News
Bright Ideas Grant Winners
October 12, 2009
HTC and HEC Celebrate national Cooperative Month and Award $3,000 in Bright Ideas Grants to Teachers
HTC (Horry Telephone Cooperative) and HEC (Horry Electric Cooperative) joined forces once again to help kick-off October as National Cooperative Month in Horry County. In doing so, the two locally owned cooperative companies awarded $3,000 in grants for Horry County teachers. HTC, the local telecommunications cooperative, and HEC, the electric cooperative, are both responsible for generating hundreds of jobs while supporting local causes ranging from education to the environment.
HTC and HEC launched the Bright Ideas program in January 2007 with the hopes of providing funding for innovative classroom-based education projects. “Bright Ideas” grants are intended to fund projects outside normal public school funding parameters and can be made available to all disciplines in grades K-12 in Horry County. A school may submit an application, and teachers are limited to one application per year.
“Many teachers develop innovative classroom projects, but do not have the funds to implement the projects,” says Nicole Hyman, HTC senior marketing coordinator. “We were very pleased with the applications from various schools throughout Horry County, and we are excited to announce that through the Bright Ideas program HTC and HEC will be able to help fund three of those projects.”
HTC and HEC recently visited three schools in the area to deliver $3,000 in grant money. Pamela Johnson and Chris Whittaker, Special Education Teachers at Aynor High School, received $1,000 to purchase a Smartboard to enhance instruction for special needs students. Amanda Hitchcock, teacher at Kingston Elementary School, received $1,000 to purchase a Smartboard for innovation to all the students in her classroom. Bryn Tomaro, teacher at Loris Elementary, received $1,000 for a Hearing is Achieving project to purchase classroom amplification systems for improving the listening and learning environment of at-risk students.
“We were very impressed with the requests and are especially proud that all grants presented this year are funded through the Co-Op Cup Golf Tournament hosted by HTC and HEC employees in October,” says Toni Gore, HEC marketing and public relations assistant.
The Bright Ideas grant program is just one of the many programs HTC and HEC implement in the educational sector of Horry County. For more information about the Bright Ideas grant program or other educational programs for local schools, visit www.htcinc.net, www.htcschool.com or www.horryelectric.com. Feel free to contact Nicole Hyman, HTC Senior Marketing Coordinator at 369-8498 or Toni Gore, HEC Marketing and Public Relations Assistant at 369-6359.
Kingston Elementary School (left to right): Nicole Hyman, HTC; Amanda Hitchcock, K-2 Special Education Teacher, Mary Anderson, Principal; Toni Gore, HEC
Loris Elementary School (left to right): Nicole Hyman, HTC; Mark Porter, Principal; Bryn Tomaro, K-5 Teacher; Toni Gore, HEC
HTC, Inc. is the nation’s largest telephone cooperative and the 18th largest telephone company. Founded in 1952, HTC celebrates over 55 years of service to the community as a local communications leader. HTC offers local telephone service, long distance, Digital Wireless, Digital Cable, High-Speed Internet Access, and advanced Business Services such as Remote Recovery Services, Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) design, firewall and Virtual Private Network (VPN) security. HTC Communications, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of HTC, Inc., offers local telephone service in the city of Conway, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Little River, Pawleys Island and the city of Georgetown. A full menu of communications services are available from HTC Communications including, local telephone service, long distance, Digital Wireless, Digital Cable and High-Speed Internet access. HTC also provides Fiber to the Home technology called HTC Bluewave, a state-of-the-art fiber optic network that delivers unparalleled bandwidth for extremely high-speed Internet access and data transmittal, 100% digital cable TV video, and traditional voice service through a single delivery point to a customer’s home.
Horry Electric Cooperative is one of twenty electric cooperatives in South Carolina. Serving more than 62,000 customers in Horry County, the Cooperative is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative. Touchstone Energy is a national alliance of local, consumer-owned electric cooperatives providing high standards of service to customers large and small. More than 600 Touchstone Energy cooperatives in 44 states are delivering energy and energy solutions to more than 16 million customers every day. Touchstone Energy cooperatives serve their members with integrity, accountability, innovation and a longstanding commitment to communities.
