Mississippi Power scholarships generate lifelong learning, connections

 

Contrell Terrell, a sixth-grade math teacher at Lillie Burney STEAM Academy in Hattiesburg, looked forward to the state’s largest teacher conference recently held in Biloxi before a crowd of more than 1,800 educators.

Terrell attended the Making Connections Conference through a scholarship awarded by Mississippi Power, one of the 150 Barton Awards offered to teachers in the company’s service area.

“Funding cuts at the school wouldn’t allow everyone to attend,” he said. “With the scholarships from Mississippi Power, three teachers from my school alone attended. “We’re all thankful for the opportunity and deeply appreciate the company’s support of education and educators.

“I enjoyed the session on professional growth, the teacher rubric. We constantly look for feedback to improve ourselves as teachers, in an effort to improve student achievement.”

Terrell and his co-workers Veronica Manaway and Sabrina Barnes, both sixth-grade science teachers, were also presenters at the conference. Their session, Putting the TEAM in STEAM, provided strategies to enhance team-building skills, sharing cooperative learning techniques and methods that support motivation for academic success and lifelong learning.

During the conference educators earn continuing education credits, learn of available resources, network and share ideas, while the sessions they attend cover an array of topics from professional development to teaching strategies for students with dyslexia.

“The potential impact of this one conference is remarkable,” said Community Development Representative Ann Holland. “The better prepared and informed our teachers are, the more effective they are in the classroom. This translates into better educated students and higher graduate rates.”

Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), produces safe, reliable and environmentally responsible energy for more than 187,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties. With nearly 160 megawatts of approved solar energy capacity, Mississippi Power is the largest partner in providing renewable energy in the state of Mississippi. Visit our website at mississippipower.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube.

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