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The Kinston School Bright Ideas grant recipient is Kelly Flowers and she is pictured with Principal Megan Driggers.

Pleasant Home School Bright Ideas grant recipients include from left: Tony Wilson, Trinity Riley, Megan Pinckard, and Principal Amber McKathan.

Red Level School Bright Ideas grant recipients include from left: Heather Blackwell, Marilyn Daniels, Todd Smith, Heather Griffin, Jenny Henderson and Hayden Raines.

Straughn Elementary School Bright Ideas grant recipients include from left, front row: Kim Studstill, Christa Clifton, Monica Fallin, Bailey Bryan and Shawna Hall. From left, back row: Stephanie Phillips, Kim Arnett, Alison Eubanks, Kerry Strickland and Joyce Mitchell. Not pictured are Mandi Morris and Andrew Lowery.

Straughn Middle School Bright Ideas grant recipients include Cora Bush and Stan Gooden.

Straughn High School Bright Ideas grant recipients include Jordan Wood, Stephen Bowen and Tina Shiver. Not pictured are Daniel Walden and Calen Lowery.

Covington Electric Cooperative (CEC) recently awarded grants totaling $17,195 to 30 teachers (including individuals and teams) at schools served by the cooperative. The grants will enable these teachers to implement exciting projects in their classrooms that might not otherwise be possible.

CEC offers the Bright Ideas grant program each year to help teachers with learning initiatives that are not covered by traditional funding. The program is available to K4-12 teachers at schools served electrically by CEC. Individual teachers can apply for grants from $250 up to $750, while teams of teachers are eligible to apply for a maximum of $1,500.

“The CEC board of trustees is proud to support educational opportunities that benefit students in our area,” said Ed Short, CEC general manager. “This year, we received 16 grant applications from local teachers through the Bright Ideas program and were able to fully fund every request. Typically, the requests for funding exceed grant availability and we’re not able to fund all projects, but that was not the case this year. Even though we received fewer applications than in recent years, the projects funded through this program will benefit more than 2,000 students.”

Grant recipients include teachers at Kinston School, Pleasant Home School, Straughn High School, Straughn Middle School, Straughn Elementary School, and Red Level School. “Some of the classroom projects include STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) materials that help students create complex things, share ideas and improve their STEM skills, as well as a robotics program, creative art initiatives, and several other innovative projects,” said Short. “The teachers who receive grants are always very appreciative, and we hope that all educators know how much we appreciate their dedication and hard work.”

CEC is an electric distribution cooperative that serves approximately 23,400 meters in parts of six counties which include: Covington, Coffee, Geneva, Dale, Crenshaw and Escambia.

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