Seattle Seahawks Wistrom and Tapp Make Surprise School Visits to Honor Local Teachers
Seattle, Wash. — (Nov. 24, 2006) — Seattle Seahawks Grant Wistrom and Darrell Tapp surprised students and faculty members this week with school site visits honoring two local teachers as part of the team’s “Symetra Heroes in the Classroom” program. The award, given by the Seahawks and title sponsor Symetra Financial, along with program partners Vulcan Inc. and Seattle Public Schools, recognizes exceptional public school teachers.
Second grade teacher Diane Trudnowski received the Symetra Heroes award from her favorite Seahawk, defensive end Wistrom, for her exemplary instructional skills and contributions to Maple Elementary School students. Trudnowski, a 20-year Seattle schools veteran, served on the Scholastic Books' National Teacher Advisory Board.
Mark Landreville, a teacher at Roosevelt High School, was honored by Tapp for his strong instructional skills and leadership contributions. Landreville, who has a heavy workload teaching advanced-placement calculus and chemistry, among other courses, also served as co-chair of the Building Leadership team during the recent construction of their new school.
Both teachers were unaware the Seahawk players were going to make a special visit to present the award until they were introduced during all-school assemblies at both schools.
“This is a really great program,” said Tapp, a defensive end in his rookie year with the Seahawks. “Education is so important, especially to athletes, because you never know when your athleticism can be taken away. I had a lot of amazing teachers in my life help me to remember that and I’ve always taken it to heart.”
Trudnowski and Landreville are among the 24 teachers selected from the district’s 3,100 educators who will be named Symetra Heroes in the Classroom during the 2006 football season. In addition to being recognized in their schools and in front of the Qwest Field crowd during home games, the teachers are also presented with gift cards to help offset some of the personal out-of-pocket classroom expenses for much-needed supplies and reading materials. By season-end, the program hopes to raise more than $40,000 for Seattle classrooms.
“The students and staff of Maple are still buzzing about Grant Wistrom’s visit,” said Trudnowski. “My students and I are looking forward to picking out new books for our classroom library and new supplies for our many projects that we love to make.”
More information about Symetra Heroes in the Classroom, including a 2006 Hero roster, teacher profiles and photos, is available online at
www.symetra.com/heroes.
About Symetra Financial
Symetra Financial is a family of companies with nearly a half-century of experience providing retirement plans, employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through independent distributors nationwide. The company has more than $20 billion in assets
1 and is owned by an investor group led by White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. For more information, visit Symetra Financial's website at
www.symetra.com.
1 Source: Total GAAP assets per financial statements of December 31, 2005.
Symetra® and the Symetra Financial logo are registered service marks of Symetra Life Insurance Company, 777 108th Avenue NE, Suite 1200, Bellevue, WA 98004.
