As a first-year teacher he taught speech, psychology, sociology, and government, coached the debate, oratory, and extemporaneous speech teams, and began a school newspaper.

Other extracurricular activities include the numerous line up of inside-school contests that students look forward to, such as speech choir, grammar contests, spelling bees, oratorical competitions, extemporaneous speech battles, story-telling contests, debate contests, clash of the science wizards, robotics training, general information competitions, Local Mathematics Olympiad, Homeroom Christmas Design Contest, Cookfest, and others.

In his senior year of high school, 1986, Wertheim won dual championships at the National Speech and Debate Tournament, sponsored by the National Forensic League, in both Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking and Lincoln-Douglas Debate.