The district is #MineolaProud to congratulate Cailin Carlson on being recognized with the 2025 Bright Lights Award by the Association of Suffolk Supervisors for Educational Technologies (ASSET). This award honors educators for their exemplary integration of technology into the educational environment.

Throughout her nine years with the district, Ms. Carlson has proven herself to be a talented educator who is passionate about redefining what learning looks like in the classroom. In her role as a teacher in the gifted education program, as well as delivering academic intervention services to Mineola's most challenged learners, she is skilled at pushing students to high levels and motivating them to become problem solvers and designers of their own learning experience.

Ms. Carlson has been a leader in Mineola’s design thinking committee and a pioneer of the district's Artificial Intelligence implementation, utilizing it with students and teachers alike. In both roles, Ms. Carlson values high expectations as well as developing the whole child-learners to build academic and reasoning skills while learning how to collaborate, problem solve, compromise and manage one's own time and resources.

The award was presented at the ASSET Bright Lights Luncheon on Jan. 24 at the Heritage Club in Bethpage.