Hamden's Carmella Rossomando-Heise Named ACES Teacher of the Year

This month, Carmella Rossomando-Heise, a 34-year-old music teacher at Hamden's Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School, was named the Area Cooperative Education Services (ACES) 2014 Teacher of the Year.

Rossomando-Heise has been teaching music at the school since 2002 and also directs the school's band, marching band and runs an afterschool theater and performance workshop for students, according to the New Haven Register. When she heard she won the award, she cried.

“I was definitely overwhelmed,” Rossomando-Heise told the newspaper. “I guess you feel really good because you know you’re being recognized for something so incredible, and I felt that way when I was nominated, but then to be selected for the actual teacher of the year award was amazing.”