2026 Tadler Grant Awarded to Fourth Grade Teacher Laura Doyle

The Tadler Grant offers exceptional professional development opportunities to exemplary GUS teachers, who then apply their firsthand experiences and knowledge to the classroom. Established by former Trustee Richard Tadler and his wife Donna P ’05 ’09, the grant has provided GUS faculty members a wide range of amazing experiences from attending educational conferences to traveling abroad.

This year, we are pleased to announce that the 2026 Tadler Grant has been awarded to Fourth Grade Teacher Laura Doyle, P ’27 ’29, who celebrates 10 years of service to GUS this year. The grant will allow Ms. Doyle to travel to Alaska this summer, where she will study whales and explore the history of whaling through the perspectives of Indigenous peoples.

Studying whales is an integral part of the fourth grade experience at GUS. During her trip, Ms. Doyle plans to visit museums and cultural sites that examine the history of whaling through the experience of Indigenous traditions and practices, offering a contrast to the whaling history of New England. Whale watching during Alaska’s peak season will provide an opportunity to observe a variety of species in their natural habitat, including humpback whales, orcas, beluga whales, gray whales, and, with a bit of luck, even a blue whale.

“Learning more about whales would benefit the fourth-grade curriculum in so many ways. I see this trip as a launching point for a renewed ‘deep dive’ into our end-of-year study of whales,” shared Ms. Doyle. “I want to continue the projects and activities that my students already love, such as drawing a life-size, to-scale whale on the basketball court in math class and going inside the Whalemobile, an inflatable humpback whale designed to teach whale anatomy from the inside out, while expanding on the role of indigenous peoples in whaling and the conservation of whales today.”

We are excited to follow Ms. Doyle’s journey and look forward to the new perspectives, stories, and learning she will bring back to GUS. Her work exemplifies the spirit of the Tadler Grant - encouraging teachers to pursue meaningful learning beyond the classroom and enriching the educational experience of students through that exploration.

Thank you to the Tadler family for continuing this tradition and their longtime stewardship of GUS via this incredible program.