Bexley City Schools honored its late alum, Lieutenant Steven Zilberman on May 13, with members of the Zilberman family joining school administrators, staffers and students to dedicate a memorial plaque located just outside Bexley High School’s Schottenstein Theater. 

In future years, the Lieutenant Steven Zilberman Armed Service Award will be inscribed with the names of Bexley High School students who enlist in the armed forces upon graduation.

The plane of Navy pilot, Lieutenant Zilberman went down in the North Arabian Sea on Mar 31, 2010 during a mission supporting operations in Afghanistan, according to Military Times.  When the plane experienced mechanical malfunction, Lieutenant Zilberman ordered his three crew members to bail.  They survived without significant injuries while he lost his life.

A United States Naval Reserve color guard from Rickenbacker Air National Guard facility assisted with the ceremony, presenting the memorial plaque to the school district.  Zilberman family friend, Marilyn Rofsky and BHS faculty member Mike Nolan spoke about the young man they had known.  

"Like you, he would slam the door to his locker and race out of school at the end of the day.  Like you, he wondered whether he should ask his girlfriend to the prom," recounted Ms. Rofsky.  She encouraged the students to think about Steven Zilberman's life when they pass the newly dedicated plaque in the hallway, so that "Steven's light will never be extinguished." 

The memorial plaque bearing a likeness of the young lieutenant was unveiled by BHS students and armed services recruits, Tomer Lux and Marcellus Veneziano.  Family friend Cheri Papier read the lyrics to a song that she played on the flute for the hushed crowd.

Born in the Ukraine, Miroslav "Steven" Zilberman immigrated with his family to Ohio and graduated from Bexley High School in 1997. He enlisted in the Navy after high school, eventually earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.  His wife, Katrina and two young children survive. 

Bexley’s Principal of Secondary Schools, Harley Williams and school counselors developed a discussion guide for the occasion. Students viewed the ceremony and dedication in their homerooms via closed circuit television.  They discuss the event in terms of the themes of leadership, service and caring, using guides provided by the school’s Guidance Department and Lieutenant Zilberman’s biography. 

Bartha Visual donated its services to videotape and edit footage recorded during the ceremony and will provide DVD copies to the school and the Zilberman family.