Education Continues To Celebrate Excellence

Due to Coller Industries Incorporated’s continual support and donations, we were able to be a part of the “Excel Evening of Honors” on April 13th. Granite Education Foundation presents awards each year to exceptional teachers and administrators working in their district.

It all starts with the smallest of donations: TIME.

Since Granite Education Foundation’s inception in 1988, educator recognition and support has been a key priority. The Excel Awards are a prestigious honor given to the top 10 educators of Granite School District and has been sponsored by Granite Education Foundation since the beginning. Students, administrators, parents and colleagues nominate educators that exemplify the values of Granite School District.

“Watching the videos of each teacher and their stories and how they make a difference in the kid’s lives was the best part of the evening,” Hannah, Customer Service Manager and Coller Industries Incorporated, said.

Being a professional educator isn’t an easy job. Sometimes it can even be a thankless job. But, thanks to these amazing teachers and administrators, public education continues to excel.

Each year, GEF supporters gather to recognize outstanding teachers, administrators and community members whose personal commitment and contribution impacts 68,000 students in the Granite School District. The Excel Award is bestowed upon nine teachers and one administrator that have been nominated by school administrators, colleagues or students.

Here are the 2018 Excel Award winners.
Congratulations to these incredible educators!

(Top to bottom; left to right.)

Leah Tarrant – Taylorsville High School
Lori Lindford – Bennion Elementary
Jill Thackeray – Skyline High School
Jodi Larson – Upland Terrace School
Stephanie Varoz – Crestview Elementary
Amy Winder – Elk Run Elementary
Katie Pearce – Rolling Meadows Elementary
Brandon Kerby – Cyprus High School
Janice Wayman – Hartvigsen School
Archer Birrell – Hillside Elementary

These individuals are then put through a rigorous review and observation process by experienced education specialists who ultimately identify 10 teachers and administrators from all over the district. In mid April, up to 300 individuals from Granite School District, supporting businesses, community members, and local leaders gather to recognize and honor these 10 winners in the Night of Honors a dinner and award ceremony.

As Coller Industries makes generous donations each year to the foundation, we were able to attend this gala not only as distinguished guests but also as an award presenter. After explaining Coller Industries to the attendees, Hannah proudly presented Archer Birrell, a 3rd-grade teacher at Hillside Elementary, with his Excel Award.

While our role is small in comparison to each of these educators, we are beyond happy that we get to take part in this fantastic award opportunity. In a nutshell, “We donate money for clothes and shoes for the kids in the Granite School District. Then we get to honor these great teachers for their excellent work by presenting the award on behalf of Coller Industries and the Granite Education Foundation,” Hannah said.

The Granite Education Foundation Excel Award

Each Excel Award recipient received a sculpture, designed by local Utah sculptor Matt Glenn. This sculpture comes in two parts. The bottom portion has the four Granite Education Foundation hand icons from their logo. Each hand symbolized educate, give, volunteer and advocate. The top portion is a student’s hand reaching for a teacher’s hand. This piece is also reversible so that the teacher’s hand is extending up toward the student’s hand.

“Educational awards, such as the GEF Excel Award, are awesome because children are the future,” Hannah said. “Teachers are important and deserve this recognition for what they do for our children.”

And, we agree. These teachers are very deserving of this prestigious award. We want to thank these teachers and all the others who work endlessly for the welfare of our kids. You all make a huge difference!

Helping is a Coller Industries Tradition

Here at Coller Industries, we are helping to make a difference in our customer’s lives.

Donations are a big part of who we are here at Coller Industries. Helping our non-profit customers with their purchases may seem like a small thing, but we understand the difference that it makes. And we love having repeat donations!

For the past few years, we have been donating to An Infinite Mind. This non-profit has a particular and unique goal. It is to raise awareness and support for those with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). And, we think they are doing an excellent job!

Here is a little bit about them:

“The brain is merely an organ, but the mind is infinite.”

Far too often, people with dissociative identities are portrayed as crazy or unstable. They have faced accusations of making up this disorder. The stigma associated with DID has led to countless men and women living with dissociative identities to hide their true, whole self in fear of the repercussions if they are found out. An Infinite Mind was formed out of a need for accurate information on all Dissociative Disorders but especially DID.

