Area educators can receive grants of up to $500 from First Energy Corp. for creative classroom projects planned for the 2012-13 school year.
The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) classroom grants are awarded for creative, individual classroom projects for grades prekindergarten through 12th grade. They are available to educators and youth group leaders located in communities served by FirstEnergy's 10 electric operating companies, or in communities where the company does business or has generating plants.
"Our goal is to encourage creative classroom learning in the STEM subjects; to support teacher professional development in these critical areas; and to expose both students and teachers to the career possibilities in the STEM fields of study," said Delores Jones, manager, Community Initiatives. "The students who benefit from these programs could become FirstEnergy's future engineers, scientists, accountants, information technologists and electricians."
STEM grant applications must be submitted by September 17. The application and more information about grant criteria is available on FirstEnergy's website: www.firstenergycorp.com/community/edu cation/educational-grants.html.
Grants will be awarded based on the recommendations of the FirstEnergy Education Advisory Council. Winners will be notified by October 8, 2012.
More than 1,000 STEM grants have been awarded to educators and youth group leaders since 1986.