Middle Tennessee Electric gives $40K to MTSU College of Education to ‘spark’ future teacher classrooms
Middle Tennessee Electric gave $40,000 to Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Education to outfit future teacher classrooms each semester for the next four years.
The College of Education awarded the first $2,500 Spark Awards to two student teachers — Lyric James and Natalie Burridge — which allows these future educators to jump-start their careers without the financial strain of properly setting up their classrooms.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with an outstanding community partner like Middle Tennessee Electric,” said Neporcha Cone, dean of the College of Education. “Driven by a genuine desire to support teachers, MTE, led by their community relations coordinator and MTSU agribusiness education alum Jay Sanders, made a generous contribution to establish the MTE Spark Awards.
“As a former classroom teacher, I understand how challenging it can be to create an inviting and effective learning environment for students,” she continued. “These awards will not only provide valuable resources for new teachers but will also enhance the educational experience for the students who learn in these thoughtfully prepared spaces.”
Sanders, a 2008 alumnus, said his organization serves members of the electric cooperative “with more than just electricity.”
“We’re committed to supporting educators and their families in a variety of ways. One way we can partner with educators is through the Spark Award initiative — this program will benefit new teachers and help jump-start their career in the classroom,” he said. “It’s an honor for MTE to partner with MTSU and future educators on this initiative.”
The award was named Spark because the awards help “ignite” teachers’ careers.
The Dec. 12 seminar in the James Union Building’s Tennessee Room celebrated education students who completed their semester-long student teaching residencies.
MTSU is an equal opportunity, non-racially identifiable, educational institution that does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities.
James, 22, a senior early childhood education major, taught second grade this past semester at Rutherford County’s Rock Springs Elementary and will continue to do so after graduation. She was “overly joyful and very grateful, especially being a first-year teacher.”
“I got my keys the week before school, so I came into nothing. I am just very grateful to be chosen,” said the La Vergne native who added that she was most excited to buy cubbies for her classroom with this award, so that her students can store their personal items to “give them that clean, open space.”
Burridge, 23, a senior elementary education major from Fairview, completed her second student teaching placement at Williamson County’s Westwood Elementary, and she continues to be a substitute teacher there with hopes to land a full-time position.
“It’s really surreal,” said Burridge, who teared up as she accepted the award. “I was emotional because I just didn’t expect that. It like means a lot as educators whenever you built yourself up, and no one helped you — it means a lot. I’ve never been handed money at all, and so this amount is insane.”
She’s most excited to buy flexible seating, which is where students have a variety of seating options in the classroom, “because I know I want (to teach) the younger grades, and flexible seating is so expensive.” This Spark Awards program is believed to be the first of its kind in Middle Tennessee.
“As we explored how others help fund teachers in establishing their first classrooms, we realized there were no established best-practice program near us,” said Trisha Murphy, the development director for the College of Education. “To our knowledge, MTE and MTSU College of Education were essentially the first in the region to develop this concept.”
