We kick off season 4 of the InnovateCT podcast with an absolutely unique experience. When was the last time you visited somewhere and saw something that was nothing like you had ever seen before?

That is the feeling you will have when you visit the American Mural Project in Winsted, Connecticut. This 5 story, 120 foot long mural is dedicated to the American worker and is a must see for people of all ages including children. The project is the work of artist, Ellen Griesedieck. Ellen has a passion for storytelling, sharing people's career stories and education. All of this comes together at the American Mural Project which will be opened officially as a museum in spring of 2022.

In this episode we sit down with Ellen and her director of development, Mimi Madden to discuss how this amazing piece of art came to be, what their plans are for the future and how they are empowering and inspiring children through their school programs. Educators should absolutely look into the American Mural Project as field trip or as a place to recommend to your students for additional extracurricular activities.

Learn more by checking out their website: American Mural Project

Season 3, episode 5 of the InnovateCT Podcast features Nick Villagra and Andrew Fotta from the Connecticut Science Center. These two STEM educators share information with us about some of the resources they offer at the Connecticut Science Center including their brand new podcast and other virtual resources for both educators and students.  

Podcast Episodes can be found on the CT Science Center’s blog “Down to a Science”: https://ctsciencecenter.org/blog-1/  

You can learn more about these resources and the Connecticut Science Center at https://ctsciencecenter.org/

Season 3, Episode 4 of the InnovateCT Podcast features Jennifer Murphy from the University of Connecticut's Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. As the director of this organization, Jennifer shares the mission of CCEI and discusses some of the fantastic programs available to students at UConn. We also discuss how CCEI is supporting the broader innovation and education ecosystem in Connecticut.  

If you want to connect with Jennifer or learn more about CCEI, please follow the links below.  

Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation: https://ccei.uconn.edu/ 

Jennifer Murphy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-murphy-378b1924/

Season 3, Episode 3 of the InnovateCT Podcast features David Noble, Director of The Werth Institute at the University of Connecticut. We discuss David's background, his role at UConn and the purpose of The Werth Institute.  We also discuss why entrepreneurship and innovation is so critical to the University of Connecticut and the state of Connecticut.  

To learn more about David, please visit his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-noble-werth/  

To learn more about The Werth Institute, please visit their website: https://entrepreneurship.uconn.edu/entrepreneurship-at-uconn/werth-institute/

Season 3, episode 2 of the InnovateCT podcast is a webinar I hosted with 2 amazing educators discussing how helping students understand their interests impacts their future careers. Our hope is this discussion provides you with some ideas during the COVID-19 situation and the difficult situation we all find ourselves in.

These experts, Elizabeth Radday and Ashley Pereira discuss how helping students understand their interests impacts their future careers. 

You can learn more about Liz and Ashley including their organizations by following the links below.  

Skills 21 Personal Interest Project (PIP): https://pip.skills21.org/ 

Elizabeth Radday on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-radday-41720299/  

Career In Stem: https://careerinstem.com/ 

Carer In Stem Free Resources: https://careerinstem.com/free/ 

Ashley Pereira on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleymooneypereira/

Season 3, episode 1 of the InnovateCT podcast is a webinar I hosted with 4 amazing educators about distance learning best practices. Our hope is this discussion provides you with some ideas for distance learning during the COVID-19 situation and the difficult situation we all find ourselves in. 

These experts (Melissa Thom, Michaela Durand, Taylor Wrye and Jessica Miller) from across the education landscape shared best practices to help educators, students and parents. Links below to some of the resources they recommended!  

Screencastify: https://www.screencastify.com/  

Flipgrid: https://info.flipgrid.com/ 

Innovator's Mindset Book: https://georgecouros.ca/blog/the-innovators-mindset-book

We had the opportunity to speak with Rachel Smith, Technology Integration Instructor at Newtown Middle School during the 2019 CECA CASL conference in Hartford, CT. It was fantastic to hear about Rachel's work in the classroom as well as her work with artificial intelligence outside the classroom. She is part of a group of educators working on developing standards and curriculum for artificial intelligence.  This important work will help students across the United States.  To learn more about her work and all the other amazing things she is doing for Connecticut education, look for her on Twitter. Enjoy the episode!

Season 2, Episode 5 was recorded at the CECA CASL 2019 conference in Hartford Connecticut. We had the opportunity to sit down with Melissa Thom, middle school librarian in West Hartford. Melissa shares her career journey to becoming a librarian before we dive into all things libraries and books.  You can find more of Melissa's great work on her website: www.melissathom.com

Melissa is also a volunteer for the CECA CASL conference which was putting on the conference where we recorded the podcast. To learn more, visit either of their websites: CECA or CASL

We are back with season 2, episode 4 of the InnovateCT podcast. This episode we have the opportunity to speak with Elizabeth Radday, Research Specialist at Skills 21 at EdAdvance.  Skills 21 delivers programs that increase academic achievement, lead to improved 21st century skills, impact students interest in STEM, and help students collaborate with peers from different backgrounds.

Elizabeth shares her background with us before diving into her role at Skills 21. We also hear about Expofest, their 1 day innovation showcase for students. If you want to learn more about any of the topics discussed, please visit www.skills21.org.

We took a little break for the summer, but are now back with a fantastic guest. Patrica Gans is the executive director of Random Hacks of Kindness Jr. This organization brings young people hands-on learning experiences where they can apply technology to achieve a social good. Patrice started RHOK Jr. to help promote STEM education and coding with 4th through 8th graders through one day events called hack-a-thons. In this episode we learn how Patrice's career path took her to RHOK Jr. and how you can get involved with this great organization. Follow the link below to learn more about RHOK Jr. 

Random Hacks of Kindess Jr.