ING Unsung Heroes Awards Inspire Success and Social Innovation in U.S. Classrooms
Every year, ING Unsung Heroes® program inspires success in U.S. classrooms impacting numerous students. This September, Thi Bui, an art and computer teacher at Oakland International High School, California won third prize in the national ING Unsung Heroes® awards. It's a program for American educators, run by ING U.S. a leading provider of international financial services. The award is given to teachers across America for their social innovation teaching ideas. Carmelita Reyes, principal at Oakland International High School, says, "Thi's work has been integral to the success of our school and her students. We are proud she has received this honour from ING U.S."
As third-place winner selected from more than 1,300 applications, Bui will receive a $7,000 grant, which will help fund her work in the classroom. Bui's winning program, "A Nation of Immigrants," is an oral history project for the 11thgraders at this school, who are all English language Learners and recent immigrants to the States. Bui has collaborated with a group of teachers, including a history teacher to enhance the overall history class experience by creating an engaging multimedia project. Together, the teachers will create an online social innovation interactive world map with links to web pages created by the students. The pages will include stories, photos, drawings, audio and video of students' experiences from different parts of the world.
The students will study the causes of immigration, analyse patterns in their collective experiences and understand the experiences within a larger timeline of immigration in the U.S. They will use what they learn to predict future immigration trends and how they can advocate for such an important issue. The students will gain hands-on experience to learn how history is made of real people's experiences.
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Sangeeta Haindl is a staff writer for Justmeans on Social Enterprise. When not writing for Justmeans, Sangeeta wears her other hat as a PR professional. Over the years, she has worked with high-profile organizations within the public, not-for-profit and corporate sectors; and won awards from her industry. She now runs her own UK consultancy: Serendipity PR & Media.
