Coastal Electric Cooperative and its foundation awarded more than $22,000 in Bright Ideas grants to school teachers in Bryan, Liberty and McIntosh counties recently. The winning teachers were caught by surprise when the Bright Ideas Prize Patrol came to their classroom to present them with giant balloon bouquets, gifts and a presentation check.

The Prize Team visited classrooms in Bryan County on Oct. 9.

Mary Jo Fina of Richmond Hill High School won a $1,900 grant for her project “Children First — Pediatric CPR.” She will use the money to purchase three child CPR mannequins for her health, P.E., health-science and early childhood education classes. The project will give students the appropriate training of CPR for different size models. At least 25 percent of children dying each day could be saved with CPR. This simple addition of size-appropriate as training models increases the chances of survival for children.

Other grant winners from Bryan County were:

• Patricia Ann Bryant of Richmond Hill High School, $1,872 for her project, “Building Future Healthcare Workers.” Her grant will allow high-school students to learn health-care skills with the goal of preparing students to be knowledgeable and work-ready when entering the health-care field.

• Christy Crowley of Dr. George Washington Carver Elementary, $1,160 for her project, “Growing Healthy Eaters.” All students at the school will gain the skills and knowledge to become lifelong healthy eaters. The funds from this grant will be used to purchase building materials for raised beds, soil, seeds, gardening tools, a compost tumbler and rain barrels.

• Windi Holmes, also of Dr. George Washington Carver Elementary, $1,712 for her project, “Electrical Engineers Workshop.” This project will encourage and facilitate hands-on interactive learning by challenging the students to participate in cooperative learning groups while developing critical thinking skills. Students will investigate parallel and series circuits, magnetism and characterizing conductors and insulators.

• Patrick Welch of Richmond Hill Middle School, $1,732 for his project, “Making Connections.” This project is aimed at science, English and language arts students using LittleBit electronic building blocks to explore and experiment while learning about cause and effect relationships. LittleBits are a system of electronic circuitry that use magnets to establish connections.

• John Melcher of Richmond Hill Middle School, $1,384 for his project, “SOS — Pollinator Garden.” His project will help sixth-grade students plan, design and build a pollinator butterfly garden and outdoor learning center on an area of the school’s property.

• Wendy Dauphinee of Richmond Hill Middle School, $1,598 for her project, “Physics on the Go!” Students will use items on a mobile science-lab cart to conduct assigned labs linked to a Chromebook through a Golink. After students have conducted assigned labs, they will use the data collected on the LoggerPro-linked software to analyze and draw conclusions.  Students will be able to publish, share and compare the results with other groups as they complete the labs.

Since the program’s inception in 2002, more than $220,000 has been awarded to local teachers. The grants give teachers the power to put their creative teaching ideas into action. Applications are accepted from teachers instructing students in grades K-12.

Bright Ideas is made possible in part through the voluntary donations of the Cooperative’s members who participate in Operation Round Up, in which members allow their electric bills to be rounded up to the nearest whole dollar. Those nickels and dimes each month are turned over to the Coastal Electric Cooperative Foundation, which oversees the fund. The foundation uses the money to assist with food, health, shelter, safety and educational needs within the community.

Coastal Electric Cooperative is a customer-owned power supplier serving 17,000 members in Bryan, Liberty, Long and McIntosh counties. The co-op is headquartered in Midway.