Monticello Schools Alumni

Wanted: Monticello High School graduates with a story to tell
The Monticello Central School District would like to share stories of success and triumph from its graduates with students, faculty, staff and the community.

If you are a graduate of Monticello High School (any year) and would like to tell us your story, please contact Wendy Levinson at wlevinson@k12mcsd.net.

Your story may be featured on this web site, so if you have digital photos, please send them along as well. Scroll down to read about other alumni.

Reunion News - Classmates wanted

(None at this time)

Alumni News - Where are they now?

Monticello High School Alumna Stephanie Blythe, Class of 1987, is skyrocketing as a singing sensation and named Vocalist of the Year MORE>>

Alumnus featured on billboard MHS Alumnus
Monticello alumnus Michael Martin is featured on a street banner on Broadway in downtown Manhattan.

Presently, he attends the Art Institute of NYC and is in his third quarter. He is involved with filming, as well as photography.

We are very proud of him and hope for his continued success.

1946 Graduate Significant to Feminist Movement
Sonia Pressman was born in Berlin, Germany, and came to the United States in 1934 with her family to escape the Holocaust. She settled in the Bronx, then Woodridge, then Monticello.

She graduated as valedictorian from Monticello High School in 1946. According to Sonia, while at Monticello High School, she had a number of excellent teachers, one of whom taught her Latin. Although she already spoke German, Yiddish, Flemish and English, she left the class with a lifelong love of language – that which ultimately shaped her career and influenced the direction of her life.

“I’ve been a lawyer and I am a writer and public speaker,” said Sonia. “Everything I’ve done has been built on my ability with language.”

While in high school, she had no real idea what she wanted to do with her life and she did not plan on attending college. Two classmates and one of her teachers got her interested in pursuing higher education. Later that year, she won two scholarships and enrolled at Cornell University - though she still had no idea what she wanted to be.

While at Cornell, she studied languages, psychology, business and public administration and eventually graduated Phi Beta Kappa. With all her knowledge, she still found it difficult to get a job. She entered the retail industry and later worked as a secretary.

After a few years in the working world, she felt as if she was “going nowhere fast,” so she enrolled in the University of Miami School of Law. She graduated summa cum laude and Sonia Pressman Fuentes went to Washington, DC, to begin work as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. During her 23 years as a lawyer with the federal government, she worked as a labor law attorney, with specializations in civil rights and women’s rights, was the first woman lawyer in the Office of the General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and was one of the founders of the National Organization for Women (NOW). She also spent 11 years as an attorney and executive with two multinational corporations. In her free time, she traveled around the world giving talks on the women’s rights revolution for the then-U.S. Information Agency.

After retiring from the federal government in 1993, she began her new careers as a writer and public speaker. When asked about her journey from the doors of Monticello High School, Sonia wanted to share some of the most important things she has learned:

“Life can be exciting and bring you your heart’s desire if you persevere. I wasn't particularly happy with the person I was in high school. That was the person I was born and raised as-but thereafter, I created the person I have become. I don't believe I did this consciously, but, nonetheless, I did it. You can recreate yourself as the person you want to be.”

For more information about Sonia’s memoir, “Eat First-You Don't Know What They'll Give You, The Adventures of an Immigrant Family and Their Feminist Daughter,” visit www.erraticimpact.com/fuentes

Click here to read the coverage of this story by The River Reporter.

On Friday, Oct. 24, 2008, Andre Duncan a Monticello High School Class of 1994 graduate was inducted into the SUNY Albany Athletic Hall of Fame.

After graduating from Monticello High School, Andre went on to SUNY Albany, where he played basketball. He is currently a teacher in NYC and is working on his Masters Degree in Health and Physical Education at Columbia University.

MHS Alumna Monticello High School alumna Gabriela Medina is excelling in her tennis game at SUNY Cortland, where she now attends. Recently, she defeated the top seed at sixth singles in the semifinals before falling to the second seed in the championship match.
Click here for the full story.

Monticello High School alumnus Andrew Trombley, receives prestigious grant
Monticello High School graduate Andrew Trombley has received a grant to participate in the 2008 Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. Every year, an international youth orchestra is formed by the Orchestral Academy: After a competitive world wide audition process, young musicians are given the opportunity to study and perform great works from the orchestral literature with famous conductors. The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival is a seven week term of study with concerts are held in Hamburg, Kiel and Lübeck. This summer the Festival Orchestra will be giving a concert at the young, euro, classic festival in Berlin under the baton of Heinrich Schiff.

