Talent Development Institute

TDI 2007 Staff Biographies

Honi Bean Barrett graduated with an Elementary Education degree from St Joseph's College in Maine, and then went to Arizona and taught in a Montessori school. She loved the Montessori philosophy and Arizona, but missed her family at home, so she moved back home. Since then, she has been teaching first grade at Renaissance School, and loves to learn each day from her students. She also does private tutoring.  She has taught children in grades Pre-K through 12, and enjoys the primary elementary years. Last year was her first year with TDI, and she is excited this year to see returning campers and teachers. Honi lives in Middlesex with her husband and her dog, Daisy, and enjoys traveling, crafting, and spending time with 10 nieces and nephews. She will be walking in two 60 mile marathons this summer!

Lucy Bogue has been involved in TDI at least 9 years. She first participated in the adult Talent Development Institute that took place at the same time as the student TDI in 1999 (daughter Emily was a camper at TDI that summer; son Max started coming to TDI a few years later). It was during that week that she decided to pursue her masters in education of the gifted, a degree which she earned from Johnson State College in 2002.

Lucy’s work experience includes being State Consultant for Gifted in Vermont, a job she shared with Dr. Carol Story for 15 months through a Goals 200 Grant. She has taught education courses at JSC at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, facilitated many professional development sessions for educators, led discussion groups and seminars for parents of gifted children, and chaired conferences for the Vermont Council for Gifted Education. Lucy has also worked as a camp counselor, a day camp and playground program director, a teacher of swimming, canoeing, and gymnastics, a lifeguard, a classroom volunteer, a volunteer math teacher, an ELF instructor, an Odyssey of the Mind coach, and a registered nurse for 17 years on the maternity/newborn nursery floor at Fletcher Allen. She is passionate about writing poetry and singing.

Most recently Lucy has been the co-director (with Ellen Koier) of TDI Johnson, director of the Leadership Program at TDI Johnson, and the director of TDI Williston. She is one of the founders of, and is currently the president of, the Green Mountain Center for Gifted Education.

Max Bogue has been part of TDI Johnson for many years, the last two in the Leadership Program. Last summer he also led a chess class and was in charge of active games at TDI Williston. He loves tennis, video games, mathematics, and playing the guitar. Max has been home schooled since sixth grade, and is currently taking classes at the Community College of Vermont, in lieu of high school. Max is webmaster of both the TDI and GMC websites.

Irene Dagesse graduated from UVM with a degree in Biology, became certified to teach science from Lyndon State College, and has her masters in gifted education from Johnson State College. While teaching at various schools, Irene and her family have enjoyed raising sheep and beef cattle. Irene loves spending time outside gardening, hiking, cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, practicing yoga and playing ice hockey. Irene, her husband Dan, and their three children are passionate builders. Their last big project was building a camp in the wilderness of Holland, Vt. Irene currently home schools her youngest daughter and works part time at Coventry Village School as the G/T teacher and enrichment coordinator. She has recently become a member of the Vermont Council for Gifted Education.

Nicole Dagesse graduated summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a BFA in dance and BS in Environmental Science. Currently Nicole is living, teaching, and dancing in the Boston area.  Nicole is a Mad Scientist by day, traveling to schools and offering hands-on science enrichment for after-school programs, workshops and birthday parties.  In addition, she teaches dance at the Broadway Bound Dance Center, offering classes in Modern, Jazz, Tap, Yoga, and Pilates, incorporating techniques in dance composition and improvisation.  Nicole utilizes these skills while dancing with several dance companies, including the Boston Somatic Dance Company and Bennett Dance Company in Boston, as well as Wire Monkey Dance of Holyoke, Massachusetts.  With Wire Monkey, Nicole enjoys exploring the vertical dimensions of dance using mobile scaffolding, most recently performing at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival in New York City.  Her latest pursuits include rock climbing, salsa dancing, and a renewed Yoga practice.  Nicole is returning to TDI for her sixth season where she will share her passion for movement in Everybody Dance Now, and reveal some of the science behind magic in Out of Thin Air.


