Cherry Jackson, a teacher at Lockhart Elementary School won $1,481 to fund a project called “School of Ember,” while Wendell Elementary School teacher Beth Maynor won $1,529 for the purchase of iPads to work with speech therapy students. Kelly Lister, at Wendell Middle School, won a $872 grant to put on a program called “Help Everyone Receive and Education.”

Wake Electric awarded 24 teachers in Granville, Johnston, Wake and Vance counties Bright Ideas grants, totaling more than $50,000.

The grants can be used for a variety of class-room programs throughout the school year, according to a copmpany representative.

“Wake Electric is a big supporter of education,” said Darnell Alford, Business Operations Specialist and Bright Ideas coordinator for Wake Electric, “and we are proud to once again award Bright Ideas grants to deserving local teachers.”

Wake Electric offers Bright Ideas grants to teachers and administrators at schools operating in counties Wake Electric serves.

Bright Ideas, sponsored by North Carolina’s electric cooperatives, which includes Wake Electric strives to improve education in North Carolina’s classrooms by awarding grants to teachers in grades K-12 for innovative, classroom-based projects that would not otherwise be funded.

The Bright Ideas grant program has funded more than 7,000 projects and awarded more than $7.3 million in grant monies to deserving North Carolina teachers. The overall Bright Ideas program reached more than 103,000 students last year alone and has touched more than 1.3 million students over the life of the program.

Wake Electric’s Bright Ideas grant program has awarded more than $580,000 to area educators since 1994. To learn more about the grant program, visit www.ncbrightideas.com or Wake Electric’s website at wemc.com/brightideas.aspx.