2001 graduate Justin Cobb

Graduating with about 120 other students in the school’s first senior class, 2001 graduate Justin Cobb left behind four years that still affect his life.

Cobb was one of the first students to have the opportunity to call himself a Jaguar football player, an experience that is still a favorite memory from high school.

“[My favorite part was] trying out football,” Cobb said. “I’m a big sports guy and…after awhile you start to miss good old Friday night football. Those were fun times.”

Social studies teacher and 2002 graduate Dustin Stinnett played football with Cobb.

“I remember Justin Cobb was a very talented athlete,” Stinnett said. “It was nice having a running back that could break for a big play at any given time.”

Cobb received a scholarship to play football for Baker University, and graduated in 2005 with a degree in business. However, he received the opportunity to play arena football, proceeding to play for the Arizona Adrenaline. After that, he tried business but is now a police officer for the Shawnee Police Department.

“I tried the business world and things are pretty volatile in the business world and I’m not much of a desk…kind of guy,” Cobb said. “I chose something where I could help people. It creates a sense of fulfillment when you can do something others can’t do.”

Though he only attended the school for one year, Cobb enjoyed that time and believes it benefited him.

“Mill Valley is surrounded by a great community and has great teachers,” he said. “If someday I had kids, I definitely wouldn’t mind them going to school there. I think Mill Valley does a good job of allowing kids to be kids.”

2007 graduate Hillary Mullin

From Los Angeles to London to Topeka, 2007 graduate Hillary Mullin has embarked on a career in journalism that started out as something she simply enjoyed doing while she was in high school.

“I used to be really involved with dancing, StuCo and stuff like that but by junior year I was constantly in the journalism room and by senior year I was editor of the newspaper,” Mullin said.

Mullin’s career spawned from that first step in journalism. After graduation, she went to the University of Missouri, where she was directly admitted into the journalism program. After that, she did an internship at KOMU-8 News. She was a production assistant and worked on editing videos. By her junior and senior years of college, she was working at KOMU multiple times a week and by her senior year was “their go-to, fill-in anchor” whenever they needed one.

“I guess it was just being a staff reporter for the newspaper that ended up turning into my career,” Mullin said.

After that, Mullin moved to Los Angeles and worked as an intern for Entertainment Tonight. Later, she moved to London and was an intern for the CBS News Bureau before finally coming to Topeka to work as the morning anchor for Kansas First News.

“I didn’t expect to get an anchoring job because that’s something that it takes awhile to get,” Mullin said. “The funny thing is that on my first day I got calls from directors with other news jobs asking for me but I had to turn them down because I already had a job.”

All of it was born out of what she did in high school.

“I think [high school] is the time to find out what you’re interested in,” Mullin said. “Sometimes it’s just weird for me to think that what used to be a hobby is now how I make a living.”

2004 graduate Jay Matlack

Running cross country races that earned him college scholarships and receiving an education in classes that still challenge students today, 2004 graduate Jay Matlack prepared for a future he hadn’t expected.

As a student, Matlack participated in musicals and plays, but one of the things he remembers most about his experience was running track and cross country. In his junior year, Matlack ran a 5K cross country race in 15:59, which still stands today as the junior and school record. He also set the senior record at 16:20. He still believes that one of the most valuable lessons he learned came from running.

“[Some of the skills I learned are] first and foremost, running and what it taught me,” Matlack said. “I still run everyday. It taught me how to stay committed to things, to stay dedicated to a goal. It’s given me everything. It’s given me my friends, people to network with. It’s shaped my personality and my work ethic.”

Matlack also says that high school taught him to appreciate the relationships that people build with others.

“Some of my best friends are the people I went to high school with,” Matlack said. “It’s important to value those relationships.”

Cross country coach Mark Chipman appreciates Matlack’s contribution to the team.

“Jay was a great kid,” Chipman said. “He got the most out of his abilities. He had a great career here but went on and had a great career at Tulsa also.”

After graduating in a class of about 160 students, Matlack attended the University of Tulsa, where he ran cross country and track and earned a marketing degree. After that he moved to Denver and earned a master’s degree in sports management at the University of Denver. Today, he lives in Kansas City, owns and manages Tricycle Transit, a pedicab company, and also works at Kansas City Kansas Community College in the business division. Matlack says that he never had any idea that he would be doing what he is doing now.

“I didn’t choose it, it just happened,” he said. “It wasn’t a goal of mine but I’m glad it happened because I enjoy what I’m doing. It’s definitely not what I saw myself doing. There’s a lot of opportunities out there, some that you may never have thought about…because you’ll never know what’ll come.”