Local historian Chuck Langerman has highlighted the current professional statuses of three Cheltenham High School alumni.
James White (above left)
White, a 1969 graduate and a La Mott native, is the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) in Camden, New Jersey.
The DRPA is a regional transportation agency that supervises the four bridges that cross the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey: the Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry and Betsy Ross Bridges. The agency also operates the high-speed line between South Jersey and Center City Philadelphia.
At Cheltenham, White was in the choir, on the chess team, and a member of the National Honor Society. After graduating, he matriculated at Swarthmore College where he majored in Economics.
Armond James (above middle)
James, Class of 1999 and an English teacher at South Philadelphia High School, was honored on Tuesday, May 21 with the annual Lindback Award for Distinguished Teachers.
The Philadelphia School District teachers honored James and 60 other educators for being at the top of their profession. Each receive $3,500 from the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation.
The winners were chosen from among the district’s roughly 9,000 teachers for their skill and dedication, for going the extra mile, and for creating lasting impressions on students.
James, a Temple University graduate and the first in his family to go to college, credits his Cheltenham education in making a big difference in his life.
Leigh Goldenberg (above right)
Goldenberg, Class of 2000 and Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater managing director, played a star role in the theater’s prestigious 2024 Regional Theatre Tony Award.
The Wilma is the first theater in Pennsylvania to receive the award, which recognizes “a regional theatre company that has displayed a continuous level of artistic achievement contributing to the growth of the theatre nationally,” according to a statement from the Tony awards administration committee.
The honor comes with a grant of $25,000.
Founded in 1973 as an avant-garde theater project committed to local actors, the Wilma is renowned for its experimental, boundary-pushing work. This Tony Award is among the few announced before the ceremony, which will take place at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on June 16, with a live broadcast airing on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Goldenberg, who has been managing director of the Wilma since June 2020, holds a degree in Theatre Production and Management from Marymount Manhattan College.
At Cheltenham High, she was involved with the student-run drama club “Eastern Standard Theatre,” acted in the school’s mainstage fall play in 1999 and read the morning announcements her junior and senior years.
For all the latest news, follow us on Facebook or sign up for Glenside Local’s “Daily Buzz” newsletter here.