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AMERICUS, GA --
Georgia Power has given a help to two new graduates from the Georgia Southwestern State University School of Education. 

According to the release, Katie Mueller, a third grade teacher at Sumter County Elementary School, and Michael Bobbitt, a mathematics teacher at Taylor County High School, have both earned New Teacher Assistance Grants worth $1,000 from the company. 

The Georgia Power program is in it's ninth year and has awarded $1,000 grants for classroom supplies to new teachers through its New Teacher Assistance Grant Program. The program is to help encourage new teachers by helping them purchase materials and supplies for use in their classroom. The items purchased with the grant money are the property of the teacher, not of the school system.

Teacher nominations were submitted to Georgia Power by each Georgia public college and university that has a school of education according to the release. To be eligible for the grant, candidates had to be in the top 25 percent of their class academically, serve as a first-year teacher employed by a public school in Georgia, and demonstrate a high aptitude for teaching.