Blue Ridge Electric Awards Educators Grants for Innovative Teaching Projects

For Immediate Release

Contact: Renee Whitener, Director of Public Relations, Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation, (828) 758-2383 ext. 3213; Pager: 1-800-471-1323; or E-mail: Renee Whitener

West Jefferson, North Carolina (November 10, 2005) – Grants totaling more than $4,200 were awarded to local educators today by Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation during a luncheon ceremony at Frasers restaurant honoring the cooperative’s Bright Ideas grants recipients.

Bright Ideas is an academic grants program sponsored by Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation in conjunction with the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation and its 26 other member electric cooperatives. Bright Ideas grants help further traditional academic learning by funding innovative scholastic projects that go beyond available school funding.

Winners of the grants are:

Cathy Shepherd, of Blue Ridge Elementary School, for “Kites Over Blue Ridge” which will benefit pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade students. The project will enable students at the school to design, construct and fly their own kite with the purpose of exploring and learning new concepts involving freedom from gravity, aerodynamics, different points of view, color, line, and pattern. The grant totaled $502.
Pat Kincheloe Morrison, Reggie Wiles, and Walker Pugh, of Ashe County Middle School, for “Fiber Fantasies”, which will benefit at-risk students in grades 10 through 12 to enable them to learn unusual ways that paper and cloth fibers can be embellished and altered to create art. The grant totaled $875.
Thelma Kastl, of Ashe County High School, for “Spinning Wood into Projects and Profit” which will benefit approximately 120 high school students. The project will help high school students gain an understanding of the manufacturing processes as well as learn skills in the area of woodworking. Students will develop a small business producing and selling unique items. The grant totaled $1,496.
Jorena Sparks, of Mountain View Elementary School, for “Art EnLIGHTenment.” The project will reach all 695 Blue Ridge Elementary students by enabling them to learn more about art and art history, as well as fund art supplies for their own creations. The grant totaled $1,348.

Each September, Blue Ridge Electric seeks applications from area educators and principals serving grades K-12 in public schools. Grants are awarded in amounts from $100 to a maximum of $2,000. For the 2005-2006 school year Blue Ridge Electric received 54 Bright Ideas grant applications from schools in its service territory of Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Avery and Wilkes County. Funds totaling $19,004 are being awarded to 19 classroom teachers and their teammates to directly benefit thousands of area students, teachers, schools and communities. Blue Ridge Electric is celebrating its 12th year of offering Bright Ideas grants as part of its support and commitment to education. Since 1994, the cooperative has awarded more than $213,000 in Bright Ideas grants that has impacted more than 64,000 students. Together with other statewide cooperatives, the Bright Ideas grants program has provided more than $4 million to North Carolina teachers and students.

To learn more about the Bright Ideas grants program, visit Blue Ridge Electric’s web site at www.BlueRidgeEMC.com or contact your local Blue Ridge Electric office and ask for Grey Scheer, director of community relations.