The 2025-2026 academic year officially began Monday for teachers in West Hartford Public Schools with a lively and inspiring convocation.

By Ronni Newton

“Hakuna matata!” exclaimed King Philip Principal Joy Wright as she took the stage at Conard High School and welcomed nearly 1,000 teachers and administrators to a lively and inspirational 2025-2026 Convocation ceremony.

Convocation – the “Celebration of a New Year” – is traditionally held on the first official day teachers return to work. It’s held in the Conard auditorium – which is the district’s largest space – but other district schools take turns hosting the event, and this year the honor fell to King Philip Middle School. As the principal, Wright had the privilege of kicking off the ceremony along with impressive musical performances by the select musical ensembles Beaux Strings and the Sixth Dimension chorus.

Wright’s welcome set the tone for Monday morning’s energetic event, with many of the speakers focused on the theme of thinking about past experiences that had impact, and looking for ways to spark transformative moments.

“As educators, you craft those moments every day,” Wright said, and thinking back to her own education there were several teachers who stood out, who shaped her life. “Think for a moment, what is one peak moment you’ve created for a student?” she asked the audience.

Wright said her own children – West Hartford Public Schools alumni now both in college with her daughter, a junior at UConn, beginning her own journey as an educator at UConn’s Neag School and her son beginning his freshman year at Franklin & Marshall – are ready for the challenges ahead because of the moments their teachers have created.

“So, as we head into this new school year, never forget we are the architects of peak moments of elevation, of insight, connection, and pride that our students will carry for decades,” said Wright.

Melissa Caballero, the executive director of Pupil Services, was emcee for the event, welcoming the 50-plus new teachers, Town Manager Rick Ledwith, members of the Board of Education and Town Council, and state Reps. Jillian Gilchrest and Kate Farrar who were in the audience. She also asked teachers who have been with the district 25, 30, 25, or more years to stand. One teacher remained standing at the 40-plus-year level.

Caballero also asked the audience to think back on the impact of their own teachers, and said for her, the lessons of her fourth grade teacher still echo in her mind. “Here I am, still remembering that teacher, the impact she had on my childhood, my career path, and my education. I know that for you, many of you can also recall a teacher who might have influenced you and changed your path. … You, teachers, are the heart not our schools – dedicated, passionate, talented, and committed to students. You are the hope bringers, the joy makers, the inspiration leaders. You are going to be the reason that students change career path, dream bigger, and grow this school year.”

Board of Education Chair Lorna Thomas-Farquharson offered greetings on behalf of all Board members, noting that the efforts to provide quality education have led to continued recognition for performance in academics, arts, and athletics – including in recent rankings. “All of this is only possible because of what each and every one of you do day-to-day. Every single one of you plays a special role in the lives of our students,” she said, referencing the African proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child.”

Thomas-Farquharson said the community is proud of all students, regardless of ability or background. “We embrace and empower all of our students. We must uplift all students,” she said.

“The start of the year is the start of new learning, reinforced learning, and creation of memories to last a lifetime,” Thomas-Farquharson said.

Her planned remarks were not coordinated with those of Caballero or Wright, but she said she was also inspired to ask the audience to think back on their own school years. “What person comes to mind in your academic setting who had a positive impact on your learning experience?”

Thomas-Farquharson said her seventh grade math teacher comes to mind – a former construction worker on high rise buildings who told gripping stories in his trademark raspy voice. He “balanced intellect with coolness,” she said, and never allowed students to say “I don’t know” as their first response to a question. “He was willing to work with us, no matter how challenging we found a problem to be just as long as we didn’t give up. That stuck with me after all of these years,” she said, urging the teachers to remember that they play that type of important role in students’ lives.

Putting on her “mom hat,” Thomas-Farquharson, whose daughters are starting ninth and 12th grade this week, she said, “I need for you to believe in our youth. I need for you to encourage them, each and every day. … All of our students need that from you, because never underestimate the impact and influence you have on the children you are blessed to see and blessed to help educate.”

The tradition is for the outgoing Teacher of the Year to introduce their successor. Conard science teacher Nora McHugh, the 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year, introduced 2025-2026 Teacher of the Year Christina Fedolfi, who brought the already energized room to a new level as she took the stage dressed in a disco jumpsuit with the Black-Eyed Peas’ “Let’s Get It Started” as her entrance music and her Charter Oak International Academy colleagues waving glow sticks.

