Congratulations to Seth Manthey – recipient of $2,000 Voya Unsung Heroes Grant for Innovative Teaching Program

Information released by Voya Financial Inc.

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), a leading provider of retirement plans for educators, announced today that Seth Manthey, a teacher at Chelan High School in Chelan, has received a $2,000 grant as part of the company’s 2020 Unsung Heroes awards competition.     

Through the Voya Unsung Heroes program, Voya Financial awards grants to K-12 educators nationwide to honor their innovative teaching methods, creative educational projects, and their ability to positively influence the children they teach. Since 1996, the Voya Unsung Heroes program has awarded more than $5 million to help the nation’s educators turn creative teaching ideas into reality.

“For more than two decades, we have been committed to making a difference in the community by investing in the future of education and providing opportunity for educators to innovate,” said Heather Lavallee, president of Tax Exempt Markets. “Though every year we celebrate the Unsung Heroes whose ideas in the classroom will better prepare our nation’s children for a rapidly changing workforce, this year is unique. Educators like Seth have had to be particularly innovative, and will continue to be, as they find new and creative ways to reach his students to help keep them engaged and learning during challenging times. It is instances like these that make us proud to support America’s educators as they go above and beyond to prepare their leaders of tomorrow for successful futures.”

 

Manthey’s innovative teaching program, “The Power of Public Health,” is aimed at increasing awareness and supporting the pursuit of careers in public health by collaborating with local and state-level public health departments. Through this collaboration, students will gain real world experience in the collection, management, analysis, and presentation of public health data.

This data will serve to improve public health information, and through the collaboration all members of this project will aim to implement long lasting public health improvements within the student community.

Manthey believes the need for an increased understanding and involvement in public health has never been more pertinent, and there is no better way to engage students in this topic than supporting their learning through real-world, hands-on experiences. Students will be expected to work closely with Manthey and public health officials to collect, record, analyze, and present their information. Ideally, the students will have the opportunity to present at the school’s science fair, to the school’s administration, and to the local city officials.

Where necessary, some programs will need to be adjusted for distance learning or will have to be recalibrated for implementation based on social distancing requirements in each state.

Selected from a group of applicants from across the country, Manthey is one of only 50 winners across the country who will receive this award to help fund and bring his program to life. In addition, he will now compete with other finalists for one of the top three prizes — an additional $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000 from Voya Financial.

To learn more about this year’s winning projects, as well as those from previous years, visit the Unsung Heroes website (unsungheroes.com). Applications for the 2021 Voya Unsung Heroes awards are currently being accepted through the website until April 30, 2021.

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.