Five RHM teachers win more than $10K in NC Bright Ideas grants

ROSE HILL — Innovation, creativity and diligence to engage the minds of local students paid off for five dedicated teachers at Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary School as Four County Electric Membership Corporation recently announced its NC Bright Ideas grant winners.

TaNisha Jones, Jasmine Jones, Tanya Novakowski, Sulnora Oluyemi and Tim Mateer, are five of 21 educators who won NC Bright Ideas grants, bringing home a total of $10,489.44 to fund their school projects. T. Jones received $1,950 for her project Sphero Indi Education Robot, J. Jones received $1,572.86 for her project PocketLab for thermal Energy Exploration, Novakowski received $1,316.58 for her project Water, water, everywhere!, Oluyemi received $1,900 for her project Visual Art, STEAMA, Social Studies, Math, 21st Century skills, and Mateer was awarded $1,875 for his project LEGO & I’m in the KNow!

Mateer, RHM Elementary School STEAMA teacher shared that any teacher who  comes up with a great idea for their classroom can “write a grant for it and very possibly get it funded” through the program. 

“It is a godsend to us teachers… Most of us can’t just take that out of our pockets and go out and buy it,” he added.

“I tell teachers ‘Look, you’ve got this dream where you want to do something that’s really cool, here’s your opportunity to do it, and you don’t have to have money out of your pocket,’” said Mateer. “Duplin Schools does not have funds to pay for stuff that are above and beyond the normal curriculum for teachers either.”

Mateer’s Lego project teaches kids about forces and how forces work in everyday life.

“It teaches them motion, and it teaches them the push and the pull and all of that by building a Lego figure and then it actually acts it out and it shows them how that force is used,” said Mateer. ”This is a perfect way to teach forces to these kids and they’ll never forget it. But it’s also a blast.”

“There’s a lot of exciting stuff that’s going on and the kids love it,” said Mateer to the Duplin Journal. “My goal is for the kids to get excited about education, that’s what I’m all about and if I can get them to be excited about that, then I’ll keep writing grants as much as I can.”

“We are honored to award $28,000 to 21 exceptional educators, empowering them to implement groundbreaking classroom projects. Witnessing the positive impact on over 2,500 students in Bladen, Duplin, Pender, and Sampson counties is truly inspiring. Congratulations to these education trailblazers; we can’t wait to see what they come up with next year,” said Molly Giffin with Four County Electric Membership Corporation.