Summer Institute for the Gifted
BUA Campus Week 1 Newsletter
Message from the Director
The excitement is abundant here at SIG BUA! The classrooms are abuzz with various activities. Energy levels are high and there are many smiles to be shared. In just one week we have seen how vinegar and baking soda, when mixed, can enlarge a plastic bag until it pops, created our own navigational maps, made blood soup, learned how to analyze footprints, made up our own codes and cracked them, created self portraits, built structures out of marshmallows and toothpicks and engaged in many other fun experiments. We are excited to see that campers are happily forming friendships with their classmates and bonding with their counselors and instructors. Everyone here at SIG BUA is looking forward to the next two weeks! I, myself, am excited to be working with such an intelligent and motivated staff and such energetic and engaged campers. Working at SIG provides me an opportunity to work with a younger student population. During the academic year I work in Student Affairs and teach a marathon training class at Boston University. As a passionate runner myself, I like to participate in various levels of racing, from 5 Ks to ultra marathons. Most recently I challenged myself to train for a 50 mile ultra marathon, successfully completing it in eleven hours and eleven minutes. I enjoy engaging with students of all ages and feel fortunate to have an opportunity to work with college students during the academic year and elementary students in the summer. I am really excited about what we have already accomplished here at SIG in just one week and am looking forward to seeing what the next two weeks brings!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Battaligno
Who's In The Main Office?
Montague Williams - Assistant Director
Kadian Simmonds - Office Manager
Meet The Instructors!
Susan Abeles
Susan taught elementary school in Toronto, English as a Foreign Language to children and adults in Israel and currently teaches ESOL to immigrants in Boston; she's also enjoyed several summers at SIG sites both in Princeton and in Boston. She just commemorated the third anniversary of her return to the States, where she identifies as a "legal alien" (some of her students' status.)
Passionate about animals and nature, travel and diverse cultures, writing and the visual arts, teaching courses at SIG is a gift. "Working with your children is a joyful experience and I wish the same for them."
Susan teaches Koalas, Kangaroos, and Crocodiles, To The Rescue: There's a Superhero in Everyone! and Art Alley.
Matthew Acker
Matthew teaches The Funny Business of Humor, Architectural Solutions and Art Alley.
Kristin Baltrusaitis
Kristin teaches Anticipating Algebra and Algebraic Expressions.
Margareth Chan
Leo Ciaramitaro
He graduated with a B.M. from Berklee College of Music in Boston, and this year earned a Master of Music Degree, as part of the Modern American Music Program at Longy School Of Music at Bard College.
He has shared the stage with Chubby Checker and Frankie Avalon, and has been on three national tours of the Broadway shows Kiss Me Kate, Grease, and Footloose. Leo teaches private drum lessons for beginner to advanced students, and plays with many different bands and musicians all throughout the Northeast.
Leo teaches Surround Sound: Music In Our Everyday Lives and Get Theatrical.
Christina Cirame
This is my first year at SIG, and I am excited to be a part of such a great summer program. I am instructing Simple Machines, Complex Designs, which is a lot of fun! I currently live in Medford, MA. I teach kindergarten part time in for Lexington Public Schools and also work part time in an afterschool program at my school. I graduated with a Masters in Early Childhood Education in 2011. Working with young children has always been my dream and I enjoy teaching them everyday.
When school is not in session I work for my father in the homemade ice cream business. I have an ice cream shop named after me in Cambridge which he ran throughout my childhood but has since sold. My favorite ice cream is Oreo Cookie.
In my free time I enjoy taking weekend trips up north to New Hampshire and Maine all year round. My family has a house on a small island in Maine which is where I love to go to relax, unplug and spend time with family.Michelle Cooper
Michelle teaches DNA: Your Unique Code and The Curious Chemist.
Neil Holloway
Alexandra Humphreys
Alex teaches Cracking Codes: Patterns and Probability, Speaking, Writing and Empowering and What's Your Point
Kelly Misol
Ms. Misol was born in Caracas, Venezuela and came to the states at a young age. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring new cultures, languages, food, dancing, traveling, and outdoor activities. Most of all she works hard to transform the classroom into a life changing experience!
Molly Sardella
Molly teaches What's The Chance?, Lessons from the Wild Things: How to Write and Illustrate Your Own Book!, and Expanding the Universe!
Gerard Tannetta
Gerard is excited to return for his fifth year at SIG. This year he is teaching classes about engineering, spying, and detective work. Gerard lives in Lowell with his wife, dog, and cat. Gerard has his bachelor's degree in history from UMass-Lowell and his master's degree in education from UMass-Boston. During the school year, Gerard teaches history in Melrose and has done so for the last six years. Gerard enjoys reading, discovering new places, teaching his dog new tricks, playing guitar, and swimming while the weather is hot.
Gerard teaches Building Blocks of Engineering, The Detective: Master of Mysteries, and Spying: Secrets, Surveillance and Science.
Jared Troilo
Jared teaches Get Theatrical.
Matthew Wilson
During my career I have worked as an environmental consultant focusing on environmental due diligence investigations and remediation of hazardous materials. A strong working knowledge of several scientific disciplines is essential to perform my duties. Additionally, the skill and insight of a detective are needed to analyze the facts in order to solve the problem at hand. These professional skills directly relate the kind of learning happening at SIG and I am very excited to be part of the team this year.
While my professional experiences have been satisfying, I aspire to leave the private consulting industry to work full time in education. I have an endless curiosity of the world around me and always enjoy discovering new things. I am motivated by a desire to pass on my knowledge and excitement of science to younger generations. To this end I hope to teach Earth Science in a Boston area school this coming school year.
In my spare time I volunteer with the Mystic River Watershed Association as a Citizen Scientist in their Baseline Monitoring Program. The program provides long-term monitoring of water quality conditions in the watershed vital to the protection and improvement of the Mystic River and its tributaries. Also I am involved with the Mystic River Rugby Club of Malden, MA as a former player, current club officer, and youth rugby coach during the summer.
Matthew teaches Under the Sea: Diving into Marine Science.
Meet the Program Assistants
Lidy Edmond
Christopher Haidul
Ella Hathaway
I live in Newton Massachusetts and I have lived there my whole life. I just graduated from Boston University Academy earlier this summer, taking college courses at BU for the past two years. In the fall, I look forward to attending Hobart and William Smith Colleges in upstate New York. I hope to major in Classics or History. In the past year and a half I have volunteered at a local YMCA in the childcare room and that experience is definitely handy for this SIG session.
Julia Kelsey
Sarah Madoff
Aleesha Pierre-Jules
Natascha Richterich
Azeema Shaikh
Ashley Zanghi
We Look Forward To A Great Program!
Summer Institute for the Gifted
Email: buasigstaff@aifs.com
Website: www.giftedstudy.org
Location: 1 University Road, Boston, MA
Phone: 716-226-0346