Educator Anna Puglia: ‘Change is Good for the Soul’

Branford High School’s Assistant Principal Anna Puglia, formerly of North Haven, was recently nominated and selected by the community to be inducted to the 2012 Branford Education Hall of Fame. 

Now a Guilford resident, Puglia, a Hamden native who lived in North Haven for more than 25 years, has been a teaching asset to Branford since 1988. After earning her undergraduate degree and certification from Southern Connecticut State University, Puglia chaired the history department at St. Mary’s High School in New Haven and then took a job teaching math and history at Branford High School.

Puglia confesses that she didn’t always have aspirations of becoming an administrator. “I tested the waters,” she commented, “and I liked the courses.” Puglia earned her administrative degree from SCSU and became Branford’s Assistant Principal in the mid 1990s. “Part of me,” she said of the job change, “always believed that change is good for the soul.”

Reflecting on how great it was to be a teacher and share tight bonds with students she said of current role, “I touch students lives in a totally different way than that intimate student-teacher relationship found in the classroom.”

Get to know more about Puglia below and in case you missed it, check out last week’s feature on 2012 Hall of Fame inductee Gus Peterson.

In addition to honoring inductees through this column in the coming weeks, Patch would like to recognize those being inducted posthumously: Zenia Smolenski, teacher and principal at the former Harbor Street School; Nancy Knowlton, education activist; and Edward Hippolitus, Branford High School teacher and Career Education Coordinator.

Meet Anna Puglia

Patch: Who was the most influential educator in your life and tell readers one anecdote about him or her?
Anna Puglia: My Father and my 11th grade social studies teacher were very influential educators in my life.  My dad, who had to leave school during the depression emphasized, daily, the importance of an education and its impact.  I remember reading one of Jane Austen's books... as he was going to work he said 'Keep reading, and become educated. I wish had had the time and opportunity."  My 11th grade teacher Elizabeth Hastings opened our eyes to the world by requiring us daily to read the New York Times.  That experience changed my view of the world.

Patch: Do you consider yourself a natural educator or is it something you trained yourself to do?
Anna Puglia: I asked my daughter this question about me and she said I am a natural educator because I love learning and I like people . Yes, training comes in important to help in the delivery of curriculum and content.

Patch: What’s your favorite childhood book?
Anna Puglia: My favorite childhood book... The Engine That Could.

Patch: What’s your advice to aspiring future educators?
Anna Puglia: My advice to future educators is: “Be passionate, love what you do every day, realize you make a difference every day and realize your impact on students.”