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Alumni Sweep City Teaching Honors

Mon., Jan 04

Southern featured prominently in the recent New Haven Teacher of the Year Awards -- the winner and both runners-up are alumni.

Cameo Thorne, '83, is currently a language arts instructor and an Advanced Placement English literature instructor at High School in the Community for grades 9-12 and has been in this position since 2000.  She received her B.A. in English from Southern, where she also served as student representative for the English Department College Curriculum Committee. After college, Thorne managed several businesses and eventually started volunteering at various activities in her children's schools.  She was greatly influenced by one of the librarians she worked with and eventually decided to go through the ARC Program (Alternate Route to Certification) to become an English teacher.  She graduated in 2000 from ARC and began the journey that led her to become Teacher of the Year.

Holly O'Brien, '93, received her B.S. in early childhood education from Southern and has been with New Haven Public Schools since November of 2000 as a pre-kindergarten teacher at Davis Street School.  There, she was one of the lead developers of the pre-kindergarten program and taught in the first classroom of 14 4-year-old students.  O'Brien received the Exemplary Programs in Connecticut's Elementary Schools Award in 2002 and the New Alliance Teacher Excellence Award in 2004.

Francisco Chavarria, '99, received his B.S. in biology from Southern (minoring in Spanish), and is currently a bilingual mathematics and science teacher at Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy.  He was previously a bilingual science teacher at Wilbur Cross High School from 2000-2005. At Roberto Clemente, he is the lead teacher for mathematics and science for grades 6-8 and tutors disadvantaged children in math. 

 

new haven teachers of the yearDavid Cicarella, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers (far left), congratulates Cameo Thorne, '83, (second from right), New Haven's 2009 Teacher of the Year, and runners-up Holly O'Brien, '93, (far right) and Francisco Chavarria, '99 (second from left).