Nancy Eastlake, Ph.D.

Director of Applied Learning

Dr. Eastlake is a consultant to school district’s in Connecticut, focusing on Gifted Education and Talent Development. Her role as a consultant follows a forty year career as a teacher, curriculum specialist and program director in gifted education. Nancy’s doctoral work was guided by Drs. Sally Reis and Joseph Renzulli at the University of Connecticut, two internationally respected experts in gifted education and talent development. Many years of devoted work have made Nancy a tireless crusader for developing talent in bright, young students, the future innovators and problem solvers of the world.

A turning point in Nancy’s career occurred in the late 1980’s when she received a federally funded Christa MacAuliffe Fellowship for the state of Connecticut. The fellowship enabled her along with Celebration of the Sea Founder and CEO, Patxi Pastor, to select a group of students in grades 4-9, from a land-locked community in Connecticut, inviting the students to spend a year traveling the eastern sea coast of the United States. The focus of the students’ research was the world of Cetaceans. There is much to be said for and about this year of in depth work with student inquirers who were in the ocean, on the ocean, meeting and questioning many experts in the field, always returning to their classrooms to formulate their own thoughts and theories. Collaborative work, independent work, discovery of new worlds, and risk-taking created a crew of young aquanauts with extraordinary respect for the oceans and sea life that inhabits that space. It would be safe to say this experience has never left the students of Underwater Exploration or their guides.