Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) alumna Joselyn Johnson was awarded a Colquitt Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) Bright Ideas Grant for her winning classroom literacy project entitled “Read with Me.” Johnson graduated from SRTC with her Early Childhood Care and Education degree and completed her education at Grand Canyon University. She is now a 2nd grade teacher at Annie Belle Clark Elementary School in Tift County. Johnson’s winning project will encourage literacy in her classroom by creating a comfortable reading space for her students that will further reading skills, such as fluency and comprehension. With the grant money, Johnson purchased classroom supplies including a reading rug, new books for her classroom library, and headphones for each student to help with the school’s online literacy program “One of Tift County's main goals for all the students to be on grade level in reading by 3rd grade. Being a second grade teacher, I feel it is my duty to promote reading starting in my classroom. In order to do that, I must first engage my students,” said Johnson.
Colquitt EMC began sponsoring the Bright Ideas Grants to support teachers with funding to put their creative ideas into action. Funding for the grants comes from the cooperative’s unclaimed capital credit fund. This year, Colquitt EMC awarded over $17,750 to teachers across its service territory. Colquitt EMC is a member-owned, electric cooperative that provides electricity to more than 47,000 members in Berrien, Brooks, Colquitt, Cook, Lowndes, Tift and Worth counties.