Lucie deLaBruere has 25 years of experience teaching and learning with technology. She has worked with learners from Kindergarten to Graduate School. Lucie's website Learning With Lucie is a portal to many of Lucie's projects, including a series of Tech Savvy projects.  Tech Savvy Kids helps today's students develop leadership skills using their interest in digital technology.  Tech Savvy Girls provides a network for women and girls working together to continue to bridge the gender gap found in high tech courses and careers.  Lucie has helped students obtain IT industry certifications from Microsoft and Oracle and has coached 10 teams into the semi-finals and one platinum win in Global School House's International Cyberfair Competition.  Lucie's pioneering spirit has resulted in a role as a lead teacher in the application of Web 2.0 tools in Vermont's classrooms.  She shares her experience on Google in Education's blog Infinite Thinking.

This is Meghan Faulkner's first year leading a strand at TDI, but her seventh year attending TDI in some capacity.  She is a senior at Mill River Union High School, and will attend college next year. She is a National Merit Scholarship Finalist, and will graduate as valedictorian of her class.  She participated in Model United Nations last year, the source of inspiration for her strand.  She loves to read and debate.  She has been dancing since she was three, and plays three instruments.  She is very excited for TDI this year!

Since 1977, Jon Gailmor has been performing in schools, colleges, resorts, restaurants and folk clubs throughout the country, serenading at child care and senior centers, singing at prisons, hospitals, corporate and private parties, delivering unorthodox high school commencement addresses and talking to students far and wide about alternative career choices.

Jon presents songwriting residencies and workshops for students in pre-school through college, and helps companies and other organizations create their own masterpieces. To aid children and grownups alike in discovering their gifts is one of the great joys of his life.

Jon Gailmor has been honored as an “Extraordinary Vermonter” by the governor, received the Mayor’s Peace Prize in Burlington, and was awarded a Silver Citation by the Vermont Arts Council. He sang as Vermont’s representative at the 25th Anniversary of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and, in 1996, was chosen to carry the Olympic Torch through Brattleboro, on its way to Atlanta. He has toured with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, has released five solo albums, and lives with his family in Elmore, Vermont.

Luke Hands is a native born Vermonter. He left Vermont in 1999 and attended a private school in Connecticut. He is currently a sophomore at Houghton College in Houghton, NY where he is studying psychology and thinking about pursuing a secondary education degree. He has a passion for psychology, history, literature and ultimate Frisbee!

Robin Hands is a former teacher and school principal. She earned her Master’s Degree in Gifted Education from Johnson State College in 1991. She is currently a full time doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Samantha Hands is married to Tyler Hands and is a student at the University of Connecticut. She is an artist and is currently pursuing a degree in psychology. Sam has worked in youth group settings for many years and looks forward to sharing her passion for art with children in Vermont.

Tyler Hands is a 23-year-old who lives in Western Massachusetts. He grew up in Northern Vermont where his love for nature and the arts was nurtured. Tyler has been both an assistant and a teacher at the Talent Development Institute for many years. His love of children and the Vermont hills compels him to return year after year!

Leah Muth Hynes recently retired from teaching after 20 years in Georgia, VT and six years in the Boston, MA area where she worked with middle school students to better their understanding of math.  She is a 2004 graduate of Johnson State College with a Master of Arts in Education (Gifted and Talented).  She lives in Milton, Vermont with her two teenage daughters, five indoor cats, one large dog, and two Mickey Mouse fish.

Becky Jensen is a former organic geochemist turned elementary teacher turned librarian and lister and the proud mother of two gifted girls (Elizabeth and Kat), who are also returning teachers at TDI. She is an active member of the Vermont Council for Gifted Education, serving on the board, maintaining the website (www.vcge.org), helping with the newsletter and the New England Conference on Gifted and Talented Education (NECGT) conferences in Vermont. She has presented at several VCGE and NECGT conferences, and last year received an award from NECGT for her advocacy and service to gifted students.

