Cherokee Educators Win Georgia Power 'New Teacher' Grants

From Cherokee County School District:

Two Cherokee County School District first-year teachers were surprised with $1,000 grants from Georgia Power Company!

Hasty Elementary School Fine Arts Academy teacher Lauren Pehrson and Dean Rusk Middle School science teacher Carley Roberts were visited in their classrooms on Wednesday by Georgia Power Area Manager Rod Drake, who presented them with New Teacher Assistance grants from the utility company. The grants started 13 years ago to recognize outstanding first-year teachers and encourage them in their choice of profession.

Both Ms. Pehrson and Ms. Roberts are graduates of the Cherokee County School District (Woodstock HS and Sequoyah HS, respectively), and are two of the 40 teachers across Georgia selected for this year’s awards from Georgia Power. Candidates for the grants are submitted by the deans of the state’s public teacher colleges. These institutions are asked to recommend up to 10 candidates, who must be in the top 25 percent of their class academically, possess an aptitude for teaching, and be recommended by education faculty members. Ms. Pehrson earned her teaching degree from Georgia Southern University and Ms. Roberts earned her degree from University of North Georgia.

In addition to the $1,000 grant for projects in their classrooms, winning teachers also receive a scale-model Georgia Power bucket truck.

Images via the Cherokee County School District:

(Image 1) - Georgia Power Area Manager Rod Drake, left, present a $1,000 check and a model utility bucket truck to New Teacher award winner Carley Roberts of Dean Rusk Middle School, center, along with her principal, Cindy Cooper, right.

(Image 2) - Rod Drake talks to Ms. Roberts and her class about how the award winners are selected.

(Image 3) - Ms. Roberts is thrilled to receive her Georgia Power truck!

(Image 4) - Hasty ES teacher Lauren Pehrson (center) accepts a $1,000 New Teacher Grant from Georgia Power Area Manager Rod Drake, along with her class and Hasty ES Principal Rodney Larrotta (back left).

(Image 5) - Mr. Drake shows Ms. Pehrson and students the scale model utility bucket truck that each grant recipient receives as a token of the award.