Teacher's work spans 3 generations

SOUTHWICK - Now in her 35th year in the Southwick-Tolland Regional school system, there aren't many things that Janice Grimaldi-Ogden hasn't accomplished.

Having taught at high school, middle school and preschool levels and serving on countless committees for students - the longtime teacher can add one more accomplishment to her list.

Grimaldi-Ogden can now boast that she has taught three generations of students.

"I have second-generation students that are in high school, now. It feels really good because I don't feel old enough to have a third generation - but what is age, really?" she asks.

Grimaldi-Ogden said that she taught Matt Winch, his daughter, Tabatha, and now finds herself teaching her son in the school's preschool program - something she is immensely proud of.

With a career now spanning three generations, Grimaldi-Ogden said that she still has enthusiasm and a genuine love for teaching students of all ages.

"When I see kids succeeding and enjoying something, when they're taking knowledge and transforming, it's what keeps me coming back," she said.

Having started at the high school in 1975, Grimaldi-Ogden was the Home Economics teacher at Powder Mill Middle School from 1981 until the program's close earlier this decade.

"They closed the program and I came back here, it was like starting a new job. I had never even taught preschool before, so I developed a program that I thought would work," she said.

Currently, Grimaldi-Ogden runs the preschool program at the high school and teaches two classes: Child Study 1 and

Foods and Nutrition 1.

"The preschool is four days a week. Some weeks I have students shadow a child, some weeks I give them topics. The Child Study 1 class has to create a book, game, or toy, and they have to incorporate it into a lesson," she said.

Grimaldi-Ogden said that working with younger children has been an amazing experience, watching children grow and develop in a fun, learning-based atmosphere.

"With the foods class, they participate, they're curious, it's a pleasure to interact with them. It's very rewarding to me. 'Life Skills 101' is what I consider it in my head," she said, adding that her students play a large role in how the course is taught.

"I base my learning around the students. I find the more that students can have ownership to what they're learning, the more successful and participatory they will be," she said.

Grimaldi-Ogden, who graduated from the University of Maine in 2006 with a degree in Curriculum Instruction and Assessment and is a two-time cancer survivor, said she feels lucky to have impacted so many lives in a positive way.

"I work with the parents, the kids, the high school kids, the preschoolers. I have children who have my phone number. To me they're borrowed family in the hours they're in school - you never know what kind of impact it'll have," she said.