With the budget cuts faced by educational systems around the country, I'm all for the private sector finding ways to reward our excellent teachers. Unsung Heroes, is a program offered by financial giant ING. Over the past 15 years, the company has awarded millions of dollars in grants to educators for "breakthrough projects that bring classroom teaching to new heights."
Each year, the company selects one hundred finalists to receive $2,000. The top three receive additional grants of $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000.
This year, Tucson high school math teacher David Kukla is one of the hundred finalists. Kukla is asking students in his algebra, pre-calculus, trigonometry, and AP calculus classes to design (and future classes to implement) a green energy plan to reduce school resource and energy costs.
Previous winners include special education teacher Penelope Singleton, who developed "M.O.S.T.: Meeting Our Standards Together," a program that has general education students helping to adapt standard curriculum resources for the learning impaired; Amanda L. Ratiff,whose project "Do What? - How Safe Is My Water?" teaches students in her rural Kentucky classroom to analyze water safety by testing the dissolved oxygen (DO) content of local streams and water sources; and Robert Ostmann whose tireless work to keep at-risk students in schools includes "LifeWorks Studios," a student-run company that, among other things, produces professional-quality DVDs of school plays, concerts, and other events.
ING will accept applications for the 2012 awards through April 30, 2012.
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