Best and Brightest
An interactive look at the Class of 1987
Members of the Class of 1987 were among the first generation of high school graduates who knew their futures could be brighter somewhere else. Buffalo News reporters tracked down more than 100 of the most promising graduates from 25 high schools in Erie and Niagara counties -- valedictorians, salutatorians, class presidents and vice presidents, and those voted most likely to succeed -- to see where they ended up. (Updated: 07/25/07 9:58 AM )
Part One: Should I stay or should I go?
The priesthood called, and Stephen Mease answered — but then he thought better of it, leaving the preseminary program and dropping out of college with one semester left. He became a car salesman, instead. (Updated: 07/25/07 10:01 AM )
Part Two: Five who stayed in Western New York
Consider the budding entrepreneur from Nichols, the class president from Cleveland Hill, the small-town boy from Barker, the aspiring physical therapist from Lancaster, and the valedictorian from Frontier. (Updated: 08/11/07 4:27 PM )
Part Three: Five who left Western New York
If you had asked Vincent O'Keefe 10 years ago whether he could imagine himself becoming a full-time dad in suburban Cleveland, he probably would have laughed. (Updated: 07/25/07 9:49 AM )
Little bits of Buffalo far from Western New York
It was a dark day in the O'Keefe house last year when Tops pulled out of Cleveland. (Updated: 07/23/07 4:01 PM )
