Uxbridge teacher saluted as Unsung Hero
UXBRIDGE – Voya Financial Inc., a leading provider of workplace retirement solutions, including savings plans for K-12 educators, announced today that Christine Ahern, a health/physical education. teacher at Uxbridge High School in Uxbridge, has received a $2,000 grant as part of the company’s 2018 Voya 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 ability to positively influence their students. For more than 20 years, the program has awarded over $5 million in grants to more than 2,000 educators across the United States.
“Our Unsung Heroes program continues to recognize teachers who go above and beyond to inspire today’s students in the classroom,” said Heather Lavallee, president of tax-exempt Markets at Voya Financial. “We are proud to honor teachers like Christine Ahern whose inspiring program is making a difference in the lives of young people. This commitment and passion for teaching closely aligns with our focus at Voya on helping all Americans prepare for their unique financial futures.”
Ahern’s innovative teaching idea, “Coping for Life,” focuses on creating a directly usable and sustainable curriculum around stress management, in collaboration with the Uxbridge High School health department. Recent surveys of the school’s students show that they are overwhelmed from anxiety, depression, and stress. With support from the Voya grant, students will be provided a variety of tools, equipment, and handson activities to enable targeted mindful- ness and stress management practices which take place in the classroom. Ahern envisions extending the Voya grant even further by having her students create their own stress management toolkit, share resources on their school website and collaborate on the school’s bi-annual health and wellness fair so all students can hone their coping skills.
Selected from a group of more than 1,200 applicants, Ahern is one of only 100 winners across the country who will receive this award to help fund and bring her program to life. In addition, she will now compete with other finalists for one of the top three prizes — an additional $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000 from Voya Financial.
To learn more about this year’s winning projects, as well as those from previous years, visit the Unsung Heroes website at Voya.com/UnsungHeroes. Applications for the 2019 Voya Unsung Heroes awards are currently being accepted through the website until April 30, 2019.
Unsung Heroes is part of Voya’s broader efforts to empower teachers to become leaders by promoting their careers, recognizing high-achieving accomplishments, providing training opportunities and offering financial support to achieve their goals.