Local historian Chuck Langerman has highlighted the current professional statuses of three Cheltenham alumni:
Alex Bomstein (above left)
Bomstein, an attorney and a 2000 Cheltenham High School graduate, was recently named the Executive Director of Philadelphia’s Clean Air Council, Philadelphia’s oldest environmental non-profit dedicated to fighting for everyone’s right to breathe clean air.
Before transitioning to Executive Director, Bomstein ran the Council’s team of attorneys and law clerks which are active in litigation and the regulatory process.
He earned a degree in mathematics from Cornell University and a law degree from Columbia Law School. According to Langerman, he began his environmental advocacy work by joining the Student’s Environmental Awareness club at Cheltenham High School.
Don Silver (above middle)
Silver, a 1974 Cheltenham High School graduate, released his second book titled “Scorched”.
Scorched is a coming-of-age novel set in and around a Cheltenham-like suburb of Philadelphia in the mid-1970s. From its description on Amazon.com:
After his father dies suddenly and his family’s fortune takes a nosedive, Jonas Shore starts selling weed and pills to cool kids at his Philadelphia high school to support himself and his mother; that is, until his hustle catches up with him and he’s sent away to Lafayette Academy.
In this testosterone-fueled boarding school for fatherless boys, Jonas learns how to survive. He and his roommates form a tight unit, vowing to have each others’ backs for life, but their bond is tested after a brush with death threatens to rob them of their futures.
Two decades later, Jonas is balancing a family and several successful businesses when one of his old Lafayette pals shows up with ghosts from the past, threatening to destroy everything he’s built.
Silver has been a musician, talent scout for a record company, record producer, business person, and a consultant to CEOs. He has an MFA from Bennington College in Vermont.
His first novel, “Backward-Facing Man”, was described as “memorably offbeat” by the New York Times and “illuminating and entertaining” by the Pittsburg Tribune.
He now lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
Mark Wolpert (above right)
Wolpert, a 1980 Cheltenham High School graduate where he was a star football lineman and wrestler, is currently the Executive Director at the prestigious Maxwell Football Club, a position he has held since 2009.
Headquartered in Ambler, the Maxwell Football Club honors excellence at all levels of football. The Maxwell Award and the Heisman Trophy are the two most respected awards given annually to the top player in college football.
Yesterday the club announced it will be adding a new annual award to honor Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) by recognizing outstanding contributions from HBCU athletic departments, football programs or conferences.
The award will first be presented on March 14, 2025 during the 88th annual Maxwell Awards at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Wolpert graduated from West Chester University in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Education.
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