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Dr. Maria Elayne DeSimone
Tracy Vicere
Glenn Weiss
The FHS Wall of Fame
Three new members of the Farmingdale community will soon grace the walls of Farmingdale High School’s Wall of Fame. The 2020 inductees are Dr. Maria Elayne DeSimone (Class of 1972), Tracy Vicere (Class of 1991), and Glenn Weiss (Class of 1979). The induction ceremony will be held on Monday, April 27th, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. at Farmingdale High School. All community members are welcome to attend.
Dr. Maria Elayne DeSimone is a clinical professor at Widener University School of Nursing in Pennsylvania. Her education includes a diploma from the New Rochelle Hospital School of Nursing, a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science from SUNY Stony Brook, and a Ph.D. from Adelphi University. Dr. DeSimone has been honored with numerous awards, including the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from SUNY Stony Brook, and the Yvonne C. Harmon Award from the School of Nursing. An early advocate for nurse practitioners, Dr. DeSimone co-founded the Nurse Practitioner Association of Long Island, and is a past president of both the Nurse Practitioner Association of New York and the American College of Clinicians. She currently serves on the editorial board for the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Reviews; is a Nurse Practitioner Board Chair for Clinician 1, a website for nurse practitioners and physician associates; and has been published in numerous journals and books. For over forty years, Dr. DeSimone has volunteered her time with various community groups, most recently the Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Delaware County and the Westchester Free Medical Clinic.
Ms. Tracy Vicere is a learning consultant at Woodward Parkway Elementary School. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and Psychology from Wagner College and a Master in Special Education from Long Island University. She began her tenure at Farmingdale School District in 2000 as a special education teacher in an integrated collaborative setting and in the school’s Resource Room—a place for students who struggle academically. In addition to her work in the classroom, Ms. Vicere has served as a co-moderator of the student council, shepherded the creation of a student-crafted memorial garden, planted in honor of a young Farmingdale student, and organized the Week of Thanks food drive, providing Thanksgiving dinners to families in need. A teenage bout with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma inspired her to found Friends and Angels: The Tracy Vicere Foundation Inc, a nonprofit set up to improve the quality of life of children battling cancer. Since 2011, her organization has raised over $150,000 to support patients receiving treatment at Cohen Children’s Medical Center. Ms. Vicere’s foundation also provides patients with hospital scrapbooks to document their journey, decorates the rooms of bone marrow transplant patients, and hosts movie nights and birthday parties.
Mr. Glenn Weiss is a producer/director of live television programming, most notably national awards shows. He attended SUNY New Paltz and the University of Maryland, where he majored in Radio, Television, and Film. He began his career in cable news, working in CNN’s Washington, DC., bureau, then spent fifteen years honing his craft on countless talk shows, game shows, etc., before entering the live variety genre. In 1999, Mr. Weiss co-formed a Manhattan-based production company called White Cherry Entertainment. In the decades that followed, he distinguished himself as a leading producer/director of live events and programming. Mr. Weiss has been nominated for and honored with many awards, including 14 Primetime Emmy Awards (37 nominations), 8 Directors Guild of America Awards, and a CableAce Award. His credits include 19 Tony Awards, 5 Academy Awards, 6 Kennedy Center Honors, the Primetime Emmy Awards, 3 Super Bowl Halftime shows, the Billboard Music Awards, the BET Awards, Peter Pan Live, and many years of Dick Clark’s New Year's Rockin’ Eve. During the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2018, Mr. Weiss made headlines by proposing to his long-time girlfriend, Jan Svendsen, during his acceptance speech. He is a frequent guest lecturer at various colleges, and credits his television class at Farmingdale High School with kick starting his career.
Farmingdale’s Wall of Fame was initially established to honor distinguished Farmingdale High School alumni, now serving as role models for the school community. Located in the FHS lobby, the Wall of Fame displays the plaques of all honorees from years past. Candidates for the Wall of Fame must have graduated from FHS at least ten years ago, and have demonstrated success in their chosen professions.