Wall Of Fame MIKE SILVA Class of 1974
Michael Silva participated in many activities at MHS, lettering all three years in cross country, swimming and track, and was a member of the debate team, yet without the persistence of his high school counselor he might never have gone to West Point to become brigadier general Michael J. Silva in 2006. While at MHS, he applied for an ROTC scholarship to K-State. The KSU military science professor and Silva's MHS counselor then pushed him to send an application to West Point?where he was accepted. Silva credits a number of MHS teachers and coaches with helping guide his development, especially the importance of discipline and good fitness, of critical thinking, the willing to take on a new challenge. He graduated from West Point in 1978 and after seven years active duty, he transitioned to the U. S. Army Reserves.

He has held training, operations, senior staff and command positions, deployments to Afghanistan and Qatar and a tour in the Iraq Interagency Support Group in the Pentagon. In 1988, Silva was the inaugural recipient of the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award, and the engineer company he commanded in 1989 won the coveted Lt. Gen. Emerson Itschner Award as the best engineer company in the U.S. Army. He was awarded the Combat Action Badge, the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and many other medals for his service. Silva has an MBA from Furman-Clemson University and an MS in strategic studies from the U. S. Army War College. In 2006, he attained the rank of brigadier general in the Army Reserves.