{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-storyblok-entry-jsx","path":"/en-US/transparency-reporting/statements/a-message-from-we-charity-and-its-co-founders","webpackCompilationHash":"51ca9db567f2dad12875","result":{"pageContext":{"isCreatedByStatefulCreatePages":false,"overrideLocaleHack":{"locale":"fr-CA","url":"https://www.mouvementunis.org/"},"allowedLocales":[{"label":"CA (EN)","value":"en-CA","icon":"flagCA"},{"label":"CA (FR)","value":"fr-CA","icon":"flagCA"},{"label":"US (EN)","value":"en-US","icon":"flagUS"},{"label":"UK (EN)","value":"en-GB","icon":"flagGB"}],"currentHref":"en-US/transparency-reporting/statements/a-message-from-we-charity-and-its-co-founders","localPartials":{},"locale":"en-US","site":"we_org","partials":{"map":{"_uid":"9ddcff7e-90ea-4742-a0bb-c09b1c87ea81","Stories":[{"_uid":"6a35325c-4269-45be-8ba6-8fa2bdb622d0","State":"New Jersey","Title":"Allison Turon","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/7af30bac83/allison_turon_linden_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Allison Turon","Content":"A courtyard garden is the heart of John Adams Elementary School in New Jersey’s North Brunswick Township. On any given day, teachers take their science classes outside while other students tend to plants or study in the gazebo. With students mingling across grades and cliques, the garden is a reflection of Allison Turon’s guiding philosophy of inclusivity. \n\nTuron is a WE Teachers Award recipient, special needs teacher for kindergarten, first and second grade, and leader of the school garden. Her classroom is full of tricks she’s picked up over her 13-year career: a prize box for motivation, craft materials to stimulate creativity, books that students can take home, and snacks and school supplies for those in need. But the garden is where she sees her students flourish. Every grade and class shares the space, meaning it’s one of the rare opportunities her students enjoy socializing beyond their classmates.\n\nSome of Turon’s students have behavioral or communications issues, others are on the autism spectrum. All of them benefit from social and emotional learning focused on relationship building and time spent with mainstream students. The garden, Turon says, accomplishes these goals. “It provides a wonderful opportunity with students working together for the common good.” With this relationship building, they also learn horticulture and biology while tending to native plants that bloom nearly year-round. \n\nWith her WE Teachers Award grant, Turon is creating a space where exploring, learning and growing go hand-in-hand for all students. ","Location":"North Brunswick Township, New Jersey","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"b6cb0960-f5c8-4bc6-9c54-4cfb97a8a262","State":"North Carolina","Title":"Amanda Mandato","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/e76c7696ad/amanda_mandato_fayetteville_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Amanda Mandato ","Content":"Amanda Mandato’s third grade students at New Century International Elementary School in Fayetteville, N.C., experience the kind of heart break that other children don’t typically face. Many of their parents work at the nearby military base, the largest in the U.S.. These eight-year-olds must cope with parents being deployed to war zones, and sometimes, even the injury or death of Mom or Dad. Her students experience hunger, poverty and foster care more than their peers, as well as frequent moves to new bases.  \n\n“Teaching at a Title 1 school, especially in the military community, allows me to meet with students from all different walks of life,” says Mandato. “I have been a witness to students who wear the same clothes every day, students who need help paying for their lunches, and students who come to school without any supplies,” says the WE Teachers Award recipient.  \n\n“It's so easy to reach into my heart to help them, but with a teacher's salary it can more difficult to reach into my wallet.” Mandato used the award to purchase classroom supplies for her students. \n\nMandato is passionate about helping her students deal with trauma, and keen to bring the WE Teachers trauma-informed approach to her classroom. “I hope that the kids who are experiencing hardship or trauma feel welcome, safe, and loved enough to learn in my room.” ","Location":"Fayetteville, North Carolina","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"adfccf59-a270-4e9e-aa79-3d2a904c8bb3","State":"West Virginia","Title":"Anastacia Meadows","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/f09cb7d230/anastacia_meadows_salt-rock_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Anastacia Meadows","Content":"Anastacia Meadows has a hierarchy of goals in her classroom, an approximation of Maslow’s needs for kindergarten students. First they have to feel loved. That love translates into excitement to come to school. Only then, the WE Teachers Award recipient explains, will they discover a passion for learning. \n\nMany of Meadows’ students in her Salt Rock, W.V., classroom come from working-poor families. Some are raised by grandparents. Few have access to the internet. “We face these hardships by providing a classroom full of love,” she explains. “We want our students to know that it does not matter where they came from, who their family is, or what they go home to, they are important in every way to making the world a better place.” \n\nTitle 1 schools receive federal funding to serve the greatest number of students living in poverty. But there are schools like Salt Rock Elementary that just miss the cut, explains Meadows, with students in need and shrinking budgets unable to meet the challenge. That’s where Meadows’ WE Teachers Award came in handy, providing the funds to stock her kindergarten class with crafts supplies and games to ensure it remains awash in color, music and warmth. \n\nMeadows’ day-to-day is spent fostering fun — but she always keeps the end goal in mind. “I want my classroom to be the place where students can take the weight of the world off their shoulders, as we all learn and grow together.” ","Location":"Salt Rock, West Virginia","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"1961812f-dc90-41a9-9cd4-a5ad5ae6b840","State":"Maryland","Title":"Andrea Albertini","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/a643d52309/andrea_albertini_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Andrea Albertini","Content":"Andrea Albertini wants to take her English students on a journey beyond their classroom at Western High School in Baltimore and into the world of books. “Many of my students are not exposed to reading as a hobby or pastime,” she says. For English class, students are expected to purchase their own novels, a “financial hardship” for some that might turn them off of reading altogether. \n\n“I am desperately in need of books,” Albertini says. The WE Teachers Award recipient plans to use the award to create a classroom library full of “contemporary and high-interest novels to encourage reading for pleasure.” She’s already purchased a printer and ink, as well as school supplies. \n\nReading can connect young minds to different perspectives and even help them cope with their own emotions, especially in light of current events. “Our students are definitely feeling the effects of COVID-19 and will for years to come,” Albertini says. She points to the WE Teachers trauma-informed approach as an opportunity to help her students through this unprecedented time. “As we navigate the uncharted waters of virtual education, we definitely need to build up our trauma-response skills.”","Location":"Baltimore, Maryland","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"57e09c67-a369-47e5-bf5f-16cd18f6222b","State":"Maine","Title":"Anne Dixon","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/0379eb3f76/anne_dixon_portland_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Anne Dixon","Content":"Deering High School, where Anne Dixon teaches Spanish, social studies and English as a second language, is the most diverse high school in New England. \n\nMany students at the Portland, Maine, high school are refugees and immigrants who arrived in the U.S. after long stays in refugee camps or in exile from their native countries. Resources like the WE Teachers Trauma-Informed Classroom module are helpful to Dixon because of the difficulties experienced by her students. Some are unaccompanied minors who face poverty and homelessness in their new home, as well as trauma from their journeys.  \n\nMany of her kids speak Spanish as their native language, which inspired Dixon to teach a new course called “Spanish for Heritage Speakers.” The class will help students, many of whom received limited schooling in their home countries, develop greater literacy skills in Spanish, which in turn leads to higher proficiency in English. \n\nFor her dedication to her students, Dixon received a WE Teachers Award, which was used to purchase new supplies for her classroom. With departmental funds freed up, Dixon was able to buy digital Spanish books for her students to help them succeed during COVID-19-mandated online learning.","Location":"Portland, Maine","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"5bae23af-1f69-426f-919a-d4f6cbfdefc1","State":"Alaska","Title":"April Halpern","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/a8ce1431a5/april_halpen_anchorage_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher April Halpern","Content":"Alaska is one of the ten wealthiest states in America, but that’s not the reality for the students of Chinook Elementary in Anchorage, a Title 1 school. “Many of my students have faced hardships including homelessness, hunger, abuse and foster care,” says sixth grade teacher and WE Teachers Award recipient April Halpern.  \n\nHalpern and her colleagues work hard on additional support for their students, including providing meal packages to students on Fridays to give families more food security over weekends. They also know that encouraging young people to help others is a powerful tool for self-empowerment. That’s why, as a WE Teachers Award recipient, Halpern is using the funds to support the school’s service-learning projects — the integration of social issues and volunteer actions into classroom learning. Her passion as a teacher is connecting the curriculum to the community, she says. \n\nEvery year, Chinook students vote to support causes and organizations that are meaningful for them. Students have made blankets and homemade treats for local animal shelters, as well as care packages for the homeless. They’ve also donated items to veterans and the local hospital’s neonatal unit. For each service project, Halpern invites a guest speaker to teach students more about the social issue they’ve chosen.   \n\n“I believe that these learning opportunities teach kids that they can make a difference and show them how to do that in a very tangible way,” she says. ","Location":"Anchorage, Alaska","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"5717d798-7d4e-4500-8519-e45b3db34815","State":"Alabama","Title":"Arlinda Davis","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/097591ff04/arlinda_davis_birmingham_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Arlinda Davis","Content":"Arlinda Davis is ahead of her time. The first grade teacher has been connecting with her students using a trauma-informed approach for more than two decades. It’s only since receiving a WE Teachers Award and diving into the WE Teachers resources that she discovered her intuition is backed up by leading experts and reams of research.   \n\nDavis has taught the same grade at Avondale Elementary School in Birmingham, Ala., for 24 years. In that time, she’s seen rising rates of trauma among her students as they experience violence and endemic poverty at home, or struggle with anxiety and depression. Many of her students have trouble forming relationships with their peers or trusting their teachers.    \n\n“I’ve seen the face of children change from wanting to learn to now coming to the classroom with so much baggage,” Davis explains. “That’s why I teach. These children need someone to say to them, ‘you are great and you have a purpose.’”   \n\nShe knows that every student can thrive when physical, emotional and mental needs are met. That philosophy takes shape in her classroom with cozy pillows, stuffed animals and a fridge full of snacks. Her goal is to make her students feel safe, accepted and worthy.   \n\nWE Teachers helped Davis achieve that goal, not just with resources for classroom supplies, but with modules that offer insight into her students’ experiences. “WE Teachers provided me with a new lens into my students’ ‘why,’ helping me tap into ways to support mental well-being.”","Location":"Birmingham, Alabama ","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"90293b5f-5bd3-4e15-af4a-a522fc65aac5","State":"Missouri","Title":"Dr. Art McCoy","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/428b0c1fe2/art_mccoy_st-louis_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Doctor Art McCoy","Content":"Dr. Art McCoy’s mission is to empower teachers. He is the superintendent of Missouri’s Jennings School District, overseeing eight schools and thousands of students. For him, empowerment is personal. He grew up poor; both of his parents were disabled. His teachers stepped in to make sure he was okay and got extra help whenever he needed it. He credits his teachers for making him who he is today and works to ensure the teachers in his district can share that transformational power with students. \n\nHe is passionate about ensuring his educators have the best resources and has worked to ensure they implement the WE Teachers program in local schools. The innovative program has helped Dr. McCoy and his teachers talk frankly with students about bullying, poverty and empathy in their community. “The beauty of the WE curriculum is that it allows for such engaging service-learning leadership, and that engagement is key,” says Dr. McCoy. “Once you're engaged and enlightened, then empowerment occurs because you feel the power of leading your space to a new place—a better place.” \n\nFor his work as an outstanding educator, Dr. McCoy was honored this spring with a surprise $25,000 WE Teachers award from Walgreens to help the educators in his district buy school supplies. The real honor for Dr. McCoy, though, is in service. “Teachers are empowered to change the trajectory of entire families and communities.”","Location":"St. Louis, Missouri","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"b7e117a4-0027-4620-9c4c-b79df448f90f","State":"Tennessee","Title":"Calandra Ellison-Williamson","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/72cf81cd82/calandra_ellison_williamson_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Calandra Ellison-Williamson","Content":"Calandra Ellison-Williamson’s former students are getting back in touch to tell her they met her challenge — all these years later. When they were in second grade, she challenged them, asking what they wanted to study in college. “Now that they’re graduating, they say I put that idea in their heads,” the WE Teachers Award recipient explains. “That’s the kind of mark I want to leave on all of my students.” \n\nEllison-Williamson became a teacher to inspire young minds the way she was inspired by powerful teachers. At Isaac Lane Elementary in Jackson, Tenn., she discovered how challenging that could be. Some students arrived on the first day of school with new bookbags and lunch boxes. Others had nothing. That divide manifested in lowered self-esteem, impacting students’ ability to learn. \n\n“If they don’t have supplies that other kids are really excited about, it makes them shut down,” she explains. “You don’t want a child to think for a second that they are less than.” \n\nEllison-Williamson took a second job, then a third, working summers and evenings during the school year, in retail or tutoring, so she could buy supplies for students in need. Now a mother of twin toddlers, she has less time to work – but her WE Teachers Award helped fill her supply cabinets with folders, notebooks and pens for every student. \n\n“The most important thing is for the child to be in class,” she says. “If that means they need supplies, I have it for them.”","Location":"Jackson, Tennessee","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"a906fbf9-a6ae-4966-b517-6d4fcc6db588","State":"California","Title":"Christopher Davis","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/9c0f0a9283/christopher_davis_san-martin_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Christopher Davis","Content":"While most Sierramont Middle School students eat lunch each day in the cafeteria, a few find refuge in Christopher Davis’ eighth grade classroom. The “Lunch Bunch,” as he affectionately calls them, play games and socialize in a safe space. “These students are often bullied, members of the LGBTQ community or new to the school,” Davis explains.  \n\nHis care for the Lunch Bunch is just one example of the empathy that brought Davis to the WE Teachers program. Having lived through trauma himself, experiencing abuse and homelessness at a young age, he understands the impact it can have on developing minds. Through WE Teachers, Davis discovered tactics and strategies to help students in need. “It starts with paying attention,” he says. “I have one-on-one conversations with my students with the goal of getting to know who they are and how they perceive themselves.” \n\nThe hope is to increase his students’ well-being and to make them more caring and compassionate people. In one favorite assignment, Davis has students study a marginalized person from history to understand their struggle and draw lessons applicable to today. \n\nWhen the pandemic closed his San Martin, Calif., school, Davis laid the groundwork of social and emotional care to bolster his students’ mental health. He gave each student a journal to explore their feelings, applying coping strategies from the classroom to this new normal. “The goal is to ease the social pressures of being a pre-teen in middle school in a difficult time.” ","Location":"San Martin, California","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"2c70f2de-f14a-40e1-abea-7f72cb9af91d","State":"Georgia","Title":"Cicely Lewis","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/31da842565/cicely_lewis_lawrenceville_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Cicely Lewis","Content":"As a Library Science and Journalism teacher, Cicely Lewis knows the importance of literacy. \n\nThe Norcross, Ga., educator is the mastermind behind Meadowcreek High School’s Read Woke program, a call to action for educators to promote books featuring characters with diverse perspectives. A book must meet certain criteria to qualify for the program, such as challenging a social norm or including a protagonist from an underrepresented or oppressed group. \n\nA WE Teachers Award recipient, Lewis plans to focus upcoming Read Woke challenges on mental health awareness and trauma-based learning. Using information she’s received from WE Teachers modules, she will implement a book study and training program for her fellow educators to help them better meet the needs of their students.  \n\nLewis plans to purchase additional eBooks and audiobooks to reach students from afar, and launch a weekly “Woke Wednesday” where she will highlight components of trauma-based learning to better inform students and teachers alike. \n\n“The best benefit of being part of WE Teachers is the resources,” Lewis says. “There are so many resources to help us reach our students, and the focus on trauma-based learning was truly beneficial and timely.” ","Location":"Norcross, Georgia","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"3c911f93-1a89-40f7-872a-ab5eb44760c4","State":"Arkansas","Title":"Claudine James","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/67ba069707/claudine_james_malvern_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Claudine James","Content":"Literature can offer some of life’s greatest lessons — on all subjects. Though Claudine James teaches English language arts at Malvern Middle School, she incorporates history, civic engagement and geography comprehension in her lessons. To do so, she draws from a variety of course materials, from novels and short stories to historical biographies and documentaries. Every year, her seventh and eighth grade students put on an exhibit, open to other students, parents and the public, to present lessons learned from the books they’ve read.  \n \n“My goal is for them to be able to use their voice as an agent for social change,” says James. Exposed to diverse authors and perspectives, her students gain critical thinking and cultural awareness skills — not to mention the oral presentation component — to uplift their voices. As a WE Teachers Award recipient, James now has more resources for the students’ exhibit, the texts and posters needed for display, as well as personal scrapbook items that help each student retain the lesson and take it with them on their next journey.   \n\n“This project is a model for social emotional learning, self-discovery and cultural awareness,” she says. “I believe all teachers should strive to help each student achieve their highest potential.”","Location":"Malvern, Arkansas","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"b579b828-ba3b-4ff5-ba9e-4017d08a5575","State":"Michigan","Title":"Cynthia DePetro","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/9b603f47b1/cynthia_depetreo_marquette_800x400.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Cynthia DePetro","Content":"The students Cynthia DePetro sees come through her English classes at Marquette Alternative High School have faced myriad forms of trauma, from homelessness and poverty to bullying and abuse. “I was born to be a teacher,” DePetro says. In her classroom, that means ensuring students can thrive no matter what they’ve experienced. \n\nThe WE Teachers Trauma-Informed Classroom module has helped the Marquette, Mich., teacher create a safe classroom environment and support students who are struggling. The simple act of empathizing with a student’s experience can help them form trusting relationships. “A student who feels valued shows higher self esteem and engages in their learning better,” DePetro explains. \n\nTheir emotional and psychological needs met, DePetro still has to provide for her students’ physical needs. With 95 per cent receiving free and reduced lunch, the WE Teachers Award recipient often uses her own money to purchase basic necessities for the teens, including notebooks, writing utensils, art supplies, deodorant, toothbrushes and feminine hygiene products.  \n\nWith her WE Teachers Award grant, DePetro will ensure every student has access to the resources they need. She also plans to purchase a new set of novels for her class, something the school’s budget can’t always accommodate.   \n\nFor DePetro, WE Teachers has been a lifeline helping ensure her students are able to stay in school and achieve.  As she explains it, “the more resources available to teachers, the better chances of tapping into diverse ideas to reach the varying needs of our students.”","Location":"Marquette, Michigan","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"67137bae-9e82-4e8f-bbf5-c2639bb36db3","State":"Iowa","Title":"Debora Masker ","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/1e5bdd67c3/deb_masker_council-bluffs_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Debora Masker","Content":"After 43 years at the front of a classroom, Debora Masker is still perfecting her craft. The most recent tool she’s added to her toolkit as a teacher and shaper of young minds? A trauma-informed approach to education. \n\n“I’m a lifelong learner,” says Masker, who teaches sixth and seventh grade social studies at Kirn Middle School in Council Bluffs, Iowa. That passion for growth is why she runs her school’s National History Day program, led a 4-H club for 20 years, and takes students to a weeklong leadership academy every summer. It’s also what led her to the WE Teachers program, which provides professional development opportunities for educators.  \n\nIn WE Teachers, Masker saw a chance to gain new training that would help students learn and thrive despite trauma. “It’s important to use strategies to reach students who have experienced trauma at home and in the community,” she says. “To help them realize they can reach out for help We have to work with them to realize that school is a safe place for them to be.” \n\nThat empathetic approach is key to reaching students in need, according to Masker. “I love watching students grow and blossom,” she says. Giving students ownership and autonomy in school, when they face so much tumult outside of it, is a lesson this veteran educator wants to pass on. “I encourage student voice and student choice in my classroom.” ","Location":"Council Bluffs, Iowa","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"c35b5023-fea2-41dd-a88c-8446ee112567","State":"Delaware","Title":"Erika Komp","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/ea176859b3/erika_komp_middletown_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Erika Komp","Content":"For students living with disabilities, the classroom can be a place of peace and escape. Erika Komp, a special education teacher in New Castle, Del., strives each day to create that environment and used the WE Teachers program as a support guide. \n\nHer students at Southern Elementary School, who range from kindergarten to second grade, live with various cognitive and developmental disabilities, including autism, Down syndrome and deafness. Standard classrooms don’t provide them with the support they require, so, in addition to regular lessons, Komp helps her students with sensory, hygiene, social and emotional needs. \n\nThe WE Teachers resources and the WE Teachers network have helped Komp better support her students and improve her own teaching in the process.  \n\nOne of the most beneficial aspects has been the Trauma-Informed Classroom module. The lessons have enabled Komp to identify the warning signs of abuse and neglect in order to keep her students safe, even when they’re not in her care. Some of the youth face additional disadvantages, such as homelessness and food insecurity. Being a trauma-informed teacher helped Komp show her students that someone truly cares for them, and she can create a safe space in her classroom when needed. \n\n“WE Teachers allows me to be part of a community who I know is there for me, and wants my students and me to be the most successful inside and outside of the classroom,” she says. ","Location":"New Castle, Delaware","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"4188c999-c601-4754-92be-cb7c089bf580","State":"Montana","Title":"Francy Moll","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/58967ce5de/francy_moll_ronan_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Francy Moll","Content":"At K. William Harvey Elementary, showing up late for school means students miss more than class time. They miss their breakfast. \n\nAll of Francy Moll’s first grade students receive free breakfast and lunch at school. But many arrive after the kitchen closes. Living intermittently with various relatives or sleeping in their family car, the daily realities of living with poverty can make it difficult to access the program that’s meant to help.   \n\n“My kids know that if they didn’t get to eat at home, I always have something for them,” the WE Teachers Award recipient says of her Ronan, Mont., classroom on the Flathead Indian Reservation. It may seem beyond the purview of a teacher to worry over her students’ diet, but kids can’t focus if they’re hungry, says Moll. \n\nThe WE Teachers Award grant helped Moll fill her classroom pantry with a years’ supply of whole grain cereals, nuts, peanut butter and crackers. This attention to well-being forms a cornerstone of her approach in the classroom. “Basic needs have to be met before a child is ready to learn,” she explains. \n\nThose needs run the gamut, from students needing donated clothes to families working through intergenerational trauma. Moll is there to help them through it all, forming relationships that underpin her teaching. “When students can trust their teacher, they can learn,” she explains. “And it’s not just academics. It’s learning to be a good person and to be kind.”","Location":"Ronan, Montana","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"c0ae42d3-d6f2-448f-a2a2-200fd162bf44","State":"Indiana","Title":"Ginger StawickI","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/28a61839ec/ginger_stawicki_greenwood_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Ginger Stawicki","Content":"For Ginger Stawicki, education is the key to success. This WE Teachers Award recipient from Greenwood, Ind., has been an educator for more than 40 years and believes in the power of lifelong learning. She brings that positive outlook to her classroom each day. \n\nStawicki has spent the last three at Westwood Elementary School where she works with kindergarten, first grade and second grade students to assist them with learning to regulate their emotions. She uses a cognitive behavioral approach called the Zones of Regulation, using color-coded zones to help students gain control of their behaviours, emotions and sensory needs. \n\nStawicki has used the WE Teachers Mental Well-being module to address some of the challenges her students face, such as anxiety, stress and low self-esteem. They’ve also helped her assist her fellow educators in developing self-care strategies to help them manage their own stress. \n\n“The module is a very valuable and necessary resource that can better succinctly provide the tools and training needed to address mental health and well-being of students,” she says. “It’s a great reference and an invaluable resource.”  \n\nFor her innovative approach to social and emotional learning, Stawicki received a WE Teachers Award. She plans to use the grant to amass a stock of supplies, such as books, rewards and incentives that can be used for class instruction, something she currently uses personal funds for. ","Location":"Greenwood, Indiana","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"0a1f73a1-e619-4688-8feb-334886fd3cf8","State":"Washington","Title":"Heather Stewart ","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/1ca998e247/heather_stewart_lake-tapps_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Heather Stewart ","Content":"After 25 years in the classroom, Heather Stewart has learned two truths about education. First, all students are readers, even if it’s not the words on the page that get them hooked. Second, for every lesson there is a perfect book. \n\nStewart, a third grade teacher, starts each morning in her Lake Tapps Elementary School classroom, in Lake Tapps, Wash., with a story. And she dedicates time throughout the day to practice reading with students one-on-one. Stewart used her WE Teachers Award to bring the experience off the page, decorating the class and handing out themed snacks to match the stories they read aloud, providing each student with a notebook to journal personal responses and sending them home with books of their own. \n\n“My goal is to help develop life-long readers,” Stewart explains. But it’s more than a love of stories that keeps her turning pages.  \n\nBooks, in Stewart’s hands, are tools to help students with personal exploration and growth. With a focus on social and emotional learning, Stewart is helping her class develop strong character traits, including empathy, kindness, gratitude, honesty and respect. “I am able to take my students to experiences they don’t normally get, to people they wouldn’t meet, and to struggles they might never encounter. Through the shared reading of a book, students participate in questioning and lead discussions that help them to grow in their understanding, respect and general care for others.” ","Location":"Lake Tapps, Washington","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"173ad8c9-64f6-469a-90b3-224408593458","State":"Utah","Title":"Alberto Herraez & Mario Herraez","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/d782e2132f/alberto-mario-herraez_farminton_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teachers Alberto Herraez and Mario Herraez","Content":"School is about more than just getting an education – it’s about fostering connections and developing skills for everyday life, too. This is a belief that Alberto Herraez and Mario Herraez , twin educators in Farmington, Utah, take to heart.   \n\nThe pair, who teach fifth and sixth grade, respectively, at Canyon Creek Elementary, are known for their personalized approach to teaching and for incorporating service-learning projects into their classrooms.   \n\nUsing the WE Teachers Trauma-Informed Classroom module, the Herraez brothers have transformed their classrooms into safe environments where students are able to develop strong social-emotional skills. It’s training they say they never received during their own education. \n\nDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, this approach proved more vital than ever as students faced new and unparalleled levels of trauma, including loss of loved ones and instability at home. \n\n“We were amazed by the amount of support they gave to each other,” the Herraezes say. “We are so proud of how our students relied on each other and on us to overcome hard situations.” \n\nThe twins believe that schools should be safe havens where all students feel welcome, and where youth who are struggling know that they can find support. They say WE Teachers resources are the transformational tools needed to make that happen.  \n\nThroughout the pandemic they have seen parents, administrators and their fellow educators come together to offer support to those in need, proving that school is about more than just the content.","Location":"Farmington, Utah","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"346fcc71-1e6f-4e21-9ffc-8ff7752169b3","State":"Minnesota","Title":"Jaclyn Mingo","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/f00eaf8d82/jaclyn_mingo_champlin_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Jaclyn Mingo","Content":"For special education teacher Jacklyn Mingo, there is a clear hierarchy in the classroom — students come first, then school subjects. “My students’ well-being and mental health are far more important than anything I could ever teach them,” says the WE Teachers Award recipient. \n\nMingo understands the challenges surrounding youth trauma more than most. She’s worked through a number of emotional and behavioural issues with the students of Jackson Middle School, including autism, anxiety, depression and PTSD. She calls the WE Teachers program a vital resource, as says its modules on creating a Trauma-Informed classroom and supporting students’ well-being help educators navigate difficult topics and create an open dialogue.  \n\nWhen her students struggle with sensitive issues, they know Mingo will be there. “There have been days that I have completely dropped every lesson plan so my classroom family can offer support to my students experiencing trauma.” In her 13 years of teaching, she’s built her share of safe spaces and she has no plans to stop now.  \n\nMingo will use her WE Teachers Award to purchase supplies as diverse and unique as her class, from books to assistive technology to fidgets — small tactile objects that help soothe restless hands and ease anxiety. She says these small additions will make a big impact and help her students feel connected to their school. “My students are so deserving of inclusion.” ","Location":"Champlin, Minnesota","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"8ba4c2ea-503d-414c-a681-cf114b49cdc5","State":"Idaho","Title":"Jeanette Edwards","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/0f02bef66a/jeanette_edwards_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Jeanette Edwards","Content":"Teaching is as much an art as a science for Jeanette Edwards. Despite nearly 20 years in a classroom, she is constantly looking for ways to hone her craft. \n\nFive years ago, one such professional development opportunity led the first grade teacher to discover the importance of incorporating science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) into her Pocatello, Idaho, classroom. More recently, she discovered the WE Teachers module on supporting students living in poverty. \n\n“My students are affected by circumstances beyond their control,” the WE Teachers Award recipient explains. Many come from low economic backgrounds or families touched by addiction or incarceration. The WE Teachers program provides tactics and strategies to help students living in poverty thrive.  \n\nEdward’s biggest lesson: start STEM, and also empathy.  \n\n“I need to be aware of their circumstances,” she explains. “Many don’t have support at home.” That means extending understanding if homework is incomplete or students are empty-handed for show-and-tell. However they behave in class, Edwards looks for new ways to draw students in as opposed to excluding them. \n\nShe’s invested her WE Teachers Award in STEM activities, from purchasing Lego and building sets, to buying little robots and coding equipment. STEM, for Edwards, isn’t just a way to expand students’ horizons — it’s a key to a better future. \n\n“I want them to know they don’t need to be a genius to succeed in STEM,” she explains. “I just want to plant the seed with them because the sky is the limit.”","Location":"Pocatello, Idaho","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"2d4979b8-08b6-488f-bddc-711f70000d93","State":"Arizona","Title":"Jennifer Hoffman","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/d2ac3145eb/jennifer_hoffman_buckeye_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Jennifer Hoffman","Content":"Jennifer Hoffman doesn’t let anyone slip through the cracks. \n\nMany of the students in her Spanish classes at Youngker High School take their seats each day without notebooks, backpacks or lunch. They attend a Title 1 school in Buckeye, Ariz., and often come from extreme poverty. Many are also learning English as a Second Language — so while they can speak English conversationally, they lack the academic vocabulary necessary to excel in class.  \n\nHoffman uses her own money to purchase snacks and school supplies for her students who would otherwise not have access to such necessities. As a WE Teachers Award recipient, she will be able to provide even more. Once she is back in the classroom, Hoffman plans to stock a “no questions asked” cabinet. Her students will help themselves to its pencils, notebooks, snacks, shampoo and other provisions so they will have what they need to learn. Hoffman also plans to use the award to purchase supplies for future class activities, something she could not do on her own. \n\n“I've been working hard this year to create a comfortable classroom where all students feel safe and free to learn,” she says. “We quickly establish a community of love, trust, care and friendship. My students know that they can ask me for help anytime.” ","Location":"Buckeye, Arizona","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"83ab27a6-829f-40bb-baf5-9436a64f16b4","State":"Wisconsin","Title":"Jessica Bernard","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/21085f40b9/jessica_bernard_green-bay_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Jessica Bernard","Content":"Teaching kindergarten at Nicolet Elementary School is serious business, so Jessica Bernard makes her class routine clear. Her students know when it’s time for funny costumes and when to “get their wiggles out.” A WE Teachers Award recipient, Bernard is determined to get children excited about learning and make her classroom a safe place for them to grow.  \n\n“The number one social issue that arises in my classroom is trauma. My students are exposed to many things that nobody, especially a child, should have to cope with,” she says.  \n\nNicolet Elementary in Green Bay, Wis., is a Title 1 school where 98 percent of students qualify for free or reduced breakfast and lunch. Bernard says that many students experience poverty, violence and neglect, and this affects how they respond to situations at school. She uses WE Teachers resources, such as the Trauma-Informed Classroom module, to better understand, support and engage students who are dealing with trauma.  \n\nBernard’s classroom has a “calm down corner” where children can go to if they need time away from the group to regulate their emotions. She also provides flexible seating options so they can choose a spot that feels safe and works best for their learning. \n\nTo connect with her students, Bernard has used program activities like “classroom meetings” that unpack tough issues in age-appropriate ways. “The meetings made my students feel even more comfortable talking with me about things that were bothering them,” she says. ","Location":"Green Bay, Wisconsin","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"401d9e63-e712-4329-9548-a2a868138178","State":"Wyoming","Title":"Jessica Vega","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/593f6286a9/jessica_vega_casper_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Jessica Vega","Content":"In Jessica Vega’s ninth grade math class at Natrona County High School, glue sticks and colored pencils are as essential as calculators. Her teaching style highlights the importance of creativity in learning — even when solving for X.  \n\n“Students learn better by using both sides of the brain,” says Vega, who encourages her class to make their notebooks colorful and creative while they scribble down lessons. She introduced these “interactive notebooks” a few years ago and finds that the creative approach helps visual learners retain information. “It helps students with organization and is a great resource for students to go back and study with.” \n\nThe notebooks require a steady supply of colored paper and pencils, markers, glue and scissors. While Vega’s school district provides basic supplies like notebooks and pencils, she pays for the creative supplies out of pocket. “I am amazed at how many glue sticks I go through in a week, let alone a year!” she says.  \n\nShe plans to use her WE Teachers Award to stock her classroom with supplies, hoping that she can continue to make the notebooks better and more beneficial to student learning. With her support, students who resist (and secretly fear) math can slowly gain confidence and mastery over the course of the year.  \n\n“I love to see them grow and understand and realize they can do it,” says Vega. “To see the light bulb turn on is one of the greatest joys I have.”  ","Location":"Casper, Wyoming","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"b5189d82-45dc-4a09-8562-8dea8e054f1d","State":"Oregon","Title":"Joey Cavaner","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/0bd787eef1/joey_cavaner_cottage-grove_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Joey Cavaner","Content":"Joey Cavaner is a role model and mentor, master of the pep talk. He is a passionate teacher who strives to make a difference in his students’ lives every day. “I get to show students that it’s ok to make mistakes and not be afraid of failure. To let them know that they are capable of more than they can imagine,” says the second grade teacher and WE Teachers Award recipient at Bohemia Elementary School in Cottage Grove, Ore.. \n\nHis greatest joy is witnessing the moments when his students’ hard work pays off, having helped them with the support and resources needed to get to that point. Many in his class come from low-income families and can’t afford clothes, let alone school supplies. Cavaner used his WE Teachers Award to purchase much-needed classroom supplies and activities for recess to help his students be successful, “both socially and academically.” He also wants to help parents \"feel a burden taken off their shoulders” when they know their child has the materials and support they need to be successful in the classroom. ","Location":"Cottage Grove, Oregon","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"4b6ced45-981f-447e-b7af-0d0fd2364d4e","State":"Florida","Title":"Julie Smith","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/66c39ba8d8/julia_smith_reddick_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Julie Smith","Content":"Julie Smith’s Reddick, Fla., classroom is a no-judgement zone. \n\nHer students at Ward-Highlands Elementary School, who range from kindergarten to third grade, have all experienced forms of trauma, whether social, sexual or emotional. They lack social skills and are several grades behind their peers. But when they come to her, they do so with a clean slate, regardless of their history. \n\nAn emotional behavior disorder teacher, Smith created this welcoming environment thanks in part to the WE Teachers Mental Well-being Module. These lessons help educators like Smith address issues such as stress, trauma and mental health with their students, and help them understand what’s going on in their own brains. \n\n“Sometimes kids don’t understand why they do the things that they do,” she says. “They are intrigued to know that there are parts in their brain that all work together for fright, flight or fight.”    \n\nSmith’s students often come to her with no coping strategies and have kicked, screamed and cussed at her. She used the WE Teachers Mental Well-being resources to help them learn to control their own actions, recognize what triggers them, and understand the feelings attached to their behaviours. \n\nFor her dedication Smith received a WE Teachers Award. Often tasked with purchasing everything from school supplies to socks for her students, as well as incentive items like candy and toys, the award helps her continue to create that safe space her students need. ","Location":"Reddick, Florida","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"96e59bc7-1454-4ff4-9a15-91a5468bc202","State":"Massachusetts","Title":"Kathleen Chiong","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/5f1d0f89be/kathleen_chiong_boston_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Kathleen Chiong","Content":"Educator Kathleen Chiong believes the most important thing you can teach a child is compassion. It’s a value she works hard to instill in each and every one of her third grade students. \n\nEach month, her class at Eliot K-8 Innovation School in Boston, Mass., does something — big or small —  to help others. They’ve hosted a canned food drive for a women's shelter, made Valentine’s Day cards for homeless veterans, and written fairy tales to help fill the library at Boston Children's Hospital.  \n\nHistorically Chiong has had to reach into her own pocket to fund these projects, which can add up. But, thanks to a WE Teachers Award she received this year, she has been able to purchase myriad arts and crafts materials, including construction paper and markers, to aid in her students’ creativity and increase their positive social impact. \n\nAlthough they’re not in the classroom these days, the kindness hasn’t stopped. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Chiong’s students have made cards thanking healthcare workers and, once the lockdown ends, she hopes to take them on a field trip to a nursing home so they can read to the elderly residents. \n\n“Service is something that has always been very important to me,” says Chiong. “One thing I know for sure about all of the children at my school is that they have big hearts. Every one of them is incredibly kind to others, and genuinely cares about everyone getting equal treatment.”","Location":"Boston, Massachusetts","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"ebe7b70e-5406-4323-a4b6-46beb4c9733b","State":"Connecticut","Title":"Katie Kucharski ","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/a0d977e743/katie_kucharshi_hartford_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teachers Katie Kucharski ","Content":"Visual arts have long been used to foster self-exploration and well-being. The process of creating a painting or a sculpture can boost self-esteem, help people cope with stress and delve into their emotions. WE Teachers Award recipient Katie Kucharski sees the same impact — on the stage. \n\nA theater teacher at Classical Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., Kucharski uses drama to help her students develop empathy. When they embody other characters and discover their motivation — even if it’s only for one class at a time — they learn to relate to others beyond the stage, she says. \n\nIt’s an important skill, one Kucharski is keen to have her students cultivate. “The biggest social issue in my classroom is differences between people,” she explains. “From gender identity, sexual orientation or race, my class has used theater to find common ground.” \n\nKucharski plans to use her WE Teachers Award to offset the cost of her theater productions. When her school reopens after COVID-19, she expects there will be new demands on resources and a tighter budget. The grant will allow her to stage shows that help her students develop social skills and emotional maturity. \n\n“There are few activities where students get to collaborate and explore,” she says. “With theater, they get to experience something that involves each of them giving a little bit of themselves to create something bigger. It’s a safe place to be vulnerable and search for their true selves.” ","Location":"Hartford, Connecticut","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"ce2da313-2007-4576-a3c1-bdfbf2c7b0f8","State":"North Dakota","Title":"Kristie Mahar-Ortiz","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/241b6a15b2/kristie_mahar-ortiz_fargo_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Kristie Mahar-Ortiz","Content":"For Kristie Mahar-Ortiz, teaching is about more than instruction. Her students are emotionally and behaviourally challenged, and have experienced trauma, “beyond what I could ever imagine,” she says. The special education teacher at Washington Elementary School says the WE Teachers program helped her create a trauma-informed classroom to provide much-needed support for her students, who all react to their lived traumas differently. The WE Teachers program helps staff “understand the signs as well as the behaviors and to not be judgmental of either the child or the parent,” she says. “We are a community working to serve students and their families in a respectful and safe environment.” The WE Teachers program helps build that environment. \n\nBut easing young minds isn’t always enough. Mahar-Ortiz also feeds restless stomachs. She received a WE Teachers Award and will use the grant to make mini meals, peanut butter sandwiches and snacks for her students. “My students struggle with getting basic needs met,” she explains, “especially meals.” A bit of protein or fresh fruit can ease anxiety. Her students, from kindergarten to fifth grade, “can turn a day around with a snack.”   \n\nMahar-Ortiz often buys classroom groceries out of pocket, but despite her own efforts and community support, the cupboard still empties. As a WE Teachers Award recipient, her students can expect more healthy treats. “It will be appreciated by many growling tummies and settled behaviors,” she says. ","Location":"Fargo, North Dakota","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"78df6e98-1faf-4a3a-add1-d0f0715c5b0f","State":"New Mexico","Title":"Liza Marie Yap","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/ebca5d1425/liza_marie_yap_roswell_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Liza Marie Yap","Content":"To educator Liza Marie Yap, teaching is a mission not a career. \n\nThe first grade teacher believes that building emotional intelligence improves children’s overall well-being and academic performance. With this foundation, her students at Missouri Avenue Elementary School will be better prepared to overcome challenges in their daily lives.  \n\n“What I love about being a teacher is when you touch the lives of children, regardless of color, gender, status of living and religion,” the Roswell, N.M., educator says. \n\nYap received a WE Teachers Award for her compassionate approach to education. Thanks to the award she no longer has to spend her own money and time creating resources for her class, and instead will be able to purchase incentives for her classroom treasure box. Yap instills the idea that “big things happen by taking small steps,” and uses these items to reward students for meeting goals and achievements. \n\nShe believes that a resource-rich class environment full of collaboration has a big impact on students, making them more engaged in learning and eager to come to school.  \n\nYap is originally from the Philippines, where she spent 23 years as an educator before moving to the United States. She is passionate about sharing her culture, educational skills and knowledge with her New Mexico community. “I believe I am molding the students to learn not only to recall, but a learning that stays in their minds and hearts,” she says. “A learning that is lifelong.” ","Location":"Roswell, New Mexico","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"906f8d2f-c1c3-450b-9bfb-eca86b28bde5","State":"Nevada","Title":"Lloyd Goldberg","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/d43efe4c81/lloyd_glodberg_las-vegas_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Lloyd Goldberg","Content":"Jerome Mack Middle School sits “in the shadow” of a shiny Las Vegas hotel and casino, says Lloyd Goldberg, but “our zip code has some of the highest crime rates in the city.” The seventh grade English teacher says students at the Title 1 school where he teaches suffer traumas including “violent crimes, hearing regular gunfire, even seeing family and friends killed.”  \n \nThe WE Teachers program has helped Goldberg and his colleagues deal with the tragedies that students carry into the classroom.  And its trauma-informed module has helped them build a safe space, where they can identify signs of distress and understand that behavioural issues might be “physical manifestations of an underlying trauma.”  \n\nAnd as a WE Teachers Award recipient, Goldberg will buy books. “My students are yearning to read,” he says, but many don’t have them at home, or access to a public library. He also plans to purchase snacks, since many of his students suffer from hunger, as well as small incentive items to help ease their trauma. Previously, he paid for these out of pocket — or from around his waist. Once, when a student was teased for coming to class without a belt, Goldberg gave him his own. “This award will put my students on an even playing field with those in the affluent parts of town,” he says. “We can finally show them what, as a teacher, I already know: my students are incredibly intelligent and worthy of success.” ","Location":"Las Vegas, Nevada","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"6650a377-a4a7-4733-85c0-bb71d786f254","State":"Nebraska","Title":"Marianne Laski","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/ddadaf5377/marianne_laski_omaha_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Marianne Laski","Content":"Marianne Laski’s students come to class hungry. Before arriving at Omaha North High Magnet School in Omaha, Neb., she says many of these recent immigrants came to America with only “the clothes on their back.” An English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher for twenty years, Laski’s students range in age from 14 to 18 years old and are in the ninth to twelfth grades. For some, she says, “this is the first time they have ever attended a school anywhere.” They speak little English and many have left family behind to start over.   \n\nLaski is using her WE Teachers Award to welcome her students. Their families fled native countries only to face myriad issues when they arrived in Omaha: language barriers, unemployment, housing issues, as well as trouble accessing medical care. All this makes poverty the most pressing social issue in her classroom. With her award, Laski purchased everything from school supplies, like pens and notebooks, to personal care items, including toothpaste and deodorant. She also buys weekly groceries to help stave off their hunger in class.  \n\nWhen COVID-19 brought mass layoffs to her community, Laski made “blessings baskets” for students and their families, and provided them with essential items for especially tough times. She cares for her students, “as if they were my own family,” she says. “I believe building strong relationships is the foundation of all teaching.” ","Location":"Omaha, Nebraska","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"98efbb71-6495-4128-a5e4-8ecc2effc1b7","State":"New Hampshire","Title":"Maryanne Cullinan","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/909db0aaf4/maryanne_cullinan_antrim_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Maryanne Cullinan","Content":"For educator Maryanne Cullinan, the equation is simple. “The more supplies I have, the more students I can impact,” she says. But Cullinan’s classroom at Great Brook Middle School in Antrim, N.H., is far from typical. “My job is to help the kids who feel like square pegs in round holes,” explains the WE Teachers Award recipient. \n\nAs an enrichment teacher, Cullinan uses project-based learning to help students find their passion. No two days are the same as she cycles through Greek mythology, Lego robotics, improv and science experiments. These hands-on activities boost her students’ social skills, pique their curiosity and engage their minds in creative ways. But they also take a lot of resources. The WE Teachers Award grant gives Cullinan the confidence and flexibility to plan new and exciting activities that match her students’ interests.  \n\n“Middle school is such a hard time for many kids and having a ‘home’ in school is vital,” she says. She sees her students struggling to define themselves as individuals, pushing back against parents and discovering their own interests. But what she sees most profoundly is their desire for connection — a desire she helps them satisfy amongst likeminded peers.  \n\n“They need people to listen, to appreciate them,” Cullinan explains. “If they know you believe in them, and they have something they are passionate about, they can accomplish just about anything.”","Location":"Antrim, New Hampshire","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"1dd6e01e-a803-450a-9c62-1f8c2f89d48b","State":"Hawaii","Title":"Michelle Ahn","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/0d5d15ad92/michelle_anne_honolulu_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Michelle Ahn","Content":"Michelle Ahn dreamed of a career working with children — so she studied biology and applied to medical school to become a pediatrician. She soon realized that doctors have limited time with patients, and if she wanted to be steadily involved in young people’s lives, she should become a teacher. \n\nNow a second grade teacher at Kalihi Waena Elementary in Honolulu, this WE Teachers Award recipient still helps children heal. \n\n“Trauma comes in many forms,” she says, adding that she has witnessed the signs of physical and emotional neglect among the students in her classroom. Ahn finds the WE Teachers module on creating a trauma-informed classroom especially helpful, as it reminds teachers that student outbursts might come from a place of pain. “School may be their only means of receiving love,” Ahn says, “So I try hard to let them know every day that they are loved.” \n\nWith her WE Teachers award, Ahn will purchase snacks for those who come to school hungry, as well as markers, pens, pencils and journals for those who can’t afford everything on the class supply list. Pencils, whiteboard markers and erasers will be used to practice math and handwriting that will “help them get on grade level.” With a full toolkit, Ahn’s job gets a little easier. “This award will go a long way in making my job as a teacher less stressful and more manageable for my mental well-being.” Ahn will have even more positive energy for her kids. ","Location":"Honolulu, Hawaii","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"932ce61c-e0bc-4f31-8031-ae9257d7fc4c","State":"Virginia","Title":"Michelle Jenkins ","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/bdded9bc74/michelle_jenkins_richmond_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Michelle Jenkins","Content":"Veteran educator and WE Teachers Award recipient Michelle Jenkins works to ensure her classroom is a “safe zone,” a welcoming environment that supports positive social emotional learning for students. “When they enter my classroom, they are part of my family,” she says. \n\nJenkins brings over 20 years of experience to her current role teaching six-to-twelfth grade science at John G. Wood School, a specialized school in Richmond, Va., serving students with emotional and behavioral challenges that affect their academic success. She says the WE Teachers Mental Well-being module has helped her better support her students. \n\nJenkins has introduced activities, including breathing exercises and frequent breaks and created a space to decompress. Her classroom features alternative seating, special lighting, pet therapy animals, inspirational quotes, feel good posters, plants and instrumental music.  \n\n“These are students who have experienced trauma and have had difficulty being successful in a public school setting,” Jenkins says. “When they enter my classroom, they are part of my family.” \n\nJenkins also plans to use WE Teachers worksheets like the Classroom Check-up Tool to help identify emotions and signs of stress among different age groups, as well as self-care tools and tips specifically for teachers. In reaching for ways to support others, she has learned the importance of her own well-being.  \n\n“I have always put others first,” she says. “The research and resources your program provided have helped me realize that the healthier I am, the healthier the atmosphere in my classroom will be.”","Location":"Richmond, Virginia","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"27148b18-415a-464a-8f74-8e34956b690f","State":"Louisiana","Title":"Michelle Ramsey","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/004b1f635d/michelle_ramsey_baton-rouge_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Michelle Ramsey","Content":"There is a room tucked away in IDEA Innovation, a K-12 free charter school in Baton Rouge, La., that unlocks potential. The school’s philosophy is that every student, given the right support, can go to college. This room is the manifestation of that belief, stocked with food, hygiene products, extra school uniforms, washing machines and notebooks – everything students need to stay in class despite financial barriers. \n\nMichelle Ramsey knows there is more to helping students thrive. \n\nA social worker for 20 years before she started at IDEA Innovation and received a WE Teachers Award, she assembles hygiene kits, shops for snacks and does laundry. But she also uses the WE Teachers resources on social and emotional learning to heal students. \n\n“For many, school is their safe haven. School is their three meals, a hot shower and clean clothing,” she says. It’s also a place of “no abuse and listening ears.” Ramsey has students journal about their emotions, work on relationship skills to limit bullying, and practice the language needed to understand trauma.   \n\n“WE Teachers resources help enhance the lessons and add to the quality,” she says. “Being able to provide a safe haven means the world to me.” ","Location":"Baton Rouge, Louisiana","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"94bb73ae-04db-42c6-8d72-164fc848b728","State":"New York","Title":"Nadine Lewis-Knight","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/f80faf16fa/nadine_lewis_knight_brooklyn_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Nadine Lewis-Knight","Content":"As stay home orders spread across the country and schools shuttered in their wake, some educators struggled with the transition to remote learning. Not Nadine Lewis-Knight. The Warren Prep Academy teacher had a secret weapon at her disposal: the WE Teachers program. \n\nMonths earlier, when her fifth grade students wanted to promote an inclusive culture in their Brooklyn, N.Y., school, Lewis-Knight drew ideas from the WE Teachers resource on bullying. After the pandemic hit, with students adjusting to isolation and anxiety, she turned to the module on mental health. Lewis-Knight found a program perfectly suited to the uncertainty her students faced, one that offered steps to promote positive emotional growth. “We had daily discussions about their feelings and reactions to the isolation,” she explains. “We practiced daily mindfulness activities and family gym time. We also discussed personal hygiene and nutrition.” \n\nThis type of education is a far cry from her normal classroom curriculum, but it’s what her students needed. “Because of the intentional social-emotional activities I implemented, my students are persevering,” she says. \n\nWith her WE Teachers Award grant, Lewis-Knight purchased small gifts and hand-delivered them to each student. Crayons and notebooks became symbols of support, gestures that spread joy and reminded students that they are valued.  \n\nFor Lewis-Knight, those relationships form the basis of all learning, whether in class or remotely. “You cannot touch the mind if you have not first touched the heart.” ","Location":"Brooklyn, New York","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"2887dcba-dc56-46ec-8dd6-03a64c4f73f0","State":"Texas","Title":"Pam Paramahamsan","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/d0d86a3f81/pam_paramahamsan_carrollton_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Pam Paramahamsan","Content":"Pam Paramahamsan makes a troubling observation: there still aren’t enough women in science, technology, engineering and math. The former scientist turned science teacher says, “The gender disparity in STEM careers has been a huge setback for our country.” She quotes a proverb, “If you educate a man, he will prosper. If you educate a woman, the nation will prosper.”   \n\nWith her WE Teachers Award, Paramahamsan will start an after-school program for girls in STEM at Harmony Science Academy in Carrollton, Texas, where she teaches. She says the gender disparity in STEM starts early in the talent pipeline — in schools. Even with efforts made for gender inclusion, the boys still “unintentionally overshadow and overwhelm the girls,” she says.  \n\nThe girls in her class — she teaches biology and chemistry — need a space of their own. And they need more diverse women mentors, she says, that act as accessible versions of pioneering physicist Marie Curie. Examples include NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson and astronaut Kalpana Chawla. With her award, Paramahamsan will create this after-school program and purchase material for projects and funds for field trips, everything needed to instill confidence in girls who may not speak up in traditional classroom environments. “This program can be a life changing experience for our girls,” she says. ","Location":"Carrollton, Texas","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"a36c52ba-0c0f-4e64-8c0b-4c68e2f0ca5f","State":"South Dakota","Title":"Peggy Jakopak","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/d003713474/peggy_jakopak_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Peggy Jakopak","Content":"Schools on Native American reservations rarely get national attention. When they do, the news is usually negative. Peggy Jakopak, a third grade teacher at Marty Indian School, on Yankton Sioux Reservation, S.D., knows all the sad stories, but focuses on the deep wells of resilience her students show. More than classmates, they’ve become a family, the WE Teachers Award recipient says. \n\nThere are historic and systemic cards stacked against her students, from the continued impacts of colonization to chronic federal underfunding. Rising to these challenges are teachers like Jakopak, equipped only with dedication and creativity. \n\n“My students have very little to call their own,” she explains. Some go home to empty dinner tables or houses without electricity or running water. “The one place they can count on to be there for them is school.” \n\nPencils and notebooks purchased with her WE Teachers Award take on newfound meaning in this context, says Jakopak. For her students, the simple act of ownership translates into self-confidence and excitement to learn. While a steady supply of crayons won’t solve the problems plaguing Native American education, they can stoke a sense of colorful possibility in students, something Jakopak works daily to do. \n\n“I have a classroom full of little people who have a lot of struggles in their personal lives,” Jakopak says. “When they come into my classroom, they get to feel safe. They know that I care about them, will be there to listen, to laugh, and to teach them.” ","Location":"Marty, South Dakota ","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"0df4527b-e6b2-49a3-aae9-4fd365215a5d","State":"South Carolina","Title":"Pren Woods","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/352149b3e7/pren_woods_charleston_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Pren Woods","Content":"Pren Woods says he became part of the WE Teachers network at the exact right moment in history. First, he received the WE Teachers Award that helped him bring his subject to life for his students. And then, the WE Teachers Program offered him professional development resources during an unprecedented time.  \n\nIt all began when Woods ran out of puppets. The seventh grade history teacher at Alston Middle School in Summerville uses art integration to make his class come alive. Creating a puppet show for an audience teaches students about writing, public speaking, the art of negotiation and compromise. “There is something magical about puppets, he says. “Even the shyest kid, the kid with no confidence, becomes bold and eloquent when ‘acting’ out a scene from history.” But earlier this year Woods ran out of the paper, glue and paste needed to craft the ‘actors.’ Then, weeks before COVID-19 struck, he received a WE Teachers Award, and used it to purchase supplies. The puppets were ready for a comeback! \n\nHe says the WE Teachers program and network also offered welcome support during the pandemic: inspirational weekly teacher profiles and Facebook Live sessions with other educators. He says the WE Teachers module on trauma-informed classrooms helped Woods understand “student trauma, family trauma, and yes, teacher trauma.” He’s since contacted local and state politicians and school officials to offer to help students and teachers deal with trauma when schools open this fall. Now he’s looking to the future. ","Location":"Summerville, South Carolina","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"d525d852-d188-42da-a586-231243234c6d","State":"Kansas","Title":"Rebecca Parrish","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/3fec28e284/rebecca_parrish_liberal_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Rebecca Parrish","Content":"“I love teaching because I get to be an advocate for children,” explains long-time educator Rebecca Parrish. Her advocacy comes from a place of empathy, having experienced bullying as a child firsthand, as well as homelessness while she was studying to become a teacher. Parrish overcame these challenges and has been advocating for the children of Liberal, Kan., for 14 years. She says the WE Teachers program, with its trauma-informed module, will help her students at MacArthur Elementary overcome their own struggles.  \n\nHer second and third grade students often come to class without the essentials, “embarrassed or afraid they will get teased because they lack basic supplies,” Parrish says. Some students may not have enough food at home, and some struggle with healthy emotional expression. The WE Teachers program helps Parrish identify outward signs of these struggles, and ways to help. So does her teaching style, the interactive approach of facilitation instead of just instruction. “When I facilitate, I can get a greater sense of how children behave, interact, and work,” she says. “I can also look for metal, physical, or emotional issues. \n\nParrish will use her WE Teachers Award to purchase the materials needed for learning—basic school supplies also boost confidence and mental health. “Students deserve to come to school not worrying about getting teased,” she says. ","Location":"Liberal, Kansas","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"4ec464cc-a78a-4acd-9d70-7cb58d3c691f","State":"Rhode Island","Title":"Rebecca Zolli","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/55aa0952e7/rebecca_zollie_cranston_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Rebecca Zolli","Content":"Special needs students are often set apart. Different classrooms, different curriculums, even a different culture of learning. One of the biggest hurdles, says Rebecca Zolli, a special needs teacher at Juanita Sanchez Education Complex in Cranston, R.I., is getting her students excited to learn — and making them feel part of the wider school.  \n\nIt’s an uphill battle, with Zolli spending her own money on supplies to spark her students’ curiosity and creativity. Until she applied for — and received — a WE Teachers Award. Now she has the resources to provide her students with art supplies, including dry erase markers, print making tools and brushes; cooking materials to help teach math skills like measurement, telling time and temperature; and bright, inviting decorations that transform the learning environment. What’s more, her students have the confidence to invite their schoolmates into their space, creating a more inclusive school environment. \n\n“A classroom is the safest, happiest place a child can learn,” Zolli explains. “With the help of WE Teachers and Walgreens, my students have a happy, healthy, safe and fun social and emotional learning space to flourish.” ","Location":"Cranston, Rhode Island","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"da453cfc-7039-4eea-ab04-379d011660ac","State":"Oklahoma","Title":"Rebecka Peterson","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/9c6da17863/rebecka_peterson_tulsa_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Rebecka Peterson","Content":"Rebecka Peterson teaches mathematics at Union High School in Tulsa, Okla., where her students give lessons on exponential growth. “I could never teach as much as they’ve taught me,” she says. “They’ve taught me to listen more and speak less, how to praise others abundantly in times of joy and how to hold others’ sorrow in times of grief.” Peterson spends a lot of time listening. Learning her students’ stories is part of her trauma-informed teaching approach.   \n\nPeterson is part of the WE Teachers program, which provides professional development modules to educators, including how to create a trauma-informed classroom. “I think one of the most beneficial things [about the WE Teachers program] is shifting our thoughts from What's wrong with you? to What's your story?” Discovering personal histories and identifying potential traumas encouraged Peterson to be more patient with her students, including those she had once considered difficult.  \n\nWhen Peterson found out that classroom closures due to COVID-19 would last until the end of the school year, “I was heartbroken.” As a WE Teachers Award recipient, Peterson used her grant money to purchase care packages, mailed with letters to each of her students. “I love being with my kids,” she says, “and this was such a special way to connect with them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” ","Location":"Tulsa, Oklahoma","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"acfe1e93-70f6-4fe6-be02-de44beee9dd1","State":"Mississippi","Title":"Renee Pounds","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/ada257c255/renee_pounds_okolona_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Renee Pounds","Content":"Typical for ninth and tenth grade English classes, Renee Pounds’ lessons emphasize reading, writing and grammar. Her philosophy of education — the reason she became a teacher — is far more expansive. \n\n“Teachers have the opportunity to speak life into students when no one else might see the potential they have within,” the WE Teachers Award recipient explains. Her teaching goes beyond the textbook, focusing on kindness, compassion and stoking aspirations.  \n\nMany of her students are being raised by single parents or relatives. Many work after school to contribute to their families. All face hurdles to their education and know the inequity of poverty. Pounds tries to expand their horizons beyond their classroom at Okolona High School in Okolona, Miss.. “I have the chance to feed their hearts as well as their minds.” \n\nNotebooks, colored pencils, highlighters and glue sticks purchased with her WE Teachers Award grant fuel this mission, alleviating the stress students face coming to school empty handed, allowing them to temporarily forget troubles at home. These supplies are tokens of Pounds’ faith in her students, a physical reminder, however small, that someone believes in them and is supporting their journey. \n\nIn an ideal world, Pounds wouldn’t have to broach subjects like poverty and discrimination in the classroom. In this world, she does it every day, empowering her students to create something better. “I look at them as our future, and I want to best prepare them to be good stewards, motivated to learn.”","Location":"Okolona, Mississippi","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"27c55ac6-6a59-4267-9550-14263c41eeea","State":"Pennsylvania","Title":"Ryan Stilwell","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/7297157e36/ryan_stilwell_lehighton.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Ryan Stilwell","Content":"Every morning, when Ryan Stilwell’s students arrive in class, they hang up their coats and unpack their bags. So far, so typical. Then, they head to the sink to brush their teeth. \n\nStilwell’s class at Slatington Elementary in Slatington, Pa., is made up of students from fourth to seventh grade with significant learning disabilities. And the approach of Stillwell, a WE Teachers Award recipient, is anything but typical and instead reflects his students’ diverse needs. They learn math and reading, but they also focus on life skills seldom considered in mainstream classes. That includes brushing their teeth, learning to bake safely and working on social skills. \n\nStilwell says his proudest innovation is the Helping Hands Club, which brings sixth grade students into his classroom to share interactive activities. “This allows my students the opportunity to work on communication and social interactions with their peers, all while building what I hope are lifelong friendships,” he explains.  \n\nTaken together, his efforts prove that his students can flourish. But they need the right environment — and he needs support to provide it. When he started in the classroom, Stilwell didn’t have many resources; he paid for supplies with his own money. Now, with his WE Teachers Award, he’s creating his dream classroom, “an environment in which my students can get the education they truly deserve.” ","Location":"Lehighton, Pennsylvania","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"16efe766-69d4-456c-a8a8-4ddd0bb896c9","State":"Kentucky","Title":"Samantha Abercrombie","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/ae08bc67b8/samantha_abercrombie_carrollton.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Samantha Abercrombie","Content":"Samantha Abercrombie may be the new teacher at Lagrange Elementary School, but she’s already looking to make a positive impact. As a sponsor for the school’s service club, she supports student-led volunteer projects that make a difference.  \n\nNow, as a WE Teachers Award recipient, she has more resources to help them help others. “I will be able to support my students as they work to better our school, community, state, and world,” she says. Her students are already making change in a variety of ways. \n\nThis past year, service club members organized an “animal wellness drive” to raise funds for their local animal shelter in Lagrange, Ky.. They also launched a campaign to promote positive behaviour on social media, encouraging fellow students to use their online voices to do good. Sadly, the COVD-19 pandemic interrupted the service club’s activities. But Abercrombie plans to get them back on track once schools reopen. “I love the passion students put towards projects they care about. I look forward to seeing these projects to fruition.” \n\nAbercrombie also plans to make good use of WE Teachers trauma-informed classroom resources to support youth. “My students show up to class carrying far more baggage than their little shoulders can support,” she says. “It is important that, as a trusted adult in their lives, I can recognize warning signs and then reach out for the appropriate resources to help lighten their load.”","Location":"Lagrange, Kentucky","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"725a267e-7687-4038-a573-54dce257eb00","State":"Ohio","Title":"Scott Michaelis","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/355ab44197/scott_michaelis_toledo_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Scott Michaelis","Content":"On February 13, the day before Valentine’s Day, Scott Michaelis transformed his Toledo classroom into a spa. While students throughout Garfield Elementary School were handing out cards and eating chocolate, his sixth, seventh and eighth grade students enjoyed massages, haircuts and pedicures. It was a sensory-friendly experience complete with mood lighting, soft music and aromatherapy — all intended to create the safe and stimulating environment students with autism need to thrive. \n\n“Like a detective, it is my job to find out my students’ interests in order to hook them into a lesson,” the WE Teachers Award recipient and teacher in the school’s Intermediate Autism Unit explains. That means some lessons are centered around board games; others feature sing-alongs with Michaelis accompanying on guitar.  \n\n“Students with autism require additional support systems to help regulate their emotional state,” Michaelis says. Some of his students are non-verbal. Others have issues with light and sound. In Michaelis’ classroom, though, they all get personalized attention that allows them to grow academically and personally.  \n\n“Much of my work goes beyond teaching reading, writing and mathematics,” he says. “The WE Teachers Award will make a dramatic and necessary impact on my classroom,” providing the specialized supplies, sensory activities and crafts materials that build students’ social and emotional skills. That development is why Michaelis teaches. “No matter how small, growth is celebrated daily, whether it’s academic or social.” ","Location":"Toledo, Ohio","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"6fd8f7a1-c424-4683-b7ac-271321d49c37","State":"Vermont","Title":"Suzanne Weishaar","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/0045e513b6/suzanne_weishaar_burlington_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Suzanne Weishaar","Content":"In Burlington, VT., winter temperatures can dip below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, limiting the growing season of C.P. Smith Elementary School’s garden. \n\nThat is until Suzanne Weishaar, the second grade teacher who oversees the garden, received a WE Teachers Award.  \n\nThe award enabled Weishaar to purchase a Tower Garden, an aeroponic system capable of growing fresh food indoors year-round. By teaching students to care for and harvest herbs and vegetables, Weishaar reasons, they will learn to choose fresh, healthy foods over pre-packaged items, improving their mental and physical health.  \n\nThe project combines lessons in art, science, math and literacy, and improves students’ collaboration and social skills by having them work in teams to solve problems and make decisions. It fits perfectly into C.P. Smith Elementary’s focus on nature-based and wellness education. \n\nAlthough the COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily closed the school, Weishaar will hit the ground running as soon as she’s back in the classroom.  \n\n“This project will bring us together with a shared mission to alleviate the stress and trauma caused by the required social distancing,” she says. “My learners and I look forward to when we can get our hands in the soil. Together we will tend the plants that will become an integral part of providing year-round nourishment to our bodies and minds.” ","Location":"Burlington, Vermont","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"1e3c0407-6a33-4f04-bc14-2fe187e1a868","State":"Illinois","Title":"Tanya Holliday","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/e541a36d0b/tanya_holiday_chicago_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Tanya Holliday","Content":"In 2003, Tanya Holliday took up teaching as a temporary gig while she was in between jobs. Seventeen years later, she hasn’t looked back. Her kindergarten class at Henry O. Tanner Elementary School in Chicago has become like family. “I tell my students they are not only ‘my kids’ for nine or ten months but for a lifetime,” she says.  \n\nTeaching is a personal investment that often comes with an emotional toll. Holliday appreciates the WE Teachers program for its module on creating a Trauma-informed classroom. She says this approach helps her better navigate the feelings and reactions of her students, many of whom live in poverty. And she says the Module’s self-care advice for educators is what sets it apart. “Teachers take on so much of our students’ trauma, yet don't find time to internalize it and deal with it ourselves.” \n\nHolliday used her WE Teachers Award to help her students be kids. Along with basic classroom supplies, she purchased hot chocolate, cookie decorating kits and toys for a special treat. She wanted to create a safe haven for five-and six-year-olds who deal with struggles beyond their age. “There are no adult-sized worries in my classroom.” If the adult world sneaks in Holliday is equipped to talk through the problem, never ignoring it or leaving kids to cope on their own.  \n\n“We love and need one another in my classroom,” says Holliday. “We are a family and treat each other as such.” ","Location":"Chicago, Illinois","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"7ef86499-1a92-425b-bee9-a8fd8628df05","State":"Colorado","Title":"Veronica Pelayes and Claudia Ahlstrom","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/800x450/18665f48a6/veronica_pelayes_-_claudia_ahlstrom_longmont_800x450.jpg","AltText":"WE Teachers Veronica Pelayes and Claudia Ahlstrom ","Content":"Sisters Veronica Pelayes and Claudia Ahlstrom share everything. A calling and a classroom, splitting the week with their first grade students at Rocky Mountain Elementary School. A philosophy, seeing themselves as carers as much as educators. And recently, a WE Teachers Award. \n\nPelayes teaches Monday to Wednesday. Ahlstrom finishes the week. They both speak passionately about their students’ needs. Working in a Title 1 school, nearly 90 per cent receive free breakfasts and lunches. Many face additional barriers, some living temporarily on the street or experiencing trauma at home; others are the first in their family to learn English.  \n\n“The structure and routine I provide at school offsets some of life’s challenges they face,” says Pelayes. Ahlstrom adds: “My students know that our school is a safe place where they feel loved and supported.” \n\nThat support takes shape in donated clothes the sisters scour yard sales for and snacks they hand out freely. They purchase school supplies, like crayons, pencils, backpacks and notebooks and furniture to replace the tired desks. And, during distance learning, they used the WE Teachers Award grant to send stuffed animals to all their students to remind them they are cared for. \n\nThe sisters, with 43 years in the classroom between them, take it all in stride. “Our students are eager and excited to come to school every day to grow,” says Ahlstrom. And Pelayes: “They count on us for academic needs as well as social and emotional needs.” ","Location":"Longmont, Colorado","component":"MapStory"},{"_uid":"6b4603fd-fbde-4b51-9972-efa24a02c217","State":"Puerto Rico","Title":"Alexandra Tubens La Salle ","Author":"","Banner":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/1429x804/c9d7379feb/alexandra-tubens-la-salle-anasco-pr-2.jpg","AltText":"WE Teacher Alexandra Tubens La Salle","Content":"From a small classroom in Añasco, a town of 30,000 people on the western edge of Puerto Rico, eighth and ninth grade English students make connections that transcend borders. That is the vision of WE Teachers Award recipient and English teacher Alexandra Tubens La Salle. \n\nSpanish is the most widely spoken language in Puerto Rico. La Salle, a teacher at Alcides Figueroa Regional Bilingual School – one of the territory’s few public bilingual secondary schools – supplements her English classes with projects that broaden her students’ perspectives and forge relationships with English speakers in far-flung countries. Last year, they wrote and illustrated poems on the theme of identity that they exchanged with pupils in Argentina. This year, they published stories online alongside students from around the world.  \n\nLa Salle and her students display such creativity and determination even though they face economic hardships and struggle for resources. “Almost everything, aside from the teacher and student desks, I have bought myself,” she explains. Bilingualism, meanwhile, opens doors for her students and the WE Teachers Award provided everything needed to run writing workshops for her students. “I love seeing my students achieve their goals despite obstacles they might face.” ","Location":"Añasco, Puerto Rico","component":"MapStory"}],"component":"Map"},"tabs":{"Tabs":[{"_uid":"1e68845e-9ee9-4289-86f0-3bb734ae7bb4","Label":"Test 1","Content":[{"Size":"L","_uid":"fca9ce2c-d8fe-4f50-a126-d0b7aba0ced8","Columns":12,"Centered":false,"component":"Text","BlockHtmlId":"","BlockSpacing":"","BlockMarginTop":"None","BlockPaddingTop":"None","BodyTextContent":"Test test","BlockMarginBottom":"None","BlockPaddingBottom":"Loose","BlockBackgroundColor":""},{"_uid":"8fe1b4a0-65e2-4ae7-bda1-929034d9289d","Image":"//a.storyblok.com/f/52095/375x430/e14ab10a39/mobile-banner.png","AltText":"trwerwe","LongDesc":"","component":"SlideImage","MobileImage":""},{"_uid":"0fbc69ed-61fd-47dc-87c0-e49cbfe31d78","Image":"","Title":"sdfsdf sdf sdf 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All Rights Reserved.","SocialButtons":[{"Icon":"socialFacebook","Link":{"id":"","url":"https://www.facebook.com/WEmovement/","linktype":"url","fieldtype":"multilink","cached_url":"https://www.facebook.com/WEmovement/"},"_uid":"28d8114b-d99a-4708-9d10-6ecc68f1532b","Theme":"Primary","LinkTitle":"Title","component":"SocialButton"},{"Icon":"socialInstagram","Link":{"id":"","url":"https://www.instagram.com/wemovement/?hl=en","linktype":"url","fieldtype":"multilink","cached_url":"https://www.instagram.com/wemovement/?hl=en"},"_uid":"b5245514-f4c8-490f-ae18-b432ee3863c4","Theme":"Primary","LinkTitle":"","component":"SocialButton"},{"Icon":"socialTwitter","Link":{"id":"","url":"https://twitter.com/wemovement?lang=en","linktype":"url","fieldtype":"multilink","cached_url":"https://twitter.com/wemovement?lang=en"},"_uid":"115b6986-b679-4219-a7be-5f8299d09fcf","Theme":"Primary","LinkTitle":"","component":"SocialButton"},{"Icon":"socialYoutube","Link":{"id":"","url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm6agaIkn5aBJlLLds7P1HQ","linktype":"url","fieldtype":"multilink","cached_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm6agaIkn5aBJlLLds7P1HQ"},"_uid":"6ea5a988-f682-442f-b6cc-e7096b1450a4","Theme":"Primary","LinkTitle":"","component":"SocialButton"},{"Icon":"socialLinkedin","Link":{"id":"","url":"https://www.linkedin.com/company/wemovement/","linktype":"url","fieldtype":"multilink","cached_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/company/wemovement/"},"_uid":"62ba1bc8-9684-43c0-a28b-e35f76c80377","Theme":"Primary","LinkTitle":"","component":"SocialButton"}],"NoticeToChildrenLink":{"id":"4e294dae-d825-41d4-8a05-1421a2aa43cb","url":"","linktype":"story","fieldtype":"multilink","cached_url":"we_org/en-CA/about-we/notice-to-children-under-13"}}},"siteUrl":"https://www.we.org","story":{"id":"storyblokentry-15746146-default","name":"A Message from WE Charity and its Co-Founders","created_at":"2020-07-17T14:12:57.766Z","uuid":"4506b697-96f1-4642-9e49-9b77c5e5ec37","content":"{\"_uid\":\"d5baaaf1-6e7b-43bb-9444-1a16f93e2936\",\"body\":[{\"Size\":\"M\",\"Text\":\"A Message from WE Charity and its Co-Founders\",\"_uid\":\"2e681616-5297-4573-b7ea-cd277bb92a37\",\"Columns\":12,\"Centered\":true,\"component\":\"Title\",\"Underlined\":true,\"BlockHtmlId\":\"\",\"BlockSpacing\":\"\",\"IsHeadingOne\":false,\"BlockMarginTop\":\"ExtraTight\",\"UnderlineColor\":\"brand-blue-color\",\"BlockPaddingTop\":\"None\",\"BlockMarginBottom\":\"None\",\"BlockPaddingBottom\":\"None\",\"BlockBackgroundColor\":\"\"},{\"Size\":\"S\",\"_uid\":\"7075dae8-3eb6-4b72-afc8-6bfb6cd560a5\",\"Columns\":10,\"Centered\":false,\"component\":\"Text\",\"BlockHtmlId\":\"\",\"BlockMarginTop\":\"None\",\"BlockPaddingTop\":\"None\",\"BodyTextContent\":\"**July 13th, 2020**\\n\\nTwenty-five years ago, we started WE Charity in Thornhill, Ontario, as a group of 12-year old students with a dream of empowering other youth like ourselves at-home and around the world.\\n\\nWhen we were asked by the Government of Canada to run the Canadian Student Service Grant (CSSG) in response to COVID-19, our team stepped up. We agreed to this challenge because we have 25 years of experience building youth service programs that are in 7,000 Canadian schools engaging students to support 3,000+ charities and causes.\\n\\nOur team worked hard. In the first week after launch, there were 35,000 applicants. Students across the country joined, and 64 per cent were visible minorities. A coalition of 83 not-for-profit partners supported over 24,000 service placements, with more opportunities being added.\\n\\nThe program was immediately enmeshed in controversy. WE Charity transferred what was built to the government, hoping to save the opportunities we had created for students. Valid questions have persisted, and we want to answer them.\\n\\nFirst, the public service has openly stated that it was their recommendation for WE Charity to receive the contract for this project. Over the years we have received grants from and worked with federal and provincial governments led by a diversity of political parties for our youth and school programs.\\n\\nSecond, the contract reimbursed the charity for its expenses to deliver the Canadian Student Service Grant (CSSG) program. To be clear, it did not provide the charity with a “profit”. The funds were used for the program or returned to the government. All was subject to government audit.\\n\\nThird, when we ended the contract, we did not accept any reimbursement for the work that we had done to establish the program. WE has not profited from this contract in any way.\\n\\nFourth, we respect the public concern that Margaret Trudeau and Alexandre Trudeau were paid past speaking honorariums. As with some of our speakers, honorariums were provided for individuals who committed to speaking at multiple WE Day cities and many additional events while in the city, requiring significant time commitments. No charitable funds were intended to pay their honorarium, as costs were sponsored by “ME to WE Social Enterprise”. Once we learned that the charity did pay for some of their speeches, the error was identified, and the charity was reimbursed. Yet, the error should not have happened, and we apologize.\\n\\nThe past two weeks have been extremely difficult. The charity’s integrity and purpose has been called into question. It has had direct impacts on our staff, supporters, and beneficiaries. We have made mistakes that we sincerely regret. It has led us to more closely examine our own internal structures, governance and organization.\\n\\nIn the days to come we will have more to say on these matters and about the organization’s future. For now, we wanted to set the record straight, take responsibility for our part, and refocus on the mission that started twenty-five years ago.\\n\\nSincerely,\\nCraig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger\\nWE Charity Co-Founders\",\"BlockMarginBottom\":\"Loose\",\"BlockPaddingBottom\":\"None\",\"BlockBackgroundColor\":\"\"}],\"AltText\":\"\",\"SeoImage\":\"\",\"component\":\"BasePage\",\"StoryTitle\":\"\",\"SeoCustomTags\":[],\"StoryImageAlt\":\"\",\"StorySubtitle\":\"\",\"SeoDescription\":\"\",\"StoryCategories\":[],\"MirroringLocales\":[\"en-US\"],\"StoryDescription\":\"\",\"StoryPrimaryImage\":\"\",\"StorySecondaryImage\":\"\"}","slug":"a-message-from-we-charity-and-its-co-founders","full_slug":"en-US/transparency-reporting/statements/a-message-from-we-charity-and-its-co-founders","is_startpage":false,"parent_id":15746145,"group_id":"22df9f18-05d2-4437-ac4e-dd8cc43d9c75"}}}}