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WOODLAND HILLS, Calif., Oct. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmers Insurance® announced today that 15 teachers across the country have been named finalists competing for half a million dollars in educational grants from Farmers® and now the public gets to decide the winning proposals.

As a part of the insurance group's Thank America's Teachers® Dream Big Teacher Challenge®, Farmers Insurance will award five of the 15 finalists with grants to fund their ideas to help create a lasting and positive impact on their classrooms, schools and communities. With the community's help, each of the finalists could earn one of five $100,000 grants for their schools.

"The Farmers Dream Big Teacher Challenge finalists each exemplify what teaching is all about – lifting their students up to the best that they can be, and I urge the entire nation to support these amazing educators to make their big dreams a reality by casting their votes this October," said Tu-Han Phan, managing lead of Thank America's Teachers for Farmers Insurance. "These grant proposals run the gamut from sensory friendly playgrounds to small scale, functional farms, expanding education beyond the classroom walls while involving the local community in the process."

The 15 finalists' proposals, along with hundreds from other worthy applicants, went through a competitive review process and were selected to move on to the public voting phase of the Dream Big Teacher Challenge. Finalists in 2018 include:

• Lisa Artusi, (Kennedy Academy), South Bend, Indiana
• Shaye Atwood, (Tarver-Rendon Elementary School), Burleson, Texas
• Jill Barnes, (Valley Elementary School), Jefferson, Maryland
• Ryan Chatfield, (Aiea High School), Aiea, Hawaii
• Brandon Crowe, (High Point Academy), Spartanburg, South Carolina
• Dana Letson, (Richmond Hill Middle School), Richmond Hills, Georgia
• Leimamo Lind-Strauss, (Ho'okena Elementary School), Captain Cook, Hawaii
• James Maloney, (Neshaminy High School), Langhorne, Pennsylvania
• Christine McCartney, (Newburgh Free Academy), Newburgh, New York
• Jamie Metivier, (Tanglewood Elementary School), South Glen Falls, New York
• Zachary Morita, (Niu Valley Middle School), Honolulu, Hawaii
• Valerie Mundell, (Sand Hills Program), Augusta, Georgia
• Allison Nelson, (Raymond Ellis Elementary School), Round Lake, Illinois
• Valerie Perez, (Browning Road Elementary School), McFarland, California
• Jerry Trzebiatowski, (Starr Academy), New London, Wisconsin

Finalists' proposals are currently available for public view and voting at ThankAmericasTeachers.com. America's votes from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31, 2018 will determine who will receive $100,000 educational grants to bring their proposals to life. The public can vote for any or all of the 15 teacher proposals, but a person can only vote once for the same teacher proposal per day. In December, five proposals with the most votes will each win one of five $100,000 grants.

About Thank America's Teachers
Through Thank America's Teachers, Farmers^® has invested more than $4 million dollars in educational grants since 2014. Teachers are invited to submit proposals to win $2,500 and $100,000 grants at ThankAmericasTeachers.com.

About Farmers Insurance
"Farmers Insurance®" and "Farmers®" are tradenames for a group of affiliated insurers providing insurance for automobiles, homes and small businesses and a wide range of other insurance and financial services and products. Farmers Insurance is proud to serve more than 10 million households with over 19 million individual policies nationally through the efforts of more than 48,000 exclusive and independent agents and approximately 21,000 employees. Farmers Insurance Exchange®, the largest of the three primary insurance insurers that make up Farmers Insurance, is recognized as one of the largest U.S. companies on the 2018 Fortune 500 list.

For more information about Farmers Insurance, visit Farmers.com, Twitter and Instagram, @WeAreFarmers, or Facebook.com/FarmersInsurance.

SOURCE Farmers Insurance