Iorio
The Bull Dog Alumni Association Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony honoring the 2023 Bull Dog Alumni Hall of Fame inductees Harold Force and Dr. Tami Stone Iorio will be Friday prior to Columbus North’s homecoming football game.
Force, Class of 1969 and Iorio, Class of 1990, will be honored at a 5 p.m. reception followed by a program that will also honor the 2023 Columbus North High School Outstanding Teachers of the Year.
Music will be provided by the 25th Street Singers. This year’s homecoming game will be the Bull Dogs vs. Bloomington South.
Force has serves as president and chairman of Force Construction Co. and founded Force Design, Inc. He received his bachelor and master’s degrees from Purdue University in civil engineering and has professional engineering registration in 13 states.
He received the Purdue Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Award and the Purdue Civil Engineering Alumni Association Service Award.
Force led the design and construction of Purdue’s Bowen High Performance Laboratory for large-scale engineering research.
He has served as past president of the Indiana Construction Association and the Associated General Contractors of Indiana and is a past chairman of the Columbus Economic Development board. He has also served on the IUPUC advisory board and director and executive committee member of the Japan-America Society of Indiana.
Force said he’s not sure what to think of the honor he’ll receive Friday, adding there are many alumni of both Columbus North and Columbus East high schools that have achieved just as much, if not more, than he has.
But he is glad to see Columbus North recognizing their outstanding teachers of the year during the ceremony because most of these educators never receive the accolades they deserve. Force says both high schools in the city have the ability to propel students of any aptitude to do good things – even great things.
“The quality of education in Columbus should never be taken for granted and should never be overlooked,” Force said. “There are so many dedicated, capable teachers. I can list half a dozen high school teachers who changed my life in positive ways. My life experiences would have been very different were they not there at the time.”
Iorio is a physician and partner at Northside Pediatrics Associates and serves as Bartholomew County historian. She graduated from Vanderbilt University (Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude), Vanderbilt Medical School and the Vanderbilt pediatric residence program. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
She received the Resident Teaching Award at Vanderbilt and the Columbus Regional Hospital Physician Education Award.
She wrote the script and collected the visual content for the five part video series “It Began with Bartholomew” to commemorate Bartholomew County’s bicentennial and authored “Bartholomew County: Celebrating 200 Years 2021.”
She has served as an officer for the Bartholomew County Historical Society, Columbus Express Soccer club, Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation, and a board member for Healthy Communities Caring Parents Action Team, Columbus Parks and Recreation Youth Soccer board and the Columbus Regional Hospital Foundation.
Like Force, Iorio questions why she was chosen for such a prestigious honor by her alma mater.
“I was admittedly quite shocked, as most if not all of the previous nominees have achieved high levels of professional success,” Iorio said. “I am very proud of my many years working as a pediatrician, but believe what led to my nomination was my passion for sharing local history and my volunteer work in the community.”
If an alumni provides an inspiration for a student to excel and find their passions in life, Iorio says that’s wonderful.
“But if it comes instead from an amazing teacher who nurtures an interest, or from friends or family who encourage them to explore a dream, etc. — that’s equally as wonderful.”
Iorio says she hopes it’s the teachers and students who will set the high standards for today’s teens who attend Columbus North.
