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Blue Ridge Electric Awards Bright Ideas Grants to Teachers

Left to right: Rae Filsinger, Dacia Trethewey, Emily Edwards, Kim Shields, Joelle Poore. Back row: Superintendent Dr. Scott Elliott, Parkway Principal Melissa Costin, Kelly Beckley, Kim James, Barbara Myers, Kimberly Tufts and Cranberry Principal Justin Carver.
Left to right, front row: Rae Filsinger, Dacia Trethewey, Emily Edwards, Kim Shields, Joelle Poore.
Back row: Superintendent Dr. Scott Elliott, Parkway Principal Melissa Costin, Kelly Beckley, Kim James, Barbara Myers, Kimberly Tufts and Cranberry Principal Justin Carver.

Nov. 5, 2014. Exciting, hands-on learning projects are coming to local classrooms thanks to more than $6,300 in Bright Ideas grants awarded today by Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation to seven educators during a luncheon at Blue Ridge Electric’s Watauga district office.

Bright Ideas is an academic grants program sponsored by Blue Ridge Electric in conjunction with 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.

Watauga and Avery County grant winners are:

Kim Shields and teammates Barbara Myers, Kelly Beckley, and Kim James of Hardin Park Elementary for “Lighting Up Minds with Hands-On Equations.” The grant of $565 will purchase pawns, dice, and a balance to help students have a solid understanding of algebraic equations as they manipulate pieces to form equations that show equality.

Rae Filsinger of Parkway Elementary  for “Shutterbugs: Manic Flutter or Compassionate Flight?” This $770 grant will be used to bring awareness to cyberbullying and the alarming number of young children on online social media sites where abuse of images is rampant. This project sets out to cultivate foundations and comprehension of the great impacts visual representation can make.

Emily Edwards of Mabel Elementary for “Developing Future Engineers through Robotics.” This $776 grant will allow students to use robotics and apply real-world science and mathematics, as well as think critically and analytically about programming.

Dacia Trethewey and teammates Lori Hill, Susan Dunn, and Whit Whitaker of Watauga High School for “Brilliant Glass in Class—Across Cultures and the Curriculum.” This $950 grant will be used to engage students in the exciting media of creative glass using a kiln donated by a local foundation. Creative glass spans rich histories of glass across time, cultures, and curriculum areas.
Thomas Brown and teammate Kimberly Marland of Watauga High School for “Bridging an Unexpected Gap for Robotics.” This $1,380 grant will be used to help the “Robotics Club” by purchasing a computer to run an existing 3D printer. The printer will be used to manufacture specialized parts designed and developed by the club.

Kimberly Tufts of Cranberry Middle for “Searching for Identity.” This $900 grant will allow students to learn from the self-expression of others and the insight provided by an author’s fictional characters and circumstances to formulate their own identity and potential impact on society and culture.

Joelle Poore of Cranberry Middle for “Squishy Circuits, Robots, and Raspberry Pi.” This $1,000 grant allows students to learn how computers work.  They will build robots and learn how to write computer programs in Python, Java, and HTML.

Blue Ridge Electric received 94 applications for the 2014-2015 school year from schools in its service area of Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Wilkes and Avery counties. Funds totaling $21,307 were awarded to 24 schools which benefited many area students and communities. To date, Blue Ridge Electric has awarded more than $386,000 and provided direct funding assistance that has had an impact on over 100,000 local students. Blue Ridge Electric is part of several North Carolina electric cooperatives providing Bright Ideas grants. Together, they have provided more than $ 9.1 million for classroom projects impacting over 1.6 million students in North Carolina.

Blue Ridge Electric is a member-owned electric cooperative serving some 74,000 members in Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany, Avery, Alexander and Wilkes counties.

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.