Step Connections' Podcast: Recent Episodes
STEP Connections
This podcast station was designed to share our conversations with you! My students are asked to challenge themselves by looking at the world from different perspectives and to begin viewing themselves as leaders in the 21st century. The objective of this project is to have students interview various leaders/highly regarded adutls and ask the essential question; "What will it take to succeed in the 21st century?" This goal is designed get students engaged in a conversation in which they can break through their barriers and ask questions that pertain to them. By doing this, the students will interview leaders/ highly regarded adults and have a better understanding of what it takes to make the world a better place. We hope you enjoy!
Mr. George J. Bikakis
Mrs. Kovach is a Social Studies teacher at Dag Hammarskjold Middle School. She had a lot of great things to say pertaining success!
Mr. Rogers is the director of curricular initiatives at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford. He was quite influential! Enjoy!
We had the opportunity to meet with Mr. McMahon who is a police dispatcher for the Town of Wallingford. Thanks for tuning in!
We had the opportunity to interview Mr. Tracey who is the school counselor at Dag Hammarskjold Middle School, we hope you enjoy.
Mrs. Clark is a 4th grade teacher at Pond Hill Elementary School in Wallingford. She was an inspiration during this podcast!
Mrs. Ripa is a retired teacher from Wallingford Public Schools. She was a STEP teacher for many years and has inspired many students throughout her career. We hope you enjoy!
We had the opportunity to Interview Mr. Hull who is our Math Specialist here at Dag Hammarskjold. This podcast was quite special as he will be leaving us for retirement! Thank you Mr. Hull for taking the time to be with us!
Mrs. Rich is our Health and Wellness teacher here at Dag. We hope you enjoy this wonderful interview!
Mrs. Rinaldi is an elementary school teacher in Meriden. We hope you enjoy this interview as much as we did.
During this episode, we had the opportunity to interview Miss Julia Esposito who is an alumni of Lyman Hall. She was amazing and we hope you enjoy!
We had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Muli, one of the P.E. teachers here at Dag Hammarskjold Middle School. We hope you enjoy this exciting interview!
We had the opportunity of having Mrs. Burkhardt with us. Mrs. Burkhardt is a teacher here at Dag Hammarskjold and is highly respected by her students. We hope you enjoy!
As my students are concluding their interviewing experiences in STEP this term, they were asked to reflect on their observations as they transition into the next level of their education and ultimately their future. Students were asked to answer the following questions with respect to their podcasts: What did you learn from your experience? Which guest was most influential/inspiring to you? Why? What is YOUR definition of success?
We hope you enjoyed the podcast projects this year! Thank you to our inspiring guests for taking time out of their busy schedules to express their opinions on how they developed their successful careers. Without their support, this project would not have been possible.
George J. Bikakis STEP Teacher Dag Hammarskjold Middle School Wallingford, CT
We had the opportunity to interview Mr. Guercia. Mr. Guercia is an educator, paramedic, and a owns his own consulting business. We hope you enjoy our final podcast!
In this episode, we got the opportunity to interview Mr. Silano. Mr. Silano is a Language Arts teacher at our school, Dag Hammarskjold Middle School.
We had the honor to meet our very own Mayor Dickinson. Mayor Dickinson is the mayor of Wallingford, CT. Enjoy!
We had the opportunity of meeting Mrs. McGuire who works in the human resources department at The Hartford Insurance Company. Enjoy!
In this interview we were lucky enough to have the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Fishbein. He is a state representative for Connecticut and has led a very interesting life, we hope you enjoy listening.
In this interview we had the pleasure of talking to Lauren's mom Mrs. Wishart. She has led a very interesting career at Yale and we hope you enjoy listening.
This interview we had the honor of interviewing our administrative assistant. We hope you enjoy listening!
We had the pleasure of interviewing our very own Liam's father. He has led a very riveting life as a fire fighter and we hope you enjoyed listening to his stories as much as wed did.
In this episode, we got the opportunity to interview Mr. Sawyer. Mr. Sawyer is the General Manger for Harte Infiniti in Hartford, Connecticut.
In this episode, we got the opportunities to interview Mrs. Buccheri. Mrs. Buccheri is a literacy coach for Wallingford Public Schools.
Today, we had the honor of interviewing Nicole Nalepa. Mrs. Nalepa is a News Reporter for Channel 3 Eyewitness News. It was a very interesting interview, and we hope you enjoy!
In this interview we had the pleasure of interviewing Our Library Media Specialist. She has a very interesting life story and we hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed interviewing.
In this episode we got the opportunity to interview Mr. Draghi. Mr. Draghi is a Chief investment officer for the City of Hartford. Hope you enjoy!!!
We had the opportunity to interview Mrs. Gibertoni. She is a 5th grade teacher at Rock Hill Elementary School. Enjoy!
We had the honor of interviewing Mrs. LaTorre, the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum within our school district. Her interview was very inspiring, and we hope you enjoy it.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Cahill, a world language teacher here at Dag Hammarskjold. We hope you enjoy this podcast.
