ING Unsung Heroes® 2012 Award Winners

Steingall’s winning program, “Patriot Pups Biscuits,” is an integrated community service project for students with special needs at North Warren Regional High School. The project focuses on providing students with functional job skills training through service learning with the main goal of forging a relationship between the school district and the community.

Paul’s winning project, “The Presidential Election: 2012 Campaign Video Project,” aims to educate students about U.S. politics and geography and explain how media plays an important role in an election. Paul encourages her students to become critical viewers and creators of media and to use their tools of knowledge to become thoughtful, engaged, involved citizens. In the “Campaign Video Project,” democracy, citizenship and the role of media are examined through the lens of the 2012 presidential election. Students will work in small groups to explore the U.S.

“Cooking Group with Miss Hass” is Haas’ winning program in which special education students at Fairwood and Lincoln Park Elementary participate in a weekly cooking group focusing on vocabulary, grammar, following oral and written directions and critical thinking. As a Speech-Language Pathologist, Haas’ role is to provide language treatments for students with expressive, receptive and pragmatic language delays. Language is embedded in every facet of the educational curriculum, from math to social studies.

Monroy’s winning project, “See the World Through My Eyes,” is a photography project for Title 1 reading students. Students will learn how to use photography to improve their literacy skills. Through the mastery of basic digital camera operations, students will create self-generated text, as well as other reading and writing materials to tell an important story about themselves, their families and their community. Students have the opportunity to learn how to properly use a camera, including how to zoom, use a flash and download pictures.

Crouch’s innovative, winning program, “Fitness Goes Hollywood,” aims to engage students in a non-traditional, physical education, kinesthetic learning adventure. The goal of the program is to bolster the Murray Avenue School Health and Physical Education program by incorporating digital video technology and editing software. Students will use digital video cameras during their physical education classes throughout the week to capture highlight footage on good form and technique.

Bryant’s winning program, “Integrating Digital Art and Design,” was created to integrate technology into an interdisciplinary project to mainly engage graphic design students, but also English, social studies, economic and U.S. history and government students. One of the students will become a mock political candidate, allowing the students to research everything from political logos, slogans, speeches and posters.

Wilson’s winning project, “Learning Through Exploration,” features a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) center classroom where students can explore space and travel, video processing, force and motion, and electricity. The goal of the project is to allow students to apply the knowledge of their core classes in real-life scenarios. In the space and travel center, students will conduct research on the history of space and will create an informational pamphlet on a planet of choice. They will also build a rocket to launch.

Patton’s winning program, “Integrated Modern Industrial Research and Development,” also known as iMIRD, is a project-based learning class that teaches students how to create software solutions through object-oriented computer programming with Scratch software. Advances in the program allow students to create more in-depth software solutions and develop complex games and simulation programs that have a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S.T.E.M.) focus.