Dr. Zachary Shore, a 1986 graduate of Cheltenham High School, is afflicted with uveitis, a condition that creates chronic inflammation inside the eye, resulting in gradual vision loss during the teenage years. He began his tentative blindness training while still in high school and a more rigorous version as an adult.

Currently a tenured professor of History at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, he has lectured and researched all over the world, authored six books, earned a doctorate in modern history at Oxford University and performed postdoctoral research at Harvard.

Through his company UpWords, he provides services as a writing coach to authors, professionals, and students.

He was interviewed last month by The Diplomat in an article titled “US Foreign Policy: Between Revenge and Mercy: Insights from Prof. Zachary Shore.” An excerpt:

Explain the essence of “America’s struggle between vengeance and virtue” throughout U.S. history. 

Americans have often declared, “This is not who we are,” whenever their government has acted in unethical or appalling ways. We heard this cry after the murder of George Floyd. We heard it when the government separated migrant children from their parents at the southern border. We’ve heard Presidents Biden, Trump, and others proclaim it, when they felt the country should be different. President Obama uttered the phrase at least 46 times. 

What they are really saying, of course, is that this is not who we want to be.

According to local historian Chuck Langerman, Dr. Shore was a Student Council representative at Cheltenham High School, a member of the bowling and chess teams, and a recipient of a CHS Alumni Association scholarship in 1986.

For more on Dr. Shore, you can visit his website. You can also watch this Youtube video of a 2014 speech courtesy of the Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired:

For all the latest news, follow us on Facebook or sign up for Glenside Local’s “Daily Buzz” newsletter here.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Shore’s website