FOCUS Broadband Awards $40,000 in Smart Connection Grants
Shallotte, NC – FOCUS Broadband recently awarded $40,000 in grant funds to 18 educators to support programs that expand educational opportunities for students in Brunswick, Columbus and Robeson counties. The funds are part of the cooperative’s grant program, which has awarded $1.085 million in community and education grants to more than 550 programs since its inception in 2006.
Gene Ward, FOCUS Broadband’s Board Liaison for the 2024 Grant Committee, commented, “We are proud to award these grants, and we look forward to seeing the positive impacts they will have on students and teachers within our local communities.”
This year’s grant recipients included:
Bolivia Elementary School (Geneva Varnam): Through the Ozobots: Incorporating STEAM into Everyday Learning project, students will use desk-friendly coding robots to enhance their knowledge of math, science, and vocabulary.
Brunswick County Schools (Keri McKenzie): Grant funds will help purchase an industrial electric drill for Brunswick County School’s first Robotics Club.
Brunswick Early College High School (Dane Fisher): The grant will help science teachers from Brunswick Early College High School purchase a refrigerator that will be used to properly store chemicals and lab specimens.
East Robeson Elementary School (Phillippe Sipacio): Grant funds will help purchase LEGO education learning tools used to enhance language activities for multilingual learning learners.
Nakina Middle School (Kristen Wall): FOCUS Broadband grant funds will be used to purchase Chromebooks for use by students.
North Brunswick High School (Tim Jones): Grant funds will help purchase materials for classroom science labs and experiments based on real-world phenomena.
South Brunswick High School (Nan Sellers): By using grant funds to purchase sensors, students will be able to more quickly perform science experiment calculations and allocate more time to working on chemistry content.
South Brunswick Middle School (Melissa Haugen): Grant funds will be used to purchase AmScope M150 Series compound microscopes for a project that aims to enhance students’ understanding of scientific inquiry and engineering practices.
Southeastern Community College (Pamela Young-Jacobs): With the grant funds, Southeastern Community College’s Small Business Center will purchase materials for a youth small business event.
Southside Ashpole Elementary School (Joanne McGirt): Through the Drones for the Stem Lab project, ten Tello Drones will be purchased to assist students in learning coding skills in K-5th grade STEM labs.
Shallotte Middle School (Rachel Jennings): Grant funds will be used to purchase resources for paper circuits, Da Vinci bridges, straw towers, and gumdrop structures for the sixth grade STEAM Ahead project.
Town Creek Middle School (Sheila Chase): Stewards of Watersheds will be using grant funds to purchase 16 water monitoring kits for 8th grade students who are learning about water quality and environmental concepts.
Union Elementary School (Lori Hummel): Grant funds will be used to help implement a monthly Bilingual Preschool Story Hour for siblings of English learners.
Union Elementary School (Christine Cozier): Grant funds will be used to purchase STEM project sets and help reintroduce STEM course material to the classroom at each grade level.
Union Elementary School (Wendy Robertson): Over 100 bilingual books will be purchased for the school library through the Reading Without Barriers program.
Waccamaw School (Rebecca Oxendine Gainey): The project BotLit Adventures will be purchasing 12 Evo Bots and color-coding magnets to help students build skills in literacy, critical thinking, story-crafting, and language development.
West Brunswick High School (Sheila Gerald Evans): A program called Principles of Bioscience, will be using grant funds to purchase materials that help students learn about forensics and DNA analysis.
Williams Township School (Kathaleen Trost): Grant funds will aid the project Collaborating Comics Come Alive in purchasing Fun Meters for a workshop aimed at teaching students about storytelling, character development, and critical thinking by designing comic strips.
FOCUS Broadband will be accepting applications for the 2025 Community Connect Grants and Education Grants program beginning early this December. For more information regarding the grant programs, please visit www.focusbroadband.com/giving-back or contact 910-755-1885.
Gene Ward, FOCUS Broadband’s Board Liaison for the 2024 Grant Committee, commented, “We are proud to award these grants, and we look forward to seeing the positive impacts they will have on students and teachers within our local communities.”
This year’s grant recipients included:
Bolivia Elementary School (Geneva Varnam): Through the Ozobots: Incorporating STEAM into Everyday Learning project, students will use desk-friendly coding robots to enhance their knowledge of math, science, and vocabulary.
Brunswick County Schools (Keri McKenzie): Grant funds will help purchase an industrial electric drill for Brunswick County School’s first Robotics Club.
Brunswick Early College High School (Dane Fisher): The grant will help science teachers from Brunswick Early College High School purchase a refrigerator that will be used to properly store chemicals and lab specimens.
East Robeson Elementary School (Phillippe Sipacio): Grant funds will help purchase LEGO education learning tools used to enhance language activities for multilingual learning learners.
Nakina Middle School (Kristen Wall): FOCUS Broadband grant funds will be used to purchase Chromebooks for use by students.
North Brunswick High School (Tim Jones): Grant funds will help purchase materials for classroom science labs and experiments based on real-world phenomena.
South Brunswick High School (Nan Sellers): By using grant funds to purchase sensors, students will be able to more quickly perform science experiment calculations and allocate more time to working on chemistry content.
South Brunswick Middle School (Melissa Haugen): Grant funds will be used to purchase AmScope M150 Series compound microscopes for a project that aims to enhance students’ understanding of scientific inquiry and engineering practices.
Southeastern Community College (Pamela Young-Jacobs): With the grant funds, Southeastern Community College’s Small Business Center will purchase materials for a youth small business event.
Southside Ashpole Elementary School (Joanne McGirt): Through the Drones for the Stem Lab project, ten Tello Drones will be purchased to assist students in learning coding skills in K-5th grade STEM labs.
Shallotte Middle School (Rachel Jennings): Grant funds will be used to purchase resources for paper circuits, Da Vinci bridges, straw towers, and gumdrop structures for the sixth grade STEAM Ahead project.
Town Creek Middle School (Sheila Chase): Stewards of Watersheds will be using grant funds to purchase 16 water monitoring kits for 8th grade students who are learning about water quality and environmental concepts.
Union Elementary School (Lori Hummel): Grant funds will be used to help implement a monthly Bilingual Preschool Story Hour for siblings of English learners.
Union Elementary School (Christine Cozier): Grant funds will be used to purchase STEM project sets and help reintroduce STEM course material to the classroom at each grade level.
Union Elementary School (Wendy Robertson): Over 100 bilingual books will be purchased for the school library through the Reading Without Barriers program.
Waccamaw School (Rebecca Oxendine Gainey): The project BotLit Adventures will be purchasing 12 Evo Bots and color-coding magnets to help students build skills in literacy, critical thinking, story-crafting, and language development.
West Brunswick High School (Sheila Gerald Evans): A program called Principles of Bioscience, will be using grant funds to purchase materials that help students learn about forensics and DNA analysis.
Williams Township School (Kathaleen Trost): Grant funds will aid the project Collaborating Comics Come Alive in purchasing Fun Meters for a workshop aimed at teaching students about storytelling, character development, and critical thinking by designing comic strips.
FOCUS Broadband will be accepting applications for the 2025 Community Connect Grants and Education Grants program beginning early this December. For more information regarding the grant programs, please visit www.focusbroadband.com/giving-back or contact 910-755-1885.
