Charleston, W. Va. – May 3, 2010 – Four American Electric Power
(AEP) Teacher Vision grants from Appalachian Power were recently awarded to Confidence Elementary for $500 each.

The grants will be used to purchase automobile construction kits as part of a program on solar energy; accelerated reader quizzes to enhance the popular reading program for the school; one ELMO Visual Presenter, which is a high-resolution document camera that lets teachers display small visual aids; and purchase Flashmasters, which is an electronic device that helps increase students´ fluency in recalling addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
 
The AEP Teacher Vision Grant program was 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 Barry Schumann, AEP community and education initiatives coordinator.
 
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.  Priority is given to educators who have attended AEP Workshops for Educators, National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project training or who are affiliated with an AEP school-business partnership.  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. 
 
For more information on the AEP Teacher Vision Grant program and other AEP education initiatives, see www.aep.com/go/education. The next application deadline is midnight, Friday, Feb. 25, 2011.
 
Appalachian Power has almost 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, which delivers electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. 
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