“You’d think that after 32 years of first days they’d get easier. They do not,” she said as the applause died down. Summer break has involved “long, luxurious lunches, sometimes liquid, and if you’re like me you’ve been napping at least once a day, sometimes twice, dropping F bombs …” she quipped, and being able to use the bathroom “willy nilly” at any time. “Today, we rip that bandaid off,” having a 30-minute lunch, cleaning up the language, and “regaining our urinary stamina,” she said as the audience roared.

Fedolfi said she was truly surprised to be Teacher of the Year, “because this kid up here made very bad decisions,” she said, showing a photo of herself in the red wool pantsuit she insisted on wearing for school pictures on a 90-degree day. That child never wanted to be a teacher. “She wanted three things: to be a doctor like Marcus Welby, MD. She wanted to be a daredevil like Evel Knieval, and she wanted to be a comedic actress like Tatum O’Neal in Bad News Bears. … Teaching was nowhere on my radar.”

Rather than going home and playing school, “I was dissecting roadkill. I was riding my green banana-seat bike over jumps I made from random trash I found on the side of the road, and – sorry teachers – I was actually barking like a dog in class to make my classmates laugh.”

But Fedolfi said she fell “wildly, passionately in love with this profession” after taking a job as a paraprofessional in a classroom with students with autism after leaving a relationship in New Mexico and moving to Connecticut. “And that class changed my entire outlook on what success meant and what progress meant. And it also showed me how hard and rewarding teaching was, and I wanted to be a part of it.”

Fedolfi said for her, teaching is not about neat bulletin boards and well-crafted lesson plans but rather about making connections with students, with parents who trust you with their children, with the community of other educators who have your back and have seen it all.

“This year I want to send you off with two words: grace and joy,” Fedolfi said. Grace – giving everyone the “best possible motive” for their actions, and finding ways to provide joy.

“I know I’ve gotten 32 years in this business because of joy, that’s my main thing is providing joy.” Sometimes she lets her students do her hair and makeup for the day, she said, showing photographic evidence. “And it’s mostly because I need it, not because they need it. But I’d the joy that it brings to our school as I walk around and kindergartners are looking at me … they know I’m the ‘silly teacher.’ … and the joy of wearing a disco outfit just because it’s Monday.”

She challenged her colleagues to “find your joy,” to help each other out, to lift each other up. “Together we’re going to go far, we’re going to bring our students far. We’re going to have an amazing year, and we’re going to get it started.”

Each year a student from the host school is asked to provide “Insights of a Student,” and this year’s speaker was Aaliya Lal, an accomplished King Philip Middle School eighth grader who is a musician, Quest student, member of the student council, and WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) leader at KP.

“I’ve spent the past three years attending West Hartford Public Schools and I can honestly say I’ve learned a ton – some of it academic, sure, but even more about p people, community, and how powerful a great teacher can be.” Aaliya shared that she moved from Los Angeles to Connecticut right before fifth grade and thought it was going to be a disaster. “Moving to West Hartford turned out to be one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

 

 

Starting at Norfeldt, Aaliya said, she was afraid everyone would already have best friends, but her teacher “went out of her way to make me feel welcome, introducing me to classmates, and somehow turning a room full of strangers into place I genuinely looked forward to being in every day.” And they also read a book called “New Kid,” which really hit home, and her teacher shared her own experiences of moving around.

“Suddenly I didn’t feel new, I felt seen. And that experience taught me the value of empathy and inclusion, and I’ve tried to carry it forward ever since,” Aaliya said. Her seventh grade history teacher also was very influential, she said, redefining what a history lesson could look like by not just teaching from a textbook, teaching about different perspectives and applying the lessons to real life.

Learning to play the flute as a fifth grader – later than many students start an instrument – has also been one of her most rewarding experiences in West Hartford. “Some days the notes were off, and my family will tell you, very off,” she said. “But I showed up, kept trying, and continued to improve. Playing the flute taught me that progress doesn’t come overnight. It comes through patiences, persistence, and hard work. It’s shown me the true value of consistent effort and discipline because it can turn something difficult into something beautiful and that lesson goes far beyond music,” Aaliya said.