Andrew has also been invited to participate in the Festival Orchestra 2008 tour. The orchestra will rehearse an extensive program of music in Salzau, which it will then perform in eight concerts, with St. Petersburg among the venues.

All the members of the 2008 Orchestral Academy will be invited to take part in a tour of Germany with the Festival Orchestra in June 2009, led by Christoph Eschenbach.

Andrew is a 2006 graduate of Monticello High School. He began his study of the double bass under Mrs. Nancy Wegrzyn in the Monticello Central School District. Andrew advanced his studies in The Monticello High School Resident Artist Program with the Weekend of Chamber Music, with his mentor Kurt Muroki. Andrew is presently a junior at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Timothy Cobb, principal bassist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Monticello graduate becomes award-winning chef
Monticello High School alumnus Alan Lazar, Class of 1971, has gone on to make a scrumptious name for himself as a professional chef. Alan got the taste for fine foods while working at the Concord Hotel during his junior and senior years of high school.

After graduation, he continued his education and obtained his Bachelors degree at Monmouth College in New Jersey, while working at Lazars Kosher Meats & Poultry in South Fallsburg. From there he began his trek south working as a manager at a chicken farm in Maryland and then as a USDA Meat Certification Specialist in Miami, Florida.

Presently, Alan resides in Coral Springs, Florida and is employed as an instructor at the Johnson & Wales University in North Miami where he teaches the techniques of meat cutting.

Alan has been very active in the American Culinary Federation, and is currently serving as their vice president and student chapter advisor. Some of the awards he’s received are as follows: Albertsons Founder Day Award; Sea-pak Best of Show - Culinary; Taste of the Nation; ACF Greater Miami Achievement Award; Boca Latkemania - Best Latkes; Chef of the Year - Greater Miami Chapter ACF and the Faculty Vollrath Award.

A sad loss of one of Monticello's own
Steven “Pudge” Meyer, 48, an attorney with the Erie County DA’s office, passed away on Steven Meyer November 17, 2007. He was an outstanding student and 1977 graduate of Monticello High School where he was also a standout tennis player.

Steve went on to SUNY Binghamton and attended law school at the University of Buffalo. He is survived by his wife, Sheryl; daughter, Gabrielle; father, Raymond of Monticello; sister, Barbara; and brother, Danny, both of whom also graduated from Monticello High School in the 1970’s.

“Pudge” was an active member of the Monti High Interact Club and worked locally at the Raleigh Hotel for many years during and after high school. He will always be remembered by those who knew him as a loyal friend, loving husband, father, son and brother, as well as possessing the best sense of humor and infectious laugh.

Donations in Steve’s memory can be sent to the Make A Wish Foundation.

Monticello High School alumnae create historical paintings for Sullivan County Museum
The Sullivan County Museum just received a shot in the arm from two homegrown artists. Eight towering murals reflecting Sullivan County's history have replaced boarded up window panes in the front and on the right side of the former Hurleyville school building on Frances Currey Boulevard. After months of labor, Monticello High School graduates Laurie Kilgore and Tobi Magnetico completed the works using watercolor paints in their artist lofts in Monticello.

Click here for the full story by Nathan Mayberg, courtesy the TH-R

1979 graduate dedicating her life to fighting cancer
After losing her husband and father to cancer, Monticello High School graduate Carolyn Halbert is on a "personal mission to help others with the prevention and control of this set of diseases." Carolyn currently works as the Statistical Analysis Coordinator for the Virginia Cancer Registry. Some of her work consists of analyzing and presenting data and creating reports for researchers, legislators and community members.

Recently, she was a presenter at the North American Central Cancer Registry Association international conference where she gave a report on cancer incidence in Appalachian Virginia.

According to Carolyn, "The work of such central cancer registries has been influential in legislation and funding for the increased use of mammograms and colonoscopies to prevent and detect colon and breast cancers earlier, which of course results in better outcomes and quality of life for survivors."

Carolyn decided to change careers and enter the cancer field after spending 15 years as a Speech Language Pathologist, who specialized in voice and swallowing disorders in stroke and head injury patients.

Ten years ago, she founded the David Goy Memorial Fund, a non-profit corporation which help funds a school for literacy and self advocacy in Haiti.

Presently, Carolyn lives with her two dachshunds, one of which is a Hurricane Katrina rescue. And, she has never given up her love for music and singing. She currently sings for the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and the Richmond Symphony.

