FPL Grants $47,000 To Teachers Across Florida
Forty-three teachers across the state of Florida are recipients of a combined $47,000 in grants from Florida Power & Light Company's 2013 Teacher Grant program to support innovative, teacher-designed classroom projects. The projects aim to teach students about energy, its sources, and uses.
Teachers from more than 40 schools received grants ranging from $500 to $2,500 to fund projects including wind turbine generators, solar car and golf cart races, and cooking with the power of the sun. Brevard County came in second to Broward County for the most amount of grants awarded in Florida.
All
projects adhere to the Florida State Board of Education's Sunshine
State Standards. Teachers submitted proposals to be judged and selected
according to stated goals, energy curriculum content, creativity, and
plans for budget and evaluation. Completed projects may be featured on
FPL's Solar Station website at www.FPL.com/solarstations.
"FPL has consistently demonstrated a commitment to clean energy in
the community, and we're thrilled to partner with Florida's teachers to
bring exciting, innovative projects into the classroom to get their
students inspired to help us lead the way to tomorrow's clean energy
world," said Pam Rauch, vice president of Development and External Affairs for FPL.
FPL's Teacher Grant Program has cumulatively awarded more than $175,000
to 175 teachers across FPL's 35-county service territory over the past
four years. The grants are provided courtesy of the NextEra Energy
Foundation, which is funded by shareholders of FPL's parent company,
NextEra Energy, Inc., the nation's largest producer of renewable energy
from the wind and the sun.
Recipients are selected by the National Education Energy Development
project (NEED), a nonprofit organization working with energy companies
and agencies to bring balanced energy curriculum and training to the
nation's classrooms.
"While the importance of science and engineering education grows, school budgets are shrinking," said NEED Executive Director Mary Spruill.
"The Teacher Grant program, combined with curriculum support and
teacher training, steps up to help provide our schoolchildren the
opportunities they need to learn about energy."
FPL's Teacher Grant program is part of FPL's larger commitment to
clean energy in the state. Beyond the teacher projects, FPL has
installed Next Generation Solar Energy Station arrays at 14 educational
facilities across Florida and built three large-scale solar power plants
to supply power to its customers.
The winning teachers include:
BREVARD COUNTY:
- Apollo Elementary School – Elizabeth Faulkner
- Bayside High School – Naim Torlak
- Brevard Virtual School – Teresa Arrouet
- Heritage High School – Somer Y. Sutton
- Heritage High School – W. Randy Lyons
- Jupiter Elementary School – Sherry Love
- Jupiter Elementary School – Tonya Doughty and Christine Gayle
- Merritt Island High School/DaVinci Academy of Aerospace Technology – Joseph Harvey
- Ocean Breeze Elementary School – Holly Mentillo
- R.L. Stevenson School of the Arts – Stacey O'Connor and Tom Englert
BROWARD COUNTY:
- Apollo Middle School – Luis Espinosa
- Broward County Schools STEM and Instructional Resources Department – Rosina Bencivenga
- Coral Cove Elementary School – Barbara Grillo
- Eagle Point Elementary School – Emily Taggart
- Gator Run Elementary School – Susan Beren
- Hollywood Park Elementary School – Eileen Santiago
- New River Middle School – Barbara Humphreys
- Nova Blanche Forman Elementary School – Marjorie Archer
- Panther Run Elementary – Nicole Williams
- Pembroke Pines Charter High School – Lianne Haviland
- South Broward High School – Milijan Milos
- Western High School – Chin Tang Liu
COLLIER COUNTY:
- Oasis Middle School – Lori McLain
- Pinecrest Elementary School – Carlene M. Grossi
FLAGLER COUNTY:
- Belle Terre Elementary – Edward Wolff
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY:
- Sebastian Charter Junior High School – Cathleen Tinder
LEE COUNTY:
- Colonial Elementary School – Kimberly Clements
MANATEE COUNTY:
- James Tillman Elementary School – Karen Cobb
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY:
- Carrolton School of the Sacred Heart – Nancy Susana Chu
- Rockway Middle School – Rosa Milagros Rengifo
- South Miami Middle Community School – Susanne Banas
- Whispering Pines Elementary – Dianne Rizo and Ana Ugarte
PALM BEACH COUNTY:
- A.D. Henderson University School – Allan Phipps
- South Tech Academy – Meghan Hess
- Warfield Elementary School – Lisa Knapp
SARASOTA COUNTY:
- Manatee High School – Patricia Harris
- Sarasota School of Arts and Sciences – Carlos Hernandez
- Wakeland Elementary School of International Studies – Edward Hashey
ST. LUCIE COUNTY:
- Mariposa Elementary School – Adam Archer
- Morningside Elementary School – Mollie Mukhamedov
- Rivers Edge Elementary School – Margo Barnes
- Rivers Edge Elementary School – Matries Florio (winner of two grants this year)
VOLUSIA COUNTY:
- Deltona High School – John Clark
SOURCE Florida Power & Light Company