PEMBROKE — Lumbee River EMC is awarding more than $20,000 to nine teachers through the Bright Ideas education grants program.

“The students are the real beneficiaries of the Bright Ideas grant,” said Shawn Hunt, LREMC interim CEO. “We are committed to improving the lives of students in our communities by helping improve the quality of education they have access to.”

The recipients are Sylvia Beckham, Seventy-First Classical Middle; Kim Brown, Sycamore Lane Elementary; Laura Ashley Clark, Pembroke Middle; Matthew Jackson, Scurlock Elementary; Donna Pope, John Griffin Middle; Joanna Powell, Tanglewood Elementary; Vernon Walworth, Hoke County High; Cindy Ward, Piney Grove Elementary; and Rhonda Willoughby, Southeastern Academy.

The grants are awarded annually by LREMC for projects that improve classroom instruction and utilize innovative teaching methods. Teachers from various disciplines, including music, art, history, reading, science, technology, math and engineering, submit projects for consideration. Projects must provide ongoing benefits to students, seek to achieve clearly defined goals and learning objectives, use innovative and creative teaching methods, and have measurable results evaluated upon completion.

Applications are accepted by LREMC each year from April through September. Winning proposals are selected in a blind evaluation process by an independent panel of judges. The application process will reopen for interested teachers in April 2021.