Blue Ridge Electric and area schools are celebrating bright ideas of teachers and staff in a number of classrooms—and rewarding the bright ideas with some cash.

BREMCO received some 70 proposals from teachers for classroom and school projects in schools in Watauga, Avery, Ashe, Caldwell, and Wilkes, and turned that into 23 awards totaling just under $20,000.  In the 17 years of the annual project, BREMCO has awarded over $305,000 for projects affecting some 80,000 students.  Winning projects this year included an edible yield from an energy-efficient greenhouse, reading club for boys, flexible thinking, imaginative play, hands-on literacy, weather, and even a project for creating a hard-cover personal book. 
The entire list is on the BREMCO website, http://www.blueridgeemc.com/in-the-community/bright_ideas_grants.asp