Facts and Figures at
Fifty
An Interim Report on the Status of the Alumni of The Wheatley School
June 24, 2007
Since opening its doors in the fall of 1956, The Wheatley School, in Old
Westbury, New York, has seen 50 graduating classes (1958 through 2007)
pass through its portals. In conjunction with our Alma Mater's 50th
Anniversary Celebration, held over the weekend of October 20 through 22,
2006, the following statistical portrait of its graduates has emerged
from (1) examining the Official Class Lists for those years, and (2)
surveying as many graduates as time and circumstances permitted.
Data Culled from The Wheatley School Official Class Lists, 1958 through
2006.
Approximately 7,866 people have attended The Wheatley School,
chronologically and alphabetically from Chris Abernethy, 1958, to
Deeba Zivari, 2007. The most common last names (all those 20 and over)
are as follows:
Cohen |
40
|
Weiss |
38
|
Levine |
34
|
Miller |
28 |
Schwartz |
26
|
Smith |
25 |
Goldstein |
21
|
Horowitz |
20
|
Lee |
20 |
Shapiro |
20
|
All six of the most common first names (all those over 120) are male:
Michael |
187 |
|
Robert |
180 |
|
Steven |
162 |
(Includes 98 "Stevens" and 64
"Stephens") |
David |
144
|
|
Richard |
132
|
|
John |
121
|
|
The six most common female names are as follows:
Susan |
117
|
|
Barbara |
83
|
|
Nancy |
62
|
|
Linda |
59
|
|
Jennifer |
56
|
|
Karen |
56
|
|
The Classes of 1967,
1971, 1984, and 2002 each have a David Shapiro, apparently the most
common single name.
The gender breakdown is as follows:
Males |
3,971
|
approx. 50.56% |
Females |
3,883
|
approx. 49.44% |
Based solely on the Official Class lists, without considering any
add-ons, the ten largest classes, reflecting the post-war baby boom,
spanned 1964 to 1975:
1967 |
251
|
1965 |
239
|
1970 |
221
|
1969 |
215
|
1966 |
214
|
1971 |
208
|
1964 |
207
|
1974 |
207 |
1975 |
207
|
1968 |
202
|
The smallest class, by a
considerable amount, was 1992, which had a mere 78 graduates.
Through 2006, twins comprised 188 (94 sets) out of 7,727 graduates, or
approximately 2.4%. The Class of 1973 had 16 twins (eight sets) out of
201 graduates, or approximately 8.0%! There was one set of triplets:
Andrew, Michael, and Matthew Lee of the Class of 2001.
Wheatley students lived in five distinct communities:
Albertson |
525
|
|
East Williston |
2,070
|
|
Mineola |
1,101 |
|
Old Westbury |
1,247
|
|
Roslyn Heights |
2,432 |
(Including East
Hills) |
|
Community
camaraderie was enhanced by the number of students who lived on
certain major streets:
|
Roselle St. |
MI |
258 |
Bengeyfield Dr. |
EW |
257
|
Brown St. |
MI |
205 |
Arlington St. |
MI |
185
|
I.U. Willets Rd. |
OW/RH/AL |
178 |
Parkway Dr. |
RH |
155
|
Charles St. |
MI/EW |
139 |
Westwood Ci. |
RH |
133
|
Bacon Rd. |
OW |
128 |
Shepherd Ln. |
RH |
127
|
Roslyn Rd. |
RH/AL/EW/MI |
122 |
|
Certain "all-American" names appear more than once:
|
Arbor Lane and Road in RH |
Carriage Drive in OW; Lane in RH |
Horseshoe Lane in RH; Road in OW |
Meadow Lane in EW; Road in OW |
Ridge Drive in OW; Road in EW |
Summit Avenue in EW; Lane in RH |
Tredwell Drive in OW; Road in MI |
Wheatley Avenue in EW; Road in OW |
|
EW
has an Orchard Drive and an Orchard Meadow Road. |
School Street is in EW, near the North Side School.
|
Schoolhouse Lane is in RH, near the Willets Road School.
|
Bacon Road, on which Wheatley is situated, is contributing
increasing numbers of students as more housing is developed
along its curves. |
Data Culled from the Survey Conducted Late 2006 and Early 2007
After an extensive search, greatly aided by approximately 100 Class
Captains, every graduate was assigned into one of the following six
categories:
Found |
4,511 |
- E-mail address
ascertained. |
Lost |
2,732 |
-
E-mail address not
ascertained. |
Low-Tech |
108 |
-
Does not use e-mail;
other contact information obtained. |
Refusenik |
93 |
-
Refused to address
inquiries and/or provide information. |
Incapacitated |
13 |
-
Debilitated or
jailed. |
Deceased |
269 |
-
Confirmed, to a
reasonable degree of certainty, as dead. |
As of this writing,
approximately 1,081 people responded to the survey. In many instances,
information was obtained from other sources.
