FPL Offers Education Funding for Back to School

As students and teachers return to their classrooms for the school year, Florida Power & Light Company offers new opportunities for classroom funding to support STEM subjects -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

For the 2011-2012 school year, FPL has expanded its annual FPL Renewable Energy Teacher Grants program, which offer teachers $500 or $1,000 awards for educational classroom projects relating to energy. All teachers, kindergarten through 12th grade, in FPL’s service territory are eligible to apply for the grants.

In February, Mollie Mukhamedov of Floresta Elementary in Port St. Lucie was one of 43 teachers throughout FPL’s service territory to receive funding from FPL for a classroom project focused on renewable education.

“We are very grateful to FPL for providing such a wonderful opportunity,” said Mukhamedov. “Our students designed blades for a wind turbine, constructed anemometers and conducted experiments to learn how energy changes forms. The projects were so successful that we were recognized for our achievements by the National Energy Education Development Project and traveled to Washington D.C. to accept an award.”

“We want to empower teachers to create exciting educational opportunities in the classroom,” said Pam Rauch, FPL Vice President of External Affairs. “FPL strives to support dynamic, inspiring programs based on science and math which will help to prepare students for the high-paying jobs of the future.”

Teacher Grant Programs
• All public, private and charter school teachers in FPL’s service territory are eligible to apply for grants to create classroom projects focused on any form of energy
• Grants are awarded in increments of $500 or $1,000
• Applications are available at http://tinyurl.com/3odmr3y
• Deadline to apply is Oct. 15, 2011, and winners will be announced by Dec. 1, 2011
• In the past two years, 90 classroom projects in FPL’s service territory have received a total of $83,500 in grants

To help support teachers, FPL has partnered with Adopt-A-Classroom to give an additional $50 gift to 500 classrooms in FPL’s 35-county service territory. To qualify for the additional donation, classrooms must receive at least $25 in donations through http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/fpl.

Adopt-A-Classroom Matching Donation
• FPL will offer 500 classrooms a $50 donation through Adopt-A-Classroom
• Classrooms in FPL’s 35-county service territory that receive at least $25 in donations through http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/fpl are eligible for an additional donation of $50 from FPL

These funding programs complement FPL’s comprehensive education initiatives supporting STEM subjects throughout the 35-county service territory including renewable energy curriculum and in-school science presentations. FPL’s Teacher Workshops offer educators an opportunity for enrichment through a series of full-day seminars on renewable energy technology curriculum. Schools can also submit requests for free FCAT-based science assembly presentations by FPL’s popular education characters, Captain Conservation and Professor Whys.

Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is the largest electric utility in Florida and one of the largest rate-regulated utilities in the United States. FPL serves 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida and is a leading employer in the state with approximately 10,000 employees. The company consistently outperforms national averages for service reliability while customer bills are below the national average. A clean energy leader, FPL has one of the lowest emissions profiles and one of the leading energy efficiency programs among utilities nationwide. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE).

Media Contact:
FPL Media Line
Florida Power & Light Company
700 Universe Blvd.
Juno Beach, FL 33408
305-552-3888