Carmen Effron wanted to follow in her father\u2019s footsteps. Kenneth Arminio, a career, Boston College and Neag-trained educator, taught at Pomperaug High School from 1951 until his death on Christmas Day 1968.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found when he died \u2026 it was a huge, huge service because he really touched the lives of many people,\u201d she recalls. Inspired, she herself went into teacher education at the Neag School following his death. \u201cI thought, \u2018yeah, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll do.\u2019 But when I did my student teaching, I realized it just wasn\u2019t my cup of tea.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, she stayed at UConn, but switched to business, where she earned her master\u2019s of business administration. She has since created and operated\u00a0CF Effron Co<\/a>. and Effron Burke Associates, both Weston-based international and domestic consulting businesses she describes as \u201can intersection of finance, banking and insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n And, in 2007, she set up the Arminio\/Effron Scholarship in the\u00a0Neag School of Education<\/a>. She did that in memory of her father, but also to celebrate the attributes of the Neag School she learned of first as a student there, and then from her nine years as a member of the dean\u2019s advisory board.<\/p>\n \u201cFor many years, it gave me the opportunity to meet a number of the students and find out about their enthusiasm and how they work,\u201d she says of her advisory board affiliation. \u201cIf you want to get excited, you just have to talk to the students at the Neag School,\u201d she says, adding that the school\u2019s criteria are so selective, \u201cI probably couldn\u2019t get into the program now.\u201d<\/p>\n As a pre-teacher at Neag, she learned about her father\u2019s profession inside and out. He had emigrated from Italy and focused on language. At Woodbury, he headed the foreign language department and advised the senior class, employing his signature common sense and patience, Effron says, the latter trait not being part of her own DNA.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things I am is incredibly impatient,\u201d she laughs, \u201cand teaching requires a lot of patience.\u201d<\/p>\n When she was first approached to join the Neag dean\u2019s advisory board, she thought, \u201cAll they really want is money.\u201d But then she met then-Dean Richard Schwab and Tom DeFranco, Neag\u2019s current dean, and decided she wanted to be a part of the school that spawned Teachers for a New Era and the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s exposure. What I wish is that more people could get engaged with the Neag School and understand what a terrific job they do. They have some fabulous professors and research. It\u2019s such an exciting place to be,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Effron points to the success Neag has in creating a model for its faculty and researchers to continuously re-evaluate programs and prepare future teachers to go forth and create model schools. \u201cI believe teaching is an art and a science, and what Teachers for a New Era does is help the science side,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n A large part of Effron\u2019s drive to set up the scholarship came from her own experience. As the middle of five daughters in her family who all went to college \u2013 education was always her father\u2019s focus \u2013 she worked during the summers. That meant she couldn\u2019t do internships or take opportunities that would further her education in non-monetary ways. \u201cI wanted to give money to students so in the summer session they can do something else and not necessarily have to work,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Recent recipients of the Arminio\/Effron Scholarship, which is awarded to full-time students pursuing careers in teaching and having excellent academic records, include Kathleen Pittman of Meriden, 2008; Danielle Olivier of Rhode Island, 2009; and Asia Boxton of Wolcott, 2010. The 2011 winner has not yet been named but will be honored in an April celebration.<\/p>\n Dean DeFranco comments on her work, \u201cCarmen has been a great friend and supporter of the Neag School. Her scholarship provides a way to honor her father\u2019s legacy and demonstrates her passion for teacher education and improving the lives of children in schools across Connecticut as well as the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Effron is not sure what the endowment is now worth: \u201cI just give it; I don\u2019t know what they do with it,\u201d she says. But when loved ones ask what they can do for her to celebrate a special occasion, she suggests a donation to the fund, managed through the\u00a0UConn Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Frank Gifford, vice president for development at the foundation, says that donations from family and friends is a great way to keep an endowment healthy, and his staff offers help with wording and setting up such requests to mark special anniversaries. \u201cThe intention of a scholarship, particularly when it\u2019s endowed, is to go into perpetuity,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a living thing.\u201d<\/p>\n And scholarship namesakes like Kenneth Arminio have a place in the pantheon of educators.<\/p>\n \u201cHe always loved to be with the kids,\u201d Effron says. \u201cHe had a tremendous influence on all of our lives.\u201d She notes that Arminio earned his master\u2019s at Neag (\u201954) but was unable to finish his doctoral thesis while teaching full time and raising five daughters. \u201cThat will do it,\u201d Effron jokes about her father, both the consummate parent and teacher.<\/p>\n \u201cA really good teacher is so valuable. He would think the money was really worth going toward that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n