Five Teachers Awarded $10,000 Classroom Makeover for Dedication to Child Safety
May 12 2009 - 8:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
105 Teachers Recognized in Got 2B Safe! Program from Honeywell and
the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children MORRIS
TOWNSHIP, N.J., May 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Honeywell (NYSE:
HON) and the National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children(R) (NCMEC) today announced the winners of the fourth
annual Got 2B Safe! Awards Program that recognizes teachers
committed to keeping children safer from abduction and sexual
exploitation. This year, the program honors 105 teachers from 32
states, including five Grand Prize winners that have created
effective techniques to teach children the important safety rules
in the Got 2B Safe! Program. "Honeywell has a long standing
commitment to family safety and security. With Got 2B Safe! we are
helping to protect our nation's children from abduction and
exploitation," said Tom Buckmaster, president, Honeywell Hometown
Solutions. "We are thrilled to honor these teachers for their
efforts to provide life-saving lessons to their students and
bringing vital awareness to such an important issue." Though many
are recovered quickly, the U.S. Department of Justice reports that
797,500 children were reported missing during a one year period of
time. That results in an average of 2,185 children reported missing
each day. These numbers highlight the need for increased child
safety programming in our schools. In 2003, Honeywell and NCMEC
created the Got 2B Safe! program to arm teachers, parents and
children with vital child safety skills. This year, five Grand
Prize winners will receive a free eco-classroom makeover from
national design firm, DesignCentrix, valued at $10,000, and 100
First Prize winners will receive $500 worth of school supplies. To
enter, teachers submitted a lesson plan or essay demonstrating how
they taught the Got 2B Safe! Four Rules of Safety. The five Grand
Prize winners include: -- Danielle Kovach, Hopatcong, NJ:
Danielle's program, "Superheroes of Safety" teaches the Got 2B
Safe! Four Rules of Safety through fictional comic book heroes who
demonstrate the appropriate ways to act in any potentially un-safe
situation. -- Dr. Rewa Chisholm, Tampa, FL: Rewa's plan begins with
a discussion with her class about the Got 2B Safe! Four Rules of
Safety, after which the students create a skit based on the rules,
develop posters to be hung throughout the school, and create safety
brochures that would be displayed in the library and main office.
-- Amanda Sechrist, Mt. Airy, NC: Amanda's program creates an
interactive "town" called Got 2B Safetyville. After reviewing the
rules, the students use refrigerator boxes to build the town and
then invite community members (police, firemen, parents, etc.) to
visit the town and participate in safety activities. -- Courtney
Arthur, Chicago, IL: Courtney makes each of her students a "Safety
Expert" on one of the Got 2B Safe! Four Rules of Safety. The Safety
Experts teach the rules to the rest of the school, and then each
class is invited to participate in a school-wide "Safety Idol"
where the students present a song, skit or dance based on the rules
in front of a group of judges that includes Chicago police
officers. -- Matt Norvel, Brandenton, FL: Matt's week-long program
incorporates a different safety activity on each day. Activities
include puppet shows that introduce the Got 2B Safe! Four Rules of
Safety, inviting fifth grade students and police officers to come
in and perform skits and chants to reinforce the rules, and
conducting a Got 2B Safe! assembly during report card pickup night.
"This year is the 25th anniversary for the National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children. And though our methods may have
changed with the times, our core mission of helping children lead
safer lives has remained the same," said Ernie Allen, NCMEC
president and CEO. "The Got2B Safe! Program speaks directly to that
mission by putting child safety tools into the hands of educators,
parents and ultimately, children. We are grateful to Honeywell for
their continued support and to these exceptional teachers for the
differences they are making in the lives of the children they
teach." The Got 2B Safe! Program provides four simple rules for
children to follow with the help of their families and teachers.
Additional information is available at http://www.got2bsafe.com/.
Got 2B Safe! Four Rules of Safety: 1. Check First -- Children
should always check with parents and guardians before accepting
gifts, rides or invitations from anyone, including friends,
acquaintances and people they don't know. 2. Go With a Friend --
Simple and straightforward -- never go anywhere alone. Being with
another person in public is safer and more fun. 3. It's My Body --
Teach your children they have the right to say NO to any unwelcome,
uncomfortable, or confusing touch or actions by others. 4. Tell a
Trusted Adult -- Teach your children to TELL a trusted adult --
parent, guardian, teacher, etc. -- if anyone or anything makes them
feel scared, uncomfortable or confused. "The classroom makeover was
about something for my students and for the school," said Jennifer
Atkinson, 2008 Grand Prize winner. "Being able to reward them with
something wonderful like this to come into every single day makes
them want to go out and spread the word of Got 2B Safe!. They've
been empowered to do that." This year, as a way to address the
increasing importance of energy-efficiency, green building and
bringing schools up to 21st century standards, the classroom
makeovers will also incorporate greening initiatives, such as: --
Using non-toxic and non-lead, fume-free paints; -- using recycled
rugs or rugs made from recycled fibers; -- replacing all light
bulbs with energy-efficient lighting, such as low-mercury
fluorescent bulbs; -- recycling all materials removed from the
classroom and deliver to local recycling plants; -- installing
color-coded bins for recycling paper, plastics and aluminum
separately; and -- as budget allows, any other initiatives that can
help improve a classroom's green performance. The Got 2B Safe!
Program has won eight awards within the corporate social
responsibility industry. It is a signature program of Honeywell
Hometown Solutions, the company's corporate citizenship initiative,
which focuses on four areas: Family Safety & Security; Housing
& Shelter; Science & Math Education and Humanitarian
Relief. Together with leading public and non-profit institutions,
Honeywell has developed powerful programs to address these needs in
the communities it serves. For more information, please go to
http://www.honeywell.com/hhs. About Honeywell Honeywell
International (http://www.honeywell.com/) is a Fortune 100
diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers
worldwide with aerospace products and services; control
technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive
products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. Based in Morris
Township, N.J., Honeywell's shares are traded on the New York,
London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. For more news and information
on Honeywell, please visit http://www.honeywellnow.com/. About
Honeywell Hometown Solutions The Got 2B Safe! Program is part of
Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the company's corporate citizenship
initiative, which focuses on four areas: Family Safety &
Security; Housing & Shelter; Science & Math Education and
Humanitarian Relief. Together with leading public and non-profit
institutions, Honeywell has developed powerful programs to address
these needs in the communities it serves. For more information,
please go to http://www.honeywell.com/hhs. About the National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children The National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children is a 501( c )(3) nonprofit
organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984, the
organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing
children's hotline which has handled more than 2,350,000 calls. It
has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 135,400
children. The organization's CyberTipline has handled more than
692,000 reports of child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim
Identification Program has reviewed and analyzed more than
22,198,000 child pornography images and videos. The organization
works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more about
NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or
visit its web site at http://www.missingkids.com/. DATASOURCE:
Honeywell CONTACT: Lisa Mata of Honeywell, +1-973-455-4254, Web
Site: http://www.honeywell.com/hhs
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