{"id":77127,"date":"2023-06-26T15:19:56","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T20:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casel.work\/?post_type=blogposts&#038;p=77127"},"modified":"2025-10-16T11:28:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:28:01","slug":"hear-from-our-first-ever-weissberg-scholars","status":"publish","type":"blogposts","link":"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/hear-from-our-first-ever-weissberg-scholars\/","title":{"rendered":"Hear From Our First-Ever Weissberg Scholars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When CASEL brought together early career scholars eager to make a difference in the field of social and emotional learning (SEL), we hoped that the researchers and the field would benefit from this collaborative community of future SEL innovators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To support research interests spanning student and teacher well-being, culturally relevant SEL, equity, principal preparation, and more, the <a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/about-us\/our-mission-work\/casel-weissberg-scholars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CASEL Weissberg Scholars<\/a> received two years of collaboration, mentorship, and guidance from SEL leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two years later, as the inaugural cohort comes to a close, the program has been even more impactful than we imagined. CASEL is looking to welcome 10 new scholars to the 2023-2025 cohort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch the video below and read on for an inside look at our first-ever Weissberg Scholars cohort, their research, and their experiences in this learning community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe title=\"Inaugural Cohort of CASEL Weissberg Scholars\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9t11vXEKqBo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pilar Alamos<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne [lesson] that really stands out to me is the focus on the strengths of the teachers, the children, the community that you\u2019re working with, and how to promote positive development. \u2026 This program brought me to a space of people who embody social and emotional learning in every aspect of how they do things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pilar\u2019s research focuses on the kinds of teacher-child interactions and relationships that matter for young children\u2019s social and emotional development in early childhood education settings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Summer Braun<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have found connections between our work, presented at conferences together, and written grants together. It\u2019s meaningful to me to continue the impactful work that CASEL and Roger [Weissberg] started so many years ago, with each of us adding our own little drop to the bucket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Summer\u2019s research centers on understanding the associations between teachers\u2019 occupational health and well-being and their students\u2019 social, emotional, and behavioral development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jerome Graham<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBeing in an education leadership department, studying SEL has been really siloed at times, but being a Weissberg Scholar has reignited my passion for and excitement about conducting SEL research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jerome\u2019s research interests focus broadly on the interaction of race and class in educational policy and practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Marisa Crowder<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think the biggest thing I\u2019ve learned is how important collaboration is. You might not have all the answers, you might not have all the skills, but you can have friends or a research team who can help fill in those gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marisa\u2019s research aims to identify promising practices that can empower educators to create or adapt effective SEL programs, practices, and assessments that are culturally relevant for their students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Christina Mondi-Rago<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis has been a wonderful opportunity to deepen my knowledge of social and emotional learning, to receive mentorship from senior scholars working at the intersection of research and practice, and to connect with peer researchers from different disciplines and institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christina\u2019s research focuses on the assessment and promotion of social and emotional learning and mental health starting in early childhood, with an emphasis on populations affected by poverty and trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/30-years-of-sel-research-whats-new-and-whats-next\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">30 Years of SEL Research: What\u2019s New, and What\u2019s Next?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/we-teach-who-we-are-not-just-what-we-know-what-top-researchers-had-to-say-about-adult-sel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cWe teach who we are, not just what we know.\u201d What Top Researchers Had to Say About Adult SEL<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/three-opportunities-for-sel-research-and-practice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Three Opportunities for SEL Research and Practice<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"write-for-us\"><strong>Write for Us<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you interested in writing for CASEL\u2019s blog,&nbsp;<em>Constellations<\/em>?&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1zSZFveKA8xsmlCADpfDP8t-y9emN0qswHQh1MnfmqBI\/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Learn more<\/a>&nbsp;about what we\u2019re looking for and how to pitch your idea!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When CASEL brought together early career scholars eager to make a difference in the field of social and emotional learning (SEL), we hoped that the researchers and the field would benefit from this collaborative community of future SEL innovators. To support research interests spanning student and teacher well-being, culturally relevant SEL, equity, principal preparation, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26603,"featured_media":79794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","theme":[199],"class_list":["post-77127","blogposts","type-blogposts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","theme-spotlights"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts\/77127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blogposts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26603"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme?post=77127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}