From drum major to school superintendent, successful grad is keynote speaker back in his hometown

Long before Steve Walts was superintendent of Prince William County Schools, he played a key role as the drum major of the Argonne Rebels Drum & Bugle Corps that brought home two national championships to Great Bend, Kansas.

Walts is back in his hometown this weekend, July 11-12, speaking and making news at the dedication of the Smithsonian Institution’s “Museum on Main Street” exhibit commemorating the championships.

Dr. Walts’ lifelong “commitment to children fit perfectly with the event’s focus on how a community rallied around the team for years to champion its youth,” according to a Prince William County Schools’ news release.

Walts had high praise for the parents, friends, and business people who helped the team shape young lives, including his own. He told hometown reporters, “The vision of the leaders of the drum corps inspired a community to support its kids in achieving local, state, and national prominence for decades.”

According to the news release, “It’s a pretty good bet that Dr. Walts will be telling folks in Kansas about his new home in Prince William County, Virginia, and how people, schools, and businesses here unite to make it one of America’s best communities for young people.”

Observer Newspapers recently began a series on Prince William County high school graduates who, like Steve Walts, are making a difference in the wider world outside their hometowns. The first story in the series featured architect Warren Ralston, a Brentsville District High School graduate, who designs homes for wounded warriors. The next story in the series will be published in August.