Despite being members of a small community, many Camas High School (CHS) graduates have gone off to have remarkable careers and lives.
Denis Hayes is one of those people. He is an environmental activist, and was one of the coordinators for the creation of Earth Day in 1970. Time Magazine also named Hayes the 2023 ‘Hero of the Planet’ award winner. These accomplishments are highly awe-inspiring and show that someone from CHS has the ability to go on and do important things in their future, like helping to create the first Earth Day.
Another high-achieving CHS alumni is Jack Colletto, a fullback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s known that not many people who play sports in high school go pro, but that was the opposite for Colletto. After graduating from CHS, Colletto went from Arizona Western College (AWC) to Oregon State University (OSU).
Colletto played football for both schools, and after his college career, he was signed by the San Francisco 49ers, proving that even if there is a slim chance of making it pro in sports, there is still a chance.
Another accomplished athlete is Alexa Efraimson, a former professional middle distance runner. Efraimson was a CHS alumni who had the opportunity to compete for Nike, an astounding feat that most could only dream of but she made a reality.
Brent Richards went on to be a professional soccer player. Richards currently plays for Orange County SC in the United Soccer League (USL) Championship. He is also proof that there is hope for athletes who aspire to make it big in their sports. He is an inspiration, inspiring people to work as hard as they can and try their best even if they don’t think they can become a professional in their sport or any other field of interest.
Not only are there professional athletes who graduated from CHS, but there was also an astronaut who graduated from CHS, and that is Michael Barratt. He just recently launched into space for NASA and accomplished something that seems completely impossible for someone from a small town; yet he managed to achieve this goal and is now an inspiration for many.
These people all did fantastic and monumental things with their lives even when it seemed unlikely; they helped pave the way for others’ hopes and dreams.