TDI has been an important part of the Jensen household for the last ten years, one that vacations are always planned around so that first Becky, then Elizabeth, and finally Kat, could teach, with Larry occasionally helping out in one of the classes. Becky has taught at TDI all ten years, usually something to do with computers – basics for teachers in the beginning, then programming and geographic information systems, and now robotics. Never wanting to do exactly the same thing twice, she has also taught courses on origami and three-dimensional geometry. No matter what the course is, it's the kids that keep bringing Becky back. These are the kids (other than her daughters) that Becky really likes to work with, for they understand her need to do so many different things, just as they so often wish to do.

Elizabeth Jensen is a senior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and will graduate this spring with a double major in computer science and psychology.  After that, she plans to attend graduate school in computer science, focusing her research on robotics and artificial intelligence.  She began teaching at TDI in 2000, with a pinhole camera course, and has since taught courses in black and white photography, computer programming and robotics.  This will be her eighth year teaching at TDI.

Kat Jensen is a senior at Blue Mountain Union High School. She plans to major in Asian Studies, with an emphasis on Asian languages at college next year. Since 2005 she has taught Japanese Language and Culture twice and an exploratory in Cup Stacking. This year she will be teaching Japanese Art.

Lydia Johnson has lived in Cambridge, Vermont her entire life. She has participated in TDI for the past five years. For three summers in a row, she also participated in the writing program of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth program. She spent the spring semester of her junior year in Ladakh, India with Vermont Intercultural Semesters. After she came back, she started an Environmental Club at her high school. She loves to read anything she can get her hands on, including graphic novels and comic books. She will be going to college next year and plans to study English/Creative Writing.

Brad King has 20 years of experience teaching science at the middle school level. He says he is fortunate to teach at Georgia Middle School, well-known for its gifted program headed by Nancy Mildrum. He has a master's degree in gifted and talented education. He uses his experience and education to motivate learners using many different methods. He feels that science can be and should be a hands-on learning experience; therefore his classroom is a spot for creativity and experiential learning.

Brad enjoys fishing and animals (he has four dogs), which he shares with his family. He loves to build and create. He has constructed four of his own homes and built much of the furniture which he and his family now enjoy.

Ellen Koier has served as the Gifted & Talented Program coordinator at the Cambridge Elementary School since 1989! During this time she has also taught in the regular classroom, grades three through seven. She has a master's degree in gifted education, has filled numerous offices and board positions in the Vermont Council for Gifted Education, was voted teacher of the year for the Lamoille North School District in 2000, and is returning for her 7th year as the Assistant Director of TDI Johnson. She lives in Morrisville with her husband, Davis, and her children, Abby and Davis.

Nancy Mildrum’s early experience was as a classroom teacher in Vermont public schools. She then studied with Dr. Carol Story at Johnson State College and completed a masters in Gifted Education. For the past 20 years she has worked at Georgia School in Georgia, Vermont, coordinating and teaching in an Enrichment Program that serves the entire school population while trying her best to provide for students who need individual programs. Nancy has been on the TDI staff for several years. She finds working with children a joy, and her main concern is a balanced approach with an emphasis on the whole child. Her specialties include: writing, drama, and chess; and she is developing her skills in movement, meditation and brain science. This year at TDI Nancy will be teaching a new strand called Brain Pilots and she will also offer an established favorite strand called Writing and Laughing Together.

Ethan Mitchell tutors homeschoolers and teaches at the Walden Project in Vergennes. When he isn't teaching, he works as a stone-carver, art handler, plumber, carpenter, writer, and financial analyst.

Jennifer Wentworth Nye graduated from the Women's College of Lesley University (Cambridge, MA) in 1999 with a B.S. in Elementary Education and Humanities with a focus in Literature and a Specialization in Teaching Reading. She has taught children of many different grade levels in varying capacities. She currently is the 5/6 teacher at the Renaissance School in Shelburne, Vermont. Her favorite part of working with children is finding out who they are, what interests them, and helping them learn through their individual passions. Jen is eager to complete her Masters in Gifted and Talented Education from Johnson State College in August of 2007, and has recently become a board member of the Vermont Council for Gifted Education.. Jennifer has been a part of the TDI family since 2004.

