Schools
Voya Financial Honors Annapolis Teacher with $2,000 Voya Unsung Heroes Grant for Innovative Teaching Program
Judith Fedinick, a teacher at St. Anne's School of Annapolis, wins a $2,000 grant from Voya Financial for her innovative teaching idea!
Since 1996, the Voya (formerly ING) Unsung Heroes program has awarded more than $4 million to help the nation’s educators turn creative teaching ideas into reality
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which has rebranded from ING U.S. and is a leading provider of retirement plans for educators, announced today that Judith Fedinick, a teacher at St. Anne’s School of Annapolis in Annapolis, Maryland, has received a $2,000 grant as part of the company’s 2014 Unsung Heroes awards competition.
Through the Voya Unsung Heroes program, Voya Financial awards grants to K-12 educators nationwide to honor their innovative teaching methods, creative educational projects, and the ability to positively influence the children they teach.
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Selected from a group of more than 1,000 applicants, Fedinick is one of only 100 winners across the country who will receive a $2,000 award to help fund and bring to life her creative idea, Our Treasure, Chesapeake Bay. In addition, she will now compete with other winners for one of the top three prizes — an additional $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000 from Voya Financial.
Fedinick’s innovative teaching idea, Our Treasure, Chesapeake Bay, is designed to explore the health and wealth of the Chesapeake Bay and discover how it affects the lives of students and the larger community on a daily basis. Through this service learning project, students will experience the power of a collaborative, socially responsible community and learn to contribute meaningfully to the world around them. During a year-long collaboration, buddy classes in preschool through eighth grade will each research an aspect of the Bay; collect and share data; and collaborate to build a scale size Chesapeake Bay model. The ultimate goal is to use the model and data to create a larger outdoor classroom model and “learning walk” to educate the community at large. Students will develop research, academic, and social skills as they work to apply information in innovative ways for a meaningful and important purpose. In future years, the expanding project will continue to present opportunities to mentor new students and deepen service learning into new and broader areas.
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“Voya Financial is honored to salute these outstanding teachers who have the vision to pioneer new methods and techniques in the classroom that inspire learning,” said Bernie Heffernon, senior vice president of Tax-Exempt Markets for Retirement Solutions at Voya Financial. “Each day, we help individuals prepare for a secure financial future and we are proud to recognize these men and women who prepare students for their future. We understand that teaching is one of the most important professions in the world and are pleased to help Judith continue making a life-long, positive impact on the children she teaches.”
To learn more about this year’s winning projects, as well as those from previous years, visit the Unsung Heroes website (unsungheroes.com). Applications for the 2015 Voya Unsung Heroes awards are currently being accepted through the website until April 30, 2015.
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About Voya Financial
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), which has rebranded from ING U.S., is composed of premier retirement, investment and insurance companies serving the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers in the United States. The company’s vision is to be America’s Retirement CompanyTM and its guiding principle is centered on solving the most daunting financial challenge facing Americans today — retirement readiness. Working directly with clients and through a broad group of financial intermediaries, independent producers, affiliated advisors and dedicated sales specialists, Voya provides a comprehensive portfolio of asset accumulation, asset protection and asset distribution products and services. With a dedicated workforce of approximately 7,000 employees, Voya is grounded in a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible — one person, one family, one institution at a time. For more information, visit http://voya.com or view our Voya Financial Interactive Company Profile. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.
