Coastal Electric Cooperative Foundation brought big smiles and even bigger surprises to classrooms across Bryan, Liberty, and McIntosh counties, awarding over $50,000 in Bright Ideas Education Grants to local teachers – the most Bright Ideas grants ever awarded by the Foundation in a single year.
Thanks to co-op members who allow their electric bills to be rounded up to the next whole dollar as part of Operation Round Up, these grants turn innovative classroom project ideas into reality.
Grant awards will fund projects benefitting students from early elementary through high school in various areas of learning – core subjects, the arts and even career readiness.
Since 2002, the Coastal Electric Cooperative Foundation has awarded around half a million dollars through the Bright Ideas program, empowering educators to bring creativity to life in their classrooms.
Liberty County High School
“Bridging Fine Art and Digital Design” By Catherine Ward $1,996 awarded
- Students will learn digital design skills by recreating handdrawn sketches into vectorized and layered designs.
- Students will develop a hybrid studio model that bridges physical artmaking with industry standard digital design.
Snelson-Golden Middle School “Protecting Georgia’s Coast” By Jennifer McDaniel $1,860 awarded
- Students will identify solutions to beach erosion, marsh loss and flooding by using stream tables and physical models.
- Students will construct erosion-control structures, evaluate their effectiveness using simulation models, and communicate their findings through claim-evidence- reasoning writing and presentations.
Taylors Creek Elementary School
“Roots in Transition” By Tiffany Leon-Peterson $1,386 awarded
- Students will grow plants in a hydroponic system and then transplant seedlings into mobile raised garden beds.
- Students will assess and collect weather conditions data to determine the most beneficial growing locations around their campus.
Joseph Martin Elementary School “Feathered Friends Avian Architecture Lab” By Sierra Roberts $1,748 awarded
- Students will build species- specific cedar nesting boxes and gravity-fed feeders to research local bird populations.
- Students will practice data analysis, mapping biodiversity and tracking avian behavior using a solar-powered smart camera.
“Coastal Engineering Challenge” By Katie Sanders $2,000 awarded
- Students will build model coastal environments, investigate how moving water changes
Golden Middle School received a Coastal Electric Bright Ideas grant for “Protecting Georgia’s Coast.”
Earth’s surface and collect data on erosion.
- After analyzing their initial results, students will identify a problem and develop a design intended to reduce erosion.
Liberty College and Career Academy “Code Breakout: Unlocking Patient Care Excellence” By Denisia Pope $1,592 awarded
- Students will participate in an escape room activity in which they must solve real-life patient scenarios using real-time analysis of vitals and deductive thinking.
- Students will collaborate, communicate and think critically under realistic conditions that mirror the teamwork required in healthcare settings.
Bradwell Institute
“Pages to Podcasts” By Sherae Howell, April Smiley and Heather Ogden $1,640 awarded
- Students will use podcasting and vlogging as a medium to discuss book reports, publishing their projects for school viewing.
- Students will develop audio/ video media skills and build upon their literacy while completing book reports in a modern format.
“Waste to Wonder” By Atsuko Smith, Sara Wieber, Jody Knopf, Jeremy Meadows and Sara Ruffini $1,990 awarded
- Students will transform discarded school and household materials into full-scale, prom-inspired wearable artwork.
- Students will investigate material properties, durability and environmental impact of diverting the waste.
Liberty Elementary School
“Cub Coders: Press Start for STEM!”
By Natalie Mondesir $1,993 awarded
- Students will design their own video game characters, settings, storylines, dialogue, challenges, scoring systems and game levels connected to reading comprehension, vocabulary, sequencing and story elements.
