At the annual WNBA Inspiring Women Luncheon on Tuesday in New York City, the league honored three individuals who have blazed new paths on the court, in the boardroom and in the community. One of the honorees was Kayla Canario, who received the Verizon Innovative Learning Award.

Canario, an instructional coach at Bearden Middle School in Knoxville, Tenn., has played a vital role in cultivating a dynamic learning environment. She has led 90 teachers in the transformation of their classrooms into innovative digital learning spaces.

Verizon, which began a marquee partnership with the WNBA in 2016, presents the Innovative Learning Award every year to an inspirational teacher who leverages technological resources and hands-on opportunities to inspire tomorrow’s creators.

On Tuesday at the event, WNBA.com spoke to Justina Nixon-Saintil, Verizon’s Director of Corporate Social Responsibility Program Development. Nixon-Saintil discussed Verizon’s partnership with the WNBA and this year’s award recipient.

What makes the WNBA a great partner for Verizon, and how specifically does the Inspiring Women Luncheon align with Verizon’s values?

We’re very proud to partner with the WNBA, especially on this Inspiring Women Luncheon. I think our mission aligns very well. We focus on helping our communities, and both the WNBA and Verizon very much focus on building confidence in young girls and giving them the skills they need to be successful in the future. So it’s been a great partnership.

Why does Verizon choose to recognize a teacher with the Verizon Innovative Learning Award?

Teachers are the people on the ground. They’re the ones meeting with those students day in and day out, and they’re the ones who are really leading the change in their schools. They are innovators. They’re excited about the work and technology that we’re bringing into schools. They inspire their own students day in and day out. We were really excited that we were able to pick Kayla to win this award, because of the work she does with the students and how she inspires them to get on the path to a better future.

What makes this year’s winner, Kayla Canario, deserving?

Kayla is incredible. She is a new teacher – she became one around 2012. We partnered with her school in 2015, and Kayla raised her hand and said she wanted to be at the forefront of this program. She wanted to help integrate technology successfully in the school. And she’s only taken on more and more of the work over time because she’s passionate about her students. She has led a tech team to be the IT support group for the entire school of 1,300 students, and she’s helped 90 teachers transform their classrooms. So overall she’s just an incredible person, but we really liked that she is passionate and continues to inspire her students every day.

What is the Verizon Innovative Learning program and its mission?

Verizon Innovative Learning is an initiative where we provide technology access and hands-on opportunities to students. We focus very much on schools where you have a high percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch, and we integrate technology in those schools. We also provide support and professional development to the teachers for 2-3 years of the program. So that’s really our mission, to inspire the students and provide them with the skills they need.

Earlier this year, you launched the #WeNeedMore campaign. Can you tell us more about the campaign and initiative?

We launched #WeNeedMore to bring awareness to the fact that we have a lot of minority students and girls who are not being prepared for those STEM fields. We want everyone to understand that we need to get them on a path to success if we want our country to be successful. So it’s really a way to raise awareness about this issue and to get our communities, all the parents and everybody involved to know that this is a crisis. We need to do what we can to help the students be successful.