Four Henrico teachers were among the 16 teachers from the Richmond region who earned R.E.B. Awards for Teaching Excellence earlier this week.

The awards, celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, were inspired by the vision of Rudy and Esther Bunzl in 1988 as a way to strengthen public education through the region by recognizing and providing research grants to skilled, passionate teachers in the region.

The Henrico winners were: Carolyn Margaret Alley of Holman Middle School, who earned a $9,000 grant to explore Cape Cod and bring back stories of the sea and history of the region as it relates to the sixth-grade social studies, science and reading curriculum; Elizabeth Ann Gaglio of Chamberlayne Elementary School, who earned a $9,300 grant to explore Hawaii’s aquatic ecosystems and how they relate to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, as well as take a course on smartphone application development to create technology rich classroom activities; Selene Paulette Marsh of J. R. Tucker High School, who earned a $5,000 grant to attend The Helen Keller School in Alabama and the Literacy Institute at UNC and to take classes in Braille and sign language to better serve students with deaf-blindness and other complex disabilities; and

Robert Patrick Meister of J. R. Tucker High School, who earned a $10,000 grant to visit Great Britain to attend the only AP Literature conference held in Europe and to the British Isles to explore historical sites.

Since the program’s inception, the R.E.B Foundation has partnered with The Community Foundation to award more than $2.7 million to honor 647 classroom teachers and support 364 professional development grants.