The Mississippi Power Education Foundation has awarded 24 grants totaling $74,596 to schools throughout the service area.

The largest award was a $32,000 grant to Jones County Junior College that will be used to purchase Thinking Maps, which provide a language of eight related tools each corresponding to a basic thinking process, and to train teachers in their use.

Two school systems received grants. West Jasper School District received $10,000 for “Renaissance Model.” This involves a district-wide implementation that will provide increased practice time for reading, math, and writing. It will also have related software that will generate real-time achievement data for teachers, students, and parents.

Long Beach School District was awarded $7,000 for Long Beach School District Strategic Planning.

Other awards will enhance programs in reading, math, science, personal development and technology. Individual schools receiving grants included:

Seminary Attendance Center was awarded $552 for their Integrating Literature and Writing program, which will cultivate and develop writing skills through the use of literature.

South Side Elementary School in Picayune received a grant of $491 to help get The “Read it,” “Live it,” “Learn it,”—the “Hallways of History” underway. The program will improve instruction and increase achievement in the areas of reading as well as geography.

At Stone Elementary School, a $2,000 grant will help start the “Take Home Learning Packs that Involve My Parents” program, designed to build student understanding of responsibility and the importance of parent involvement. The packs will include books to be read to them by their parents and activities that will enhance learning.

“Providing for the Multiple Intelligence” is a program that will be getting under way at Stone Elementary School after receiving a $1,230 grant. The program will help students develop an awareness of their own strengths and interests in learning to read.

Mason Elementary School in Laurel received a $612 grant to help fund their “We live in the U.S.A” program. The program will allow students to discover the relationships between homes, neighborhoods, communities, states, countries, and the Earth, with the use of hands-on instructional material.

Sand Hill Elementary in Richton was awarded a $1,599 grant for “Innovative Math 2000.” This math program starts the students at their individual skill level of math instruction incorporating the use of a computerized scoring system that measures and monitors the child’s growth.

At George County Middle School, a $1,000 grant will help fund their “Reading in the Middle” program. This program is designed to increase reading interest and ability through viewing and listening to authors discuss their written pieces, answer questions other students have asked, and read short excerpts from their works.

North Bay Elementary in Bay St. Louis was awarded a $1,936 grant for “Pockets Full of Pets and Hands Full of Flowers.” Throughout the school year this program will allow students to view a river tank, an ant farm, a worm composting system, a butterfly nursery, and plant trays. These units will be used to view the world of nature up close.

“The Periodic Table and Atoms” project at Presbyterian Christian School in Hattiesburg received a $435 grant to help provide hands-on manipulative materials for students to build models of atoms, isotopes and elements.

Bonita Educational Center in Lauderdale County was awarded a $300 grant for “Tech Lit,” a program designed to teach reading and literature with technology. Students will build a web site based on a novel or short story and then make a Power Point presentation on the book.

At Ocean Springs High School, a $500 grant will help fund Virtual Sojourner: “Virtual Mission to Mars,” a simulated rover mission for students to use scientific knowledge and methods to collaboratively design and implement solutions to engineering problems.

Northeast Jones Middle School received a $1,828 grant for “The Reading is RADICAL Revolution.” This program provides books of middle school interest that are written for lower reading levels to students with learning disabilities.

A “Beatnik Braves” project at South Jones High School received $750, which will allow students to create multimedia presentations, poetry, art and music of the “Beatnik” era. The project will integrate writing, history and research as it promotes creativity.

Ecosystem Explorations: “Growing Wildlife Habitats,” received $1,257 at East Jones Elementary. This grant will help students transform a bare patch of land into a living laboratory for exploring ecosystems and their interactions.

Northeast Elementary was awarded two grants. A $1,100 grant will help fund “Buddy and Special Friends.” This program is a cooperative program between two special needs classes and two fourth grade gifted classes. This grant will provide materials that each group of students will use to develop social play skills as they work cooperatively.

Northeast also received $1,865 for “Connecting Brain Research to Learning- A Study Group.” Special Education teachers, speech-language pathologists, and regular teachers will be able to update their knowledge of traumatic brain injury and other neurological issues that affect students learning behaviors, through a study group.

Oak Grove High School in Lamar County was awarded $1,983 for “Calculator Based Laboratory Equipment Implementation in the Physical Sciences.” The program will increase the use of technology in pursuing scientific investigations by providing additional probes for the Calculator Based Laboratory equipment.

Project: ACHOO at Edinburg Attendance Center in Leake County received a $1,999 grant to help students explore microscopic pathogens through hands-on simulations and multi-media research.

Collins Middle School received $456.26 for their “Dear Mom and Dad” program. This program puts students in the place of soldiers at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777 and builds creativity as the students write letters home telling their families where they are, where they’ve been, and how they’re doing.

Collins Elementary was awarded $1,200 for “Reading to Succeed.” This grant will allow the school to purchase books and computer software to be placed in the third grade classrooms. The students will read the books and take tests utilizing the computer.

“Time Wohrp: An Educational Experience in Honor of George Ohr,” at Beauvoir Elementary School in Biloxi received a $2,500 grant, to teach students about the legendary George Ohr, art history and architecture over the past century.

Since 1984, through its foundations, Mississippi Power Company has supported excellence in education in southeast Mississippi. During the past 17 years, the foundations have awarded more than $2.5 million in grants to teachers, schools, school systems and education projects. # # #