The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 206

No Ed Ouchi, No Wheatley Football.....but more Mock Trial, Fencing, Memories, personal stories, and. photos.

Mock Trial Tournament - NY State Finals - Wheatley Comes in Fourth Place - Wait’ll Next Year!

Nottingham High School Wins 2025 New York State Bar Association Mock Trial Competition

5.20.2025

Nottingham High School Mock Trial Team with Justice Eddie J. McShan.

In a close final, Syracuse’s Nottingham High School beat New York City’s Hunter College High School to win the New York State Bar Association Mock Trial Competition.

Teams faced off in the fictional civil case, Leyton Manns vs. Sandy Townes, in which school Superintendent Leyton Manns accused student Sandy Townes of creating AI-generated content to derail the superintendent’s career and state Senate campaign. This was supposedly in retaliation for the superintendent cutting funding for the high school’s Computer Science Club. Nottingham High School represented the plaintiff while Hunter College High School took the side of the defense.

The final match was held at the James T. Foley Federal Courthouse in Albany, with Justice Eddie J. McShan of the Appellate Division, Third Department, presiding.

“I run a mock trial program for junior high school students, and I hope they perform when they get to the high school level as excellent as you did today,” Justice McShan said after the trial concluded. “You made my job so very difficult determining whether or not Sandy Townes was liable.”

Justice McShan praised how professional both teams were, how the witnesses performed, and how the attorneys responded and reacted in real time. He congratulated them all on “a job very well done,” noting that he hopes to see them in courtrooms in the future.

Nottingham High School erupted into cheers, hugs and happy tears when Justice McShan handed down the verdict.

“This year was supposed to be a rebuilding year, and I thought we were going to be out in January,” said senior Henry Zhe-Heimerman, who delivered the closing argument. “To see how far everybody’s progressed, to win the state championship, to do the best that we could possibly do – it means so much. I cannot express how happy I am for all of us.”

The team also made sure to praise their faculty adviser, Don Little, public speaking coach Dick Heimerman, and legal advisers Ed Luban and Peggy Conan. “Without them, we would have lost in our first round,” said senior Alex Minta. “We would not be anywhere within a hundred miles of Albany without them.”

“This has just been a wonderful experience,” said sophomore Sam Lockwood, who was an attorney in the final. “Everyone is incredibly supportive, and we’ve all got each other’s back. We all bought in at the right time, and clearly that worked out for us.”

The statewide Mock Trial program and tournament is sponsored by the New York State Bar Association and funded in part by a grant from The New York Bar Foundation. It brings thousands of high school students together each year to learn about the law, practice public speaking and develop life skills. The state tournament with eight regional teams takes place in Albany each May.

Nottingham High School’s Mock Trial team after their victory.

Wheatley Fencing - More Lore

Steven Amerikaner (1965) Writes - “Art: Here's a little story to add to the Wheatley lore about fencing.

For my Bar Mitzvah in 1960, someone gave me a $100 gift certificate to Abercrombie & Fitch, which at the time was a fancy-ish sporting goods store. I wandered around the store until I spotted fencing gear on the wall -- a foil, mask and jacket. With visions of Zorro in my head, I used my $100. I tried out for the Wheatley fencing team, and made the cut (in truth, there wasn't a lot of student demand for spots on the team in that year). I fenced on the varsity for three years. When it came time to apply to colleges, I took a shot at Harvard, figuring that they might give me some credit for my fencing experience (which I needed because there were other seniors with stronger academic records). It worked, and for 56 years my Harvard College degree has fueled my imposter syndrome (i.e., people give me way more intellectual credit than I deserve or earn). The recently published stories about Wheatley fencing have resonated with me. Thank you.”

