On Wednesday, May 22, the Wellington Wolves travel basketball program honored many of its basketball players for their brilliance in the classroom, not just on the basketball court.
That evening, 106 young men and women — along with their parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents — gathered at the Village Park gym in Wellington, where they were recognized for their strong GPAs during the spring 2024 semester.
According to Wellington Wolves President Chris Fratalia, there were two categories of recognition: Honor Roll and Top Gun. The Honor Roll recipients earned all A and B grades during the spring 2024 school semester, while the Top Gun recipients earned all A grades. This year, there were 62 Honor Roll honorees and 44 Top Gun winners. This was the 13th year that the Wolves have honored players for their aptitude in the classroom. The 106 student-athletes recognized this year is an improvement over the 81 student-athletes honored a year ago by the Council of Dads.
The key to this academic success story is that the Wellington Wolves, under the leadership of the 11-member Council of Dads committee, have implemented a 32-week tutoring program where the players and their siblings are provided complimentary tutoring by talented area high school students. Those tutors come from Wellington High School, Palm Beach Central High School, Park Vista High School and the King’s Academy. This year marked the seventh year of the tutoring initiative, under the supervision of the Council of Dads.
The tutoring sessions take place after school at the Wellington branch library.
“The Wellington library has been a great asset, as we have free access to computers and private rooms for the tutoring sessions, where we tutor in eight subjects,” said John Sitomer, founder of the Council of Dads. “We also provide free snacks and drinks for the students and their tutors. We can’t thank the library enough for its ongoing support. The tutoring sessions often last for two hours.”
The Council of Dads membership includes Sitomer, Fratalia, David Kane, Howard Eisenberg, Jeff Sitomer, Grant Johnson, Dr. Gordon Johnson, Rafi Wynn, Gerry Stumm, Peter Smith and Dr. James Shecter.
