Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005 | 3:17 a.m.
From the time Heather Collins became a teacher's aide and helped hearing-impaired students at Las Vegas High School almost two decades ago, she knew what she wanted to do with her life.
"From then on, I wanted to teach disabled children," the 36-year-old special education teacher said.
A Henderson mother of two, the UNLV graduate has carried out her vocation for the last 14 years and is currently a special education teacher at Foothill High School, where her dedication and innovation recently paid off with a $2,000 national Unsung Heroes award. She is eligible to win another national award that would come with as much as $25,000 more to help her offer better ways for her students to learn independent living skills.
This year she has 14 boys and six girls in her class. Some have only slight mental disabilities, but there are also a couple who need the use of wheelchairs.
Collins teaches them skills beyond reading and writing. Her aim is to teach each one of them how to cook, how to clean house, how to pay the bills -- all the skills they would need if they were to live by themselves.
"Independent as they can be, that is my goal," she said.
That's the principle underlying her project, which she calls "On Our Own."
If she wins more money from the Unsung Heroes program, Collins plans to rent an apartment or a house within walking distance of the school so that her students can practice everyday skills in a real-life environment. It's more difficult for her students to learn well in classroom environments designed to similuate a home. Foothill has six kitchens, for example, whereas that is not true in a normal home, she said.
She appreciates how her students struggle to learn; they have trouble processing information. But as challenging as they can be to teach, they also make it very rewarding for her on a personal level.
"They love unconditionally, they're so appreciative, and not disrespectful," she said.
"You can be having the worst morning, and then go in there and feel better," she said.
When Collins heard from Foothill's principal, Gretchen Crehan, about the ING Unsung Heroes awards program earlier this year, "I thought I would go for it," she said.
Collins was one of 100 winning teachers from kindergarten through high school across the country who received a $2,000 award. Those 100 winners were selected from a field of about 1,150 teachers.
Now she is vying for one of three top prizes: $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000.
She said she should know by the end of this month if she has won again.
The awards were created in 1995 and this year marks the 10-year anniversary of the program. ING U.S. Financial Services. has awarded more than $2.3 million to nearly 1,000 educators across the United States.
"As we celebrate 10 years of the ING Unsung Heroes awards program, ING is honored to award educators like Heather Collins, who go above and beyond, to show their unwavering dedication and commitment to our youth," said Bill Jasien, senior vice president of ING U.S. Financial Services.
"Teachers are indeed heroes," he said.
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