{"id":34154,"date":"2011-05-02T08:08:37","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T12:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=34154"},"modified":"2023-11-12T15:38:31","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T20:38:31","slug":"class-of-2011-sheena-boyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/05\/class-of-2011-sheena-boyle\/","title":{"rendered":"Class of 2011: Sheena Boyle"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the University counts down to Commencement, UConn Today is featuring some of this year’s outstanding graduating students, nominated by their academic school or college or another University program in which they participated. For additional profiles of students in the Class of 2011, click here<\/a>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"<p>Sheena<\/a>
Sheena Boyle, ED \u201911. Photo by Ariel Dowski, CLAS \u201914<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it comes to challenges, Sheena Boyle has always jumped in feet first. Whether she\u2019s making her way onto the Dean\u2019s List, coaching the Waterbury Knights Cheerleading Squad, or graduating from the five-year Integrated Bachelor\u2019s\/Master\u2019s Program through UConn\u2019s School of Education, Boyle has always welcomed a challenge. But she says she hasn\u2019t done it alone. Instead, she credits the teachers who supported her along the way. These teachers have been role models, she says, who have fostered a passion in her to inspire children to be the best they can be, no matter what odds they face.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Waterbury showed Boyle the types of hardships many children face in an urban setting. But it also showed her the crucial role teachers play in children\u2019s development and education. Boyle says she had too many role models to count.<\/p>\n

One of them was a woman named Isabelle Nunes, whom she met at the age of 10. \u201cMs. Nunes showed me that not all teachers are just there to make you learn straight from a book\u201d says Boyle. \u201cTeachers can be warm and personable, with a real interest in the children that they mentor.\u201d Boyle was inspired by Nunes\u2019 passion for the children she worked with.<\/p>\n

A student in the five-year Integrated Bachelor\u2019s\/Master\u2019s Program at UConn, Boyle has a double major in English secondary education and English literature. This semester, she has also been a student teacher at East Hartford High School, a position she has tackled head on. \u201cI feel like I have a strong rapport with the children that go to EHHS because of being brought up in an urban setting myself,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel like I can relate to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the kids that make the job worthwhile, she says, adding that they have diverse needs, and adapting to those needs is the key to success in working with them both as individuals and collectively.<\/p>\n

Boyle\u2019s other activities at UConn have included the cheerleading squad, the Teacher Education Student Association, and the Black Student Association. She has also remained active in the Waterbury community, coaching the Waterbury Knights Cheerleading squad and volunteering for the NAACP, Grace Baptist Church, and Big Brothers\/Big Sisters. Boyle will graduate this May with her bachelor\u2019s, and will continue the five-year program as a master\u2019s degree student in the fall.<\/p>\n

Her advice for Neag program hopefuls? \u201cJoin every program that you can \u2013 really get your hands dirty,\u201d she says. \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to jump right into anything that can increase your experience. Don\u2019t be afraid to loosen up, be goofy, and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inspired by her teacher’s passion for the kids she taught, Sheena Boyle hopes to become a teacher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-34154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 19:23:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34154"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206872,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34154\/revisions\/206872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34154"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=34154"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=34154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}