The Mepham Project - Alumni Interviews
Since the fall of 2009, seniors in the Gilder Lehrman elective Uncovering the Past have had the opportunity to study the history of Wellington C. Mepham High School. With the help of the W.C. Mepham High School Alumni Association, the students have had the opportunity to learn about their school by studying artifacts, resources and hearing the stories of those that walked the halls of Mepham High School before them.
Each year, our seniors have the opportunity to interview graduates of Mepham High School to learn about their experiences growing up in the Bellmore-Merrick community and attending Mepham High School. At each Alumni Meet and Greet, the student’s videotape their interview sessions in order to preserve the stories of the alumni for future generations.
The students often note that while Mepham has certainly changed over the years, there is one thing that has remained the same, the
immense Pirate pride shared by all who have walked its halls. Each fall, our seniors have an amazing time interacting with the alumni and hearing their stories. The students walked away from this experience with a newfound appreciation for the rich history of Mepham High School and all those who came before them.
This past fall, the students interviewed Maggie Hennessey (1945), Roy Probeyahn (1956), David Krinsky (1967), Carol Farina Kilgallin (1972), Karen Ponton (1983), Mepham Librarian, Shari Schneiderman Stack (1998), Mepham Special Education teacher, Anthony Augugliaro (2009).
For more information about the history of the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District and Wellington C. Mepham, please visit the Mepham Alumni Association site.
Mepham High School Through The YearsEach year, the students in our Gilder Lehrman elective Uncovering the Past, study old editions of our school newspaper The Buccaneer, look through old copies of our yearbook, The Treasure Chest, and study what life was like in Bellmore-Merrick since the creation of our Central High School District in 1934.
Construction of Mepham High School began in 1934 and the school officially opened its doors on September 8, 1937. 741 students enrolled at Mepham High School when the school opened. The first principal of Mepham was Sanford H. Calhoun. Over the next 80 years, thousands of students and faculty walked the halls of Mepham. Most notably, Thomas Kelly (1946) who invented the Lunar Module, Roone Arledge (1948), who created ABC's Wide World of Sports and Monday Night Football, and Amos Zeroue (1995) a two time Thorpe Award Winner and NFL Player. In Uncovering the Past, students study academic courses offered, student life from clubs to extracurricular activities and both local and world events that impacted the lives of the students attending Mepham High School. In honor of the school's 75th and 80th Anniversary celebrations in 2012 and 2017, the students in Uncovering the Past created museum exhibits to highlight each decade that Mepham High School has been open for. |