The Blue Ridge School’s senior class of 1990 is remembered as one of the best. The positive spirit and the strength of its student leadership helped launch the school into the decade of the nineties that experienced strong student morale and the emergence of one of the most positive decades of administrative and student leadership in the school’s history.
During those years, both faculty and students devoted their time and energy to revitalizing life and learning here at Blue Ridge. One of the student leaders of the senior class who helped initiate this movement was a young man from Dallas, Texas, named Lee Shore. His positive spirit, good example, and enthusiasm helped to inspire his classmates to raise the bar and put forth their best efforts. Lee has stated that he “cherished the people at Blue Ridge” – especially the variety of people with whom he came in contact at the school.
Among the people who had the greatest effect upon him were several faculty members whom he remembers with respect and fondness. Among his teachers at the senior level, Lee appreciates the efforts of Mr. Niederberger and Mr. Young, American history and literature respectively, who helped him improve his writing skills. Mr. Ronco, who coached the varsity lacrosse team, introduced Lee to a sport, which became a source of considerable enthusiasm and enjoyment throughout his life. Lee continues to be active in lacrosse as a player and coach to this day. And then there was Mr. Grant, who during Lee’s time at Blue Ridge, served as his faculty advisor, providing him with both encouragement and good advice. Mr. Grant sponsored Lee with Pete Doyle, Wade Herndon and Alex Valmarana to start the Mountain bike club as their Winter sport. The group rode, climbed, raced and occasionally crashed on the trails and roads up and down the Blue Ridge mountains. Lee is an avid mountain biker and cyclist to this day.
After graduation from Blue Ridge, Lee enrolled at Guilford College, where he played on their lacrosse team, but he decided to transfer to Texas Tech University where he received his degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. In 1996, Lee married his wife, Melissa. They have a daughter who is a professional dancer in NYC.
Looking back on his years at Blue Ridge, Lee places a high value on the diversity of the school’s student body. This has enabled him to work with all kinds of people to successfully undertake the various challenges his business engages across the globe. After graduating college, Lee joined his father in the family business. United Salvage Associates works with companies to handle catastrophes across the United States as well as around the globe. He has dealt with major fires in Angola, severe flooding in Thailand, earthquake and tsunami in Japan, hurricanes in the Caribbean, and an earthquake in Chile to name just a few of the places his work has taken him. As he says, “I am on the road a good part of the year.” The company he now runs after his father’s retirement is always encountering new people and challenges that depend on his reliability and professionalism – traits he honed at Blue Ridge. Learning to connect with a wide variety of people whose backgrounds and experiences are different from his, opened him up to a greater appreciation and understanding of the world in which he lives.
Lee is a Blue Ridge School Alumni Class Agent and Co-Chair of the Baron Fund Advisory Council.
