DENVER - A local school teacher earned the MetLife Foundation Ambassadors in Education Award for successfully building valuable relationships between his school and its surrounding community, including parents, businesses, and community organizations.
Darren Wells, a science teacher at J.P. Timilty School, won the MetLife Foundation Ambassadors in Education Award after many people in the school and the community nominated him for the honor. The award recognizes public school teachers in the middle grades and higher who are making extraordinary efforts to strengthen their schools and communities.
Wells was nominated for the award because of his involvement with several community organizations, including Tufts University, Boston University, Harvard, and Massachusetts General Hospital. He regularly brings in speakers from the organizations for the benefit of his students. In addition to riding his bike to raise funds for local charities, he also volunteers every Saturday at Northeastern University, where he developed a presentation for students about the positive and negative choices made by young men and women. Wells' hard work earned a $5,000 grant for his school to help continue community work and relationship-building projects.
"Teachers are key to establishing a culture of caring and community involvement in their schools," said Sibyl Jacobson, MetLife Foundation president and CEO. "Their leadership in reaching out to their students' neighborhoods sets an important example for students, other educators and staff."
MetLife Foundation's goal is to recognize these educators for their exemplary efforts, while encouraging others to follow their examples. A national selection committee reviewed the nominations and picked the winning teachers.
In addition to Boston, Ambassadors in Education also were named in the following cities:
- Atlanta
- Baltimore
- Charlotte
- Chicago
- Dayton
- Denver
- Des Moines
- Detroit
- Fort Worth
- Greenville
- Hartford
- Long Beach
- Minneapolis
- New York
- Philadelphia
- Oakland
- San Antonio
- St. Louis
- Tampa
- Tulsa
MetLife Foundation and the National Civic League started the Ambassadors in Education Award program in 2003 after the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher revealed a divide between many educators and their communities-especially those in inner city schools. For example:
- Only nine percent of students believe their teachers know enough about the communities where they teach.
- About 55 percent of the teachers in communities of color admit they don't know much about the community surrounding their school.
The Ambassadors in Education Award is intended to help reverse these alarming trends by improving the understanding and collaboration between educators and the communities surrounding their schools. Dr. Albert Holland, principal of Health Careers Academy, won the award in 2004.
The award is sponsored by MetLife Foundation, which was founded in 1976 by MetLife and supports programs that increase opportunities for young people to succeed, give students and teachers a voice in improving education, develop partnerships between schools and communities and strengthen relationships among parents, teachers and students. The National Civic League, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization devoted to community building and citizen democracy, conducts the award program. For more information about the Ambassadors in Education Award, visit www.ncl.org/cs/metlife.