The South Huntington School District inducted three prominent alumni into the district’s Hall of Fame in 2025.  Thomas Franklin, Class of 1984, is a multimedia journalist and documentarian best known for his iconic photograph taken on September 11, 2001 of three firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero.  He is also an Associate Professor of Multimedia Journalism at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Chris Kort, Class of 1990 is a Board Certified Prosthetist/Orthotist, and founder of Prosthetics in Motion, a leading prosthetics and orthotics facility in New York City with a new location in Melville.  Nicholas Ciappetta, Class of 1997, is a successful attorney with the New York City Law Department, a former Town Attorney and former Deputy Town Supervisor for the Town of Huntington. He has been a member of the South Huntington Board of Education since 2004 and currently serves as the Board President.

 

The South Huntington Hall of Fame was established in 2009 to honor alumni who have made a significant impact in their chosen field, their community, and/or on society as a whole since their graduation from Walt Whitman High School.  New members are inducted every other year. Prospective candidates can be nominated by anyone, and are eligible once they have been a Whitman graduate for ten years.  Winners are voted on by members of the South Huntington Alumni Group.

 

Since its inaugural year, 57 accomplished men and women have been inducted into the district Hall of Fame.  Their photos grace the Wall of Fame in the main hallway (500 wing) of Walt Whitman High School just outside the Main Office, serving as an inspiration to hundreds of Whitman students who walk past the Wall of Fame every day.

 

Hall of Fame inductions connect the past with the present, underscoring the support our schools offer and influence our teachers have had on so many lives.  Hearing inductees’ stories of their time spent in South Huntington, especially their high school years at Walt Whitman, and all the lessons learned, often prove to be a happy, amusing, and emotional trip down memory lane. 

 

For Thomas Franklin, being back in South Huntington for the Hall of Fame ceremony during October’s Homecoming Weekend was a real homecoming for him.  He has lived in New Jersey for decades and, admittedly, had not been back to Long Island for a visit in quite a while.  Despite the “extra hour it took to get here through Long Island traffic,” Franklin said it was wonderful to be back, to remember all the good times, and be able to reconnect with some of his former classmates and teachers who attended the luncheon.   

 

“I really went to school with some of the brightest people. I was not one of them.  I can say that in a negative way, but that is what forced me to learn how to grind. And I was a grinder.  And it began in school here, especially here at Whitman, where it was competitive. That skill has carried with me my entire life. But what Whitman really gave me was a foundation.  It gave me a solid education with fantastic teachers and coaches. You saw something in me before I actually saw it in myself. And that encouragement meant everything,” said Franklin. 

 

Franklin says it started back at Silas Wood with his sixth grade teacher Mr. Rueben. “Mr. Rueben was a Bronx guy,” explained Franklin. “He was a ‘dis’ and ‘dat’ kind of guy. And he always used to say, and he used to wear a big pinky ring, and he'd stick his pinky ring out and he'd say, ‘Tommy, you gotta work for it. Nothing is going to be given to you. It's a hustle.’ And that New York attitude is something that I have carried with me in my work and my teaching today.” 

 

Of his historic 9/11 photograph, Franklin remembers it as “bittersweet” because of all that was lost that day.  He had been taking photographs all around Ground Zero since 1:30 p.m. “We were gathered at the southwest corner of where the rubble field was. And I see these three firemen kind of fumbling with this flag up on like a rise amongst the rubble. And so I just quickly moved into position to see it better. And then I saw the flag, and then I made some pictures as they hoisted this flag up the pole.  It was just a moment, right?  The whole sequence of photos that I shot of them doing this was less than two minutes. And so the picture was made at 5:01 [p.m.], and the whole sequence was less than two minutes,” remembers Franklin.

 

The U.S. Postal Service used the photograph on a postage stamp which raised $10 million for victims of 9/11.  Franklin presented the South Huntington School District with a framed, signed copy of the enlarged stamp.  It now proudly hangs in Walt Whitman High School’s Main Office. 

 
Chris Kort spoke fondly of his strong family connection to Walt Whitman High School and our school district, which began in 1966 when his dad, Jack Kort, was hired as a science teacher.  “[My parents] met in Freeport, and they put their stake down here in South Huntington and they became part of the Walt Whitman and South Huntington School District community. And my dad was a lacrosse coach, and a soccer coach, and he was always involved in the community here at Walt Whitman High School. So growing up, whether it was elementary school, or junior high, my mom would take me and drop me off in the back field right here, and that is my favorite field. Not the front field, but the back field.  My mom would drop me off and I would hang out with all the guys on the lacrosse team.  And the experiences and the memories of being on that back field, being with my dad, fantastic...So this induction to the Hall of Fame is not just for me, it is for my parents and my sister, Michelle, who graduated here in 1987, as well. So it means a lot to us,” said Kort. 

 

Kort says his decision to go into medicine, specifically the field of orthotics and prosthetics, was influenced by his South Huntington classmate and neighbor, Mikey, who graduated from Whitman in 1991.  Mikey was born with cerebral palsy.  “So Mikey had to undergo procedures where they would lengthen his tendons, his Achilles tendons, his hamstring tendons…My friend came back after the hospital and he was in long leg casts and he had to get physical therapy, and this happened every two years. And during that time, I was his buddy and I saw what he went through...But that left an indelible mark on my brain and I always thought about Mikey. I saw what he went through, and it was always near and dear to my heart…But that is the reason why I got into this profession. To give back, to help people.” explained Kort.

 

Nick Ciappetta remembers walking the halls of Whitman in 1997, which he said “looked a lot different and not as nice as now.”  He spoke of “the climb” that got him to where he is now, a journey that started with the support of his family, his mentors, and his teachers.  He credits them all with inspiring his love of education.  After Whitman, he graduated magna cum laude and in the top tier of his Hofstra Law class, but admitted that he didn’t get a single offer from a big law firm.  He started covering his bedroom walls with the rejection letters.

 

“They made me feel sorry for myself, but they also fueled an insatiable hunger to prove those white shoe law firms wrong... At this point, the well-worn and creaky and rusty doors of the government offices opened, and they welcomed me. Suddenly, a career in public service seemed much more appealing and far more interesting and important,” said Ciappetta. 

 

Not having to work 90 hours a week at a law firm gave him time for other pursuits, like serving on the Board of Education.  “Maybe I was destined to spend my Wednesday nights at board meetings, my Saturdays watching high school football, my Sundays at marching band competitions, and seemingly every waking moment in between writing speeches, signing congratulatory letters, reviewing contracts, looking at flooring samples, and choosing between various shades of maroon with my colleagues on the facilities committee…Maybe my life's work was to make other lives better. To ensure that no South Huntington student has their options limited because of their upbringing, their familial status, their poverty status, or any other factor beyond their control…If that's the purpose of my life, then that work has enriched me far greater than any corporate law salary could. And whether today's final destination was the product of destiny, luck, hard work, or a mixture of all the above, I wouldn't change any part of the climb,” said Ciappetta. 

 

Ciappetta was first elected to the South Huntington Board of Education in 2004, and has served as Board President since 2017.  He also serves as an Executive Committee Member for the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.

 

By recognizing these outstanding alumni and their significant contributions, the South Huntington School District hopes to inspire and encourage current and future Wildcats to strive for excellence in their chosen field and add to a legacy that now spans more than 100 years.
 

 

See photos from the 2025 South Huntington Hall of Fame Induction here.