Students enhance education with research

Students who attend CHEP's Professional Development School in southern Delaware are able to take advantage of the same types of academic enrichment programs as their peers on UD's Newark campus.

For example, two current students in the program, Domenico Zaffora and Michelle Flynn, have taken the extra step of conducting undergraduate research. As CHEP Summer Scholars in 2002, they participated in research programs beginning in their junior year and throughout last summer. Both now are using the research to construct senior theses that will enable them to earn degrees with distinction in May.

Zaffora, a single father of four who is retired from the military, is studying the inclusive classroom, looking at children with special needs who are placed in regular classrooms. Flynn has five children and also is pursuing a second career. Her research topic is the needs of children who have attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Both students work with Penny Deiner, chairperson of CHEP's Department of Individual and Family Studies. They will present the results of their research in a formal poster session this spring.