Glen Burnie High School art teacher Allison Butler has been named one of 100 winners of the ING Unsung Heroes Award grant, a program designed to recognize educators across the nation for their innovative teaching ideas.
Butler’s award comes with a $2,000 grant from ING U.S., a leading provider of retirement plans and programs for teachers. More than 1,300 teachers submitted applications for the grants.
Butler’s innovative idea, “Art at the Speed of Light,” brings together Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ drawing and painting curriculum with Glen Burnie High School’s BioMedical Allied Health (BMAH) honors physics curriculum to create an interdisciplinary pilot course that allows students to study physics through a visual arts lens. Butler plans to use the grant to incorporate video animation and other photographic technology as an alternative way to study physics concepts.
“I am very grateful to the ING Unsung Heroes program for their generosity in providing this grant funding to my students and me,” Butler said. “It’s great to see so much support for teachers who are trying to elevate their programs to a new level of rigor, complexity, and fun. Many of the BMAH students have shown a keen interest in photography, and they will now have the chance to explore how it overlaps with drawing, painting, and physics. I am thrilled to see this goal realized.”
Since the ING Unsung Heroes program started 17 years ago, ING U.S. has provided more than $4 million in grants to 1,800 educators nationwide.
“ING U.S. is honored to salute these outstanding teaches for their innovative ideas and dedication to America’s youth,” said Jamie Ohl, president of Tax-Exempt Markets for ING U.S.
Butler will receive her award during an Oct. 2 event at the school.