TDI Staff Members
We typically have 20-30 staff members at the TDI Summer Camp each summer, as well as staff members who help with planning, logistics, marketing, and outreach throughout the year. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds; some have Master’s Degrees in Gifted Education, others are teachers in Vermont schools, and many are camp alumni who have grown to become experts in their own fields, enabling us to teach a huge range of topics and create a diverse set of activities for each year.
Lucy Bogue
Lucy was the co-director of the TDI Summer Camp with Ellen Koier for over 20 years before passing the baton for 2024. She started the TDI Leadership Program in 2004, and has directed that program ever since. Lucy earned a Masters in Gifted Education from Johnson State College in 2002. She is delighted to have shared TDI with her two grown children, Emily (and husband, Nathan, who was also at TDI for a couple of summers) and Max (and partner, Mina, whom he met at TDI!), who remained very involved in TDI for many years and now have also passed their batons on to the next generations. Lucy lives in Colchester, VT, with her husband, Dave. Together they are developing some property they own in Alburgh, VT. Lucy sings for hospice patients (as a hospice volunteer) with the Noyana Singers in Chittenden County, and also participates in some other types of singing for the pure joy of it.
Ellen Koier
Ellen joined Lucy as the second co-director of TDI for over 25 years before also stepping down in 2023. She has run the Gifted and Talented Program at Cambridge Elementary School for over 30 years and was an active member of the Vermont Council for Gifted Education, where she coordinated an "On the Road" Saturday morning outreach program.
Carol Story
Carol founded the Talent Development Institute in 1998 as part of her responsibilities as a Professor of Education at Johnson State College. She also directed the graduate program in the Education of the Gifted while at the college. She continues to enjoy TDI in her retirement, visiting camp each year to join the young learners and bring smiles to the community. She serves as an honorary member of the board of the Green Mountain Center for Gifted Education, providing invaluable insight and advice for the organization. She also consults with families and schools regarding the nature and needs of gifted learners.
Karyn Peabody
Karyn first showed up at TDI in 2023 as a parent and was quickly adopted into the TDI family as the Wellness Coach when they learned of her passion for supporting the mental health and emotional needs of Gifted and Talented, Twice Exceptional, and Neurodivergent kids. Now she attends camp with her two sons. In her free-er time Karyn enjoys mountain biking, hiking, nordic and alpine skiing, riding her horse, gardening, and playing with her two dogs and family.
Lynne Jakubauskas
Lynne loves writing, reading, being outdoors, exploring new places, cooking, eating, and fixing things. She especially likes fixing things with stuff she has in her garage instead of going to the hardware store for new parts. She has been a school nurse and a camp nurse in New England, Old England, Germany, and Turkey; now she joins TDI to be our nurse at the Summer Camp and ensure the well-being of all our participants.
Nicole Dagesse
Nicole is a Site Specific Dance artist and teacher. Nicole earned her BFA in Dance and BS in Environmental Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. After several years of dancing in the Boston area, Nicole moved to Boulder, Co. to pursue an MFA in Site Dance and Somatic Practices. Nicole founded Murmurations Dance while living and working in North Carolina. Now Murmurations has found its home in Vermont where Nicole lives with her incredible family. Besides directing Murmurations Dance, Nicole teaches contemporary dance, aerial dance, and aerial yoga at Saint Michael's College and North End Studios. Learn more about her offerings at worldtreeyoga.org.
Emily Bogue
Emily was a camper at the inaugural kids' TDI in 1999 and became one of its first alum teachers over 17 years ago. She is now a Quality Engineer Developer on the Photoshop team at Adobe, where she puts her passion for digital art and design, her automation skills, and her ability to break anything to productive use. In her past lives, she's been a manager of non-profit programming and communications, tutor, freelance designer/illustrator, commercial background actor, and even a spy. Emily has lived in New York City since graduating from Wellesley College in 2008 with a B.A. in Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences, and began studying improv and sketch at Upright Citizens Brigade Training Center in 2010.
Max Bogue
Max graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2013 with a BS and MS in Computer Science. His passions include tennis, rock climbing, and video games. He is a software engineer, previously at Google, then at Second Street in St. Louis, and now at PathAI in Boston.
Colin Spencer
Colin is a former camper and long-time TDI veteran, now a staff member and our resident technology guru. He is enthusiastic about breakfast, music, cookies, engineering, dogs, video games, gadgets, DIY projects, Pink Floyd, and more. A passionate musician fascinated by synthesizers, he loves to spend his free time designing and constructing his own musical toys. He serves on the board of directors for the Green Mountain Center for Gifted Education. Colin works as an Electrical Engineer at Beta Technologies in South Burlington, VT, developing circuit boards and electronic devices for experimental electric airplanes.
Will Frick
Will is another long-time TDI veteran, and usually teaches the wildly popular Computer Game Design and Rube Goldberg Machines strands. A graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, he currently works as a technical writer. In addition to teaching and supervising every summer he is also a member of the Talent Development Institute’s board of directors and leads the TDI Youth Advisory Board, a group of alumni staff members that coordinates events and fundraising efforts outside of the Summer Camp.
Chris Peterson
Chris was a camper (with Emily!) at the inaugural kids’ TDI in 1999, became one of the first alum staff members and instructors, and now serves on the Board of Directors. For more than a decade, he has been an admissions officer at MIT, and also occasionally teaches on the social aspects of networked culture in its program on Comparative Media Studies, from which he earned his graduate degree. Chris has a longstanding autobiographical and professional preoccupation in developing the autonomy, curiosity, initiative, and sociality of students with unusual interests and aptitudes. Outside of work, he enjoys powerlifting, yoga, firespinning, and accumulating tattoo tributes to children's books.
Susan Flint
Susan has been coming to TDI for over a decade. She is currently pursuing a degree in Philosophy and Creative Writing at the University of Massachusetts, and hopes to do a lot more writing in the future. When she's not teaching and supervising at TDI, she's reading, drawing, or hanging out with her cat, Sebastian.
Mina Bozeman
Mina graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2019 and now lives in Somerville, MA. Currently she works for a book publishing company as part of their marketing & publicity team and loves spending her time convincing people to read more books. Outside of work, she suffers through half-marathon training, plays ultimate frisbee when it's above freezing, attempts new baking projects, or reads the day away. A Vermonter at heart, she's been attending TDI since 2009 and been teaching since 2012.
Keenan Villani-Holland
Keenan likes playing music, going snowboarding, and making dumb jokes. People pay him to program computers. He’s only missed 3 years of TDI since he found out about it at age 13(?).
Will Bright
Will is a former TDI camper, and current Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at DROP. Over the last eight years, he's worked to scale DROP from 0 to 100 employees while attracting multiple rounds of venture funding. Will has been through every stage of company-creation and is excited to share those costly lessons with campers in his strand.
Adam Browe
Adam has been attending TDI since he was entering sixth grade. As a film studies major, he enjoys all forms of art and technology. He loves to teach creative videography classes which are always popular at the TDI Summer Camp.
Bill Pinney
Bill first came to TDI as a fourth grader, and hasn’t missed a year since. He recently graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering. Bill is always excited to return to TDI each year to help give back to a program that was a major driving force in his life. He is well-loved in the TDI family for bringing his scientific expertise to creative strands as well as making a fool of himself in an entertaining manner.
Grady Farnum Rendino
Grady would very much like to believe it's the early aughts and they're still eleven years old, attending TDI for the first time. A couple decades later that is proving somewhat difficult, but they reckon helping put camp on each summer is the next best thing. They enjoy analysing your idiolect mid-conversation, commuting by bicycle, photography, living out of a backpack in the woods for months straight, and key lime pie.
Jameson Hurd
Once a TDI camper himself, Jameson has now been teaching strands for over a decade. He teaches a combination of theater and STEM classes, and might be responsible for the hot-glue based monstrosity your camper takes home this year (for the record, he is sorry). TDI is still his favorite part of the summer, and his goal is to make TDI the best part of his campers' summer, too.
Alice Russell
Alice is a longtime TDI alum, coming up on her 20th year of TDI. She has a passion for art, dogs, and being silly, and works as a professional academic advisor in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Vermont.
Cam Tagatac
Cam has been a member of the TDI community since 2011. He teaches classes on storytelling, musical, and anything else that he takes interest in!
Max Kriff
Max (endearingly referred to as “Kriff”) is a student at the University of Vermont and is vastly disappointed that becoming an adult doesn’t just mean ice cream for breakfast.
Sierra Makaris
Sierra, a historical costumer and reenactor, is proud to represent the "history geek" side of TDI. An only child by birth and a TDI kid since 2003, she delights in her passel of honorary siblings. Catch her giving tours at the Ethan Allen Homestead or sewing tunics with the Society for Creative Anachronism.
Mary Markley
Mary is a student at Stanford University majoring in the somewhat obscure field of linguistics, which she absolutely LOVES to talk about with anyone who will listen. She is beyond excited to spend another summer at TDI crafting dragon eggs, playing the nose flute, and eating ice cream at every meal. Teaching is one of her all-time favorite things to do, and she seeks out opportunities to do so whenever possible. She also loves to bake, but isn't sure if that's because she actually likes cooking or just because she's addicted to eating desserts. She lives in Burlington, Vermont, where she spends her time browsing Wikipedia, climbing trees, and painting. And holding chickens!
Johannes Everse
Johannes has been attending TDI for more than half his life now, and is only slightly disappointed it hasn’t been longer. He teaches classes based around engineering and problem-solving, particularly insisting that the latter extends to card games.
Alexandre Doublie-Rould
Alex is a freshman at UVM studying Biochem who’s been going to TDI for 8 years and looks forward to coming back each year. He loves playing and watching soccer, hanging out with friends, and playing chess.
Alice Breen
Alice Breen is a former TDI camper, current student board member, and 2nd ever Alice to be TDI staff. In their free time they love playing the flute, running, skiing, and reading whatever book they can get their hands on. During the year they work in an assisted living home while also running cross country and playing in the Vermont Youth Orchestra.
Jack Barnhart
Jack Barnhart is a molecular Biology nerd on his way to get a PHD in Botany and Mycology. He has been going to TDI for most of his life and is excited to share his knowledge and continue making TDI the awesome place it was for him growing up.
Nicholas Kenyon
Nick is currently attending Northeastern University as a Design and Business Major. He has been attending TDI since 2020, with his first year being TDI@Home. During his time with TDI, he has made many long-lasting friendships and found new interests to pursue in life, which he now hopes to pass on to new campers in his role as staff. He is knowledgeable when it comes to History, English, Strategy, and Game Design- all of which influence his complex strands.
Bridger Ellms
Bridger has been attending TDI since the 5th grade, and has spent his time since then studying industrial design and working a range of jobs. His free moments are enjoyed by traveling, cycling on the bike path, playing video games, and making art in various mediums.
Noam Hessler
Noam first attended TDI in 7th grade and hasn't missed a year since, as a camper or as a teacher. She is passionate about teaching, hiking, writing, and modern and contemporary art. When not at TDI, they work as a poet.
Theo Rosenau
Theo has been a member of the TDI community for 8ish years… but nobody knows for sure. He is currently studying at UVM to become a high school chemistry teacher, and will gladly do anything science related. He also loves music, and can often be found playing various instruments in various ways.
Kayla Franko
Kayla is a recent high school graduate who has spent most of her life going to TDI. Her main interests involve tinkering, building, and otherwise making things.
Megan Bachand
A true nerd through and through, Megan found a home at TDI as a camper and joined the staff in 2020. Megan graduated William Woods University as an American Sign Language - English interpreting major. When not learning weird things about languages Megan enjoys reading, crocheting, spending time outside and interacting with fellow nerds (especially at camp!)
Robin Andrus
Robin was a camper / leadership member at TDI for multiple years, including the COVID years, completing the program in the summer of 2025. He takes interest in video games, writing, art, and music, and hopes to publish something from at least one of these, whenever that may be possible.
Erin Brozek
Erin is a newer staff member at TDI and wishes she'd gotten to attend TDI as a kid! Instead, she enjoys living vicariously through the campers and guiding them through challenging and creative activities. An English language/creative writing graduate of Smith College, Erin now lives in Somerville, MA and spends her free time reading, playing D&D, and dabbling in various fiber arts and crafting.
Adara Meader
Adara has been coming to TDI since 2017 and has only missed 2 years since then. She has worked for a local private school and has done art tutoring for kids. She loves to make costumes, clothing, dolls and puppets. When she's not making something, she is playing video games with her pet rabbit Athena, her dog Hope and her cat Pepper.
Addison Hoopes
Addison is an actor, a singer, and a jack-of-all-trades computer geek. Her favorite activities are the intersection between the four, which usually involves video games. She has been attending TDI since being a camper in 2016.
Bridget Iverson
Bridget has been attending TDI for 19 years and counting. She graduated from UVM in 2015 with a degree in neuroscience and has since lived in New York City and Minnesota, working in pediatric ophthalmology, attending PA school, and, most recently, assisting and facilitating LASIK and other eye surgeries. Past strands include creative writing, creating a TDI radio variety show, the inaugural Fantasy Model UN, meme anthropology, and medicine, psychology, and brain science among many others. Outside of TDI you can find her hours deep in a book, elbows deep in a garden, or hundreds of pages deep in some esoteric research topic you’d be surprised to find is an actual area of study.
Mary Markley
Mary first came to TDI in 2013, and after taking a few years off for college and grad school, she’s super excited to be back at TDI to craft dragon eggs, play the nose flute, and eat ice cream at every meal! She recently finished a master's degree in the somewhat obscure field of linguistics, which she absolutely LOVES to talk about with anyone who will listen. She now lives in Berkeley, California, where she teaches at a Mandarin immersion elementary school, climbs trees, paints murals, and bakes birthday cakes for all her friends.
Amy Barnhart
Amy has been attending TDI since she was nine. Amy recently finished her biochemistry degree and she loves going to TDI each summer to give back to the community that fostered her love of learning. During her free time Amy can be found unicycling in unusual locations.
Chen-Chen MacVicar-Ceckler
Chen-Chen is a college student at WPI majoring in robotics engineering and has been part of TDI since the pandemic (5 years ago at this point). Outside of TDI, which is most of the time, they like to draw, read, and eating.
Mira Coffey
Mira is a native Vermonter and Simmons University graduate with experience supporting children since 2016 in both general-education classrooms and self-contained 1:1 settings. She began her career in elementary education, working as a paraeducator and later as a second- and third-grade teacher. During her time in the classroom, she discovered a passion for behavior and enrolled in a master’s program in behavior analysis. Mira is currently accruing supervised fieldwork hours to sit for the board certification exam and is excited to continue growing in the field. In her free time, Mira loves to read, cook, watch movies, take photos, spend time outdoors, travel, and relax with friends and family.
Finnegan Pucciarello
Finnegan has been at TDI since they were 9 years of age. Currently attending Vassar College, they can often be found watching and thinking about film, learning about Linux and computers, singing, and playing board games with friends and family.