Alex Peterson, brother of Chris and Eric, has been at TDI for many years, first as a camper, then in the Leadership program for 2 years, and now as an instructor.

Chris Peterson has been involved with the Talent Development Institute as a student or counselor since its inception. He has taught a diverse array of courses designed to help students achieve creative goals through computer applications, as well as supervised physically active exploratories. A Legal Studies major, Information Technology minor, enrolled in the Honors College at UMass Amherst, Chris plays guitar, rock climbs, and writes for a comedy website. His passions include intellectual debate and discussion, Apple computers, and pretentious hair metal. While not teaching, he works as a professional dragon-slayer in the former Soviet bloc.

Kathy Quimby is currently a freelance writer and editor. Also known as Katherine Quimby Johnson, she has worked as a children’s librarian and has been published in Apple Seeds magazine. The parent of a gifted child, Kathy is a board member of the Vermont Council for Gifted Education and a state volunteer for the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth program. She is also a member of the Green Mountain Book Award Committee, which encourages high school students to read for enjoyment. This will be her second year teaching at TDI, where she enjoys exploring the pleasures of poetry and the crafting of stories with children who are equally enthusiastic about playing with words.

This summer will be Caroline Sedano’s third year teaching at TDI, where she has taught strands in film analysis, art history and this summer, bottle rockets. Caroline first went to TDI the summer after sixth grade. Loving every minute of her first week on the Johnson state college campus, Caroline was a student for two more years, in the leadership program for one year, and then continued on to teach, still loving the program.

Caroline is finishing her senior year at Montpelier High School, where she is the editor of her school paper. She is active in her school’s environmental club, where she has been lobbying for a legislation in the Vermont Legislature to keep tires out of Vermont rivers. She also writes for the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus. She takes dance classes at a local studio and is part of the traveling dance performers, Teen Jazz. Caroline plans to attend Brown University in the fall.

Dr. Carol Story retired recently from her position as a Professor of Education at Johnson State College. While there, she directed the Master’s in Education of the Gifted program. She founded the Talent Development Institute and the Green Mountain Center for Gifted Education. She is a consultant in gifted education and continues to work as an adjunct professor at Johnson. Carol received her doctorate from the University of Connecticut and is a member of the resource bank of the National Research Center on Gifted and Talented at the university.

Nancy Volatile-Wood has lived in Georgia with her wonderful family (Craig, Stefan and Cassandra) for 20 years. She has had the delightful experience of being part of the Enrichment Team at the Georgia School since 1998. Her responsibilities include whole class, small group and one-on-one instruction with gifted & talented students. Her teaching has also extended to the summertime by participating in TDI Johnson and Williston. When she is not teaching, Nancy takes care of purchasing and accounts payable for the school.

Her personal passions include gardening, photography and singing. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Plant and Soil Science and is a certified Horticultural Therapist through the New York Botanical Garden. Her career took an unexpected turn as her husband and she decided to start their family. She was formally introduced to the world of the gifted and talented when their son was born and then entered public school, and she has never looked back. It has been, and continues to be, Nancy’s distinct honor to work with so many wonderful individuals in Vermont.

Rebecca Yahm's long-standing commitment to alternative education began at Swarthmore College, where she developed a passion for environmental education and progressive educational philosophy. She continued to pursue these interests at Antioch New England Graduate School, receiving a M.Ed., with a focus on integrated curriculum and environmental education. She was a classroom teacher for two years in public school and for three years at the Bellwether School in Williston. In the summer of 2003, Rebecca began Open Path Homeschooling Resources to bring her commitment to educational alternatives to the homeschool community. Since then, she has designed and taught varied programs for children and teens, including innovative thematic and project-based classes. Rebecca has worked with more than 100 homeschool families, providing individualized tutoring and curriculum consulting, as well as her classes and workshops. Her interests include hiking, backcountry skiing, weaving, organic gardening, and reading fiction. This will be her third summer at TDI.