Mr. Gusenburg, who resigned his Region 15 position, will join Region 16 as business manager in the new academic year.

Mr. Gusenburg remembers when LMES opened in 1997 and he stepped in as the school's first principal.

"It was a beautiful, brand new building," he told Voices, "but it had no history."

He recalled the blank, white walls running the school's inner perimeter and the people from different places who did not know one another.

"Over the last 12 years," he said, "we've created the stories, the history and personalized the building."

Mr. Gusenburg's father, a factory worker, always believed his son would be the first in the family to go to college.

"He saw it [education] as an opportunity that opened doors," Mr. Gusenburg said.

His mother, a high-school graduate, sacrificed her desire to be a nurse for family responsibilities. Mr. Gusenburg discovered his mother's letter of acceptance from Columbia University only after he closed her house.

"She never mentioned that [letter] to me my entire life," he said.

"It made me feel I really wanted to reach out to every single person," Mr. Gusenburg said. "We have too many people out there who have tremendous potential and never get to use that potential for one reason or another."

The desire to make a difference in people's lives has guided Mr. Gusenburg's time at Region 15. Starting his career as a high school social studies teacher, he served as principal of Pomperaug Elementary School (1979-1990) and Middlebury Elementary School (1991-1997) before stepping in as Long Meadow's first principal in 1997.

He was chairman of the Region 15 Construction Committee (1989-1997) that guided the construction of LMES and additions and renovations to Pomperaug Elementary School.

He also served as administrative coordinator for Technology/Computer Programs in Region 15 (1995-2006) and contributed to transforming Region 15 into a nationally recognized school district.

Mr. Gusenburg remembers that when he first started teaching and simultaneously serving as assistant principal at Pomperaug Elementary School in 1977, the area was a rural farming community and the school was built for 350 children.

Enrollment exploded to 710 in the school's second year. Mr. Gusenburg said there was no library, no art room, no music, no guidance facilities and the cafeteria was partitioned to accommodate two kindergarten classes.

He remembers trudging back and forth in the snow because he and another teacher taught two fourth-grade classes in the empty top floor at Town Hall.

"I look at how the region started when I came in 1977," he said, "and what it's like today - one of the premier school districts in the state. It's been such a joy for me to be a part of that transformation.

"We were nationally recognized for efforts in development in curriculum and assessment techniques called Performance Based Learning Assessments."

Mr. Gusenburg was invited to attend an international conference in Dallas, Tex., in 1995 with 19 other Region 15 staff members.

The National Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development honored the Region 15 representatives before an audience of 3,000.

School districts in Tennessee, Maine, Alaska and Beirut, Lebanon, imported educators from Region 15 to guide their teachers in developing curriculum assessments for their own schools.

Performance Based Learning Assessment, Mr. Gusenburg explained, is "a way of developing instruction that starts looking at outcomes you want and then designing curriculum and assessments to get desired results with real life activity."

Performance Based Learning Assessment is, in essence, a way to take learning to the next level, extend it beyond the classroom and help individuals set goals for life.

Mr. Gusenburg adopted the Higher Order Thinking Skills program from West Hartford for Pomperaug Elementary School and extended it to Long Meadow Elementary School with the "Leopard's Pride" program for integrating the arts.

Mr. Gusenburg's contribution to technology has helped integrate computers throughout the curriculum, "so that technology is a piece of what you do," he said.

The greatest success, according to Mr. Gusenburg, is the Inclusion Program where he helped change the way educators work with special education students.

"We took them [special education students] out of specialized classrooms and for the most part integrated them into regular classrooms."

One of his greatest gifts was when a mother called and told him her child was unaware of his disability because of the Inclusion Program.

Unlocking this potential is the reason why Mr. Gusenburg says he went into this business.

"He certainly deserves a tremendous amount of thanks and accolades for his fine work," Region 15 Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Sippy told Voices. "He is a tremendous educator and he's certainly going to leave a void in Region 15."

Mr. Gusenburg will use his strong financial and educator experience as the business manager in Region 16.

The new role, he said, means he can stay connected to education, continue to have an impact on children's lives and use his financial expertise to make a difference for others.

Region 15 has named the cafeteria/auditorium at Long Meadow Elementary School after Mr. Gusenburg.

"Most people don't realize the intensity of this job," Mr. Gusenburg said. "It's more complex now because our expectations are higher and children span a broader spectrum."

He told Voices he will miss being with the children and parents the most.

"I can walk into any class, get smiles and hugs and that bad day becomes a good one," Mr. Gusenburg said, noting he will carry all the little vignettes of children, their stories and the impact he was able to make in their lives, with him.

"I can't believe how quickly time has flown by," he said.

"To take the road less traveled is courageous," Dr. Sippy told Voices. "There's a sense of sadness, also a tremendous amount of joy and optimism because he's a valued colleague and he's going to do what he wants to do."