Teacher honored for innovation in the classroom

Voya Financial, Inc., a provider of retirement plans for educators, announced Tammy Borremans, a teacher at Dayton Elementary School, received a $2,000 grant as part of the company’s 2014 Unsung Heroes awards competition.

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.

Selected from a group of more than 1,000 applicants, Borremans 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, Make it a HABITat! She will also compete with other winners for one of the top three prizes — an additional $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000 from Voya Financial.

Borremans’ innovative teaching idea, Make It a HABITat!, is designed for students to be able to use various technologies and books to research different habitats and the living things in those habitats. From there, students design and build several sustainable habitats with thriving plant and animal life.

Many students in the Dayton area do not have access to technology outside of the school. Through this program, students will have access to tablets, interactive Smart Boards, classroom computers, as well as many non-fiction books from which to choose to allow them to discover other habitats, animals, plants, and even people around the world. This project will also teach the students responsibility for other living things and to work together in teams.

To learn more about this year’s winning projects as well as those from previous years, go to unsungheroes.com. Applications for the next cycle of awards are being accepted through the website until April 30, 2015.