About TPAUD | Who We Are

TPAUD Staff

Melissa McGarry
Project Director
mmcgarry@trumbullps.org

Melissa is a Preventionist with 20 years of public health experience. As a consultant, she provided program evaluation, strategic planning, needs assessment, and grant-writing services for local non-profits, municipalities, and state agencies. Melissa came to Trumbull in 2006 as a consultant tasked with establishing the Trumbull Partnership Against Underage Drinking (TPAUD) coalition, and she joined the Trumbull Public Schools in 2010. Under her leadership, the coalition has been rebranded to TPAUD, Trumbull’s Prevention Partnership, and expanded its focus to include mental health promotion and prevention of all youth substance use. Melissa has been instrumental in Trumbull receiving more than $1.8 million in state and federal prevention grants since 2006. She holds a BA in English with a Concentration in Gender Studies from the University of Notre Dame.

Melissa and her husband, Michael, are the parents of 3 young adults and two rescue dogs.

Kiersten Naumann
Program Coordinator
knaumann@trumbullps.org

Kiersten earned her Master’s of Public Administration in

Health Policy & Management from New York University’s

Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

After graduation, she worked for the Deafness Research Foundation’s National Campaign for Hearing Health,

as Director of Development & Media Relations, in Washington, DC. After returning to Connecticut, she worked as the Development Director at Mercy Learning Center in Bridgeport, and then as a Substitute Teacher for the Milford Public Schools. Since 2017, she has been the Program Coordinator for TPAUD, Trumbull’s Prevention Partnership. Kiersten is Treasurer of the Connecticut Association for Prevention Professionals (CAPP), as well as Co-Chair of CT SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana).

Kiersten and her husband, Peter, have two sons and two very spoiled and well-loved cats.

Wes Bartosik

Wes Bartosik has been a Trumbull Police Officer since 2014. He was a School Resource Officer and D.A.R.E. Educator at Hillcrest and Madison middle schools, where he forged strong relationships with students and staff alike. In 2021, Officer Wes was the recipient of The “Lenny” Award, named in honor of former Madison Middle School Principal Leonard Miller, for his commitment to the Madison Middle School community. Officer Wes also received a Coalition Sector All-Star Award from the Connecticut Association of Prevention Professionals (CAPP) for the “Positive Choices, Healthy Kids” videos, which he created in collaboration with TPAUD and Trumbull Community Television (TCTV), to replace D.A.R.E. during the Covid pandemic. This five-part video series highlights the importance of making healthy choices, and includes topics such as responsible decision-making, peer pressure and good citizenship, as well as conversation starters for parents to use with their kids.

Lori Hayes-O'Brien

Lori is immensely proud to be a founding member and Chairperson of TPAUD, Trumbull’s Prevention Partnership. She grew up in Stratford and went to Rhode Island College in Providence, RI, where her love of teaching began. She taught for 15 years before “retiring” to keep up with her children's busy schedules. Soon after she immersed herself in volunteerism. Lori was a PTA/PTSA President for 12 years at every level of the Trumbull Public Schools as well as Trumbull PTSA Council. She has been on numerous commissions and committees in both TPS and the Town of Trumbull, most notably the TECEC Building Committee and the Community Facilities Building Committee, which she currently chairs. Lori is in awe of all of the work that TPAUD has done since 2006 and is happy to be its biggest cheerleader as she is constantly amazed at the commitment, knowledge, caring and energy that the leaders and members of TPAUD continually demonstrate.

Lori has lived in Trumbull with her family for over 30 years and is thankful that the joys of her life, her children Jon and Kate, grew up here.

D. Scot Kerr

Scot has been an active volunteer in our schools and town broadly since his oldest child entered Daniels Farm School and he joined the Fathers Club. Over his 23 years in Trumbull, Scot has served on the Conservation Commission, Parks & Recreation Commission, Board of Education, and held leadership roles on the Trumbull PTA Council, THS Golden Eagle Marching Band, and currently serves as the Asst. Treasurer of the Patrons of the Trumbull Nature and Arts Center. Like so many of us, his personal life connections to the negative effects of alcohol and drug use give his work with TPAUD special meaning and purpose. Professionally, Scot has worked in publishing, education, and technology.

Scot has lived in Trumbull 23 years with wife, Karen, and raised three children here, Aster, Matthew, and Duncan.

Jessica Samuolis

Jessica is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Sacred Heart University. Prior to working at SHU, Jessica completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, researching tobacco use among youth. For 6 years she worked as a Research Scientist at a health promotion agency focused on obtaining federal grants to develop, adapt, and evaluate substance use prevention programs in school & community settings.

At SHU, Jessica has received grant funding for a range of prevention projects, including the prevention of underage drinking, vaping, opioid & stimulant misuse, and suicide prevention & mental health promotion among college students. Jessica serves on the SHU Institutional Review Board and the SHU Mental Health Coalition; she has also been an invited ad hoc reviewer for scientific journals such as Substance Use and Misuse, Journal of Primary Prevention, Journal of Drug Education, Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, and the Journal of American College Health, as well as an expert reviewer for two research methods text books now in print.

Jessica is committed to professional community service at all levels and is involved locally in the school PTA as the Wellness Co-Chair, at the state level in the Connecticut Healthy Campus Initiative, and at the national level in the Mental Health section of the American College Mental Health Association.

Jessica lives in Trumbull with her husband and two children.