SHREVEPORT, La. June 15, 2021 – AEP Teacher Vision Grants from Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) will enable two Hackett teachers to enhance student learning in the classroom.

Hackett High School teacher Johnny Harp and Hackett Elementary teacher Valarie Harp each received $500 for a classroom project.

Johnny Harp said the funds helped to re-supply electrical tools, devices and wire for the electrical toolboxes in his classroom.

He said students in the Hackett agriculture program do hands-on wiring that helps teach skills many will use in their future careers. In addition, students use electrical reference books that explain how to perform residential house wiring.

Valarie Harp’s grant purchased the Kami app, a Google Classroom extension that acts as a digital pen and paper enabling students and teachers to achieve more together.

Harp said the application allows students to respond to questions using a paintbrush to write responses or a textbox to type them. In addition to the app, the funds also helped her purchase pattern blocks, frames and other math education tools for students and an IXL tool to be able to send virtual students differentiated instructions to meet their specific needs.

Offered through SWEPCO’s parent company, American Electric Power (AEP), the AEP Teacher Vision Grant program provides 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 Bradley Hardin, SWEPCO External Affairs and Government Affairs manager in Fayetteville.

Educators who live or teach in the AEP service area or in communities with major AEP 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. AEP has a special interest in science, mathematics, technology, electrical safety and the balanced study of energy and the environment. 

Each year, the AEP Teacher Vision Grant program awards up to $70,000 across the 11 states served by AEP utility companies.

For more information on the AEP Teacher Vision Grant program and other AEP education initiatives, see www.aep.com/go/education.

About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)

SWEPCO, an American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) company, serves more than 543,000 customers in northwest and central Louisiana, northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle, and western Arkansas. 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, Instagram.com/swepco, Youtube.com/SWEPCOtv, LinkedIn.com/company/swepco 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 approximately 16,800 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than 223,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 30,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including more than 5,500 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. For more information, visit aep.com.

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