Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation (BEMC) proudly celebrated a record-breaking year for its Bright Ideas education grant program, awarding $62,000 to 57 local teachers during its annual Bright Ideas Awards Luncheon on Thursday, Nov. 6 at the BEMC headquarters in Supply.<\/p>\n
The grants will fund innovative classroom projects designed to enhance student learning in Brunswick and Columbus counties. This marks the largest total amount ever distributed through BEMC\u2019s Bright Ideas program, underscoring the cooperative\u2019s continued commitment to supporting education and inspiring creativity in local schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur teachers are doing incredible work to engage and inspire students every day,\u201d said Josh Winslow, BEMC CEO. \u201cWe\u2019re honored to help bring their Bright Ideas to life and proud to invest in the future of our communities through education.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s milestone coincides with the 31st anniversary of the Bright Ideas program. Since its inception in 1994, BEMC has awarded more than $800,000 in grants to local educators. The program began as a local initiative and has since expanded statewide, with North Carolina\u2019s electric cooperatives collectively funding thousands of creative classroom projects that have reached countless students across the state.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s celebration also marked the introduction of the Fred Mason Legacy Award, a new recognition honoring the life and influence of Fred Mason, a local teacher who touched countless lives before his passing last year. In his memory, BEMC awarded a $2,000 grant to Columbus Career and College Academy to help continue his lifelong mission of sparking curiosity and creativity in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cFred Mason\u2019s enthusiasm for education was contagious,\u201d said Dan Strickland, BEMC Board of Directors. \u201cThrough this award, we hope to carry forward the same spirit of innovation and care that he shared with every student.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Brunswick County Schools (BCS) recipients are:<\/p>\n
Belville Elementary School<\/p>\n
Holly Majewski<\/p>\n
Building Futures: Engaging Students in STEM Through LEGO Coding Robots<\/p>\n
Belville Elementary School<\/p>\n
Kristen Allen<\/p>\n
Writing is “Groovy”<\/p>\n
Bolivia Elementary School<\/p>\n
Lauren Harabin<\/p>\n
Building Strong Readers Brick by Brick with Legos<\/p>\n
Bolivia Elementary School<\/p>\n
Kim Dionisio<\/p>\n
Learning Should Be Fun!<\/p>\n
Cedar Grove Middle School<\/p>\n
John S Holleman Jr<\/p>\n
Doing the Cedar Grove Bulldogs WHY TRY RESILIENCY Classroom Shuffle!<\/p>\n
Jessie Mae Monroe Elementary School<\/p>\n
Betsy O’Hara<\/p>\n
Two Schools, One Book: Building Unity in the Community through Reading<\/p>\n
Jessie Mae Monroe Elementary School<\/p>\n
Melissa Schweitzer<\/p>\n
STEM in Mrs. Schweitzer’s Class<\/p>\n
Leland Middle School<\/p>\n
Lizette Day<\/p>\n
Hands on Science Fun and Games<\/p>\n
Lincoln Elementary School<\/p>\n
Bethany Ables<\/p>\n
Room Transformation Closet<\/p>\n
Lincoln Elementary School<\/p>\n
Misty K Kirkpatrick<\/p>\n
Communicating through Literacy<\/p>\n
North Brunswick High School<\/p>\n
Merry Noyes<\/p>\n
LitFlix Studio: Exploring Language, Story, and Self Through Video Production<\/p>\n
North Brunswick High School<\/p>\n
Noah Blanton<\/p>\n
Tide to Table: Hands-On Marine Science Exploration<\/p>\n
North Brunswick High School<\/p>\n
Jamie Smith<\/p>\n
BCS Science Olympiad Invitational<\/p>\n
North Brunswick High School<\/p>\n
Jamie Smith<\/p>\n
The Lab Challenge<\/p>\n
South Brunswick High School<\/p>\n
Daniel Corbett<\/p>\n
SBHS JROTC Stop The Bleed Training<\/p>\n
South Brunswick High School<\/p>\n
Erica Sypole<\/p>\n
Labbin’ it Up!<\/p>\n
South Brunswick High School<\/p>\n
Nan Sellers<\/p>\n
Lab Coats for Chemistry<\/p>\n
South Brunswick High School<\/p>\n
Mario Lawrence<\/p>\n
Lab Supplies for Earth and Environmental Science<\/p>\n
Southeastern Christian Academy<\/p>\n
Melodie Bryant<\/p>\n
Wired for Learning<\/p>\n
Southeastern Christian Academy<\/p>\n
Shanta Vaught Johnson<\/p>\n
Safe Steps for Little Feet<\/p>\n
Southport Christian Academy<\/p>\n
Sarah White<\/p>\n
Flexible Seating<\/p>\n
Southport Elementary School<\/p>\n
Danielle Salerno<\/p>\n
Enhancing Behavioral Supports through Access to Color Visuals<\/p>\n
Supply Elementary School<\/p>\n
Dawn Schulte<\/p>\n
Motion Makers: Young Minds Engineering Cardboard Automata<\/p>\n
The COAST<\/p>\n
Christopher Anselmo<\/p>\n
Firefighting Technology Roof Ventilation Training Prop<\/p>\n
Town Creek Elementary School<\/p>\n
Brittany Lewis<\/p>\n
Cutting Into Creativity: ChompSaws for Young Makers<\/p>\n
Town Creek Middle School<\/p>\n
Claire Herrington<\/p>\n
Robots Rising<\/p>\n
Town Creek Middle School<\/p>\n
Claire Herrington<\/p>\n
Get your MOTOR Running<\/p>\n
Union Elementary School<\/p>\n
Christine Crozier<\/p>\n
School Garden<\/p>\n
Union Elementary School<\/p>\n
Kristen Peterson<\/p>\n
Two Schools, One Book: Building Unity in the Community through Reading<\/p>\n
Virginia Williamson Elementary School<\/p>\n
Amanda C. Stone<\/p>\n
Creating a Calming Corner to Support Emotional Regulation<\/p>\n
Waccamaw School<\/p>\n
Christina A. Long<\/p>\n
Scholastic News for the Second Grade<\/p>\n
West Brunswick High School<\/p>\n
Anna Barefoot Saunders<\/p>\n
Shining a Light on Student Journalism<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
About the Bright Ideas Grant Program<\/p>\n
Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation established the Bright Ideas education grant program in 1994 to support local K\u201312 educators with creative projects that otherwise would not receive funding. Teachers can apply for grants of up to $2,000 to enhance classroom instruction and student engagement.<\/p>\n
About Brunswick Electric<\/p>\n
Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation is a not-for-profit electric cooperative serving more than 100,000 members in Brunswick, Columbus, Bladen and Robeson counties. BEMC is committed to empowering its communities through reliable energy, innovation and local investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation (BEMC) proudly celebrated a record-breaking year for its Bright Ideas education grant program, awarding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3729,3,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-302809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-local","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}