Jaime Pollock, Founder and Director of An Infinite Mind, said, “In short, we are a national non-profit dedicated to helping adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse heal through supportive services, education, advocacy and awareness.”

We donated badge holders, inserts and white flat lanyards.

Name badge holders are an event staple as they are frequently used for conferences, conventions, trade shows, meetings, schools and visitor passes. Not only are they an excellent choice for events, but they are also a fantastic option for reusable needs, such as in a retail environment.

Lanyards are noted for their ability to keep essential items like a name badge or pen close at hand. They are used in a broad range of activities from the workplace to schools and concerts to trade shows. Most often they have a name badge holder attached, and sometimes the badge holder displays the entire agenda for a meeting or conference.

“Our conference is a secure and safe place for our attendees so without a name tag they can’t enter. It is a very important piece of the event!” Pollock explained.

As An Infinite Mind is entirely volunteer-run, every donation counts. Even one of name tags and lanyards! We are always helping where we can.

Donations: Granite Education Foundation

Making students a priority; from our community to you, donations create unity.

Helping out our local community is a large part of what defines the generosity of Coller Industries Incorporated. We like to highlight each company that we donate to throughout the year. Each of these donations are typically personal identification related, such as name tags or award ribbons. This donation, however, is of a different nature.

Gary Coller, President of Coller Industries, said, “It makes us more responsible in the community. Hopefully our customers appreciate when they see that we give (donations) to our (neighbors).”

Coller Industries also donated metal name tags for the committee members to wear during the event. These laser engraved name tags were easy to use with the magnetic fasteners.

The Granite Education Foundation, Making A Difference
Whether it’s in your own school community or a neighboring Granite District School, we believe there is nothing more important than improving a student’s life. We strive to lift lives and assist in providing resources to bolster education by uniting individuals, organizations and the business community with the will, passion, expertise and resources needed to solve problems. We are dedicated to giving Granite District students a hand up. That’s a difference you can count on.

So, what is the Excel Award?
The Granite Education Foundation recognizes and honors superior educators, true classroom heroes, the men and women responsible for molding and preparing our children to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. These individuals have a track record of improving student achievement, using innovative instructional strategies and making a difference in the lives of students. These educators are among a select few highlighted annually as Excel Outstanding Educators who are making a difference in Granite School District classrooms.

Although thousands of nominations were submitted for the Excel Award, only 11 recipients were chosen by the Excel Committee and being recognized for their service in education.

Tanja Roller – First Grade, Oakwood Elementary
Danny Stirland – Principal, Granite Park Jr. High
Erin Madrigal – Sixth Grade, Rolling Meadows Elementary
Jessica Sellers – Fifth Grade, Westbrook Elementary
Jody Lynn Tolley – American Sign Language, Skyline High School
Stacie Shields – Reading Specialist, Truman Elementary
Todd Summerhays – Mathematics, Olympus High School
Garett York – Sixth Grade, Cottonwood Elementary
Lisa Foster – Resource, Wasatch Jr. High
Monica Marsing – Sixth Grade, Armstrong Academy
Michele Stillman Gaetz – Second Grade, Whittier Elementary

On April 22, Coller Industries was invited by Granite Education Foundation to attend this year’s Excel Evening of Honors. This evening is a special celebration of the Excel Award Winners. This year 11 individuals were honored for their outstanding achievements as professional educators.

As Coller Industries makes generous donations each year to the foundation, we were able to attend this gala not only as distinguished guests but also as an award presenter. We were able acknowledge Lisa Foster!

“Lisa Foster, a resource teacher at Wasatch Junior High School, knows that children are not numbers or data points, but intricate human beings who deserve to be treated as such. Lisa makes her classroom a safe place for children where they are comfortable and feel they can take educational risks. She knows her students, their families, their friends and what they go through outside of school and in the hallways.”

“Mrs. Foster has helped me through a lot and is patient, funny and always willing to help.” -Student

“This is my third year presenting one of the awards. It’s such an honor to be able to recognize one of Utah’s great educators,” said Gary Coller.

