Cherokee High School’s Academic Hall of Fame will induct its second class on Thursday, May 29 as part of the school’s Academic Awards Ceremony.
This year’s inductions include: an attorney and law firm partner who has invested the past eighteen years as a member of the Lenape Regional High School District Board of Education and, previously, the Evesham School District Board of Education; a retired Lenape Regional High School District superintendent who positively shaped Cherokee as a teacher and assistant principal as well; a director for The Mission Continues who is a decorated combat veteran and graduate of Harvard and Columbia; and an esteemed medical doctor from Cherokee’s first graduating class who has served the Evesham community for over two decades.
Cherokee’s Academic Hall of Fame, by recognizing individuals, makes a statement to thousands about what Cherokee values: achievement, service, and integrity.
Honoree Mr. Joseph Borucki is a 1982 CHS graduate. He earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and his JD from Rutgers School of Law. He is a partner at Weber Gallagher Law Firm and has served our Cherokee community as an Evesham Board of Education member from 1996 to 1999 and as a Lenape Regional High School District Board of Education member since 1998.
On the LRHSD Board of Education, he has been President from 2007 to 2009 and Vice-President from 2005 to 2007, attended monthly meetings and many Cherokee and district functions, served on subcommittees, and communicated with Evesham community members about topics such as our district’s building improvements and the Defy the Issue campaign.
As Board President, he participated in the District Long-Range Planning Committee’s year-long process of constructing a mission statement, belief statements, and goals: a roadmap to the future of education in our district.
Also being honored is Mrs. Emily Capella, who began her career with the Lenape Regional High School District in 1977 as a Cherokee Social Studies teacher. She served as Cherokee Assistant Principal from 1992 to 1995 before becoming District Director of Programs and Planning and then, in 2000, Assistant Superintendent. In 2007 she became Superintendent of “the great LRHSD” (a phrase she coined and popularized).
Her love for Cherokee and the Lenape District were matched only by her visionary and tireless work for our students. Over more than thirty years of dedicated service, she positively impacted every aspect of our school and district, such as by cultivating an environment of high expectations for students and staff, fostering transparent and mutual communication among all stakeholders and sending district communities, initiating the Defy the Issue campaign, and creating the reality TV program We Teach.
Since her retirement as superintendent, she has worked for the State of New Jersey as a monitor and advisor for the Trenton and Camden school districts.
Honoree Captain Aaron Scheinberg is a 1999 CHS graduate. After graduating from West Point with a degree in Arabic and Systems Engineering, Aaron led infantry and tank platoons in combat in Iraq, earned a Bronze Star, and served as a Civil Affairs officer and Science and Technology Analyst.
Afterward, he concurrently completed an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MPA in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where he was president of the Armed Services Committee and Student Council.
He has won numerous fellowships and been an international development consultant in four countries. Since joining The Mission Continues in 2012, as Director of the Northeast Region, he has headed program evaluation, conducted and published research on continued service for veterans, and designed and launched the “Service Platoons” program in 15 cities.
Also being inducted is Dr. Joanne Swift, a 1978 CHS graduate (Cherokee’s first graduating class) who earned all A’s all four years at Cherokee. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from LaSalle University, where she was president of the Premedical Honor Society and received the La Salle University Deborah Award and the Outstanding Senior in Biology Award. In 1986 she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Doctorate in Medicine from Thomas Jefferson University, where she earned five medical awards, prizes, and scholarships.
After her residency at the Medical Center of Delaware, she began her clinical practice and became certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1992. Over the past twenty-four years, she has provided care and counseling to thousands of women and delivered thousands of babies, many of whom have become Cherokee students.
