.
At age 16, Mike immigrated with his siblings to the Twin Ports and started school at Duluth Cathedral, not speaking any English. He worked hard to learn English and eventually earned a teaching certificate and bachelor’s degrees in Russian, Latin, and Spanish from the University of Minnesota. Following graduation, Mike worked as a teacher in Duluth, Puerto Rico, and St. Paul. Wanting to address economic and social justice issues in his local community, he took on public service and represented St. Louis County in the Minnesota Legislature from 1975-1980. He then trained for foreign service in Washington D.C. before returning to the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1985-2008. During his thirty-two year tenure in the legislature, Mike was a strong advocate for higher education, handgun control, and increasing the minimum wage for businesses receiving economic development grants. He was elected Assistant Majority Leader in the Minnesota House of Representatives and chaired the Higher Education Committee, the Economic Development International Trade and Tourism Committee, and the Minnesota Heritage Committee.
In retirement, Mike leads international tours around the world, serves as an interpreter at local hospitals, and serves with the Seafarers Lutheran Mission at the Duluth and Superior ports.
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