Sean Kellogg's innovative teaching idea dubbed "Sunny Side Up Chickens" has earned the Benton Harbor educator a $2,000 Voya Unsung Heroes Grant for Innovative Teaching. She'll get her check Friday afternoon in a brief assembly before the student body at Countryside Academy where she is an instructor.
Voya Financial, Inc. is a leading provider of retirement plans for educators that has awarded nearly $5-million in grants to more than 2,000 teachers across the United States since forming the Unsung Heroes Program 20 years ago in 1996. The grants are designated for K-12 educators nationwide to honor their innovative teaching methods, creative educational projects, and their ability to positively influence the children they teach.
For Sean Kellogg at Countryside, the "Sunny Side Up Chickens" is focused on expanding a current project dedicated to raising chickens in the school's chicken coop. The program is based off of the FARE — Food, Agriculture, Renewable Resources and Environment — curriculum.
Previously, students in Kellogg's class had nurtured and watched chickens hatch from eggs, and are now tasked with taking care, and maintaining upkeep, of the chickens and the coop outside. In addition to learning responsibility through the chores, students also gather eggs and sell them to buy food and other supplies for their chickens — teaching them the value of hard work.
Kellogg is passionate about extending her program to provide additional learning opportunities, a larger covered area outside to host projects, and greater resources, so students are exposed to an even more valuable experience.
Sean was selected from a group of more than 1,350 applicants and is one of only 100 winners nationwide who are receiving the award to help fund and bring their program to life. In addition to her $2,000 prize being awarded on Friday, Kellogg also competed with other finalists for one of the top three prizes — an additional $5,000, $10,000, or $25,000 from Voya Financial,but fell short of that accomplishment.
Heather Lavallee is President of Tax-Exempt Markets at Voya Financial. She says, "At Voya, we not only have the privilege of helping teachers plan for their retirement, we also have this unique opportunity to help them dream big in the classroom and inspire their students to do the same." She adds, "We are proud to recognize those exceptional teachers who work every day to raise the bar of their profession and find new ways to spark a love of learning."
To learn more about this year's winning projects, as well as those from previous years, visit the Voya Unsung Heroes website at the link below. Applications for the 2017 Voya Unsung Heroes awards are currently being accepted through the website until April 30, 2017. Here's the link:
