Meet the Team
At Sunnyside Roadshow, we blend play with purpose.
Research has proven that emotional and social skills are the building blocks of academic achievement. Our morning announcements feel like fun, but deliver serious results.
Our team combines expertise in education, child development, and creative storytelling to bring 10 core social-emotional competencies into your daily routine.
With our thoughtfully crafted, one-page teacher guides, educators can easily use Sunnyside to create teachable moments throughout the day—we've handled the curriculum work so they can focus on teaching.
/ Co-Founder & President /
Gerard Hardick
Gerard Hardick taught elementary school for 28 years and has worked with kids in other roles for more than 30. He has coached, developed summer programs, and run drama and dance programs.
Using puppets since remote learning became a necessity, Gerard saw the power of that connection and has utilized hilarious, compassionate, engaging characters to educate and celebrate kids all over the country.
The Roadshow is the culmination of what happens when you see the change in a child's heart, as they witness fictional characters becoming real, and speaking directly to them.
At Sunnyside Roadshow he writes and directs the videos and performs in them too. Gerry retired from the classroom in 2026 to focus on Sunnyside full time. He lives in Clarence Center, NY.
/ Co-Founder & Director of Curriculum /
Sharon Andrews Szeglowski
Sharon has been an educator for 33 years. She has been a classroom teacher and a department chair, served on a school board for ten years, and was its president. She is a published author in educational curriculum, has presented at local and state conferences, and served multiple terms on the New York State Commissioner of Education’s Advisory Panel on Civic Education. She has also consulted for many school districts.
At Sunnyside, Sharon plans the topics for each series, gives feedback on the scripts, and writes the teacher guide that goes with every episode. Because she has served several roles with Education, she knows how to formlate a program what works for school administrators, teachers, and her most important customer - those that occassionally send in a thank you note in crayon.
Sharon has experienced the powerful engagement, connections and learning that happen through puppetry. This method of instruction and modeling is uniquely child centered and therefore has significant deep and meaningful results.
/ Co-Founder, Treasurer & Director of Customer Care /
Joan Petrella
Joan Petrella has spent more than 25 years owning and running businesses, including a multi-location food chain, a specialty retail store, and a non-medical home care company.
At Sunnyside she keeps the business side running: the books, billing and payments. She is also usually the first person to answer when a school gets in touch.
Joan is a busy mother herself. She knows how much early social and emotional learning matters, and she loves watching kids’ faces light up when the Sunnyside Crew comes on.
/ Co-Founder & Executive Producer /
Rachael Lynn
Rachael has a background in human resources, online business management, and community building, and she began her career supporting authors and digital creators. While living in Dubai she published her first book and organized a series of events for expat women. Her writing has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar Arabia and Vogue Arabia, among other publications.
At Sunnyside she draws on that experience with digital products and online communities to help the platform grow and reach families as well as schools.
She is now back in the U.S and is glad to be part of a project her own children can grow up watching, one 5-minute morning announcement at a time!
/ Psychology Advisor /
Catherine Cook-Cottone,
Ph.D., C-IAYT
Dr. Cook-Cottone is a Licensed Psychologist, Certified School Psychologist, Certified Yoga Therapist and Equine Therapist. She is a full professor in the Department of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology at the University at Buffalo, SUNY.
Dr. Cook-Cottone researches embodied self-regulation (e.g., yoga and other embodied practices) and psychosocial disorders (e.g., trauma-related disorders and eating disorders). Aligned with her research, she teaches classes in counseling with children and adolescents, advanced counseling techniques, psychopathology, mindfulness interventions, eating disorders, and self-care and service. All while maintaining private practice working with adults, adolescents, and children, she specializes in the treatment of: anxiety-based disorders (e.g., PTSD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder), eating disorders (including other disorders of self-care), and development of emotional regulation skills. Catherine has written ten books and over 100 peer reviewed articles and book chapters.
She joyfully and courageously embodies being a wife, mother of two incredible young women, an equestrian, and lover of all animals big and small. She is the perfect choice to advise our crew!
/ Co-Founder & Director of Marketing and Technology /
Scott D. Szeglowski
Scott spent thirty years in the corporate world, delivering results across the United States, England and Australasia, working with all the major league franchises, National Parks, Stadiums including Wembley Stadium and Melbourne’s ‘G, numerious casino and resort operations, paper and electronics companies, the two personal highlights :Disney, and NASA.
He has been surrounded by educators his whole life. His parents were teachers, his wife and in-laws are teachers, and one of his children became one too. Joining Sunnyside felt like a natural fit.
Scott handles marketing and technology, including the membership and streaming system. He's embraced every aspect of the Sunnyside experience. You might find him building sets, troubleshooting technical challenges, or even making brief cameos alongside the cameras operating the clapperboard - "Mark!"
For Scott, Sunnyside represents the perfect convergence of professional expertise and a truly meaningful mission —using his skills to help bring joy and learning to students everywhere.