ING recognizes teacher with Unsung Hero award

Kelly J. Pratte, a teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary School, Woodbridge, was recently recognized as one of the nation’s most innovative educators in the 2008 ING Unsung Heroes awards program.

Pratte was one of 100 winners who received a $2,000 award to help fund her innovative idea and bring it to life in the classroom. She will now compete with other winners for one of the top three prizes—an additional $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000.

The ING Unsung Heroes award program recognizes kindergarten through 12th grade educators nationwide for their innovative teaching methods, creative educational projects and ability to positively influence the children they teach. Since honoring its first “unsung hero’ in 1996, ING has awarded more than $3 million to nearly 1,300 educators across the United States. The 2008 winners were selected from a group of more than 1,400 applications.

Pratte wants to help strengthen the first language literacy of students and enhance the home-school learning connection through her program, “I Read to You, You Read to Me.” The initiative, which targets kindergartners, will implement a take-home book program at the school. For English as second language families, a Spanish version of the same book will be sent home to assist parents with teaching their children language literacy.

The objective of the program is for students to read books on their reading level to their families. For Spanish speaking families, it will be an opportunity to strengthen first language skills. This will give these families the opportunity to read in Spanish and teach their children Spanish literacy. Pratte is a resident of Stafford.

“ING is proud to recognize teachers across America who are dedicated to motivating and inspiring school children to excel,” said Dan Hanlon, senior vice president, public market sales, ING U.S. wealth management. “Our company is committed to education, and funding programs that are making it easier for our youth to learn is an investment with a huge return—preparing our youth for success in the future.”

ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, investments, life insurance and retirement services to more than 85 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 50 countries.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.