Graduates are dispersed all around the country. The following states
have the largest contingents:
New York |
1,079
|
Florida |
191
|
California |
157
|
Massachusetts |
100 |
New Jersey |
100
|
Connecticut |
61 |
Virginia |
59 |
Maryland |
55
|
Pennsylvania |
44
|
Texas |
41
|
Colorado |
35
|
Arizona |
25
|
Dispersion around the
globe (and recognizing that those who opted for foreign climes were less
likely to be reached) was not nearly as pronounced:
United States |
2,329 |
Canada |
10
|
France |
9
|
England |
5
|
Italy |
5
|
Spain |
4
|
Germany |
3
|
India |
3 |
Puerto Rico |
3
|
China |
2
|
Israel |
2 |
Argentina |
1
|
Australia |
1 |
Belgium |
1
|
Ireland |
1
|
Norway |
1
|
Scotland |
1 |
Switzerland |
1
|
The Netherlands |
1
|
The foregoing results
are the more striking as a few of those on foreign soil may have been
one-year exchange students.
Surprisingly enough, the college that has graduated the most Wheatley
alumni (judging by the survey results, at least), is not in New York
State. A list of all of those in double digits is as follows:
U of
Pennsylvania |
41
|
|
Cornell |
39
|
|
Hofstra |
34 |
|
U of Michigan |
34
|
|
NYU |
33
|
|
Syracuse U |
26 |
|
SUNY Binghamton |
24 |
(recently renamed
Binghamton University) |
SUNY Buffalo |
22
|
|
Washington U |
20 |
|
Tufts |
19
|
|
CW Post |
17
|
|
Brown |
16
|
|
Yale |
16 |
|
Harvard |
14
|
|
NYIT |
14 |
(New York Institute
of Technology) |
SUNY Stony Brook |
14 |
|
Brandeis |
13
|
|
Columbia |
13
|
|
Adelphi |
12
|
|
Boston U |
12 |
|
Barnard |
10 |
|
MIT |
10
|
|
Graduate schools and
highest degrees obtained will have to await future iterations of this
survey.
But not so the major areas of matriculation (undergraduate and
graduate):
Law |
108
|
Business |
85
|
Education |
78
|
Medicine |
64 |
Psychology |
41
|
Economics |
27
|
Engineering |
26
|
Art |
18
|
English
Literature |
17
|
Social Work |
17
|
Communications |
15 |
Political
Science |
12
|
Accounting |
11
|
History |
11 |
Computers |
10 |
Not surprisingly, those
areas of study are reflected in the occupations and careers of the
responders:
Lawyer |
126
|
Teacher |
115
|
Doctor |
83
|
Business |
47
|
Entrepreneur |
42
|
Psychologist |
37 |
Sales |
36
|
Finance |
34
|
Computers |
33
|
Real Estate |
25 |
Marketing |
23 |
Accountant |
22
|
Writer |
21
|
Social Worker |
20
|
Engineer |
16
|
Banking |
15
|
Advertising |
14 |
Nurse |
13
|
Scientist |
10
|
Some of the more
unexpected or exotic vocations are air traffic controller, airline
pilot, blacksmith, customs agent, foreign service officer, organic
farmer, patent examiner, vintner, and free spirit.
Notes on Methodology
Data culled from the Official Class Lists is objective and complete.
Data culled from the survey, conducted from early November 2006 through
late February 2007 (and ongoing), is somewhat subjective and incomplete.
Who is found and who responds are subject to a large degree of
self-selection; the results are skewed towards people who are sociable;
nearby; and, perhaps, consider themselves socio-economically successful.
The survey was conducted via e-mail, skewing the results towards the
computer literate.
Interpreting whether a particular career should be considered as finance
or banking or business; or social work or psychology; or engineering or
science or computers; can be as arbitrary as formulating those
overlapping categories in the first place. Furthermore, the survey data
will evolve over time, especially for more recent graduates, but also
for a surprising number of older alumni as well, who are still "trying to
figure out what they want to be when they grow up" (a phrase recently
used by a Class of 1962 graduate). However, we have tried to find
everyone, listen to everyone, and present everyone as the facts dictate.
The Official Class Lists do not include the many people, probably over a
hundred, who went directly from junior year of high school to first year
of college. Whether such people officially graduated was subject to
administrative discretion and not always officially recorded. Presuming
that the reader is less concerned with meticulous accuracy than a broad
representation of the people who attended Wheatley, the survey includes
so-called add-ons, to wit, people who attended Wheatley (or even, in a
very few instances, one or both of its two East Williston School
District feeder schools, the North Side School and the Willets Road
School), but are not on the Lists.
The survey assumes the truth and accuracy of its responses; proof was
not required, and statements were not checked.
Conclusion
This is an interim report because students are still graduating;
graduates are still evolving; and data is still being collected. Thanks
go to the survey responders, the Class Captains, and Principals Walter
Wesley Wathey (1961-1979) and Rick Simon (1995-present). Feedback is
welcome at ARTENGORON@AOL.COM or 646-872-4833. Future Interim Reports will
appear periodically. If you have not already responded, please do so.
Wheatley Alumni Survey
1. From what college did you graduate (or are you attending)?
2. From what graduate school did you graduate (or are you attending)?
3. What college and/or graduate degrees do you have?
4. What was your primary area of study?
5. What was/is your career?
6. What state or foreign country do you call home?
7. What was your name at Wheatley (will be kept confidential)?
8. What year did you graduate from high school?
|