OCS receives $1,371 grant from Great Lakes Energy

Fifth and sixth grade teacher Karrie Edwards and her students at Oceana Christian School in Hart accept a $1,371 grant awarded by Great Lakes Energy. The grant allows Edwards to purchase a LEGO® robotics construction set, software and activity packs, which will help students develop critical thinking skills as they learn about the science behind building and programming robot models.

HART — Oceana Christian School recently received a $1,371 grant from Great Lakes Energy for a LEGO® robotics construction set.

The grant allows OCS fifth and sixth grade teacher Karrie Edwards to purchase the robotics set, software and activity packs, which will help her students develop critical thinking skills as they learn about the science behind building and programming robot models.

Rising above the challenge of tight budgets, 13 West Michigan teachers who received $20,269 in grants from Great Lakes Energy’s 2014-2015 Touchstone Energy Classroom Grant Program will launch projects this year that tap into creative technology.

To date, Great Lakes Energy has awarded just over $52,700 in grants and funded 39 projects during the program’s three-year history. The program funds innovative technology projects not covered by traditional school funding.

The grants encourage teachers’ efforts to better engage students and enhance classroom education at all grade levels through introducing projects that use new technologies. This year marks the third year of the grant program, administered by local rural electric cooperative Great Lakes Energy.

“Our grants provide the opportunities for schools to expand their learning environment beyond just the ordinary,” according to Shari Culver, GLE’s vice president of communications and marketing. “The innovation shown in many of the grant applications makes us proud to support our local schools with this program.”

Touchstone Energy Classroom Grants are available to K-12 teachers who successfully apply each fall and whose schools serve children of GLE members. Grants are awarded up to a maximum of $2,000 per school district.

GLE collects applications from mid-September to mid-November with winning projects selected by a panel of judges. The application process reopens in September 2015. Learn more and see a complete list of 2014-2015 school year grant recipients at Great Lakes classroom grants.

Great Lakes Energy, the local Touchstone Energy electric cooperative, is owned by over 125,000 members in 26 counties throughout West Michigan.