Seven Chesterfield County Public Schools alumni were recently honored by the Chesterfield Public Education Foundation for their outstanding accomplishments and achievements.

The second annual Bravo! Awards were presented by Lisa Schaffner, co-chairwoman of the awards, and Susan Genovese, president of the Chesterfield Public Education Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

The ceremony took place at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond on Thursday, Nov. 11. Among this year’s honorees were:

• Lanny Wadkins, a professional golfer and 1968 graduate of Meadowbrook High School;
• Del. Jennifer McClellan, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and 1990 graduate of Matoaca High School;
• Joel Erb, the president and CEO of INM United and a 2002 Lloyd C. Bird High School graduate;
• Dr. Jennifer Miles-Thomas, a surgical urologist and 1993 Clover Hill High School graduate;
• Denny Hamlin, a NASCAR driver for Joe Gibbs Racing and a 1999 graduate of Manchester High School;
• Tracy Kemp-Stallings, the chief operating officer of CJW Medical Center and a 1978 graduate of Manchester High School;
• And Herschel W. Weinstock, a Navy commander and 1989 Lloyd C. Bird High School graduate.

“I was really honored,” Weinstock said in a phone interview. “I think any honors that I get are more due to the folks who supported me and worked with me.”

Weinstock, a Chester native, said he knew what he wanted to be from the time he saw an Army helicopter during a field day at Curtis Elementary School.

“I always wanted to be a pilot, from the time I was in kindergarten,” he said.

Originally, he said, he never wanted to leave the South. But, his path to his current post in San Diego, where he is the commanding officer of the Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron, has included stops in Japan and Hawaii. When he was student at L.C. Bird, he never thought he would have such opportunities to travel, he said.