The Sunnyvale Alumni Association has announced that Julie McFaul (SJH '89) will be the 2023 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. Julie will be recognized during homecoming week, where she will act as Grand Marshall of the Homecoming Parade on Sept. 16 and at half-time of the homecoming game on Sept. 22.
“Julie is the most intelligent person I know,” fellow alumnus Emily Tidwell White (SJH ‘89) said. “And while she has used her analytical skills to help better our country in many ways, it’s her heart for her family and friends that makes a true gift to the world.”
Julie graduated the valedictorian of Sunnyvale Junior High’s 1989 class and then attended Poteet High School, where she was also valedictorian. She graduated from Texas A&M University Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Computer Engineering and then worked for many years as a software engineer at the defense contracting company, Raytheon. She created, tested, and delivered software for a range of large scale distributed systems and single user desktop applications. She received a Technical Honor at the company which was voted on by her work peers.
Julie remembers her experiences as a junior high student at Sunnyvale Junior High.
“I believe the small community feel of the school coupled with excellent academics and athletics made me who I am today,” Julie said. “It was really nice to go to a school where everyone knew your name, even if they were not your teacher or in your class. The school provided a sense of belonging, and the friendships I made while there still carry through to this day.”
One of the highlights of Julie’s time at SJH was the 1987-88 volleyball season, coached by student favorite, Karen Holland.
“My favorite memory of my time at Sunnyvale is winning the Mesquite Volleyball Tournament in 1987,” she said. “This was the year they changed the rules and allowed only kids of that grade to compete as a team. Ms. Holland was fit to be tied about that rule change. There were only 6 seventh graders on the team to compete in our tournament. We won the whole thing when the odds were stacked against us. We showed that we could work as a team and overcome those challenges.”
Julie and her friends were part of SISD’s first Odyssey of the Mind competition, which was the predecessor of what is now Destination Imagination. Her team, lead by SISD retiree Joy Hounsel, won silver at the state championship.
“It was a competition that celebrated being smart and creative,” Julie said. “It showed that being smart could be cool. Especially when we won silver at the state level competition, it felt so good to come back home where our doors were decorated and everyone at the school was so proud of us. It reinforced to me that being smart, being who I was, was ok to be.”
Julie married the love of her life, Dallas Police Sergeant Nathan Foreman, in 2007. In 2015, they welcomed their daughter, Elizabeth. The family resides in Richardson. Julie has won many ribbons at the Texas State Fair for her artwork and needlework. She loves to read, play games, and make art.