1970s Fencers Having Fun

First Row - L-R - Ruth Rotholz (1974), Rachel Friis (1974), Robert Kalb (1974), Susan Rotholz (1975)

Second Row - Mark Mason (1976), Michael Aranoff (1976), Steven Schneider (1975), Jonathan Abby (1975), Bernard “Bernie” Hintz (faculty-coach)

Third Row - Steven Solow (1976), Timothy Clarke (1973), William Wolff (1974)

Susan Rotholz (1975) Writes - “Hi Art, Speaking of the Fencing Team!……ours had three musicians in it (Ruthy Rotholz, oboe; Rachel Friis, harpsichord; and Susie Rotholz, flute) because it was the one sport in which you can protect your hands and mouth! Gloves, Mask, Protective body suit ! We had so much fun on this team! Liza Goldstein (1974) was also on the team (a clarinetist!) but somehow was not in this photograph. Several of us are still musicians: Ruthy is studying cello, Rachel plays the cello, and I’m still playing the flute! I haven’t picked up a foil in 50 years! (There’s a joke in there somewhere!)”

Tim Clarke (1973) Writes - “I took up fencing at Wheatley because I was denied a Track Team uniform, "because my hair was too long." After Wheatley, I fenced epee at Pratt Institute. I took lessons from Georgio Santelli in NYC. In my freshmen year at Pratt, I fenced against George Mason, the National Champion, and I was one touch away from beating him. Thank goodness, I had no idea who he was at the time. Everyone congratulated me after the match. My response was, "Why, I lost?" Then I found out who George was.

I fenced in the collegiate nationals in my junior year at Pratt, having gone undefeated in the tristate area in nine matches. I stopped fencing when I moved to Connecticut, as I could not find anyone at my level.

I have since gone on to play volleyball and won a state championship with my team from Ridgefield CT in “55 and over.”

I have been an avid Kayaker and won a 5,000 meter race on the Hudson in 2000 at age 65, competing against 20- and 30-year-olds. I have always loved sports, and I am still kayaking long distances, such as 115 miles from Key Largo to Key West.

I was never musical, yet I was an artist of paint, sculpture, puppets and toys. I worked for Jim Henson creating puppets for Sesame Street, Muppet show, Dark Crystal and Fraggle Rock. Since then, I have been designing toys for Mattel, Hasbro, Coleco, and Melissa and Doug.

I have been a very lucky working artist for over 50 years, in part due to my great teachers at Wheatley, including Gerry Friedberg Pagliaro, Stewart Doig, and Merle Levine.

Regards,

Tim Clarke

Robert Gordon Kalb (1974) Writes - “Tim Clarke was a beautiful and graceful fencer. He was also mysterious, as if connected to some kind of higher being. The young women were all very attractive and musical. I apparently missed my haircut appointment.

None of us were particularly skilled. Nevertheless, we were swashbucklers and enjoyed it! We had a number of matches home and away, and I do not think we ever won! Around this time, there was a ‘Fencing Night’ club that met a few times a month in the Willets Road School. Each person got a chance to practice against a high-end fencer (who I believe was Eastern European and was a coach at Columbia). I do not know how this guy got to Roslyn Heights. At one point, I was thinking of trying to get into Columbia on a fencing scholarship, but that fantasy never played out. Ruth Rotholz and I both ended up at Wesleyan, but we ran with. different crowds – my loss.”

Graduates

Fine and Practical Arts Program - June 7, 1957

Foreign Student Exchange Fund Benefit

Music - Color - Design

Peter Calderon (1961) Writes - “Many of my classmates are there by name. I had a crush on several of the girls: Carole Goetsch (with whom I danced to Elvis’ Blue Suede Shoes); Amy Gettinger, Nancy Kurshan (who made my Wheatley year when she invited me to our Sadie Hawkins dance); Judy Schaffel, Paula Ross, Jeanne Messing, and Nancy Simmons. What a crowd?! And I almost forgot Marcia Podell. Marcia was not timid. She was the first girl I ever kissed. Must have been in 1957. And I also spot my sister, Phyllis, Class of 1962.

Nancy Simmons was very pretty and reserved. She lived in East Williston, and I was always excited to be next to her in my Mom’s car. I heard some years ago that she wanted nothing to do with Wheatley. Apparently, she married some high end Frenchman and lives the vie de chateau in France. Perhaps my little palais in Nîmes would impress her enough to acknowledge her roots.