West Hartford teachers have made such a difference in her life, Aaliya said, and in the lives of so many others. “And if that’s not the definition of important, I don’t know what is,” she said, expressing her sincere gratitude.

Superintendent Paul Vicinus was the final speaker of the morning. Caballero shared that in addition to working in West Hartford Public Schools for 32 years – and entering his third year as superintendent – he has also served 35 years in the Army National Guard and was recently been promoted to the senior command team and is now State Command Sergeant Major. He approaches both roles, she said, with integrity, and “leads with purpose, humility, and heart.”

Vicinus asked for applause for the previous speakers, and a shout out to the Human Resources Department for screening more than 1,000 candidates in the process of hiring new teachers. More than 100 were interviewed, and this week there will be roughly 60 “new family members” joining the ranks.

Managing the process was Julio Duarte’s last official act before taking on the role of assistant superintendent, and Vicinus asked Duarte to come up on stage and roasted him a bit about applying the same process to choosing his own new family member. “No lie, this was taken from his interview process. We’re looking at things like bark factor, scratch coefficient, wag level,” he said, sharing a photo of the chosen pup, “Giggles,” who Duarte told We-Ha.com has been renamed “Ace.”

On a more serious note, Vicinus said Convocation not only marks the return of the alarm clock and the comment, but also a new beginning, a return or perhaps a first opportunity to answer the call to education, ” a calling to service above self, a calling to shape and enrich the life of a child. Today is not the end of yesterday, it is the dawn of tomorrow.”

Before the ceremony began, as teachers arrived they were “clapped in” – by Conard and Hall student-athletes who were outside the main doors, and then by administrators who lined the hallway leading to the auditorium. “Clapping in” became part of convocation for the first time two years ago, but has been a tradition that started at Conard several years ago with teachers greeting students as they arrive at on the first day of school.

The energy and joy of the clapping in, and the annual ceremony, is the catalyst “as we reconnected, recharged, and are ready to begin anew, to be the difference in the life of a child.”

On Saturday, Vicinus said he was on the stage at Foxwoods as 600-plus men and women, surrounded by family and officials prepared to deploy overseas and were offered wishes and thanks for their service to the country. He said he was thinking about Convocation, “when I’m standing on stage in full view of a battalion of educators, individuals in a noble profession, who give of themselves in support of a higher call. Profesionals who understand the importance of their role, the importance of their mission, and who accept the special trust placed in them by the public in appreciation of the responsibilities inherent to that role.”

Teaching requires commitment, Vicinus said. “Our commitment is to our students. Every child. Every day. Our commitment is to our community,” he said, and it’s a choice with success “measured in the glimmer of smiling eyes, the melody of voices and song, or the chorus of laughter, in the confidence built from adversity. … We understand the gift that we’ve been given to change a life.”

West Hartford Public Schools students have exceeded all previous records for participation and achievement on AP exams this past year, broken records for math achievement, and literacy measures are up markedly, Vicinus said. High needs students had the second highest growth ever, and students have earned awards at the state, regional, and national level for arts, athletics, leadership, and unified programming. “And that’s a credit to all of you here in the room. … That is the momentum we enter this year with today.”

He also listed just some of the accolades earned by teachers for success in language, music, youth impact. “Now I know, you know, we can’t rest on our laurels. We can’t rest on the accomplishments of last year.”

As the new cycle begins, Vicinus said, “We know the secret to our success, that our work undertaken to foster active student engagement, student agency, student voice, to cultivate creativity and critical thinking, and our laser focus on our high needs population, and helping all students in West Hartford feel a sense of belong. That’s the blueprint.”

Vicinus asked the administrators in the room to stand and look out at the sea of educators, noting that their most important role is to support them as they give of themselves “to reach and uplift every child, every day. That’s the role of an educator. That is who you are, and that is a noble pursuit.”

As he ended the Convocation ceremony, Vicinus urged the teachers to “go forth with the full measure of your passion, your caring, and your commitment. And remember to take pride, choose joy. Let’s get it started.”

We-Ha.com met with Vicinus last week to talk about what to expect in the new school year, and that information can be found here.

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