Teachers were requested to join a presenter on stage to receive their award, a $1,000 check and other generous gifts. Each Excel Award recipient received a sculpture, designed by local Utah sculptor Matt Glenn. This sculpture comes in two parts. The bottom portion has the four Granite Education Foundation hand icons from their logo. Each hand symbolized educate, give, volunteer and advocate. The top portion is a student’s hand reaching for a teacher’s hand. This piece can be removed and turned over so that the teacher’s hand is extending up toward the student’s hand.

Coller Industries Incorporated started giving donations to the Granite Education Foundation in 2009 and to day has donated over $37,000. We are happy to continue our annual support of this wonderful foundation. And as employees here at Coller Industries, it is a pleasure knowing that our employer is this generous with their time and money.

Customer Donations: Operation of Hope

Providing customer donations is part of who we are.

From name tags to ribbons, Coller Industries is your go-to specialist for personal identification needs. While we do pride ourselves on our service and professionalism in producing these fantastic products, our main focus is to help you, our customers! And part of this is to donate what we can, whenever we can. This month we were able to help out a wonderful cause.

Operation of Hope provides free, life-changing surgery and health care for children in desperate need and creates a self-sustaining program of hope through education. They are building a growing network of medical professionals that serve patients in desperate needs, so that every child has the hope of a normal life.

Operation of Hope has been a functioning organization since 1989 and performs free surgeries for children all over the world. They are currently celebrating one of their recent surgeries that was performed for Blessing Makwera.

When Blessing was 14 years old, he found a landmine detonator in a field where he lived in Zimbabwe, Africa. Blessing thought the metal object was a small electric motor. He inserted the detonator between his teeth to free his hands so he could work. In 2009, two years after the accident, the Operation of Hope Team was donating a facial reconstructive surgical mission in Zimbabwe to help those afflicted with birth defects such as cleft-lips and palates. After hearing about Operation of Hope on Zimbabwe’s only radio station, Blessing took a 6-hour bus ride by himself into the capital city of Harare so he could meet this team of volunteer surgeons.

Operation of Hope received plastic laser engraved name tags. “These name tags are for the local Zimbabwean Operating Room Staff that we partner with in Harare, Zimbabwe. These are especially helpful as we usually use paper name tags and they do not last as long nor do they look as wonderful and as professional as these do!” exclaimed Jennifer Trubenbach, CEO & Mission Director at Operation of Hope.

We are grateful for organizations such as Operation of Hope. And these donations are truly something that helps us stand out from our competition.

operation of hope coller industries customer donations

Donation Spotlight: An Infinite Mind

Donations are a wonderful way to celebrate the holidays.

They are also a great way to highlight our customers; especially our repeat customers. An Infinite Mind is no exception to this. Coller Industries has had the pleasure of working with An Infinite Mind for the past six years and enjoys supporting their cause. While a simple donation of name badge holders may seem small, it means a great deal to the recipient. “We are very appreciative of the continued support of Coller Industries. It not only means a lot to me personally but also to our attendees to know someone cares about this cause,” says Jaime Pollock, Founder and Director of An Infinite Mind.

An Infinite Mind works with adult survivors of childhood abuse who have dissociation and DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). They are a non-profit organization that educates and advocates for these adult trauma survivors. They offer workshops, support groups and supportive therapies to improve the lives of these survivors. An Infinite Mind also holds an annual conference for these survivors, their loved ones, and mental health professionals.

“The conference is priced to cost in order to keep it affordable to all who want to come. With the continued generous donations from Coller Industries, we are able to keep our costs low, which in turn keeps the cost of the conference low,” Pollack graciously said.

As part of this conference, Coller Industries provided a donation of badge holders, inserts and lanyards. These items will be used for volunteers, speakers, and attendees during the “Healing Together” conference. “The conference is private and secure so if a person does not have the coveted name badge, they cannot enter. The name tag is a very important piece of the conference,” said Pollack.

In the past, Pollack described An Infinite Mind as a dedicated and hard-working organization. “We’re very passionate about this cause,” she added. Here’s a hats-off to our friends at An Infinite Mind!