Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative (CCEC) and the Carteret-Craven Electric Foundation have awarded more than $30,000 in Bright Ideas education grants to 39 educators in Carteret County and Havelock to fund creative, engaging projects for their classrooms. More than 10,000 area students will benefit from this investment in education, made possible by their local electric cooperative.
“Educators who receive Bright Ideas grants are making a meaningful difference in our classrooms and our communities,” said Melissa Glenn, communications director at CCEC. “Their creativity and commitment to student success shine through in the innovative projects they bring to life, and we’re proud to stand beside them in supporting the future of local education.”
Since the Bright Ideas grant program began in 1994, CCEC has contributed more than $676,000 to local teachers. Grants are awarded for projects in all subject areas, including music, art, history, reading, science, math, and more. Bright Ideas grants support local teachers with creative ideas to increase innovation, expand learning opportunities, and enhance student success in PreK-12 classrooms.
CCEC is one of 26 electric cooperatives in North Carolina offering Bright Ideas grants to local teachers. Over the past 31 years, North Carolina’s electric cooperatives collectively have awarded more than $16.5 million in Bright Ideas funding for more than 15,000 projects benefiting nearly four million students statewide.
Bright Ideas grant applications are accepted by the co-op each year from April through mid-September, and winning proposals are selected in a competitive evaluation process by a panel of judges. The application process will reopen for interested teachers in April 2026.
The Bright Ideas grant program is part of Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative’s ongoing commitment to building a brighter future through community support of education.
Follow CCEC on Facebook @CarteretCraven to see how programs, such as Bright Ideas, are impacting local students and communities. To learn more about Bright Ideas grants, visit ccemc.com/Community and follow @NCBrightIdeas on Facebook and Twitter.
2025 Bright Ideas Education Grant Winners
| SCHOOL | GRANT RECIPIENT | PROJECT |
| A Sea of Learning | Taylor Morris | Little Sprouts, Big Dreams: Growing Gardens, Growing Minds |
| Beaufort Elementary | Emily Webster | Lighting the Way to Calm |
| Beaufort Elementary | Keith Jayne & Karin Ernst | Bridging the Gap: Inclusive Learning with 3D Printing |
| Bogue Sound Elementary | Tony Lee Dowdy Jr. | Shadow's Strings |
| Bridges Alternative School | Cynthia Ackerson Delafuente & Team | Hands-on Aquaponics Barrel and Farming Project |
| Broad Creek Middle | Mallory Munden | Aquaponics: A study of sustainability and energy cycling |
| Broad Creek Middle | Rob Condie & Team | "Resilience in Music: Soundscapes of Nature" |
| Broad Creek Middle | Heather Blackwell | Picture Books for Special Olympians |
| Carteret Preschool Center | Christie Seiler | STEM Explorers: A Sensory Science Lab for Pre-K |
| Croatan High School | Wendy Gartner & Roger Whaley | The Croatan Outdoor Learning Environment |
| Down East Middle School | Charlotte Johnson | Flexible Seating in the Middle School Classroom |
| East Carteret High | Melissa Perritt | Books & Breezes: A Courtyard Reading Retreat |
| Gramercy Christian School | Amanda Cox | Forces of Flight: Wind Tunnel Design Lab for Young Engineers |
| Harkers Island Elementary | Ashley Surfass | Stepping into the Future |
| Morehead City Elementary | Christopher Langdon | Keys to Success |
| Morehead City Elementary | Susan Merrell | Growing our Minds by Getting our Hands Dirty |
| Morehead City Elementary | Kelly Riley | The Camp Glenn Caldecott Challenge |
| Morehead City Primary | Carla Starnes | The Calculus Cruiser, Mobile Math Unit |
| Morehead City Primary | Claire Ross | Third Grade Thinkers |
| Morehead City Primary | Amanda Ruffin McCall | Hear It, Read It, Love It! |
| Morehead City Primary | Stephanie Hartley | Full STEM Ahead |
| Newport Elementary | Emily Golightly | Bringing Books to Life! Spreading the Joy of Reading Through Read-Aloud Manipulatives |
| Newport Elementary | Janelle Bryson | Get it Write! |
| Newport Middle School | Stacey Stehle | Solar Science in Action-Sun Sensation! |
| Newport Middle School | Todd M Stehle | Seeing is Believing: An Immersive Optical & Auditory Illusion Classroom |
| Newport Middle School | Sequoia Sady | Empowering Future Innovators: Enhancing STEM Career Education Through 3D Printing Technology |
| Newport Middle School | Mackenzie Staten | Clay Traditions: NC Folk Art & Beyond |
| Smyrna Elementary School | Dawn M Simpson & Charlotte Johnson | ParkQuest- Real World National Park Engineering Design Challenge |
| Tiller School | Sarah Harker Leary | The Pixel Craft Lab 2.0 -Media & Makers Expansion |
| West Carteret High School | Jessica Waugh | West Carteret High School Stormwater Study |
| West Carteret High School | Lorena Llano-Herbst | Empowering Heritage Spanish Learners through a Comprehensive Curriculum |
| West Carteret High School | Carl Briscoe | Igniting STEM Innovation: Integrating a Bambu Lab 3D Printer for Project-Based Learning |
| White Oak Elementary | Molly Anttila | Step into Reading: Providing students with leveled texts that will grow with them |
| White Oak Elementary | Marie Foxworth | Bright Bots: Boosting Brainpower with Wonder Workshop |
| Annunciation Catholic School | Bethany Strange &
Norma Fulton |
Unearthing the Past: A Fossil Adventure Across Subjects |
| Early College EAST High | Pamela Slater | DNA in Action: Models to Molecules |
| Havelock High | Megan Smith | Developing our Sensors |
| Havelock High | Kaye Nesbit | The Flora Fable |
| Tucker Creek Middle School | Elsa Simmons | Mission: Materials – Fueling Hands-On Science in 8th Grade |