Wake Forest, NC— Wake Electric and North Carolina’s electric cooperatives will honor grant-winning teachers on Friday, Nov. 15 at the 11th annual Touchstone Energy Bright Ideas education grant awards luncheon at the Dail Club at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. More than $195,000 in Bright Ideas grant funding from six Touchstone Energy cooperatives will be awarded to 150 educators from schools in the central region of the state.
Grant recipients will use the funding to bring innovative, hands-on learning projects to their students. Wake will award more than $49,000 to local educators, making possible 21 projects in Durham, Franklin, Johnston, Nash, Vance and Wake counties.
“We are very proud of our Bright Ideas grant winners, and it is our pleasure to recognize their outstanding efforts at the awards luncheon,” said Fred Keller, manager of member and energy services at Wake Electric.
North Carolina’s own Molly Barker, a globally recognized leader in girl’s education and development, will be the keynote speaker. A four-time Hawaii Ironman triathlete, Barker used her background in social work, counseling and teaching, along with research on adolescent issues, to found the Girls on the Run program in Charlotte in 1996. Today, there are Girls on the Run councils in more than 190 cities across North America serving over 150,000 girls and women each year.
The luncheon, which is part of a statewide celebration of Bright Ideas month in November, begins at 11:30 a.m. The Dail Club at Vaughn Towers is located in Carter-Finley Stadium at 4600 Trinity Road, Raleigh, N.C. 27607.
This year, North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy cooperatives are expected to award a total of $600,000 in Bright Ideas grants to deserving teachers statewide. Since 1994, the Bright Ideas education grant program has provided more than $8.5 million to Tar Heel educators. The funds have underwritten more than 8,300 projects aimed at improving classroom instruction and encouraging creative teaching initiatives, benefiting more than 1.5 million students throughout the state. Wake Electric’s Bright Ideas grant program alone has awarded more than $678,900 to area educators since 1994.
Sponsoring the grants recognized at the awards luncheon are Wake Electric, Wake Forest; Central Electric Membership Corporation (EMC), Sanford; Four County EMC, Burgaw; North Carolina EMC, Raleigh; Piedmont EMC, Hillsborough; and South River EMC, Dunn.
The Bright Ideas education grant program is an example of the electric cooperatives’ commitment to community. For more information or to apply in 2014, visit www.ncbrightideas.com.
Funding for Bright Ideas grants comesfrom Wake Electric members who agree to round up their light bill to the nearest whole dollar through the Operation RoundUp program. For example, if the bill is $190.91 – the bill will be rounded up 9 cents to $191.00. These pennies add up to major dollars. Partial funding also comes from the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation (NCEMC), located in Raleigh, NC. The NCEMC consists of a family of corporations formed to support the state’s 26 electric cooperatives.
Wake Electric is an electric utility providing reliable, safe and affordable energy and related services to more than 37,000 consumers in parts of Durham, Franklin, Granville, Johnston, Nash, Vance and Wake counties.
2013 Bright Ideas Grant Winners:
1. Jeanne Beasley of Powhatan Elementary in Johnston county, grant entitled, “Motion Mania”
2. Kevin Brown of Durant Road Elementary School in Wake county, grant entitled, “Booting up Future Programmers”
3. Michael Butler of Clayton Middle School in Johnston county, grant entitled, “Enhancing Financial Literacy using The Stock Market Game”
4. Cynthia Carpenter of Rocky Mount Middle School in Nash county, grant entitled, “Gifted Hands Create Gifted Minds”
5.Stephanie Caviness of Wilson’s Mills Elementary School in Johnson county, grant entitled, “iScience Investigation Stations”
6. Pamela Fiely of Rolesville Middle School in Wake county, grant entitled, “We like to MOVE IT, MOVE IT!”
7. Christy Gandy of North Johnston High School in Johnston county, grant entitled, “Using Molecular Genetics Today’s World”
8. Carl Harrington of East Wake Academy in Wake county, grant entitled, “History as it Happened”
9. Teri Hoffman of Bunn High School in Franklin county, grant entitled, “Creating Electrifying Connections in Physical Science Using Snap Circuit Technology!!”
10. Chad E. Holloman of Corinth Holders High School in Johnston county, grant entitled, “Agriculture Exploration – Local and Global Agriculture Importance”
11. Michele Josey of Hillside High School in Durham county, grant entitled, “Motion Detectors”
12. Cynthia Linton of Stough Elementary School in Wake county, grant entitled, “Stallion Writers’ Guild”
13. Sherrie Mallory of Powhatan Elementary School in Johnston county, grant entitled, “Stock Market Savvy”
14. Bruce Mamel of Millbrook High School in Wake county, grant entitled, “The Mad Scientist’s Club”
15. Douglas Pawlak of Riverwood Middle School in Johnston county, grant entitled, “Discover Your DNA Ancestry”
16. Lynne Petersen of River Oaks Middle School in Wake county, grant entitled, “Power House Using Renewable/Alternative Energy”
17. Jodi Songer Riedel of Wakefield High School in Wake county, grant entitled, “High Hopes with High Tunnels”
18. Nancy Shaffer of Terrell Lane Middle School in Franklin county, grant entitled, “March Measurement Madness”
19. Anica Weeks of G R Edwards Jr High School in Nash county, grant entitled, “Gathering STEAM: Empowering Girls in Science, Technology and Math”
20. James C. Whitaker of Smith-Selma High School in Johnston county, grant entitled, “STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Math”
21. Christopher Zirkle of Fuquay-Varina Middle School in Wake county, grant entitled, “Top Ten Tablet Engagement Activities”