PARENT SESSION-
Katie Zarlengo is a Denver native and Executive Director of the Zarlengo Foundation. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing and Management and Master of Business Administration from Regis University.
Katie enjoys baking, entertaining, and spending time with her family. Above all, Katie truly enjoys using her education and work experience to serve the learning disabled community in Colorado. She is dedicated to the foundation and its mission.
Each year, the foundation hosts its annual fundraiser, An Evening of Comedy, where it welcomes a famous comedian to the Bellco Stage at the Colorado Convention Center. The foundation has hosted well known comedians such as Jay Leno, Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah, Howie Mandel, Jeff Foxworthy and many others. The Zarlengo Foundation has given away over $1.4 million to schools and programs for learning disabled children.
Dr. Jill Gitten Aloia is board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. She earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology with a specialty in Developmental Neuropsychology at the University of Florida in 2000. She completed her internship in the Neuropsychology track through Brown University’s Clinical Psychology training program. She then completed a clinical postdoctoral residency in Pediatric Neuropsychology at Brown University. Prior to moving to Colorado, Dr. Aloia was a Research Associate in the Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences Department at Brown University.
In 2006, she moved to Boulder and joined a multidisciplinary neurodevelopmental center providing diagnostic and intensive treatment services. The center supported children and adolescents with language-based learning difficulties, inattention and executive dysfunction, and related behavioral or emotional challenges. Serving as the Associate Director through 2019, she supervised the multi-disciplinary team of therapists in formulating individualized treatment
plans. In 2017, Dr. Aloia joined New Peaks Neuropsychology, a group practice offering Developmental Neuropsychology services in the front range.
Dr. Aloia has presented nationally and has published several scientific papers in high quality peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Child Neurology and Child Neuropsychology. She has taught several graduate level
courses, most recently teaching Child Assessment as an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Aloia has also served on several boards, including the Colorado Neuropsychological Society and Kinspire.
Story Fisher is a Hillside alumna and young adult succeeding with dyslexia. Story is attending Front Range Community College and majoing in business and aspires to work for a non-profit one day. She is hoping to transfer out of Front Range and is exploring universities in Alaska, California, and Minneapolis. While attending school she also works for a landscape/snow removal company and is a part-time nanny.
Jeannine Wyer is the Co-president of Boulder Valley Kid Identified with Dyslexia and a parent of a dyslexic child. The mission of BVKID is to create a culture of innovation and to promote awareness of dyslexia among parents, teachers, and administration in Boulder Valley and to serve students with dyslexia and related learning disorders to ensure that they reach their maximum potential.
Brandon grew up in Boulder, Colorado. Upon high school graduation, he attended college in Ohio on a football scholarship. He later went on to complete his Master’s degree at Arizona State, then furthered his education at CU Denver where he graduated with an Eds Degree in School Psychology.
Brandon spent twelve years teaching special education in Boulder Valley. While teaching, he found his passion for supporting students who have executive function deficits. He watched students with ADHD and other learning disabilities struggle with organization and procrastination. Brandon began receiving special requests from parents to assist these students to develop better study habits. He worked with these students while playing catch or partaking in other athletic activities.
Over the years, this one-off teaching assistance developed into a more regular routine, and led to the beginning of Untapped Learning. Untapped provides a variety of services to students ranging from 6th grade through college and takes on a different approach than other learning centers. First, Untapped connects students with a mentor. This mentor helps students create specialized, weekly plans to navigate the school year. After each scheduled weekly meeting, mentors regularly check in with their students. Students can check in virtually or visit an Untapped facility in-person in Broomfield or Centennial!
Both Untapped locations are equipped with individual classrooms, homework centers, and full-scale movement zones. Brandon realized the importance of movement, as it drives focus, memory, and brain function. So, he made sure that each Untapped location had space available to encourage movement among students.
Julie Hagy-Hancock, M.S., is a Special Education Consultant/Child Advocate for families in Boulder, Denver and surrounding Colorado. With a B.A. in Communication Studies, mediation training, and a Masters in Special Education, Julie has spent the last 12 years specializing in advocacy, tutoring, behavior intervention, recreation and eligibility for students with special needs.
Julie has been awarded numerous grants to conduct research on best-practice methods for working with students with special needs. She has shared her expertise and researched methods in local and national conferences. Her research-based strategies have been implemented in schools across the country. Additionally, she has taught future special education teachers, as a university adjunct faculty member. As a former SPED teacher, Julie is able to advocate for students’ needs drawing from both the professional advocate and the classroom perspective.
