Inspired by Acclaimed Documentary ‘Teach,’ TakePart.com Launches ‘Teacher Stories’ Campaign, Pledging up to Fifty Thousand Dollars to U.S. Public Schools

Inspired by the stories of great teachers featured in the acclaimed documentary Teach, Participant Media’s TakePart.com has launched ‘Teacher Stories’, a campaign encouraging everyone to share their own stories of outstanding teachers, past and present who have positively impacted their lives. The best of the submitted teacher stories will be shared via TakePart.com and on Pivot TV’s news show Take Part Live.

For each eligible teacher story it receives, TakePart.com will add $1 to its initial $10,000 pledge to support select U.S. public schools featured in the selected teacher stories through DonorsChoose.org, up to a maximum of $50,000. The campaign is live now at www.takepart.com/teach.

“Every one of us has benefitted from great teachers, but they don’t get recognized for their impact often enough,” said Karina Kogan, Executive Vice President at TakePart.com. “The Teacher Stories campaign is designed to show our favorite teachers some well-deserved appreciation, as well as funding that will directly benefit today’s classrooms.”

“In the process of making Teach, I saw firsthand how a great teacher can transform a life. The ‘Teacher Stories’ campaign takes the film even further by providing a platform to celebrate our teachers and inspire a new generation of teaching professionals,” added Davis Guggenheim, Director of Teach.

“We teamed up with TakePart and Participant Media on the Teacher Stories campaign to invite thousands of people to celebrate the dedication and creativity of teachers across the U.S.,” said Melanie Duppins, Senior Director of Policy and Learning, DonorsChoose.org. “As tens of thousands of funded DonorsChoose.org classroom projects attest, there are amazing moments happening in public schools every day. The Teacher Stories campaign aims to find, recognize, and reward the teachers who make those moments happen.”

Teacher Stories can be submitted at http://www.takepart.com/teach until May 23. In early June, TakePart will announce a select number of U.S. public schools that will receive donations, including schools that have a large number of stories posted about their teachers, and schools associated with teachers featured in exceptional teacher stories. A second round of the campaign will accept stories until August 5.

Several notable individuals have participated early in the campaign, contributing stories of the impact of teachers in their own lives:

W. Kamau Bell, Stand-Up Comic
"My martial arts teacher, Phil Nearing, was the guy who helped to prepare me for the world. He understood that part of being a teacher was not just the physical thing that you are teaching, but also helping you learn how to be in life."

George Stephanopoulos, ABC News, Anchor
“Robert Crane, my 11th grade AP History teacher, was one of the first teachers I had that got excited about government and politics. That made me excited about it as well.”

Tom Scott, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Director (Global Brand and Innovation)
"Mr. Sherbrook inspired in me an idea of American government and our founding fathers. And I ended up having a career in Washington, D.C. working on Capitol Hill."

Lizabeth Fogel, Walt Disney Co., Director Of Education
“My high school language arts teacher saw something in me that other people didn’t see. She spent more time with me one-on-one and set the spark that inspired me to be who I am today."

The Teacher Stories campaign is supported by promotional partners including DonorsChoose.org, GreatSchools.org, Educators for Excellence, education Pioneers, and more.

About TEACH

TakePart.com’s Teacher Stories campaign is inspired by TEACH, a documentary from Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim (The First Year, Waiting for Superman, An Inconvenient Truth) and Participant Media, that captures the essence of what it means to be a teacher through the lens and extensive footage of a year-in-the-life of four public school teachers. The documentary asks the question, What does it take to be a teacher? TEACH is a Participant Media Presentation of a Pivot Original, and a Little Room production. It was co-written with David Wild, executive produced by Jeff Skoll and produced by Lisa Zimble and Shannon Dill.

About TakePart

TakePart (TakePart.com), the digital network of Participant Media, is a leading source of socially relevant news, opinion, entertainment and information about ways to get involved with the issues that shape our lives. Participant’s philosophy that “a story well told can change the world” is the driving force behind TakePart’s mission: to inspire and accelerate social change by connecting compelling content to action.