News

AWARDS FROM FOUR COUNTY EMC MAKE DAYS BRIGHT FOR LOCAL TEACHERS

November 4th, 2014

County EMC is honoring teachers and celebrating innovation in education this month by awarding $19,666 in Bright Ideas grants to educators in Bladen, Duplin, Pender and Sampson counties. The grants will fund 23 projects that will touch the lives of more than 6,000 local students.

“The Bright Ideas grant program helps teachers finance creative projects to benefit  North Carolina's youth,” said Gay Johnson, Director of Corporate Communications of Four County EMC. “Their creative projects will no doubt help students reach their full potential and spark higher interest in learning for years to come.”

Bright Ideas education grants, sponsored by Four County EMC and North Carolina’s electric cooperatives, provide resources to Tar Heel teachers for innovative, hands-on, classroom projects that would not otherwise be funded.

“Four County is committed to bettering the communities we serve, and we believe there is no better way than through the education of our youth,” Gay Johnson said.

Four County EMC and North Carolina’s electric cooperatives will honor grant-winning teachers on Friday, Nov. 21 at the 12th annual Touchstone Energy Bright Ideas education grant awards luncheon at the Dail Club at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

Since the program began in 1994, Four County EMC has contributed more than $357,800 to local teachers. North Carolina’s 26 electric cooperatives collectively have awarded more than $9.1 million to teachers across the state for 8,800 projects in all subjects, benefiting more than 1.6 million North Carolina students .

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 2015.

To find out more information about the Bright Ideas grant program, visit http://www.fourcty.org/  or the Bright Ideas website at http://www.ncbrightideas.com/). Like Four County’s Facebook page “Four County Electric Membership Corporation” to receive local updates or become a fan of “Bright Ideas Education” on Facebook to receive regularly updated news about the program. 

Four County EMC serves over 32,000 members in Bladen, Duplin, Pender, Sampson, Columbus and Onslow counties.

Congratulations 2014-2015 Bright Ideas Grant Winners!                                                           

The winning teachers are listed by respective county, along with the amount of funds they received (listed in order of teacher who submitted grant, school, project name and amount awarded):

2014 BLADEN COUNTY BRIGHT IDEAS EDUCATION GRANT WINNERS

Bright Ideas Grant Winner	School	Grant Name	County	Amount Awarded
Teresa Wiles	Clarkton School of Discovery	Service with a Smile	Bladen	$880
Becky Kendall	Elizabethtown Middle School	Literacy and Technology in Play with Visual Arts	Bladen	$1,403
Barbara Tatum, Jeff Atkinson, Herman Lewis, Sam Boger	Clarkton School of Discovery	Stay Alive-Think and Drive	Bladen	1,413

2014 DUPLIN COUNTY BRIGHT IDEAS EDUCATION GRANT WINNERS

Bright Ideas Grant Winner	School	Grant Name	County	Amount Awarded
Sulnora Spencer Oluyemi	Charity Middle School	Is It Math? Is It Art? It’s Both? Weaving Ratios	Duplin	$800
LaTerri Underwood, Betty Powell	Wallace-Rose Hill High School	Honeybee Habitat	Duplin	$710
Illana Livstrom	Charity Middle School	A Journey Under the Microscope	Duplin	$950

2014 PENDER COUNTY BRIGHT IDEAS EDUCATION GRANT WINNERS

Bright Ideas Grant Winner	School	Grant Name	County	Amount Awarded
Sara Toothman, Kimberly Borer	West Pender Middle	Fabricating Fabulous Biomes: An Interactive Art and Science Collaboration	Pender	$700
Rochelle Whiteside, Ritter, McGowen, A. Davis, Funderburk, Taylor, Caperton, D. Knowles, C. Knowles, Lacombe, Cromartie, Huffstetler, Owens, D. LaFon	Pender High	“I Am From…”	Pender	$1,079
Jared Pinkston, Jamie Ann La Londe Pinkston	Pender High School	Activating Class Participation through Self-Assessment with Real Time Feedback	Pender	$1,200
Chris Wirszyla, Jeanette Landes	Cape Fear Elementary	Sustainability of the School Garden Center	Pender	$833
Chelsea Coleman, Daryl Martin	Heidi Trask High School	What goes up, must come down	Pender	$266
Jessica Croson, Jessica Ball, William Mercier, Suzanne Timmons	Heide Trask High School	Sky High	Pender	$240
Suzanna Bolin, Melinda Neil	Burgaw Elementary School	BES Memory Lab	Pender	$1,110
Marie Radcliff, Cheryl Cain, Melissa Chinn	Cape Fear Elementary	We will Survive	Pender	$800
Connie Ives	Burgaw Elementary	BES Live News	Pender	$671

  

2014 SAMPSON COUNTY BRIGHT IDEAS EDUCATION GRANT WINNERS

Bright Ideas Grant Winner	School	Grant Name	County	Amount Awarded
Candace Bizzell	Union Elementary	Jammin’ in the Gym	Sampson	$250
Leigha Kerwin	Union Middle School	How’s the Water?	Sampson	$819
Leslie Matthis	Union Middle School	Watch it Spread!	Sampson	$1,152
Angelique Young	Union Middle School	Grass to Gas	Sampson	$394
Janet Taylor	Union Middle School	Reaching Reluctant Readers	Sampson	$400
Arno Peterson, Johnny Williams, Christy Moore	Union High School	Dusty Rose	Sampson	$1,239
Dinah Monk	Union High School	We’re Cleaning Up Our Act	Sampson	$1,757
Jayne Green	Harrells Christian Academy	Turn It Up with Turnitin.com	Sampson	$600