Heard County High School Receives Funding for Special Needs, Skills USA Programs

Palmetto, GA – January 10, 2013 – Through Coweta-Fayette EMC, some students and teachers involved with special needs classes and the SkillsUSA program at Heard County High School in Franklin will soon receive much-needed support through grant funding.

Palmetto, GA – January 10, 2013 – Through Coweta-Fayette EMC, some students and teachers involved with special needs classes and the SkillsUSA program at Heard County High School in Franklin will soon receive much-needed support through grant funding.

According to teacher Shane Lasseter, the special needs class will allocate money for community-based field trips geared toward basic real-world skills, like ordering at restaurants, interviewing for housing and jobs, shopping for groceries and preparing meals.

“The kids will be able to actually apply some of our in-class role-playing into real-life scenarios because of this funding,” said Lasseter.  “It will help provide better opportunities for them to be successful once they exit into the real world.”   

The high school’s special needs students and SkillsUSA participants received the Coweta-Fayette EMC grant through the co-op’s unclaimed capital credits program. Each year, rural cooperatives pass out thousands of dollars in capital credit checks, and some of those checks go unclaimed. Maintaining their unwavering commitment to communities, EMCs across Georgia by state law are allowed to use unclaimed funds in support of community development and educational initiatives that benefit their members and neighbors.

The SkillsUSA program is a national, non-profit student organization that has developed over 10 million workers through partnerships between employers and educators. Its mission is to empower members to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens. SkillsUSA Georgia is focused on serving students involved in architecture, construction, communication, cosmetology, public safety and transportation pathways.

“Empowering young people by supporting education is one of our top priorities when it comes to community involvement,” said Coweta-Fayette EMC CEO Anthony “Tony” Sinclair. “We are honored to play a small part in the lives of these students.”

Coweta-Fayette EMC is a consumer-owned cooperative providing electricity and related services to over 74,000 member accounts in Coweta, Fayette, Heard, South Fulton, Clayton, Spalding, Troup and Meriwether Counties.

Sheriff Ross Henry, a member of Coweta-Fayette EMC’s Board of Directors, presents a grant check to Heard County High School teachers Shane Lasseter and Carol Denny. Students shown l-r are:  front row – Mikayla Dockery, Shinese Turman, Kady Patterson, Amber Cribbs and Buck Dunson; back row – Joseph Davis, Dalton McCain, Brady Breed and Tim Brown.

Sheriff Henry presents a check to Heard County High School SkillsUSA advisors Johnny Mock (left) and Joel Rogers.

Amy Lott