The two rookie Staples English teachers became friends when they were first semester senior English majors at UConn and had overlapping schedules. As they both headed on to the UConn Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates (TCPCG), their friendship grew.

The following excerpt comes from an article — titled “Food Justice: Access, Equity, and Sustainability for Healthy Students and Communities” — co-authored by Neag School associate professor René Roselle and first-year educational leadership doctoral student Chelsea Connery ’13 (ED), ’14 MA, who is also an alum of the Neag School Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s (IB/M) program. In this piece, Roselle and Connery examine the issue of food insecurity and its impact on student achievement, touching on examples of solutions in Connecticut.

Imagine a school where students, ranging in age from 13 to 19 years old, do not regularly show up for class every day. Those who do attend may abruptly walk out in the middle of a lesson. And just outside this school’s entrance is a short, paved path that leads to an on-premises, partner hospital clinic, where most of the school’s adolescent students, facing a wide range of mental health challenges, have been admitted as patients for treatment for anywhere from two weeks to a year. Each fall, it is here — at Northgate School in North London — that several of the Neag School’s aspiring teachers arrive to intern as part of the London Study Abroad Teaching Internship Program.

Hartford Courant (Rocky Hill principal and Neag School alumnus, Scott Nozik, spent the day on his school’s roof after the town’s students read 6,000 books)

The Independent (Peter Cummings, a Neag alumnus, was named superintendent of Narragansett Public Schools)

Editor’s Note: Kristin English’ 03 (ED), ’04 MA — an English teacher at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn., since 2004 and an alumna of the Neag School’s Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program — shares her insights on what makes the profession of teaching most meaningful to her.

Best-selling author, former third-grade teacher, and Neag School alumna Lynda Mullaly Hunt ’88 (ED), ’96 MA authored the following piece on the value of teaching, which was originally published in the September 2016 edition of the National Council of Teachers of English’s peer-reviewed journal, Voices from the Middle.

Concussions are a delicate topic, and former UConn quarterback Casey Cochran is pushing to bring the conversation about them even closer to the front table.

The Center for Career Development was thrilled to connect with Kimberly Ruiz, Neag School alumna and fourth-grade teacher at Dorothy C. Goodwin Elementary School in Mansfield, Conn.

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.