From sensory gardens to student-constructed ferris wheels, Berkeley County School District teachers have some innovative projects in the works.
Thirty educators/employees from 15 BCSD schools were able to secure funding – either individually or as a team – through Berkeley Electric Cooperative’s 2023 Bright Ideas Education Program.
The program supports innovative and effective classroom education curriculum that cannot be covered by traditional school financing. Individual teachers can apply for grants up to $1,000 while teams of teachers are eligible for grants up to $1,500.
Teachers in public and private schools, K-12 in Berkeley Electric Cooperative’s service area are eligible to participate. Grants are awarded for projects in any discipline and are intended to help teachers within Berkeley Electric Cooperative’s service area produce a better-educated workforce. The grants are designed to help teachers introduce innovative teaching methods.
Grants are awarded annually in a competitive evaluation process. This year, with the support of the community, Berkeley Electric was able to distribute more than $35,000 to 30 different educational projects across the Lowcountry, supporting teachers and their classrooms.
Congratulations to three teams of teachers from Stratford High on scoring Bright Ideas Grants for different projects!
Special services teachers Kelsey Henson and Seth Hydrick are using the money to fund a music therapist named Jennifer Gossett to come out to the school on a weekly basis and provide their students with 45 minutes of music therapy. Gossett has practiced in the Charleston area since 2012 and became specially certified as a Neurologic Music Therapist in 2017.
Media technology teacher Stella McCombs and culinary arts teacher Carl Calvert are joining together to offer a different food option at lunch for the student body. Calvert’s students will prepare the food items, and McCombs’s students will promote and sell the food items. These experiences will allow for real-world career-building skills between the two classes. Both classes will also use the funds for future competitions and projects for both programs.
Science teachers Sonya Marriott and Kevin Tamayo plan to use their earnings to create a gardening space outside of their classroom. The garden will include raised beds and large flower pots, and hopefully some rain barrels and composters. The teachers said it will not just serve as a garden, but as a space to complete experiments on plants.