JustWorld US Partner Project Founder: "Teacher of the Year"

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Denise Corbo, Founder and President of StoryBook Treasures, a JustWorld Partner, was named Loudoun County Teacher of the Year! Denise is a gifted education teacher at Horizon, Sugarland, and Steuart Weller elementary schools in Virginia, but her impact extends far beyond her classrooms. “Among Corbo's accomplishments are designing a lesson-plan template used for Loudoun’s elementary gifted program, SEARCH, mentoring fellow teachers with an emphasis on improving educational opportunities for underserved populations and introducing the school division’s first elementary electronic report card” (LoudonTimes.com).This award is a huge honor and could not have been given to a more deserving individual. Denise was chosen out of 10,000 teachers at 83 schools in her district. She shared that she feels blessed by her gift to teach children. She is grateful for opportunities to share this gift with other teachers and impact even more children.The program Denise founded, StoryBook Treasures (SBT), has provided more than 15,000 books to children in Virginia, Maryland, Nevada, Alaska and Florida during the 2017-2018 school year. JustWorld collaborated with StoryBook Treasures this past year to reach 120 children in Kindergarten and 1st Grade in Belle Glade, Florida, at Pioneer Park Elementary School. In August, when the new school year begins, JustWorld will be supporting 249 children in Kindergarten through Grade 3! Each student will receive a SBT t-shirt, backpack, five books throughout the school year with a mini treasure paired to each story, mini books, and a bookmark for their parents with questions to ask their child about what they learned. SBT teachers will receive professional development and teacher materials, ongoing program support, and lesson plans for the program that meets academic requirements, making it rewarding for teachers to implement in their classrooms as well.Pioneer Park Elementary is just one of forty-four schools in Palm Beach County with a poverty rate of 90-100%. This means that 90-100% of the children attending the school come from homes where a family of three makes less than $20,160 per year. Additionally, 98% of students at Pioneer Park qualify for the free or reduced lunch program and their Language Arts proficiency rate is only 40%. Pioneer Park is one of the poorest ranking and performing schools not just in Palm Beach County, but in the state of Florida. JustWorld International is excited to partner with StoryBook Treasures and help make a difference for children and their families just a half hour from their headquarters in Wellington, Florida.About The Washington Post Teacher of the Year AwardQuality education is essential to the well-being of our society, and good teachers are the foundation of our educational system. The Washington Post established the Teacher of the Year Award to recognize teachers who exemplify excellence in their profession. The goals of The Washington Post Teacher of the Year Award has always been to recognize excellence in teaching, to encourage creative and quality instruction and to contribute in a substantive way to the improvement of education in the Washington metropolitan area.About StoryBook TreasuresStoryBook Treasures is a non-profit organization with the goal of providing books and reading materials to promote literacy and education to ALL children.The StoryBook Treasures organization educates, inspires and empowers ALL children to experience the best children's literature in an educational setting. Our program helps children make vital comprehensive reading connections to literature while building a classroom and personal home library collection of books.Our company has a vested interest in reaching in our country’s most economically disadvantaged communities; children who we believe need books the most and otherwise would not have the opportunity or means.To learn more about, please visit:

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