10/23/2026
50 national submissions, five finalists, one winner: Drawing on Kinship took home the National Rural Education Association's first Rural Innovation & Impact Award at the National Forum to Advance Rural Education in San Antonio, Oct. 19–21.
Drawing on Kinship is a partnership of Pikeville Independent Schools , Floyd County Schools, Bit Source and Digital Promise, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Since 2023, teachers have built its middle-grades computational thinking lessons on the region's own ingenuity, working from a core belief: “Appalachia is a solution to be found and not a problem to be fixed.”
Traci Tackett of Bit Source delivered the winning pitch with Michelle Scott of Pikeville Independent Schools and Rebecca Morrison of Floyd County Schools.