Alumna Jessica Stargardter ’16 (ED), ’17 MA, a gifted and talented educator for Norwalk (Conn.) Public Schools, shares four tips for educators to serve gifted learners through remote instruction.

“Schools everywhere have closed their doors, and many gifted students find themselves without rigorous work and the camaraderie of their peers,” says Jessica Stargardter, a gifted and talented teacher at Norwalk (Conn.) Public Schools. “It is up to us to continue to nurture the development of our brightest young minds with learning opportunities, and it is time to collaborate, especially given our social distance.”

“These books are going directly home to kids,” said East Hartford Superintendent Nate Quesnel. “The thought process is that we’re trying to really push literacy and to help families to provide opportunities for rich text opportunities in their home.”

The Neag School of Education, UConn’s Department of English, and the Connecticut Writing Project (CWP) at UConn are proud to announce Connecticut’s winners of the 26th annual Letters About Literature competition, a nationwide contest sponsored by the Library of Congress for students in grades 4 through 12.

For the last 34 seasons, Chris Dailey has worked closely with Geno Auriemma to build UConn women’s basketball into the dynasty it is today. Together, they’ve won over 1,000 games, 51 conference championships, and 11 national titles. But Dailey does have one trophy that Auriemma can’t claim: a 1982 AIAW championship with the Rutgers Lady Knights. The AIAW was the predecessor to the NCAA for women’s sports and that year was the first time the NCAA sponsored a women’s basketball championship. So it was the last year of the AIAW Tournament.

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.