In the Spring of 1957, most of us were not yet 14. We had just finished 8th grade. It was Wheatley’s first year on Bacon Road. My class entered in the 7th grade, making us the first class to matriculate from the beginning.

My Wheatley flashback began when I rummaged through aging cardboard boxes in my garage and found Wheatley memorabilia, including reports in Spanish written for Mrs. Schmerzler. I wonder what she would think to learn that her 1st-year Spanish student now has Spanish nationality. Also discovered were letters written home — my father never threw anything away — during those impressionable years of our lives, and photographs of my lovely girlfriends. I noted that in the photo of Carol and me with Principal Boyan, our resident jock, Mr. Jack “Cat” Davis, can be spotted in the background. The event must have been an assembly to recognize Wheatley sports. I don’t recall how our illustrious football team performed that year. However, I recall playing the tuba in the band, as we performed during home games. I also recall my good friend Michael Harvey breaking tackles as the team marched downfield.” [[[Editor’s Note - No, you are not going crazy or blind. Jack “Cat” Davis’s recognizable visage is partially visible between Principal Norman Boyan and fencer Carol Abby.]]]

1967 and 1969 - Stephen Prestigiacomo and Rhoda Garfinkel - Precocious Progeny

Rhoda Writes - “Sam Presti, son of Rhoda Garfinkel (1969) and Steve Presti (1967), is the General Manager of The Oklahoma City Thunder National Basketball Association team. He was voted the 2024-2025 NBA Executive of the Year. He is also being inducted into The Oklahoma Hall of Fame this coming November.

1964 and 1967 - Jesse Samberg and Art Engoron - Leisurely Lunch

Front Row - L-R - Jesse Samberg (1964) and Art Engoron (1967)

Back Row - Court Staff

L-R - Jessie and Art

1969 - Robin Brinn - “At Wheatley, I wrote papers on Hieronymous Bosch for Mr. Seiderman and on James Joyce’s Dubliners for Miss Blankenship (see photo). I can’t believe I used to type on that thin onion skin paper!

The choice of Dubliners is ironic, because since I moved to NYC from Closter, New Jersey in 2009, my social life in part has revolved around being a member of the Irish community. For a time, I was an Irish step dancer (certainly not Riverdance quality), and I have been an active member of all things Irish since then - Irish Arts Center, Irish Business Organization, Irish Repertory Theater, Irish Historical Society, and I have many Irish friends in the arts community. I march every year in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, too, and it’s a blast.

(‘IBO’ stands for Irish Business Organization)

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Liam Neeson many times, as well as Gabriel Byrne and many Irish musicians, both here and in Ireland, where I’ve visited often. Martin Hayes, a very well-known fiddler, is a friend.

Funny story - the first time I met Liam Neeson

I said, ‘Wow, this is the highlight of my life,’ and he responded, “That’s very sad”. Now when he sees me, he says, ‘Here comes trouble.’ When Gabriel Byrne was playing here in Long Days Journey into Night, I met him backstage and gave him a box of Barry’s Irish tea, because the theater was freezing! He said that my last name was a derivation of his, and we could be related - I wish! I love the Irish so much that I once spread out on a blood donation truck in Ireland jokingly asking them to give me some Irish blood, but I’m Jewish through and through, dubbed ‘honorary Irish’ by my friends.

I worked in New York City for decades at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services and retired in 2017, at which point I was overseeing our huge outpatient mental health clinic in midtown, with over 1,200 patients, and managing our NYC programs, including a Day Treatment Center and 10 school satellite clinics offering mental health services and more in NYC public schools. I’m very proud of the not-for-profit work I’ve done in mental health. I led the first partnership with Gay Men’s Health Crisis offering mental health services to AIDS patients when the AIDS crisis began. The work was heartbreaking, as all of our clients ultimately died back in the days before antivirals. I also was the lead partner with the Red Cross for our agency, offering mental health services after 9/11, and I spent many hours at the pier counseling families and escorting them down to the 9/11 site. One of my most powerful memories is going on Red Cross boats staffed by mental health professionals, therapy dogs, and Red Cross workers down to the wreckage. Each person had one family member to escort who carried a bouquet of flowers and a teddy bear. As each family disembarked, all the rescue workers stopped digging through the rubble and lined up to salute the families who put their flowers and a teddy bears on a huge rubble pile. Those were dark days, but so meaningful to me in my career. My office helped thousand of children, adults, and families suffering from drug addiction, homelessness, and all varieties of mental health disorders. Before my retirement, I worked on a grant with On Track NY and instituted a program run through my office helping young adults with first break schizophrenia manage to stay out of a life of hospitalization and return to work or school.

