Neag School alumna Tamashi Hettiarachchi, recognized as a Knowles Teaching Fellow, is featured.

Neag School alumnus Joe Macary is profiled after being named Connecticut’s Superintendent of the Year.

Neag School alumna Heather Zidack is featured about her new role at the UConn Home and Garden Education Center.

Neag School alumna Amy “Carson” Bond is featured about a new scholarship she established at UConn.

Neag School alumnus and film director Cob Carlson is featured about his film work.

Feel Your Best Self: Educators, Puppets Unite to Teach Kids About Emotions

Dave DeLucia ’80 (CLAS) ’81 MA, ’83 6th Year has been collecting seashells since he was 12 years old. It all began with a trip to Boston with his sisters to buy seashells and, while his family and friends liked it, he loved it. Though originally retrieved from the depths of the ocean in countries like Japan and Portugal, the shells now reside in wooden cabinets and glass displays in his house where they are protected from the harsh rays of the sun.

Garrett Schlichte ’15 MA, an upbeat copywriter from San Francisco, has never backed down from a new adventure. So when he saw a casting call on Instagram for a new television cooking competition, he thought “Why not?” He was not only cast in “America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation,” but made it to the finale, beating competitors with such dishes as lemon ricotta dumplings and pavlova with key lime lemon curd.

Fahd A. Vahidy ’95 (CLAS), ’98 MA and Monika Doshi ’99 (CLAS) know what it’s like to feel like an outsider at college. Both were raised by immigrant families and were newcomers to the American college experience at UConn in the 1990s. Both were grateful to find a home on campus at the Asian American Cultural Center. Since graduating, they have generously donated to and volunteered for the center, helping many students along the way feel less like outsiders. They’ve been mentors and lecturers, served on many student and alumni panels, and rarely miss an event.

A young girl’s love for horses and FFA was the impetus for a rewarding career teaching agriculture. Sarah LaRose’s passion for all things equine began at age 10. Her military family moved to Virginia, where she began riding lessons at a local stable.

“When we moved to Connecticut, my guidance counselor at Ledyard High School said in passing, ‘Oh, we also have an agriculture program,’ and passed me a brochure with a horse and rider on the front,” she recalled.