Austin, TX (March 9, 2015) – Farmers Insurance inspired by the great work done by teachers every day, created the Thank America’s Teachers initiative to take America on a cross-country tour to say thank you to teachers and give away more than $1,000,000 in the process. Launched at the 2015 Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego, California, with the help of PGA TOUR players Rickie Fowler and Charley Hoffman, Thank America’s Teachers features an iconic yellow school bus that will travel coast-to-coast delivering opportunities to say thank you to teachers making a difference in the lives of their students.
Attendees of SXSWedu® are invited to join Farmers to share their thanks to a teacher that has made a difference in their lives and vote for their favorite teacher proposal. Visitors can find the bus and thank you kiosks at the following locations in Austin:
- SXSWedu Education Expo, inside the Austin Convention Center – March 10, 2pm-8pm
- Residence Inn Austin Downtown/Convention Center – March 11-12, 8am-5pm
- Austin Convention Center; 4th floor (Thank you kiosks only) – March 11, 8 am-6-pm and March 12, 8am-3pm
Through Thank America’s Teachers, Farmers will give away more than $1,000,000 to educators in 2015 and the public will help determine how to spend it at www.ThankAmericasTeachers.com. Farmers will award 180 grants valued at $2,500 and six Dream Big Teacher Challenge grants of $100,000 each to help support innovative educational programs in communities across the country.
Whether online at www.ThankAmericasTeachers.com or at stops in communities across the country, if a person has the email address of the teacher they wish to thank, their thank you will be delivered to that teacher in the form of an electronic postcard. It’s a simple and fun way to let teachers know of the difference they make in the lives of their students. The SXSWedu® conference in Austin marks the second bus stop. Upcoming stops include:
- The Dr Pepper Dallas Cup: March 29 – March 31, Dallas, TX
- Taste of St. Louis: September 18 – 20; St. Louis, MO
“I think any of us can think of a teacher who made a difference in our lives, and now through Thank America’s Teachers we can make a difference in theirs,” said Kelly LaMar, managing lead of Thank America's Teachers at Farmers Insurance. “We are confident that this initiative will prompt a diverse array of proposals for innovative strengthening of classrooms and schools, and will give America’s thank yous the power to help teachers build better classrooms and better schools.”
The Thank America’s Teachers bus tour will continue to add new stops throughout 2015, and the latest schedule will be regularly updated at www.ThankAmericasTeachers.com.
In addition to visiting the bus in person, there are several ways for the public to become involved with the Thank America’s Teachers initiative:
- Go to www.ThankAmericasTeachers.com to thank a teacher and vote for a teacher’s proposal.
- Once thanked online or at the bus, teachers can visit www.ThankAmericasTeachers.com to submit a proposal for a $2,500 grant and for one of six $100,000 grants as part of the Dream Big Teacher Challenge.
About SXSWedu
The SXSWedu Conference & Festival fosters innovation in learning by hosting a diverse and energetic community of stakeholders across a variety of backgrounds in education. The four-day event affords registrants open access to engaging sessions, interactive workshops, hands on learning experiences, film screenings, early stage startups and a host of networking opportunities. By providing a platform for collaboration, SXSWedu works to promote creativity and social change.
SXSWedu is a component of the South by Southwest family of conference and festivals that includes SXSW Music, Film and Interactive; SXSW Eco and SXSW V2V. Internationally recognized as the convergence gathering for the creative arts, SXSWedu extends SXSW’s support for the art of engagement beyond musicians, filmmakers and new media innovators to include society’s true rock stars: educators.
Join the passionate and innovative community at SXSWedu, March 9-12, 2015 in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit: http://sxswedu.com.