"It is good to hear about Bethel Woods and that live, performed music in the Catskills is alive and well," stated Carolyn.

Academy of Finance alumnus gives back to Monticello
At Monticello High School, teacher and Academy of Finance founder/director Wendy Levenson and her former student, Joel Blum, have come full circle together. Blum, Class of 2000, was in Levenson's first Academy of Finance. Recently, he presented Levenson with a grant of $3,000 on behalf of his employer, Citi Smith Barney, where he is a financial adviser and guided portfolio manager.

The Academy of Finance is a symbiotic relationship among schools, students and corporate America.

Business owners offer internships and donations and serve as guest speakers and role models. In exchange, they get more skilled interns, and a higher caliber of job applicants when AOF students graduate from college.

Monticello students with an interest in business and finance get consistent exposure to specialized business knowledge and best practices, access to college level courses and value-added items for their college and job resumes.

The schools get donations, like the one Blum presented, toward the cost of tuition for college-level finance courses that students can take while still in high school. The school also gets a renewable resource of AOF graduates, like Blum, who keep the cycle going.

"We couldn't have applied for this grant without a Citi group employee," Levinson said.

The businesses, schools and students also get bragging rights; nationwide, AOF participants are eight times more likely to have paid summer internships and twice as likely to take college level courses while in high school; 92 percent graduate and 80 percent go on to college, according to Blum.

- Story and photo by Melissa Rennie, reprinted courtesy of the Times Herald-Record May 09, 2007 -

Monticello graduate inducted into college Athletic Hall of Fame for basketball
In October 2006, Sheryl Ferguson Nichols, a 1994 Monticello graduate, visited with RJK Middle School Principal Deborah Wood, and shared her experiences since leaving high school.

At SUNY Oneonta, Ms. Nichols was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame for basketball for being the first woman in the school’s history to score 1,000 points. She still holds the record for the most leading points (1,449) scored for both men and women. Also, she was the assists leader, the steals leader, and in 1998 she was named Player of the Year in the SUNYAC Conference and SUNY Oneonta Athlete of the Year when Oneonta had an NCAA bid for the first time in the school’s history.

Sheryl is now living in Orlando, Florida, where she is a college admissions counselor. She is married to Marcus Nichols.

Class of '86 held Bone Marrow Registration Drive to honor Erik Rosen
The Monticello High School Class of 1986 hosted a bone marrow registration drive July 15 in conjunction with the Class of '86's 20th reunion celebration. The drive was held in support of classmate Erik Rosen who's battling Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Erik will be undergoing a bone marrow transplant. While Erik does not currently need a bone marrow donor, the Class of '86 organized the registration drive to its support for Erik.

There are thousands of children and adults diagnosed each year with diseases that call for a bone marrow transplant as a potential cure. Only a fraction of patients are able to find compatible donors in their families. The remaining patients turn to the national registry to find potential matches. Joining the registry is easier than donating blood-only a finger stick is needed. The cost for processing each sample is $65. For more information see http://www.marrow.org/DONOR/abcs_of_donation.html.

Alternatively, checks can be made in the name of Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and can be sent directly to: L&LS, Donor Services, P.O. Box 4072, Pittsfield, MA, 01202 or online at www.leukemia-lymphoma.org.

The Class of '86 thanks you for your support of Erik and the thousands of others suffering from cancer.

Alumnus wins Emmy for broadcasting
Alex Cabrero, a Monticello alumnus, was awarded a national Emmy for his work as a television news reporter. Cabrero won a regional Emmy while working in Nashville, Tenn., and was entered into the national contest, where he was declared a winner. Cabrero won in the category of best local news reporter in spot news. He is now a reporter for KSL-5, the NBC News affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Alumni John DeGroat playing basketball at Pittsburgh
As a senior at Monticello High School, DeGroat was a 6-foot-5 low-post player and a low-level Division I prospect. But the dream of making it big is beginning to happen.

"I never imagined this would all happen," said DeGroat.

The Monticello graduate joined the University of Pittsburgh's nationally-ranked program in the 2004-05 season. DeGroat chose Pitt after being courted by such national schools as Oklahoma, St. Johns, Oregon and Gonzaga, all of which had offered scholarships.

To read the entire story, click here!

Stephanie Blythe, Class of 1987, appears at the Metropolitan Opera
From Monticello High School's humble theatre, where she was the lead in "Annie Get Your Gun" in 1987, to the role of noble Jocasta in Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, Stephanie Blythe has certainly come a long way.