PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Three Rhode Island teachers have been recognized for sparking curiosity and creativity in their students through innovative and engaging lessons.

The R.I. Department of Education (RIDE) and the STEAM Center at Rhode Island College surprised the recipients of the 2025 RI STEAM Educator Awards on Tuesday. The annual awards honor educators who integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, Art + Design, and Mathematics into their classrooms.

This year’s honorees are Tiffany Risch of Coventry High School, Christopher Colson of Goff Middle School in Pawtucket and Erin Giuliano of Park Elementary School in Warwick.

Each educator received a $1,000 classroom grant and a $500 personal award, which were funded by the PPL Foundation and Rhode Island Energy.

According to RIDE, the awards are presented in memory of Carol Giuriceo, who served as the STEAM Center’s director for nearly a decade.

Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green attended Tuesday’s presentation to congratulate the elementary division’s recipient. Giuliano said it is a key personal priority to bring every element of STEAM into her second-grade classroom.

“We work on teamwork, perseverance, trying to act like engineers and solve problems,” Giuliano said. “It’s definitely a highlight of what I do as an educator and it teaches them so much I’ve seen them grow and learn so much from the activities we do.”

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A former local news anchor. A pizzeria co-owner. Rhody’s “Cannabis Queen.” 

New England, meet your Real Housewives.

Executive producer/dedicated Deadhead/Anderson Cooper’s BFF Andy Cohen  revealed the cast and trailer for the first-ever New England-based “Housewives” Nov. 16 at BravoCon.  

Bravo announced the Rhody-set show in May. “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island” will premiere in 2026, with no specific date given. But, ’26 marks the 20th anniversary of the Real Housewives franchise.

The new trailer packages the Ocean State as a tiny, everybody-knows-everybody state full of secrets and drama. “Smallest state with the biggest attitude,” one cast member says in the official trailer, which debuted this weekend. 

Rhode Island is “teeny. It’s a blip. But to us, it’s the center of the universe,” another cast member says.

The trailer is packed with all the shots you might expect— Newport mansions, polo games, tony beach shorelines, Adirondack chairs, sailboats in a harbor. 

“Welcome to Rhode Island where nobody tells anybody the truth,” says a cast member, as we see, presumably, a Newport polo match. “Everybody just lies to each other’s faces and talks s*** behind their back.”

“It’s Rhode Island!” one cast member exclaims. “When someone says something, we all hear it!” 

“You may not know Rhode Island, but here, secrets don’t stay buried for very long.”

It’s interspersed with classic Housewives drama and gossip (“Her husband’s a foot doctor, but I think he’s doing more than rubbing foot.”)

So pop the popcorn and grab coffee milk, reality fans. This looks juicier than a Del’s lemonade. (And yes, you’ll  notice a shot of one cast member drinking a can of Narragansett’s Del’s Shandy.)

Meet the cast for the “Real Housewives of Rhode Island” premiere season:

— Early risers may recognize Rosie DiMare, a former local “news anchor/reporter.” A scroll through her Instagram shows her with NBC 10’s Mario Hilario with the caption, “It’s like we’re real professionals or something.” Looks like she was part of Turn to 10’s “Sunrise Crew.”

She’s “not afraid to call people out,” we’re told. We then see her on pink bouncing sneakers gossiping about someone’s affair.

— Alicia Carmody: “Welcome to Rhode Island, b****, this is how we roll,” she says from an Adirondack chair, talking to someone off-camera in the trailer. Carmondy and her fiancé, Billy Kitsilis, run his restaurant, Pizza Mamma in Cranston. 

— Liz McGraw: the “dominant figurehead here,” we’re told in the trailer, as we see her in black leather boots driving a boat. (“I’m scary,” she tells the camera. “Boo.”) Per Bravo, McGraw is “Rhode Island royalty… the state’s very own Cannabis Queen.” With her husband, Gerry, she owns and operates The Slater Center, a pot  dispensary in Providence.

—Ashley Iaconetti: she’s “not from here,” we’re told. “This is not the kind of people I’m usually around,” she says in the trailer. Iaconetti married Warwick, R.I. native Jared Haibon, on “Bachelor in Paradise,” and is now “acclimating to her new life in her husband’s home state,” per Bravo.

— Jo-Ellen Tiberi, who we’re told in the trailer “knows everything.” Per Bravo, “Self-proclaimed town gossip Jo-Ellen knows everyone and everything worth knowing in Cranston.” The “aesthetic practice development manager … juggles a busy career with family life” with her husband Gary and their three kids, per Bravo.

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— Rulla Nehme Pontarelli: “She’s a boss,” we’re told in the trailer.  Per Bravo, Pontarelli “helms a financial empire as a Certified Financial Planner and Wealth Manager to some of the East Coast’s most distinguished families.”

“I opened my own branch office, Royal One Financial Group, in the historic downtown area of Providence,” she says, per her website.

— Kelsey Swanson says in the trailer she’s not with a sugar daddy: “My boyfriend is, like, actually attractive. The money’s just a plus.” The former Miss Rhode Island and University of Rhode Island alum is now a makeup artist, her Bravo bio says.

“Kelsey has been in a 10-year relationship with one of Rhode Island’s most notable figures, enjoying the lap of luxury while keeping her social calendar full,” the bio notes, without naming her boyfriend.

Watch the full trailer here.

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Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.

Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.

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