Consulting, tutoring and intervention are carried out in schools or in her office, in a calm, cooperative style that encourages participation and growth. Julie incorporates self-monitoring and stress release strategies in each student’s Success Design Plan, which can help alleviate stress from the overall school and/or family dynamic, and increase self esteem.
Julie’s goal for students is simple: Success. Whether it relates to school or home, academics or behavior, success is a good feeling. Success does not come without design. Each academic intervention program is designed specifically to fit the needs and learning style of your child. Julie offers individualized plans, whether it is helping advocate in the IEP or 504 process or teaching your child replacement behaviors or attention retention techniques.
Julie believes in the power of healthy communication and good relationships. She works to build and maintain relationships amongst students, families, teachers and support professionals.
Becca Stenzel, MA, OTR/L, holds a Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has been an Occupational Therapist in Boulder Valley School Distrcit since 2014. Becca serves on the Assistive Technology Team at BVSD.
The goal of the Assistive Technology Team is to provide resources and the student/staff training necessary so that students with disabilities can participate in appropriate education experiences and communicate what they know. The team is available to visit schools to talk with teachers, parents, and therapists about students in special education programs. Team members can suggest solutions, both low and high tech, to help students with the learning process. They can assist with computer and environmental access (switch access), alternative communication, and choosing specialized software. Students may have mild disabilities such as learning disabilities or more significant cognitive or physical disabilities. The BVSD Assistive Technology Team has a lending library of devices and software available for specific students with needs identified by the team. The equipment and software can be used for evaluation, trial, or on longer-term loan.
Becca has experience working with people with a wide range of abilities in settings including schools, hospitals, in-home care, camps, and she provides hippotherapy in addition to her work at BVSD. She loves the creativity involved in finding the right AT tools to maximize each individual’s success.
STUDENT SESSIONS
Elizabeth Amabile, MA has worked as an educator for the last sixteen years in public and private schools, as well as in private practice. Elizabeth is a licensed K-12 Special Education Generalist and has a Masters degree in education. She has had extensive training in effective, research based literacy and math interventions, with an emphasis on Structured Literacy (Orton-Gillingham approach, IMSE, Wilson reading systems) and multisensory math.
Elizabeth recently received her certification as a social-emotional learning facilitator and yoga instructor. Recognizing the vast need for mental health support and wellness programming for school-aged children, this has become Elizabeth’s passion project. In order for children to learn and thrive academically, they must first feel safe, secure, and centered.
Elizabeth adopts a holistic approach to working with children. She helps students develop strategies to manage anxiety and stress, build self-confidence, and embrace a growth-mindset. She and her students explore how they learn best, and instruction is tailored according to each individual student’s learning style and needs. Elizabeth’s mission is to make every session she has with a student effective, meaningful, engaging, and fun!
www.niwotlearningcollective.com
Edward Connolly is a Hillside Alumnus and an EMT with Grand County and Stadium Medical. He went to school to become an EMT while still in high school between his junior and senior year and graduated from Fairview and Hillside in 2020. Eddie loves that he can make a difference in people’s lives, while also enjoying a job that makes you think on your feet. When he is not working he enjoys hiking and you can often find him on his favorite trail, Byer, in Grand County.
The importance of education and the love of learning were ingrained in Becky early in her childhood. Her great-grandmother was an example of a lifelong learner who taught on a Navajo reservation in Arizona while in her sixties. After “retirement” she enrolled in beauty school and was a cosmetician in her 70’s and 80’s. Becky was the recipient of many kitchen perms. When she began playing school with her friends, and later the kids she babysat for, the future was clear. Working as a summer day camp counselor for the Special School District in St. Louis, MO led her into special education.
Becky attended Bradley University in Peoria, IL where she majored in Learning Disabilities and Social Emotional Learning Specialist. She was a middle school resource room teacher in Illinois and Colorado before kids arrived on the scene. After taking some time off to be home with her three boys, she joined the Hillside team. Becky is a member of the Academy of Orton Gillingham Practitioners as an Associate and is working under Karen Leopold to become a Certified member. This summer she began working towards a long held dream of getting her master degree. She is currently enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado in the Educational Leadership and Special Education Administration program.
A transplant from the MidWest, Becky enjoys the outdoor adventures of Boulder and Colorado. Paddleboarding was a passion this summer. If you can get her off the water, you will find her on the trails with her dogs, Wren and Penny. Becky is also an avid reader and is proud to say she has visited all of the Little House on the Prairie homesites. A St. Louis native, Becky is a die hard Cardinals baseball fan and lover of Gooey Butter Cake.
