Mentor High Alumni Hall Of Fame Welcomes Newest Class

Rocco Whalen -- graduate, owner and chef of the acclaimed Fahrenheit restaurant in Tremont, and one of the newest inductees into his alma mater's alumni hall of fame -- chatted with senior Jacob Simko as they walked the hallways of Mentor High Thursday morning.

"Do you cook?" Whalen asked.

Simko humbly replied that he could make some things -- mostly breakfast dishes like French toast and from-scratch hash browns.

"That's good," Whalen said without condescension. "What's important is you get the philosophy of cooking."

That was just one of the tidbits of wisdom offered by the 2012 Mentor High Alumni Hall of Fame class as they visited their former stomping grounds Thursday.

The 16th class of HOF inductees include , Thomas Fracci, Erin Huber, Raymond Layman, Carol Talcott Storms, William McKinley Tibbits and .

The HOFers visited classes and offered their experiences to students throughout the school day.

Larry Disbro, who organizes the MHS Alumni Hall of Fame, said the alum are empathetic with the students because they've shared the same school, experiences and sometimes even the same teachers.

"You all exemplify what it means to be a Cardinal," Mentor High Principal William Wade told the Hall of Fame alums, "and you set the bar for our current students.

More information on the Hall of Fame inductees:

Dowling graduated in 1967. She started working for her parents' company, Lake County Plating Corporation, while still in high school. She has stuck with it since then. In 1986, she and her husband purchased it from her parents.

Dowling is very involved with her community. She helped organize the first Mentor Classic Car Cruise, has served on the Greater Mentor Port Authority and was recently re-elected to .

Fracci graduated from Mentor High School in 1945 and joined the Mentor Police Department three years later. (In the interim, he served in the United States Army.) He rose through the ranks and was the Mentor police chief from 1969 to 1981.

Fracci is also an entrepreneur. He was co-owner of and the original owner of Gatsby's, Fagan's in the Flats and Hobnobber's.

Huber graduated in 2000. At the age of 18, she founded Covering Cleveland, a charity that focused on providing blankets, clothes and basic hygiene products to the needy and homeless in the greater Cleveland area.

She founded her latest endeavor, DrinkLocalDrinkTap.org, while attending graduate school. It educates people about the world's water crisis. She has also made trips to Uganda to film a documentary about what people need to do in order to get clean water.

Layman is from the class of 1985. He was the corporate manager for Progressive Insurance for 19 years before becoming the co-owner of .

Layman's also very involved in local youth sports, coaching youth football, track, baseball and softball.

Storms graduated in 1975. She taught chemistry at New Mexico Highlands University and then researched metal hydride at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Additionally, Storms taught a woman from northern Thailand how to make bead jewelry after the woman's farm flooded. Now she helps the woman sell her beadwork.

Tibbits graduated in 1954. He has held almost every job in the educational field. He was a biology teacher, as well as football and wrestling coach, at Medina High School; a football coach and assistant principal for Berea Schools; and even a truant officer for the school district.

He helped found the Berea Arts Fest, the Berea City Club and was president of the Berea Kiwanis Club.

Whalen graduated in 1995. In addition to being Fahrenheit's chef, he also owns a restaurant in Quicken Loans Arena and is opening another in Cleveland's casino.

He has received many awards in the culinary industry, including recognition from Esquire, Food & Wine and Cleveland magazines.