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CITY OF NEWBURGH – Newburgh Free Academy teacher Christine McCartney and students at NFA's P-TECH program need your votes to create a memorial at the city's waterfront.

McCartney is one of 15 teachers competing as finalists for five $100,000 grants through Farmers Insurance's "Thank America's Teachers" program.

Voting for finalists takes place through Oct. 31. Anyone can vote once a day, each day of the month, for a finalist by visiting https://bit.ly/2cJPfMy.

Students in NFA North campus' "Global to Local" program would use the grant to design and build – in partnership with MASS Design Group and the Blacc Vanilla Community Foundation – a memorial to Newburgh's "past, present and future."

McCartney narrates a video about the project at https://youtu.be/JxO7GbuFjzY.

"Our goal is that residents and visitors and people who are moving into the city can learn about the factors that have shaped our city and then learn about what is happening now," she said in the video.

In the last two summers, students in Global to Local have traveled to Ecuador and Cambodia to volunteer with local organizations and learn about each country. They spend the next school year organizing service projects.