Whitney has always found joy through working with children. Understanding, appreciating, and supporting how individuals learn is a lifelong passion for her. She has worked as an educator in the Boulder area for the past 15 years, including at the Sister Carmen Community Center, Cure Organic Farm, and The Growe Foundation. Whitney earned her Bachelor’s degree in English from Western Washington University. She is a Clinical Herbalist and has a Master’s degree in Science focusing on Human Nutrition. Through teaching Nutrition to kids, Whitney knew that teaching was the path for her. From there she earned her Elementary Education Teacher’s License from CU and was recognized for being in the top of her class.
Whitney went on to study the Orton-Gillingham approach extensively, finding gems in the different approaches from different organizations. Through this training, Whitney witnessed the remarkable impact that multi-sensory, direct, explicit instruction can have and how through this instruction, students’ brains can be activated in varying ways so that their learning and processing style is honored and attended to, whether the subject is literacy or math or beyond. As a Learning Specialist, she aims to connect with the whole person and hold them and their learning in the highest regard.
When she is not teaching, you will find her frolicking in her garden, playing the ukulele, sewing up a storm, reading about literacy, hugging her dogs and cats, smooching her daughters, and dreaming of their next adventure.
www.niwotlearningcollective.com
Senior Vice President of Marketing, 360insights
https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherkmargolis/
www.360insights.com
Heather K. Margolis is Senior Vice President of Marketing at 360insights. Formerly, Heather was the Founder and CEO of Spark Your Channel, creators of a through-channel marketing automation platform, and Founder and Chairperson of Channel Maven Consulting, a strategic channel marketing agency. Both companies were acquired by 360insights in November 2021. Heather is a recognized channel marketing expert and a sought-after keynote speaker to a variety of audiences about entrepreneurship, building a service-based business and B2B strategy, B2B marketing and channel marketing. A self-proclaimed “recovering channel professional,” Heather is passionate about enabling vendors to drive sales through their channel partners. She spent several years in channel programs and marketing for big-brand tech companies like EMC, EqualLogic and Dell before forming Channel Maven Consulting in March of 2009 to provide strategic channel marketing “to” and partner demand generation “with” IT and telecom channel organizations of all sizes. Heather has a master’s degree in business administration from Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. She grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Boulder, Colo., with her husband and fellow entrepreneur Simeon, their two daughters and dog Zoe.
Shortly after graduating college, Jill discovered her passion for working with individuals with learning differences when she accepted what she assumed would be a short-term job at a learning center. There Jill got her first taste of the life changing power that effective instruction holds for the dyslexic learner. As she witnessed the blossoming self-confidence, resilience, and joy her students experienced as they started to embrace their challenges and view themselves as unique and capable learners, she was hooked.
Since then, Jill has worked in a variety of settings designed for students with dyslexia, and has taught ages from Kindergarten to adult. She joined the Hillside team in August 2006, teaching for seven years, then transitioning into administration in 2013. Jill has found a home at Hillside and is honored to lead this group of exceptional educators and administrators in their meaningful and transformative work.
Not one to shirk her Colorado-duties, Jill spends time outside hiking the front range or simply sitting quietly taking in the vast and beautiful Colorado skies. As a parent, Jill currently enjoys swapping new-school and old-school music appreciation lessons with her teenage son and creating an endless amount of art, ranging from glue-gun and toothpick towers to doodle mandalas with her daughter.
James Simpson is a successful entrepreneur who has learned how to turn his dyslexia into a gift. As a former parent and board member of Hillside School, he loves to give back to the dyslexic community and support kids through their own journey with dyslexia.
Becca Stenzel, MA, OTR/L, holds a Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has been an Occupational Therapist in Boulder Valley School Distrcit since 2014. Becca serves on the Assistive Technology Team at BVSD.
The goal of the Assistive Technology Team is to provide resources and the student/staff training necessary so that students with disabilities can participate in appropriate education experiences and communicate what they know. The team is available to visit schools to talk with teachers, parents, and therapists about students in special education programs. Team members can suggest solutions, both low and high tech, to help students with the learning process. They can assist with computer and environmental access (switch access), alternative communication, and choosing specialized software. Students may have mild disabilities such as learning disabilities or more significant cognitive or physical disabilities. The BVSD Assistive Technology Team has a lending library of devices and software available for specific students with needs identified by the team. The equipment and software can be used for evaluation, trial, or on longer-term loan.
Becca has experience working with people with a wide range of abilities in settings including schools, hospitals, in-home care, camps, and she provides hippotherapy in addition to her work at BVSD. She loves the creativity involved in finding the right AT tools to maximize each individual’s success.