Florida employees become teachers for a day

Phones Supervisor Cynthia McGaha may work in insurance, but in 2011 she became a teacher for a day. She joined about 40 employees in our Tampa, Fla. office, to participate in the Great American Teach-In. It was part of American Education Week in November 2011.

Cynthia showed a group of sixth graders at a local elementary school why it was important to have insurance.  To simplify the concept, she talked about going to a video store to purchase a game and also buying insurance on it. When she asked why they might want the insurance for the game, the children responded with “just in case something happens to the game and I want a new one.” Cynthia built off of this scenario and tied the analogy to car insurance.

Processing Supervisor Susan Kazenas became a teacher for a day with area high school students. Her topic—texting and driving. Susan had students line up and try to walk a few feet in a straight line with their eyes closed. It turned out to be a difficult task. She then related the activity to statistics comparing texting while driving to driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed.

“The class hour flew by and I loved seeing how much fun the students had talking about insurance,” says Susan.

Employee involvement in this event has increased every year. It’s just one more example of Progressive people educating others on the value of insurance.