Jared Nakamoto, representative from ING, teacher Mari Taira and Principal Kris Kosa-Correia at the Waikoloa Elementary and Middle School assembly Monday, Oct. 25 receiving the $2,000 award and a plaque for being the only Hawaii recipient of the Unsung Hero Award sponsored by ING. (Photo courtesy of Waikoloa Elementary and Middle School)

Karin Stanton | Hawaii 24/7 Editor

Waikoloa science teacher Mari Taira had an idea for “Harnessing Energy for Tomorrow” and it resulted in her winning a $2,000 grant.

Taira’s winning program will help more than 55 students at Waikoloa School see the role that the “invisible world” of physical science plays in their lives.

The program will increase the classroom discussion and lessons from just one chapter on renewable energy to an entire year’s worth woven throughout the curriculum. Such topics as energy and energy transfer, turbine designs, solar energy, bio-fuel and hydrogen fuel cell technology as well as fossil fuels will be discussed.

The culminating activity for the year will be a debate on renewable energy, having student groups represent different energy sources and campaign to be chosen as the “energy of tomorrow”.

This program will encourage the students to pursue higher education and even careers in the Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) fields.

The ING Unsung Heroes award recognizes the nation’s most innovative educators. Taira was one of 100 winners across the country and the only one from Hawaii.

According to a national survey commissioned by the ING Foundation on teacher appreciation nearly all Americans believe a good teacher can change the course of a student’s life. Outside of immediate family, teachers were seen by Americans as the group that had the greatest, positive impact on their lives growing up, even more so than friends.

Yet, nearly all Americans also believe while teachers have such a significant impact on the lives of youth, the teaching profession remains tremendously under-appreciated and that more needs to be done to recognize our good teachers. That is one of the reasons ING, a global financial services company and leading provider of retirement plans and programs for teachers, recognizes great teachers who demonstrate innovative thinking – through its “ING Unsung Heroes” program.

“Educators are one of our most valuable resources and yet their hard work and efforts often times go unnoticed,” said Brian Comer, president, Public Markets, ING U.S. Retirement Services. “We hope the additional grant funds Mari Taira was awarded through the ING Unsung Heroes program will help to sustain her program. Educators make investments each day in the lives of our children. The very least we can do is to make an investment in them and their innovative programs that will benefit their classroom, their community, and the lives of the children they will serve for years to come.”

Since honoring the first “unsung hero” in 1996, ING has awarded more than $3.5 million to nearly 1,500 educators across the United States. The 2010 ING Unsung Heroes winners were selected from a group of more than 1,600 applications.

To learn about this year’s winning projects, as well as those from previous years, visit: www.ing.com/us/unsungberoes

Applications for the 2011 ING Unsung Heroes awards are available on the website, or by calling 800-537-4180 or e-mailing ing@scholarshipamerica.org