Eleven Oconee County schools win $78,000 in grants from Walton EMC

Chris Starrs
·4 min read
Eighteen educators at 11 Oconee schools received more than $78,000 in grant funding from Walton EMC in early February 2024. Pictured are Dr. Mike Eddy, Dove Creek Middle School; Jennifer Broun, Walton EMC; Brandon Walker, Dove Creek Middle; Jeff Paul, Walton EMC; and, Dr. Jason Branch, Oconee County schools superintendent.
Eighteen educators at 11 Oconee schools received more than $78,000 in grant funding from Walton EMC in early February 2024. Pictured are Dr. Mike Eddy, Dove Creek Middle School; Jennifer Broun, Walton EMC; Brandon Walker, Dove Creek Middle; Jeff Paul, Walton EMC; and, Dr. Jason Branch, Oconee County schools superintendent.

Schools in Oconee County were big winners recently in receiving Walton EMC EmPOWERment Grants, with a teacher from the system’s newest school hitting the jackpot.

Eighteen educators at 11 Oconee schools received more than $78,000 in grant funding from Walton EMC in early February for a variety of education-enhancing initiatives, ranging from Adapted Physical Education to libraries to art programs.

Brandon Walker, agriculture teacher at the new Dove Creek Middle School, enjoyed the biggest haul by receiving $20,300 to promote animal science education at the school. The grant for agriculture science at Dove Creek was the largest one awarded this year by Walton EMC, which in the eight years of the EmPOWERment program has given out nearly $2.7 million.

“I’m excited,” said Walker, who has been teaching agriculture for more than 20 years and was at Malcom Bridge Middle for the last eight years before joining the faculty at Dove Creek Middle. “It’s a new school and a new program and it’s pretty cool when you write a grant and ask for a certain amount of money and you get it all.

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“They were very generous to give me what I thought it would require and it just feels great. Walton EMC has awarded us grants in the past, and they say there’s money available, so all you have to do is ask.”

Walker, who teaches sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students, didn’t detail what he specifically plans to do with the funds, but said creating more hands-on science opportunities for students would be the theme.

“Since we are a Connection (school), we’re supposed to connect – the sciences, math, language the arts – to the real world, and everybody’s got to eat, so agriculture is a pretty easy connection,” he said. “We have a greenhouse and it enables hands-on labs. They don’t like a lot of seat time in a Connections class – they’re expecting something more.

“Greenhouse labs involve plant systems pathways, so we wrote this grant so we can expand understanding for animal sciences, traditional agriculture and non-traditional agriculture through poultry projects and small rabbit projects – short-term things we can do hands-on. ... It’s all about providing more hands-on opportunities and getting kids out of their seats and apply what they’re learning in science in a real-world setting.”

Walker, who grew up on a commercial turkey and swine operation in rural Oglethorpe County and holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and a master’s in agriculture leadership from the University of Georgia, said part of his motivation to write the grant proposal was to interest students from his school and nearby Dove Creek Elementary in agriculture education and Oconee County FFA.

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“One premise for writing the grant was recruitment,” he said. “We have Dove Creek Elementary School right next door and they’ve been around several years and feed directly to us. But proximity-wise, we’d like to have something related to animal science that students could walk next door to access and collaborate, which would be great recruitment for our program, not only for agriculture but also FFA.”

This year, Walton EMC presented 70 grants to 59 public and private schools in its service area totaling nearly $370,000. The average grant was about $5,200. The funds for the EmPOWERment Grants come from unclaimed refunds due to former customers the co-op can’t locate. After Walton EMC publishes lists of these customers in its newsletter and website, state law allows the money to be used to benefit the community.

“Many of these grants touch every student in the school that receives them,” said Walton EMC CEO Ron Marshall in a news release.

Other teachers in Oconee County schools receiving grants included Kevin Stewart at North Oconee High ($1,500 for Adapted Physical Education); Jessica Johnston at Malcom Bridge Middle ($2,011 for art); Katie McCourtie, Charlotte Rice and Erin Smith ($5,000 for reading); Sherie Fancher at Oconee County Elementary ($5,302 for the media center); Heather Bui, Samantha Napierala and Kelli Radford at Dove Creek Elementary ($6,400 for reading); Cindy Moreman at Colham Ferry Elementary ($6,529 for agriculture); Morgan Carden at High Shoals Elementary ($7,073 for reading); Britany Boucher, Julie Payne and Melody Rice at Malcolm Bridge Elementary ($7,500 for reading); Paige Bowen and Paulette Moon at Oconee County Primary ($7,529 for reading); and Casey Radford at Oconee County Middle ($9,390 for reading).

Other Athens-area teachers receiving grants included Julie Boyd at Athens Academy ($4,491 for upper school science advancement); Lauren Knowlton at Whit Davis Elementary ($5,130 for bringing digital literacy access); Ashley Bailey at Barrow County Arts and Innovation Magnet Program ($4,682 for Innovation Garden renovation and expansion); and Sherelle Patisaul at Barrow Arts and Sciences Academy ($3,596 for Elevate the Experience).

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Oconee County schools win $78,000 in grants from Walton EMC