After graduating from TK, Schipper graduated from Hope College in 1985 and Ohio State University of Law School in 1988. He worked as a Federal Prosecutor for 20 years from 1990-2010 before he became a Barry County Judge in 2011. He has received regional awards from the Department of Agriculture; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Post Office and IRS. He also received recognition for prosecuting the 2005 West Michigan Case of the Year award and has a 1994 personal letter of thanks from U.S Attorney General Janet Reno.
His community involvement includes serving on the Barry County YMCA board, United Way Board of Directors and chairing two TK Bond campaigns. He served on the Thornapple Township Board of Zoning Appeals for six years.
He speaks at Page Elementary Career days, and middle school and high school government and leadership activities. He has served as the judge at the TKHS mock accident scenario and regularly speaks to schools in the county about the trouble teens can get into with social media, drugs, and alcohol. He and his brother, Jim and his son, Isaac, have visited schools in the county to discuss diversity, racism and bullying.
At the college level, he shares his expertise in the legal field as an adjunct professor of business law at Davenport University and is a regular guest speaker at Hope College, Ferris State University and Kellogg Community College. He has also served as a mock trial instructor and guest judge for the Student Statesmanship Institute and Kent County Young Lawyers.
Outside of his expertise as a judge, he has been active as a swim and football team coach. He has served as the Hammerheads swim coach since 2009 to present and was the TK/Hastings/Delton boys’ varsity swim team coach from 2011-2019. He was a middle school football coach from 2004-2009.
TK Alumni Association members Jeana VanderMeulen, Howie Gragg and Brenda Kimmey Seifert present the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award to Schipper in front of the crowd at the homecoming game.
Past TKAA distinguished alumni include:
Class of 1950 Robert Wenger
Class of 1952 Walter Eavey
Class of 1954 Robert Bender
Class of 1955 Sharon Myers Schondelmayer
Class of 1957 Donald Williamson
Class of 1958 Donald Geukes
Class of 1960 Dr. James Gibson
Class of 1961 Janet Solomon Geukes
Class of 1966 Jody Helrigel Pratt
Class of 1969 Bill Rich
The TK Alumni Association annually awards a distinguished alumni award at homecoming and at the spring all-alumni banquet. This honor was created to honor and recognize TK Alumni who exemplify the values, the traditions and the success of Thornapple Kellogg High School. Those honored have made a difference in the lives of others and have gone above and beyond in their chosen fields. The first awards were presented in 2017.
If you have a candidate for this Distinguished Alumni Award, please seek out a TKAA Board member or go to www.tkschools.org and look under the Alumni tab to download a nomination form.