Central Electric awards grants to teachers for Bright Ideas

Central Electric recently awarded $15,000 in Bright Ideas education grants to twelve teachers to fund engaging classroom learning projects. More than 3,800 students at local schools will participate in Bright Ideas projects funded by Central Electric this year.

“Our Bright Ideas grant recipients are making a real difference for students,” said Janet Jackson, Bright Ideas Coordinator at Central Electric. “Teachers have so many innovative ideas to engage students in learning, and we’re excited each year to support pioneering initiatives and creativity in the classroom through our Bright Ideas grant program. Central Electric is committed to the communities we serve, and we believe there is hardly a better investment than in the education of our youth and future leaders.”

Central Electric is one of 26 member-owned electric cooperatives in the state offering Bright Ideas grants to local educators. North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy cooperatives awarded teachers statewide close to $600,000 in Bright Ideas education grants.

Since 1994, North Carolina’s electric cooperatives collectively have awarded more than $10.9 million to Tar Heel teachers. The Bright Ideas program has reached well over 2.1 million North Carolina students and sponsored more than 10,400 projects in all subjects including math, reading, science and technology, history, music and the arts.

Bright Ideas grant applications are collected each year through mid-September, and winning proposals are selected in a competitive evaluation process by a panel of judges. The application process will reopen for interested teachers in April 2018. To find out more information about the Bright Ideas grant program, visit CEMCPower.com or NCBrightIdeas.com.

Central Electric, a Touchstone Energy Cooperative based in Sanford, NC, is a not-for-profit electric utility serving over 22,000 members in Chatham, Harnett, Lee, Moore and Randolph counties. North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy cooperatives serve 2.5 million people in 93 of the state’s 100 counties.

Central Electric’s 2017 grant recipients are listed below:

Bright Ideas Grant Winner

School

Grant Name

County

Amount Awarded

Nancy Beck

Sandhills-Farm Life Elementary

Snap to it! Electrical Circuit Kits

Moore

1,217.81

Rebecca Clemens

Silk Hope School

Melodica Pilot Curriculum

Chatham

$1,500.00

Kimberly Hilliard

Sandhills-Farm Life Elementary

Full STEAM Ahead – Critical Thinking, Coding and Music

Moore

$1,555.00

Dr. Susan Jinks

New Century Middle

Coding Drones to Play Quidditch

Moore

$1,200.00

Deanna LaLonde

J. Glenn Edwards Elementary

Time and Light: A Photographic Experience

Lee

$2,000.00

Beryl Lemmons

Horton Middle

Mindstorm

Chatham

$534.00

Kimberly Oakley

New Century Middle

Citizen Science

Moore

$472.50

Dennis Regan

Southern Lee High

Green Power by Student Design

Lee

$1,981.56

Diana Rowland

Sandhills Theater Arts Renaissance School (STARS)

Wild for Weather

Moore

$421.80

Patricia Steingraber

Sandhills-Farm Life Elementary

Kids Can Code? APP-solutely!

Moore

$1,867.33

Skyla Stuckey

Crain’s Creek Middle School

3D Printing Our Way to Progress

Moore

$1,300.00

Gwendolyn Williams

Southern Lee High

Farm to Table Canning with Food & Nutrition II

Lee

$950.00