July 31, 2019 Longview – AEP Teacher Vision Grants from Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) will enable two East Texas teachers to improve student learning in the classroom.
Candace Luviano, a kindergarten teacher at Sam Houston Elementary in Marshall, and Elizabeth White, an engineering teacher at Pine Tree High School in Longview, each received a $500 grant.
“There is no greater feeling than knowing my students will have the same opportunities as the top tech and private schools in the big cities,” White said.
Her grant will fund microcontrollers and other hardware for her students to use to transform ordinary poster boards into interactive displays. The hands-on project aims to educate students on how energy is created, stored and distributed as well as electrical wiring and coding skills.
The poster is hooked up to a monitor with speakers. When buttons on the poster are pressed, detailed images and animations appear on the monitor along with custom written voice-overs/explanations recorded by students.
Similarly, Luviano’s students also will interact with new technology thanks to the grant.
She plans to purchase several Osmo Genius Kits, a game system for tablets that fosters creativity and problem-solving skills through hands-on learning.
The AEP Teacher Vision Grant program launched in 2003 to provide aid ranging from $100 to $500 to classroom teachers.
“These grants are designed to reward the talents and creativity of Pre-K through grade 12 educators devoted to motivating youth to think creatively, to step into leadership roles and to address the challenges of the future,” said SWEPCO External Affairs Manager Mark Robinson of Longview.
Educators who live or teach in the SWEPCO service area or in communities with major SWEPCO facilities are eligible to apply for the mini-grants. Projects that have an academic focus and a goal of improving student achievement are eligible for consideration. SWEPCO has a special interest in science, mathematics, technology, electrical safety and the balanced study of energy and the environment.
For more information on the AEP Teacher Vision Grant program and other SWEPCO education initiatives, see www.aep.com/community/TeachersAndStudents/
About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)
SWEPCO, an American Electric Power (AEP: NYSE) company, serves 536,000 customers in western Arkansas, northwest and central Louisiana, northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle. SWEPCO’s headquarters are in Shreveport, La. News releases and other information about SWEPCO can be found at SWEPCO.com. Connect with us at Facebook.com/SWEPCO, Twitter.com/SWEPCOnews, Youtube.com/SWEPCOtv and SWEPCOConnections.com.
About American Electric Power (AEP)
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP’s more than 18,000 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than 219,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.4 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 32,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including 5,273 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP’s family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, East Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners, AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide.
