Alumni

2025-26 Alumni Award Recipients

Bruce Baganz ’69
Distinguished Alumnus of the Year
Wilmington Friends School is thrilled to honor Bruce P. Baganz ’69 as our Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, celebrating his remarkable leadership and impact across business, science, and the arts and humanities. A visionary in the world of textile arts, Bruce serves as chairman of the Board of Trustees at The Textile Museum in Washington, DC, where his leadership has transformed the institution’s financial standing, facilities, and global reach. He also chairs the Near Eastern Art Research Center and serves in key roles at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, George Washington University Museum, and the University of South Carolina. His dedication to preserving and promoting textile arts has earned him some of the field’s highest honors, including the prestigious George Hewitt Myers Award and the Joseph V. McMullan Award. Currently, Bruce is preparing what is anticipated to be a landmark publication on Central Asian suzani embroideries, further cementing his legacy in the arts.
Bruce’s distinguished career extends beyond the arts into the fields of business and science. As President & CEO of Security Energy Company and former executive at publicly traded companies. Bruce built one of the petroleum industry's top exploration track records. A respected geologist, he earned his Ph.D. and M.S. from the University of South Carolina and co-authored influential research recognized internationally. His philanthropic spirit shines through the endowment funds he and his wife, Terry, have established to support geology education and museum exhibitions. Bruce’s enduring passion for discovery also includes building significant fossil collections donated to major museums. Wilmington Friends School is proud to celebrate Bruce’s lifelong achievements and his embodiment of the values we hold dear — leadership, scholarship, and service to the global community.


    
Lesley Dennis Tryon ’71
Outstanding Service Award Recipient 
 
Lesley Dennis Tryon ’71 has dedicated more than three decades of service to Wilmington Friends School, where she has been a steadfast leader in the Business Office, most recently serving as the Assistant Director of Finance. Known for her patience, kindness, and unwavering commitment to the school community, Lesley has been the go-to person for employees and families alike—whether guiding staff through benefits enrollment, ensuring timely payroll, assisting families with billing questions, or keeping daily operations running smoothly during leadership transitions. In 2022, her outstanding contributions were nationally recognized when she received the Professional Achievement Award from the National Business Officers Association, honoring her distinguished service to both the school and the broader independent school community.
Beyond her work at WFS, Lesley has been a passionate advocate and leader in the nonprofit sector. She serves as President of the Board for Survivors of Abuse in Recovery (SOAR), where her ethical leadership and dedication have been instrumental in expanding recovery and mental health services for survivors. She is also an Officer on the Board for Friends of Bellevue State Park, serving as Treasurer, where her stewardship has supported the preservation and enhancement of one of Delaware's treasured green spaces. A loyal donor and parent of alumni from the WFS Classes of ’06 and ’08, Lesley embodies the spirit of service and community that defines Wilmington Friends School. Her tireless dedication has left an indelible mark on WFS and the many organizations she serves, reflecting the Quaker values that have guided her throughout her career.


    
TyLisa Johnson '13
Young Alumna of the Year
 
TyLisa C. Johnson is an award-winning journalist and poet from Wilmington, Delaware. Currently, she is the audience engagement producer at the Poynter Institute.
 
Over the past decade, she has built a career at the intersection of editorial storytelling, audience strategy and community-focused journalism. As a reporter, she wrote about a range of social and cultural subjects including hunger, travel, the Philadelphia library system and pandemic education at publications including Carnegie Magazine, the Tampa Bay Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Dallas Morning News, The Points Guy and PublicSource.  Her work has also reached audiences through guest appearances on various podcasts and radio shows, including Pittsburgh’s WESA 90.5, Philadelphia’s WHYY and CityCast Pittsburgh.  
 
Prior to Poynter, she was the first audience engagement editor at PublicSource, an investigative nonprofit newsroom based in Pittsburgh, PA. She accepted the role following more than a year reporting about Pittsburgh’s school district, students’ need insecurities, how COVID changed Pittsburgh’s educational experience and the continued criminalization of students at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
A proud graduate of Florida A&M University’s School of Journalism, where she earned top honors, she was selected as a reporting fellow for the 2017 New York Times Student Journalism Institute and later became a member of the inaugural Lenfest Fellowship class at The Philadelphia Inquirer. 
*Photograph by Chris Kozlowski of Poynter 


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Wilmington Friends School admits students of any race, color, gender, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students of these schools. Wilmington Friends School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national and ethnic origin in administration of their educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school administered programs.