Cake was just the start for teacher who wins $500 drawing

Posted Sep 14, 2010 by Courtney Cairns Pastor

Updated Sep 17, 2010 at 10:17 AM

A special moment from Tribune reporter Courtney Pastor:

Covering surprises in the classroom always makes me nervous, because I get paranoid that I’ll slip and spill the big secret.

Today, I arrived at Deer Park Elementary, told them I was there for a “presentation” and headed back to the media center, where I met Gary Cucchi of Horace Mann insurance.

He was there to give one of the teachers $500 – half for her, half for her school. Horace Mann, started by educators, runs the “Win $ Win” program.

Teachers nationally enter a drawing for a chance at prizes ranging from $500 to $10,000. Cucchi visited the school last summer and got all the teachers entered, and it paid off.

Cucchi, a former teacher from Sickles High School, had brought a cake that said “Congratulations Deer Park” but listed no name to keep the secret as long as possible. Teachers filed in for an after-school meeting and many checked out the cake, speculating if it was a birthday or something else.

“Aren’t you Cucchi?” one woman asked. “What are you doing here?”

He shrugged. “A little presentation.”

It wasn’t until Principal Lou Cerreta introduced Cucchi and he mentioned that Deer Park had a winner among them that the teachers started to gasp. They cheered when he said kindergarten teacher Stephanie Lee would bring home the money.

“I’m a little shocked,” said Lee, a teacher for 18 years. “I had no idea. It was a big surprise.”

Lee loves children books and plans to use some of the money to stock her classroom.

Drawings will be held in October and November.

Teachers can still enter the sweepstakes here. You will need a code to access the site and can contact Cucchi at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for help.