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 9, 2006) – 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 “Terrific Talavera Tiles” which will benefit all third grade students. Each third-grader will become aware of Mexican culture and community through Talavera tile making and will learn the aesthetics of mathematical symmetry. The grant totaled $400.
Jody Holleman, Emma Hodges, Dana Johnson, and Anita Katz, of Ashe County Middle School, for “African Safari”. The grant will benefit 90 7th graders involved in a two week study of the African continent. They will construct African masks, tell African stories, collect data on vital statistics of Africa, create brochures on African countries, study the wildlife and visit the NC Zoo. The grant totaled $1,130.
Kevin Miller, of Westwood Elementary School, for “Walk, I Say” which will benefit 4th and 6th grade students. During physical education, the P.E. teacher will oversee walking to curicularly relevant places and provide fast facts about the destinations. Classroom teachers will provide more in-depth information and use the data collected from pedometers for math activities. The grant totaled $1,368.
Brenda Davis, Kelly Vannoy, Pat Maltba, Lisa Turnmyre, Jenny Johnson, of Mountain View Elementary School, for “Twinkle, Twinkle, I’m a Star.” The project will benefit Kindergarten students who will participate in the production of a children’s musical and will expose them to the art of music and drama on the “big stage”. The grant totaled $900.
Lesia Nave, of Westwood Elementary School, for “Kids Acting Out.” The project will benefit all students at Westwood Elementary. This project will implement drama/theater instruction during the regular music class by integrating units of studies from social studies, language arts, and science. Students will learn how to write a play, develop characters, design sets, create costumes and perform. The grant totaled $875.

Each September, Blue Ridge Electric seeks applications from area educators and principals serving grades K-12 in public schools. For the 2006-2007, Blue Ridge Electric received 50 Bright Ideas grant applications from schools in its service territory of Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Avery and Wilkes County. Across Blue Ridge Electric’s service area, funds totaling $17,997 are being awarded to 20 classrooms and teachers to benefit thousands of students, teachers and schools.

Blue Ridge Electric is celebrating its 13th year of offering Bright Ideas grants as part of its support and commitment to education. Since 1994, the cooperative has awarded nearly $231,000 in Bright Ideas grants that has impacted more than 65,000 students. Through the Bright Ideas grants program cooperatives across the state has provided over $4 million of support for local education initiatives.

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.

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