Our class interviewed Mr. Bailey. Mr. Bailey works for DCF (Department of Children and Families). He was quite interesting and got a chance to understand his view of success.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Altschuler of Altschuler & Altschuler Law Firm here in Wallingford, Connecticut. We hope you enjoy this podcast.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Neumann, a music director at Most Holy Trinity Church. We hope you enjoy this podcast.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Mrs. Heald in this podcast. She is the manager of Masters Mana. We hope you enjoy listening just as much as we enjoyed interviewing her!
We had the opportunity to go to and interview Ryan Kristafer at the WTNH news station. Enjoy!
This episode we had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Pierlioni. He is a lineman for the Wallingford Electric Division. Hope you enjoy!!
We had the pleasure of interviewing Johnny Gioeli, famous rock musician of Crush 40 and Hardline. He was quite inspiring, and we hope you enjoy.
We had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Buccheri. He is a project manager at the Wallingford Electric Division. We hope you enjoy this episode!!!
We had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Bazinet. He is a public relations for the State representatives in Connecticut. We hope you enjoy listening!
We had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Alex Curtis. Dr. Alex Curtis is the headmaster of Choate Rosemary Hall and has led an exemplary career in education. We hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed interviewing him.
In this episode we got the chance to meet with Mrs. Morrill. She is a online Nurse Educator for the University of Bridgeport. We hope you enjoy!
We were able to interview Mr. Defusco, owner of Mr. D's in Wallingford Connecticut over the phone. We hope you enjoy our second episode of the STEP Connections' Podcast.
We had he opportunity of having Mrs. O'Boyle come to our class. She is an English teacher at Lyman Hall High School in Wallingford Connecticut.
We had fun interviewing Jon Pritikin, and we hope you will have just as much fun listening.
(We interviewed Jon Pritikin over the phone)
We have been given the honor of having Owen Twohill, a current Lyman Hall High School student, here for an interview.
We have been given the honor of having Mr. Greenberg, a former Major League Baseball player for the Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins, Adam is currently the Founder and CEO of Lurong Living.
We have the honor of having our very own principal Mr. Snyder in our podcast. He has been working in the school district for over 10 years. Before being the principal at Dag Hammarskjold, he was also a vice principal at Lyman Hall and Sheehan.
We had the opportunity to talk to our own Assistant Principal, Mrs. Melita. Mrs. Melita had a lot of great things to say about her experiences. We hope you enjoy!
We have been given the honor of having Dr. Robles, a general surgeon at Middlesex Hospital, and Dr. Kapoor, who specializes in primary care. Dr. Robles has been with Middlesex for quite some time. He specializes in a variety of different surgeries and he’s worked with a variety of different people. Dr. Kapoor is a part of the group, Middlesex Family Physicians.
We have been given the honor of having Mr. Blake, an Integrated Science teacher at Lyman Hall High School. He’s been teaching at the high school level for over fifteen years. He’s worked with a variety of different students, currently, he is teaching Freshman at the school.
We have been given the honor of having Mrs. Lang, an eighth grade language arts teacher at Dag Hammarskjold Middle School. She’s been teaching at the middle school level for years. She’s worked at a variety of different schools with a variety of different students.
Mr Didden is the CEO of Cidra, which is a company who makes products to find data about oil and gas before it is pumped.
We had the honor to interview our retired sixth grade teacher Mr. Harkawik. He had been working at Dag Hammarskjold Middle School for over 20 years. We hope you enjoy this interview as much as we did.
Mr. Torre is an avionics technician on the presidential aircraft. He also does house construction and is an electrician in his free time.
We interview helicopter and plane pilot, former state trooper, military pilot, and cancer survivor Jim McClain also known as the real life Captain America.
In this interview we interview Alix Lawson. Alix Lawson, now studying at the University of Georgia in the School of Foreign Service. She is currently in the German and European Studies Program. Alix plans to work in the US Congress or the State Department Dealing with Foreign Affairs.
We interview Mr. Chappell, a former advisor to a Vietnam Base Engineering Officer, and an advisor for construction of an air base during the Vietnam War. He was a civil engineer in Wallingford, CT, and current worker in a senior center.
Braiden Sunshine is an aspiring musician who made it to the semifinals on The Voice season 9. He has recently written his first song, Reality and has been in numerous bands. Braiden has worked with Gwen Stefani, Selena Gomez, Rihanna, and Dolly Parton and has also had the experience of playing with Blues Traveler in Las Vegas. Braiden has numerous songs on YouTube and on iTunes that have charted nationally. He has explored many genres of music throughout his journey on the Voice and continues to do so now.
Miss Robyn is an 8th grade math and algebra teacher at Dag Hammarskjold Middle School where she has been teaching for two years.
We compiled advice from all the departing STEP 8th graders and are sharing it with everyone. We hope you take this advice and apply it to your road to success. Thank you for your continued support. Best of luck to the next class.
Representative Fritz came by our class and talked about her political career and what it took to be the person she is today. Her hard work and drive throughout her term was inspiring. We hope you get inspired as well! Enjoy!
We had the honor of meeting the Mayor of New Britain, Connecticut, Mayor Stewart via Skype. She brought a lot of insight of what it takes to be successful and a taste of what it takes to be a leader at a young age. Enjoy!