Closter is history, and soon NYC will be too, although I will definitely visit often. Always working in midtown, I moved to West 60th Street in 2009, across from Fordham and steps from Lincoln Center. I love it here. I adore the opera and ballet, NYC theater, Central Park, museums - everything the city has to offer. I love traveling and recently returned from Botswana, my second trip to Africa on safari, experiencing amazing birding and seeing ‘The Big Five’ (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and African buffalo) and hundreds of other animals in their natural habitat.

I also live in Annapolis, Maryland with my “spousal equivalent,” whom I met at Cornell as a fellow Deadhead and yes, Ned Lagin (1966) is well-known to us from back in the day when he played some tunes with the band and was featured on several Dead podcasts, but I didn’t realize he went to Wheatley. Annapolis is a super cool town, full of musicians and retired hippies (it’s not just the Naval Academy) and being there part-time is a joy. It’s charming and quaint, with great crabs and food and a fabulous place to have fun! What a cool vibe in this gorgeous small sailing capital on Chesapeake Bay. I have many friends, young and old, including many musician friends younger than my children. Which leads to, ‘Why would anyone move to Chicago?’

Well, I’m fit and healthy, but my son urged me to move there to be near my grandchildren, who are four- and six-years-old, emphasizing the importance of being part of their growing up. As a renter in NYC, I felt that in my 70’s, being closer to family was the right thing to do, and I bought a three-bedroom condo with all my windows overlooking Lake Michigan. I poignantly, and somewhat reluctantly, realized that at this stage of life, family matters more than do Broadway shows.

My apartment in NYC is very small, but I live on the 44th floor, and my views of the Hudson River, Lincoln Center and beyond are all spectacular; I will miss that as well as my New York City life. Chicago has a reputation for being a great city with great food and culture, but it’s not NYC, and my biggest peeve about Chicago right now is not being able to buy a banana on the street from a fruit vendor - they don’t have that there!”

Wildcat Musician Performing in Concert

On Friday, June 6, 2025, at 8 pm, Takemi Ueno (Class of 1983) will perform with the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Space (Broadway and West 95th Street) in Manhattan. The program consists of Carl Maria von Weber’s Second Clarinet Concerto and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. You can get general admission tickets for $27 (instead of the usual $32) at the orchestra’s website (nasorch.org). If you are a student or senior, you can get tickets for $25 at Symphony Space’s box office.

Fan Mail

1963 (Mark Friedman) - “I appreciate all the effort and your results in keeping the Wheatley alumni so connected ….. wonderful camaraderie.”

1972 (Judith Oppenheim Darrah) - “Thanks, Art, for another great Newsletter. The stories about multiples and fencing were so interesting. Wheatley excellence!”

1975 (Steve Schneider) - “Thanks for all your great work on the Newsletter. You are doing a wonderful job.”

1975 (Robert Wechter) - “As always, I enjoyed today's Newsletter.”

1976 (Steven Struhl) - “I love the Newsletter.”

The Official Notices

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The Usual Words of Wisdom

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We welcome any and all text and photos relevant to The Wheatley School, 11 Bacon Road, Old Westbury, NY 11568, and the people who administered, taught, worked, and/or studied there. Art Engoron, Class of 1967

Closing

That’s it for The Wheatley School Alumni Association Newsletter # 206. Please send me your autobiography before someone else sends me your obituary.

Art

Arthur Fredericks Engoron, Class of 1967

ARTENGORON@GMAIL.COM

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