Michael Hopkins, a teacher at Penny Road Elementary School, has been selected by NC Beautiful to receive an environmental education grant of $1,000. The award is part of the 2009 NC Beautiful’s Windows of Opportunity Grant Program, which rewards North Carolina teachers for their creativity and their dedication to perpetuating the natural beauty of the state through creative education projects.

Hopkins will use the award to create a bluebird lifecycle program for Penny Road Elementary first-graders as well as installing a new solar powered bluebird house webcam to view the entire bluebird lifecycle via the Internet. This will be a cooperative effort of the school’s staff, Penny Road Elementary School’s PTA and the North Carolina Bluebird Society to complete this project.