At Next Chapter Scholars, we believe every student has a powerful story ahead of them. Our mission is to empower students to confidently write the next chapter of their lives by fostering academic excellence, intellectual curiosity, and personal growth.
We recognize that even the strongest students benefit from meaningful opportunities to stand out in an increasingly competitive world. We provide this advantage by offering personalized, university-style seminars that connect motivated students with dedicated college faculty. Students engage deeply with challenging texts alongside like-minded peers in small, discussion-based classes of 10 students or fewer. Across four class sessions, professors guide students through probing, text-centered conversations that strengthen reading comprehension, critical thinking, and broader curiosity about the world.
Students who successfully complete a seminar receive a personalized letter of recommendation from their professor for use in admissions and scholarship applications. Those who complete at least four seminars earn certification as a “Next Chapter Scholar,” a formal academic distinction recognizing sustained participation in advanced seminar study and reflecting a commitment to intellectual growth and achievement. These credentials give students the additional competitive edge needed to begin their next chapter.
Our goal is to help young scholars build the skills, confidence, and vision to turn intellectual curiosity into real academic advantage.
Our Faculty
Our faculty have a combined 40+ years of experience teaching English at the college level.
Adam Floridia
Adam Floridia has over two decades of teaching experience as both a high school teacher and a college professor. As a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall, he is familiar with the rigor and expectations of an elite secondary school. As a college professor, he knows what students need in order to thrive at the post-secondary level. After graduating suma cum laude with degrees in both English and Secondary English Education from the University of Maryland, Adam taught all grades and levels of English courses at Plainville High School in Plainville, Connecticut. During this time, he earned his master’s in English at Southern Connecticut State University and taught evening courses at Connecticut State College. Before becoming a full-time English professor at CT State in 2012, he was the director of the campus’s Academic Success Center. Dedicated to helping students transition from high school to college, Adam oversaw the Bridges Program, a grant-funded partnership between the college and local high schools. This initiative helped students seamlessly enter the world of higher education and significantly increased the preparedness and retention of its first year students. Finally, Adam has presented at national conferences on various aspects of teaching and learning and has published papers on Edgar Allan Poe, Vladimir Nabokov, and Kurt Vonnegut. Outside of academia, Adam’s passion is travel; he yearns for a truly international education and has visited nearly fifty countries to date with the goal of seeing at least one hundred.
Terence McNulty
Terence McNulty is a seasoned professor who has taught in diverse high school and college classrooms for the past 27 years. Starting at the University of Maine, Terry has gone on to teach at Elmira College, Brown University, Central High School in Providence, Rhode Island, the REACH Alternative High School in Connecticut, and Cheshire Correctional Institution. Since 2008 he has served as Professor of English at Connecticut State where he has coordinated the college’s English department, its College Success department, its General Studies Program, its Transitional Year Program, and its Liberal Arts and Sciences program. For the past 5 years, Terry has also served as a leader in the college’s Honors Program. A passionate advocate for student success, he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Scranton and has earned graduate degrees from the University of Maine and Brown University.