NOTABLE ALUMNI
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha: Hanna-Attisha led nationally recognized research showing blood lead levels of Flint children doubled after the city began treating its own river water. Graduated in 1994.
Amy Lawson Smeed is the co-head of Animation for "Raya and the Last Dragon" at Walt Disney Animation Studios. She has worked there for 23 years animating on such films as "Frozen," "Moana," "Wreck-It Ralph," "Big Hero 6," and more. She graduated from Royal Oak Kimball in 1992.
Glenn Frey graduated in 1966: Frey was the co-lead singer and front man for the Eagles, roles he came to share with fellow member Don Henley, with whom he wrote most of the Eagles' material. Glenn Frey Day is celebrated on November 6 with radio station, WCSX.
Tom Hayden: Hayden is known for being an anti-war and civil rights activist. He authored the Port Huron Statement (a 1962 political manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society) and was on trial in the 'Chicago Seven' case, which in 2020 was created into an Oscar-Nominated movie (see The Trial of the Chicago Seven). He died in 2016. He graduated from Dondero High School in 1956.
Judith Guest graduated in 1954: She wrote Ordinary People, a novel exploring teen suicide that was published in 1976 and became an Oscar-winning movie directed by Robert Redford.
Oliver L. Fretter: Fretter founded Fretter Appliance in the 1950s, with locations spread out in the Detroit area. His commercials became legendary. He was a 1941 graduate of Royal Oak High School.