From Tideland EMC

PANTEGO — Tideland Electric Membership Corp. recently awarded more than $14,000 in Bright Ideas grant funding during a banquet held at Deadwood in Bear Grass.

“The Bright Ideas program was established in 1994 to encourage and underwrite innovation in classroom education,” said Tideland EMC’s general manager and Chief Executive Officer Paul Spruill. “In the past 22 years, North Carolina’s electric co-ops have provided more than $9.1 million to support educational initiatives in all subject areas.”

In Beaufort County, grants were awarded to teachers Eric Godwin, Robin Potter, Lisa Staats, Brett O’Brien and Allen Bateman.

Godwin’s $1,991 grant will fund a raised bed garden at Washington High School. Potter’s $648 grant will be used to purchase innovative desks and seating to improve student health and attentiveness in her Chocowinity Middle School classroom. Staats hopes to positively impact students’ sedentary habits with her $576 grant to help Chocowinity Middle School participants prepare for a 5K race. O’Brien, a special needs teacher at John Cotten Tayloe Elementary, will use her $117 grant for caterpillar, tadpole and seed displays. At P.S. Jones Middle School, Allen Bateman’s grant of $1,265 will help students establish their own green business enterprise through the growing, harvesting and sale of fresh produce at a local market.

Teachers interested in applying for the next round of Bright Ideas grants may do so online in the spring of 2017 by visiting www.ncbrightideas.com.