Kelsey Braddy was shocked to learn she was a grant recipient.
“It was really exciting,” Braddy said. “I had absolutely no idea it was coming. It definitely caught me off guard, but it was a really good feeling.”
Braddy, an eighth-grade math teacher at Highland Middle School, was presented with the Classroom of the Quarter grant earlier this month.
The grant, through the Jon Meeks Agency, was started at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, with the intent of helping teachers obtain supplies they may need.
Each quarter, the agency delivers a $300 grant to an Anderson Community Schools teacher, which can be used for any school supplies they may need. Instead of giving the grant all at once, the agency will give the teacher $100 for three months.
Anthony Johnson, a licensed agent at the agency, said representatives from the agency attend ACS’s Back to School breakfast, and the teachers at the breakfast can talk to those from the agency and express interest in the grant.
From there, winners are chosen by a random draw.
Johnson’s wife teaches at Anderson High School, and Meeks’ mother is retired from the custodial staff at D26 Anderson Career Center.
“We both have a heart for the local schools,” Johnson said. “We were trying to find a way to be a difference maker for them, and me being a teacher’s husband, I know a lot of teachers are supplementing their own classrooms out of their pocket.”
Braddy plans to use some of the money on supplies including pencils and expo markers, but she added she wants her students to pick what the money should be used for.
“I sent them a survey on ideas that they think we should get based on what we use every day or what would help them to help them learn math,” Braddy said. “They’re the ones who know what they need the most, so I thought it would be a good way to get them involved.”
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.