Collaboration, collaborazione, Zusammenarbeit, collaboration, kolaboracja: to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor (Webster). Regardless of the language of choice, the theme of collaboration has been the main focus of the COLT Community and Business outreach team. Throughout the 20-21 school year we were thrilled to partner with Southern Connecticut State University and the Connecticut Italian Teachers Association to offer an internship opportunity for a world language graduate student. Leah Nocella is currently majoring in Italian and joined CITA as the first student webmaster. Leah attended all CITA meetings and became an active member of the executive council. Leah was responsible for website design and other supportive roles within CITA such as fundraising, co-coordinating events, promotion of scholarship opportunities and more. Leah was required to complete 135 contact hours over the course of the spring semester- she was so involved she devoted more than 200 hours of her time to education and language promotion . She completed a summative report at the end of the internship, describing in detail the activities performed throughout the semester as well as an end-of-the-semester colloquium with the faculty advisor and internship supervisor. This partnership was so successful that the executive board has asked Leah to extend her internship into the upcoming school year. Please check out Leah’s capstone project here https://www.ctitalianteachers.com/ .
This pilot program has set the foundation for a new project for the fall of 2021. The goal of the next collaborative effort will create a lasting and impactful partnership between the Italian program at SCSU, the Connecticut Italian Teachers Association (CITA) and a network of Italian owned businesses in the state of Connecticut. Working under the guidance of internship advisor Ms. Gina Gallo and faculty advisor Dr. Erin Larkin (WLL), the students involved will work alongside the (CITA) Italian Business Task Force to identify, collate, and establish connections with Italian and Italian-American owned businesses in the state of Connecticut. The students will collaborate with the fantastic team of Teresa Di Carlo, Anna Porto, Tina Ricci, Mary Sagnella and Kate Tavera Collins. This group will work to develop opportunities for collaboration with high school Italian classes in the state, as well as potential internships for students of Italian at SCSU. The Community and Business Outreach team is proud of the work done so far and look forward to growing this partnership for years to come.
Gina Gallo Reinhard
2020-2021 CT COLT Teacher of the Year
