Submitted by Michael Loberfeld, member of SPFHS Alumni Association
On November 15, 2016, the public was deeply inspired by the stories of six Scotch Plains- Fanwood High School alumni who were inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.
Moria Cappio, class of 1998, is VP for Early Childhood Programs at the Children’s Aid Society in New York City, a nonprofit whose mission is to support children who are living in poverty go from cradle to college. She has also been involved with Sister Pat’s Camp for cancer for over twenty years.
Growing up, Cappio was very fond of the Adopt-a-Cop that visited her elementary school as part of the DARE program in the eighties. When she was Head Start director in East Harlem, in a neighborhood consisting of predominantly newly immigrated Mexican families, Cappio arranged for a police officer in uniform to read to young children with family members present. The parents and children were visibly uneasy the first time because they were not used to this, explained Cappio. But Cappio was able to turn it around. “That year as a community we did some incredible work around building positive relationships between the police and the immigrant community. We facilitated open dialogue, joint activities, we ate together, played together, all in the spirit of breaking down barriers to learn more about the other….I’m particularly proud of this example, because I think that it’s a good reminder of how important it is to have respectful conversations with people that are different, in order to gain understanding and to move forward”, Cappio articulates.
Because Cappio grew up in Scotch Plains, she feels it was always assumed that she would go to college. But for some of the kids that Cappio currently works with in the South Bronx, in the poorest Congressional district in the country, going to college is far from an absolute, Cappio points out. As part of Cappio’s “life of service”, she is committed “to work towards supporting others so that they might have access to all the incredible opportunities like the ones I had”. She works to empower children as well as their families.
“Very young my parents instilled in me and my two sisters the belief that we could do anything, and that they would always be there to support us and to love us” reflects Cappio. “When it came to going to college, my parents told us that as long as we took care of getting into the school, they would take care of the rest. At the time, I think the real power of that message was probably lost on me. But now looking back. I am in awe of my parents, for how they always prioritized our family, how they always helped us overcome any obstacle, and how they’ve always been beside us as we go after our dreams”.
Cynthia Sayer ’74, an international jazz banjoist who has performed at the White House and is a member of the National Four String Banjo Hall of Fame, was led into her career by chance. “When I saw the [SPFHS] Moonglowers, and I saw the drums swinging in the Jazz Band, I wanted a drum set. And that was a really big deal to me. I had a fight with my parents for two weeks, and they said ‘no’ ‘too loud’ ‘too much racket’, and I was very headstrong about it, and one day I came home from school and there was this banjo on my bed. I knew immediately it was a bribe, I knew immediately I would never get my drums, and I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll play this thing, you know, whatever’, and you know the strangest accidents lead to your life: The person you end up spending your life with, the things you end up doing for your life….I stumbled across this. It was really by accident”, Sayer marvels.
Michael Antal’s (’65) widow, Ann, wrote in a letter from Hawaii, about an early experience that showed Antal’s heart.. “Science was always Michael’s passion”, wrote Ann Antal. He told me that when he was in kindergarten the teacher had the boys and girls line up in separate lines to visit the lavatory. Michael was so excited and happy, but he had misunderstood. He thought the children were going to visit the laboratory. So you see, science was always in his blood”.
“The patent for which he was most proud of was for the flash carbonization process which produced high yields of charcoal…..Michael proved that charcoal can play a role in arresting global warming [by sequestering carbon dioxide and reducing the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere]. Charcoal is the renewable equivalent of coal, but unlike coal, charcoal has no mercury or sulfur so it is environmentally friendly”, wrote Antal.
Concluded Ann Antal, “Michael….was indeed a very fine human being with a cute sense of humor. He had a deep love for life, a sweet humbleness, and an intense love for humanity”.
Marc Shaiman ’74 was in London and unable to attend the ceremony, but delivered a taped video message to those in attendance. Community member, Skip Ungar’s late wife, Manya, first met Shaiman when Shaiman auditioned for a theater program at the age of ten. “He told her he wanted to play the piano for the musical. He then demonstrated his ability by putting his back to the piano and playing it”, remarked Skip Ungar. “He got the job”. Later on as a teenager, “Marc went to New York and while trying to get a job playing piano in a bar, he met some girls….They were working with a woman by the name of Bette Midler on Saturday Night Live TV show. Midler got him the job as a backup pianist on the show. When the regular pianist left, he got that job. When Midler and Rob Reiner decided to go to Los Angeles, they took Marc with them, and that is how he became involved with movies”, stated Ungar.
John Bernard Riley ’71 is an accomplished Grammy-winning jazz drummer, who has played drums since he was in fourth grade at Coles Elementary School. Riley in the last six months has had the honor and privilege of playing in eight countries throughout the world in addition to the United States, “playing concerts and discussing music with professionals and students in all of these environments”. Riley remarked that his music teachers in the district “gave me the foundation that allowed these things to happen”.
The late Dr. Christian Lambersten, class of ’34, who invented SCUBA (Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), was noted by his colleagues as having a very hands-on approach in training American commandos in how to use his invention during World War II. “He really did not have to go on these missions, but he did so”, pointed out Marie DiFrancesco Leppert, who had nominated Lambertsen. Early on, the Navy had shown little interest in Lambertsen’s invention. But Lambertsen did not give up, pitching his idea to the Office of Strategic Studies, which liked the idea and partnered with Lambertsen.
Cappio, in reflecting upon the inductees’ stories, articulated “I think tonight highlights that you never know where your influence is going to go…The impact of Scotch Plains- Fanwood High School has had a ripple effect that is constantly expanding”.
Dr. David Heisey, principal of SPFHS, praised the inductees, explaining, “We see you as a role model for our current and future students”.
To find information on all thirty members of the Hall of Fame, and to nominate an alumni you feel deserves to be in the Hall, please visit the Scotch Plains- Fanwood High School Alumni Association’s website at www.spfk12.org/alumni
