$22,000 awarded to teachers by Bright Ideas Prize Team

Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive and its Foun­da­tion award­ed over $22,000 in Bright Ideas grants to school teach­ers in Bryan, Lib­er­ty and McIn­tosh Coun­ty this week. The win­ning teach­ers were caught total­ly by sur­prise when the Bright Ideas Prize Team came to their class­room to present them with giant bal­loon bou­quets, gifts and a pre­sen­ta­tion check.

• Mary Jo Fina of Rich­mond Hill High School won a grant for her project Chil­dren First – Pedi­atric CPR.

• Patri­cia Ann Bryant of Rich­mond Hill High School for her project, Build­ing Future Health­care Work­ers.

• Christy Crow­ley of Dr. George Wash­ing­ton Carv­er Ele­men­tary for her project, Grow­ing Healthy Eaters.

• Win­di Holmes also of Dr. George Wash­ing­ton Carv­er Ele­men­tary for her project, Elec­tri­cal Engi­neers Work­shop.

• Patrick Welch of Rich­mond Hill Mid­dle School for his project, Mak­ing Con­nec­tions.

• John Melch­er of Rich­mond Hill Mid­dle School for his project, SOS – Pol­li­na­tor Gar­den.

• Wendy Dauphi­nee of Rich­mond Hill Mid­dle School for her project, Physics on the go!

• Abn­er Zachary of McIn­tosh Acad­e­my was award­ed $1,924 for his project, 3D Print­ing in Math Class.

• Brit­tany Thurston of McIn­tosh Coun­ty Mid­dle School was award­ed $1,559 for her project, Smart Music.

• Antho­ny John­son of Mid­way Mid­dle School won a grant for his project Real Men Read.

• Karisa Young of Lib­er­ty Col­lege and Career Acad­e­my for her project, The Real­i­ty Store.
• Lin­da Cooke of Lib­er­ty Ele­men­tary for her project, Poet­ry Under Con­struc­tion.

• Diane Clax­ton of But­ton Gwin­nett Ele­men­tary for her project, Out­side These Four Walls.

• Vic­to­ria Fun­ston of Wal­do Paf­ford Ele­men­tary for her project, Build­ing His­to­ry.

Since the program’s incep­tion in 2002 more than $220,000 has been award­ed to local teach­ers. The grants give teach­ers the pow­er to put their cre­ative teach­ing ideas into action. Appli­ca­tions are accept­ed from teach­ers instruct­ing stu­dents in grades K‑12.

Bright Ideas is made pos­si­ble in part thru the vol­un­tary dona­tions of the Coop­er­a­tive’s mem­bers who par­tic­i­pate in Oper­a­tion Round Up^® – mem­bers allow their elec­tric bills to be round­ed up to the near­est whole dol­lar. Those nick­els and dimes each month are turned over to The Coastal Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive Foun­da­tion which over­sees the fund. The Foun­da­tion uses the mon­ey to assist with food, health, shel­ter, safe­ty, and edu­ca­tion­al needs with­in the com­mu­ni­ty.