Voya Honors Somerset, Kentucky, Father-Daughter Teaching Duo with $27,000 for Creative Teaching Idea
October 30 2023 - 4:12PM
Business Wire
Grant to be used to support student learning about animal
science and agriculture
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), a leading provider of
retirement plans for educators, announced today that Mallory
McDonald and Chris McDonald, teachers at Southwestern High School
(SWHS) in Somerset, Kentucky, have won the first-place, $25,000
grant award in the company’s annual Voya Unsung Heroes program.
They also happen to be related as father and daughter.
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Voya’s 2023 Unsung Heroes first-place
winners: Mallory McDonald and Chris McDonald, teachers,
Southwestern High School, Somerset, Kentucky, who will use the
grant to bring to life the “Southwestern Agriculture Center and
Farm”; and Terry Harrell, regional vice president, Tax-Exempt
Markets, Voya Financial, Inc. (Photo: Business Wire)
Through its Unsung Heroes program, Voya awards monetary grants
to educators across the country to support their innovative and
creative teaching ideas. Now in its 27th year, the Voya program has
awarded more than $6 million in awards to educators across the
United States.
As the first-place winners, Mallory McDonald and Chris McDonald
received the $25,000 award in a surprise check presentation in
addition to $2,000 they received as one of the 50 national
finalists — bringing their total financial award to $27,000. This
money will be used to help bring "Southwestern Agriculture Center
and Farm" to life at Southwestern High School.
In addition to the 50 $2,000 grants to K-12 educators, Voya
provides additional awards to the best three ideas. All the
applications received from teachers are evaluated by Scholarship
America, Voya’s partner in the Unsung Heroes program.
“Administrators, staff and teachers like Mallory McDonald and
Chris McDonald are truly our unsung heroes,” said Angela Harrell,
Voya’s senior vice president, chief diversity and corporate impact
officer, and president, Voya Foundation. “Their actions and
enthusiasm inspire today’s students and spark their curiosity to
learn. Voya’s Unsung Heroes program and our other
education-oriented initiatives recognize and celebrate creative
teaching methods and ideas that help students become tomorrow’s
leaders. We are proud to support our nation’s outstanding
teachers.”
The teaching duo's innovative educational project, "Southwestern
Agriculture Center and Farm," is a school farm created to enhance
learning in animal science and agriculture mechanics. Students will
be able to grow, produce and raise small animals and livestock.
They will be responsible for the planning, care, and marketing of
commodities from the farm as well. Produce and animals will be sold
in the community to sustain the project annually, while produce
from the farm will be used in a farm-to-table project to provide
other students with access to fresh, nutritious food. The Voya
Unsung Heroes grant will be used to purchase equipment and building
materials for the farm.
“We want to congratulate Mallory and Chris for winning Voya’s
Unsung Heroes grant,” said Mark Flynn, principal, Southwestern High
School. “Mallory, Chris and the SWHS Agriculture Department will
use the $25,000 grant for the exciting Agriculture Center and Farm
project that’s planned.”
The second-place winner of Voya’s Unsung Heroes program is a
team of Career Technical Education (CTE) instructors from The
Learning Choice Academy in Chula Vista, California, that will use
their grant to help students learn about home design, construction,
engineering, and business by building a tiny house. The winner of
the third-place grant is a STEM (science, technology, engineering
and math) teacher from Kansas State School for the Blind in Kansas
City, Kansas, that will use her grant to make technology accessible
to visually impaired students throughout the state of Kansas in a
van.
To learn more about this year’s winning projects, as well as
those from previous years, visit Voya’s Unsung Heroes site.
Applications for the 2024 Voya Unsung Heroes awards are currently
being accepted through the website until April 19, 2024.
Unsung Heroes is part of Voya Foundation’s signature program,
Voya Teacher Voices. Voya Teacher Voices focuses on empowering
teachers to become leaders by promoting the teaching career,
recognizing high-achieving accomplishments, providing training
opportunities and offering financial support to achieve their
goals.
About the Voya Foundation
Voya Foundation's mission is to improve the quality of life in
communities where Voya Financial operates and its employees and
customers live. Voya Foundation provides grants and establishes
signature partnerships in the areas of financial literacy and
children's education and fosters employee engagement to deepen our
positive impact on the community. For more information, visit
www.VoyaFoundation.com.
About Voya Financial®
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), is a leading health, wealth
and investment company with 7,200 employees who are focused on
achieving Voya’s aspirational vision: Clearing your path to
financial confidence and a more fulfilling life. Through products,
solutions and technologies, Voya helps its 14.7 million individual,
workplace and institutional clients become well planned, well
invested and well protected. Benefitfocus, a Voya company, extends
the reach of Voya’s workplace benefits and savings offerings by
providing benefits administration capabilities to 16.5 million
individual subscription employees across employer and health plan
clients. Certified as a “Great Place to Work” by the Great Place to
Work® Institute, Voya is purpose-driven and committed to conducting
business in a way that is economically, ethically, socially and
environmentally responsible. Voya has earned recognition as: one of
the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere; a member of the
Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index; and a “Best Place to Work for
Disability Inclusion” on the Disability Equality Index. For more
information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook,
Instagram, and LinkedIn.
VOYA-CR
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231030966735/en/
Media: Ed Mayer Voya Financial 212-309-6516
Edward.Mayer@voya.com
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