University of New Haven Students Honored by the Connecticut Geographic Alliance

WEST HAVEN, CT (10/09/2013)(readMedia)-- University of New Haven students were honored last month by the Connecticut Geographic Alliance for winning the first annual Newspapers in Education (NIE) Geography Connections Contest. The students wrote a series of newspaper articles introducing young students to the world culture through interactive and interesting readings about cities and countries around the world.

The Newspapers in Education program provides teachers with copies of the Hartford Courant. As part of the program, elementary and middle-school students learn about the world through culture, geographic themes, and mapping skills.

This year, UNH pre-service education students were invited to write articles to appear in the Hartford Courant during the 2013-2014 school year.

The following UNH pre-service teaching student winners are listed with their country theme: Tara McNulty resident of Clinton, Conn., (Saudi Arabia); Chelsea Donovan resident of Watertown, Conn., (Ireland); Claudia Viacava-Lynch resident of Waterbury, Conn., (Cuzco, Peru); Kevin McHugh resident of Madison, Conn. (Ireland); Brian McDermott resident of West Haven, Conn. (Kenya); Vincenzo Giliberti resident of Bristol, Conn. (Roanoke Island); Britany Sweet resident of Hamden, Conn. (Amalfi Coast); Patricia (Trisha) Wysoczanski resident of Cheshire, Conn. (Rome).

The each received an honorary membership into the Connecticut Geographic Alliance, the Connecticut educational outreach of National Geographic, a cash prize and award recognition.

The Geography Connections Contest was facilitated by two University of New Haven professors Maryann Iadarola and Donna Leake, who first presented the contest opportunity to their students last spring.

The Hartford Courant provides free educational news subscriptions to teachers through their NIE website.

The University of New Haven is a private, top-tier comprehensive institution recognized as a national leader in experiential education. Founded in 1920 on the campus of Yale University in cooperation with Northeastern University, UNH moved to its current West Haven campus in 1960. The University provides its students with a unique combination of a solid liberal arts education and real-world, hands-on career and research opportunities. UNH enrolls approximately 6,400, including nearly 1,800 graduate students and more than 4,600 undergraduates – the majority of whom reside in University housing. Through its College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, Tagliatela College of Engineering, and College of Lifelong & eLearning, UNH offers 75 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. UNH students have access to more than 50 study abroad programs worldwide and its student-athletes compete in 16 varsity sports in the NCAA Division II's highly competitive Northeast-10 Conference.