Kelly Villar, 43, a mom of six who teaches second grade at Southeast Elementary School in Mansfield, was selected last June as the Iditarod’s designated “teacher on the trail,” a year-round role created in 2000 to extract educational opportunities from the fabled, 1,000-mile sled dog race. She recently served as the race’s “teacher on the trail.”

“Jordan is a great addition to our defensive staff as our linebacker coach,” said Head Coach Greg Gattuso. “Jordan worked with us two years ago and did an outstanding job for our staff, which made this an easy choice for our defensive coaches and myself.”

“I coached rowing at UConn and got my master’s in sport management,” says Strodel. “That allowed me to dabble in coaching. From there, I did go into the real world.”

Congratulations to our Neag School alumni, faculty, staff, and students on their continued accomplishments inside and outside the classroom. If you have an accolade to share, we want to hear from you! Please send any news items and story ideas to neag-communications@uconn.edu.

Kelly (Heffley) Villar ’06 MA, a second-grade teacher for the past 16 years at Southeast Elementary School in Mansfield, Conn., was selected as the Iditarod Teacher on the Trail for 2020. The race officially began March 7, and Villar has been tracking her experience with blog posts and photos on the Iditarod’s Teacher on the Trail blog since arriving in Alaska in February.

Britton, a North Haven native, has worked as a teacher, assistant high school principal, high school principal and professor of educational leadership.
He earned his bachelor’s degree at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., his master’s from Quinnipiac University and his doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education.

The principal of Hatton Elementary School in Southington makes it a point each Friday to call families of students to report on how great their child is doing.

The Washington Central School Board has selected a middle school principal from Connecticut to serve as its next superintendent. Bryan Olkowski was picked for the job.

Congratulations to our Neag School alumni, faculty, staff, and students on their continued accomplishments inside and outside the classroom. If you have an accolade to share, we want to hear from you.

Jenna Karvelis ’20 (ED), ’21 MA and Ajane Santora-Fyne ’20 (ED), ’21 MA, both students in the Neag School Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program, have been named the recipients of the Neag School of Education Alumni Board Scholarship for 2020.