A Connecticut native, William Tong, is the oldest of five children and grew up working side by side with his immigrant parents in their family's Chinese restaurant. He was a litigator for 18 years in both state and federal courts and served for 12 years as a state representative in the Connecticut General Assembly, helping lead the state's efforts against gun violence and domestic violence, among many critical initiatives. In 2019, William Tong became the 25th Attorney General of Connecticut, the first Asian American elected to statewide office in Connecticut history, and the first Chinese-American to be elected Attorney General nationwide. 

This episode, two students join our hosts to discuss student civic engagement. 

Sreenidi Bala, a student of Farmington High School and one of two student members on the Connecticut State Board of Education, she is the founder of code for All Minds, a program that equips educators and families with tools to make tech education accessible for neurodivergent students. She also serves as a youth advisor to the Info System, Accessibility Living Lab, and Happy, which stands for Helping Adults with Autism Perform and Excel, where she helps design inclusive learning and implement pathways. And as the youngest executive intern at the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, she connects teens to civil rights work and continues to advocate for systems that unlock every student's potential. 

Grace Ackerman, a student of Daniel Herron High School in Madison, Connecticut, is a dedicated and passionate leader in her community and serves on the Madison Board of Education, as well as the Madison Youth and Family Services Board. As the Connecticut President of the Youth Political Activism Coalition, she is committed to increasing civic engagement among young people. 

Over the last three decades, Stephanie Thomas has dedicated her professional life to career advising and problem solving for nonprofit organizations, running her own business and serving as a state representative of the 143rd district. Sworn in on January 4th, 2023, Secretary Thomas was the first black person to be elected Secretary of the State of Connecticut. 

Since taking office, Secretary Thomas has led the implementation of significant election reforms in the state, including the rollout of early voting and a new centralized voter registration system. Secretary Thomas believes that a healthy, representative democracy relies on regular and active participation in civic life by all of us to promote authentic and ongoing civic engagement.

She has met our communities in our own spaces, thereby cultivating a non-partisan dialog between the people and their government through programs such as her Connect and Cut series, civic trivia events at local libraries.

The 2005 Connecticut Teacher of the Year, Julia Miller is a proud New Haven Public Schools teacher, parent, and alumni. Julia is a social studies teacher committed to anti-racist education and project based learning. Her goal for her students is for them to become informed and active community members who feel empowered to make change. 

Greg Frank is a social studies teacher from South Windsor who has taught high school and middle school history for 30 years. Greg used to be a Civil War reenactor and is now Revolutionary War re-enactor. 

He met Brian Zawodniak in college, when they were members of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history Honor Society. A teacher at JFK Middle School in Enfield, Brian has taught geography and U.S. History for 17 years. He is a Revolutionary War loyalist reenactor. The two discuss teaching through living history and historical reenactment. 

Rhonan Mokrisi is a native of Connecticut, who graduated from Boston College undergraduate and Southern Connecticut State University as a grad student. For 29 years, he has been teaching at his alma mater, Salisbury School, in the far northwestern part of Connecticut. During Covid, Rhonan made some changes as a teacher, moving from focusing on content to skills to embrace authenticity with students in the role of historian, as he himself was learning about the often forgotten or overlooked roles his home state played throughout history. 

Matt Warshauer returns to the podcast.  He's been working as a history professor at Central Connecticut State University, as the host to the Connecticut History Day, and a member of the Connecticut Council for the Social Studies Board of Directors. On this episode, Matt discusses his new book, “Creating and Failing the 9/11 Generation: The Real Story of September 11”. 

Melissa Zablonski  has taught social studies at Putnam High School for nine years, including U.S. History, AP U.S. History, Psychology, Anthropology, and the Black, African-American, Puerto Rican and Latino studies class. In 2022, she earned her doctorate degree in education after completing research on building capacity of teachers to serve English learners in their mainstream classrooms. 

Steve Thornton has spent his adult life as an activist and organizer, working with various groups for social, economic, racial, and environmental justice. He is the author of A Shoeleather History of the Wobblies: Stories of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in Connecticut (Red Sun Press, 2013), Wicked Hartford (The History Press, 2017), and Good Trouble: A  Shoeleather History of Nonviolent Direct Action (Hard Ball Press, 2019).

Snigtha Mohanraj is a rising senior and volunteers with local climate groups, conducts independent research regarding water contaminant removal and works on addressing educational disparities in New Haven. She enjoys the intersection of civics with other fields such as environmental science. Yasmeen Galal, who graduated high school in May of 2024, took on various advocacy roles, including serving as the president of Connecticut Student Council and as a student representative on Connecticut's Board of Education. She's interested in the intersection between technology and policy, to ensure that society can advance technology while keeping humanity at the forefront.