Teacher, teacher, what do you see?

When my mom told sto­ries about me as a lit­tle boy, she rarely missed shar­ing how eager I was to learn to read when I start­ed school. And that’s true. Walk­ing into the class­room, I saw an oppor­tu­ni­ty to dis­cov­er new things, includ­ing all of the sto­ries, his­to­ry and knowl­edge wait­ing on the pages of books. I could learn about dinosaurs, astro­nauts, adven­tures and, in lat­er years, even how to gen­er­ate and dis­trib­ute elec­tric­i­ty.

As a child, I val­ued edu­ca­tion because it helped me expand my skills and learn about inter­est­ing top­ics. As I grew old­er, I real­ized study­ing and apply­ing myself would lead to a career that would allow me to pro­vide for my fam­i­ly. Over the years, how­ev­er, I’ve come to know anoth­er last­ing impact of edu­ca­tion: the dif­fer­ence teach­ers make in the lives of their stu­dents. I’ve seen this first­hand through the 22 years my wife, Susan, gave to inspir­ing and encour­ag­ing young minds as a teacher.

I may have been more deter­mined than some, but I was also blessed to come from a fam­i­ly that sup­port­ed my dreams, val­ued hard work and believed in the pow­er of edu­ca­tion. I know now that many chil­dren do not have the same foun­da­tion. Teach­ers not only help gift­ed stu­dents reach their poten­tial, but they also cre­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties for our most vul­ner­a­ble stu­dents to excel. Every day, our teach­ers help lev­el the play­ing field, cre­at­ing brighter futures for all.

Your co-op is proud to sup­port teach­ers and stu­dents through var­i­ous edu­ca­tion pro­grams. Teach­ers can apply for Bright Ideas Grants to bring their class­room projects to life, while stu­dents ben­e­fit through schol­ar­ships, art com­pe­ti­tions and once-in-a-life­time lead­er­ship expe­ri­ences that teach them about our gov­ern­ment, his­to­ry and elec­tric coop­er­a­tives. This mon­th’s issue of South Car­oli­na Liv­ing hon­ors the last­ing impact of edu­ca­tion and edu­ca­tors. We hope you take time to join us in cel­e­brat­ing this impor­tant part of our com­mu­ni­ty.

Open­ing a book still reminds me of the excite­ment I felt read­ing as a lit­tle boy. Today, though, I have a greater appre­ci­a­tion for the peo­ple who helped bring those pages to life. Know­ing that teach­ers con­tin­ue to help chil­dren feel that same curios­i­ty is some­thing for which I’m tru­ly grate­ful. I’m proud to be a part of a co-op, an orga­ni­za­tion that shows the same grat­i­tude to those who make learn­ing pos­si­ble.

Thank you, teach­ers, for your love and guid­ance to our chil­dren. And a spe­cial thank you to my wife for 22 years of ded­i­ca­tion to our young peo­ple.