Noteworthy graduates: J. Machelle Sweeting, Civil Court judge

There is an old-world courtliness to J. Machelle Sweeting. She speaks of being “reared in the village of Harlem.” She pays formal visits to former elementary school teachers, now old and frail, and mentors teenagers she decides will benefit from her tutelage. Beneath her perfect manners — and confident manner — lie lessons imparted and learned decades ago in elementary school. She credits her parents, of course, but the teachers of Harlem’s PS 46 took it from there. They melded sky-high expectations with tough love. The combination transformed a shy, smart child from the Polo Grounds, the public housing project where she lived, into the Hon. J. Machelle Sweeting, a Civil Court judge assigned to Family Court. And Sweeting won’t allow anyone to forget it: “I called the new principal recently to let her know the legacy of PS 46 and the success stories that came out of that awesome school,” the Harlem resident says, laughing cheekily. “I also said I was here if she needed anything.”

My mother is a third-generation Harlemite and my father, who died two years ago, was a former policeman in the Bahamas who worked as an accountant here. There were always books in the house. In those days, you could order the Enc…