2013 - 2014 EAST Initiative Annual Report

2013 - 2014

Annual Report The EAST Initiative

Table of Contents

1

Support

22

Support

Sponsors and Donors

23

6

Services

Financials

25

10

Projects

EAST Board of Directors

27

13

Events

EAST Advisory Council

28

19

EAST in the Community

Connect

31

20

Awards

Message from Board Chair

32

21

Sonora EAST Students at Esri UC

2

Message from CEO

3

The EAST Initiative never has a slow or dull year, but the past year has been especially exciting. The Initiative, our programs and our students received quite a bit of positive press for the work we are all doing together. We saw EAST students go from local responders to national spokespeople to spacefaring voyagers. The success of the EAST model has made a difference in hundreds of communities and the continued development of our efforts in curricular classes (like math and science classes) have shown that we continue to lead in the efforts to make STEM learning a significant part of every student’s educational experience.

The EAST story is one of forward progress. We believe every student should have access to an EAST experience. Thank you for taking time to learn more about what that could look like. Please be inspired through our Annual Report and join us as we continue to develop the best program in education.

Thank you, Matt Dozier President & CEO The EAST Initiative

2

Support EAST supports our programs and students in many ways. In addition to our professional and technical trainings we are positioned to leverage our partnerships and support into some innovative and powerful ways.

Beyond the Bell The EAST Initiative, in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education, provides funding for projects in Arkansas that create engaging environments for students. These projects utilize technology to support the STEM curriculum while serving their communities outside normal classroom hours in the summer and fall.

12 SCHOOLS WERE AWARDED BEYOND THE BELL GRANTS TOTALING

$90,544.06

Beyond The Bell

Upgrade Grants In cooperation with the Arkansas Department of Education, the EAST Initiative offers non-competitive matching Upgrade Grants to Arkansas schools. The schools leverage our support with matching funds to ensure the technological capacity of their EAST programs.

AMOUNT OF LOCAL FUNDS LEVERAGED THROUGH EAST UPGRADE GRANT PROGRAM

$91,818.48 3

IN FUNDS PROVIDED BY THE EAST INITIATIVE

$117,264.37

New Program Installations Twelve schools were awarded funding, primarily through grants from the Arkansas Department of Education to implement the EAST Program in the 2013 – 2014 school year.

12 SCHOOLS IMPLEMENTED THE EAST PROGRAM WITH TECHNOLOGY VALUED AT

$194,243

$2,330,916

VALUE OF TECHNOLOGY INSTALLED INTO EACH SCHOOL

4

5

Services Professional Development & StudentTraining The EAST Initiative offers training year-round for all levels of the education system including students, faculty and administrators. These trainings equip all participants in the EAST Program with both technical and leadership skills.

STUDENT TECHNICAL TRAINING

PHASE TRAINING

60 61

TRAINING SESSIONS OFFERED NEW EAST FACILITATORS TRAINED

889 167

EAST STUDENTS ATTENDED TRAINING EAST SCHOOLS PARTICIPATED IN TRAININGS

HOURS OF TRAINING 3,840 TOTAL COMPLETED OF ADDITIONAL TECHNOLOGY 6 HOURS TRAININGS PROVIDED

6

Site Support The EAST Initiative Site Support Team works directly with EAST programs to provide services and support that improve and enhance the program in every school. The team makes regular visits to schools and coordinates training for EAST facilitators and school administrators throughout the year.

103

SUPPORT 142 SITE VISITS DRIVEN FOR 10,486 MILES SITE SUPPORT VISITS

SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS TRAINED

Site Support Team

TAMI BAKER

7

LISA COOK

ERICA RILEY

JERRY PRINCE

TIM STEPHENSON

EAST Core The national educational focus has shifted with the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards, as well as a heightened understanding of the need to provide opportunities for students to become better communicators, problem solvers and innovators.

EAST Core fuses together the best practices of project-driven learning in the standard EAST program with math and science classes.

EAST Core provides tools, resources, support and a custom approach to participating schools, establishing a dynamic methodology to prepare students for competitive post-secondary studies and STEM careers.

85

DRIVEN FOR SITE 8,288 MILES SUPPORT VISITS

TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS TRAINED

PROFESSIONAL 2,021 CERTIFIED DEVELOPMENT HOURS SUPPORT VISITS TO 62 SITE SCHOOLS

8

Technical Support Group The EAST Initiative provides ongoing technical support for EAST students and facilitators including online training tutorials, discussion forums and Help Tickets from our Technical Support Group (TSG).

SUBMITTED 123 SCHOOLS HELP TICKETS

TICKETS 408 HELP RESOLVED

9

RESPONSES TO 4 AVERAGE RESOLVE HELP TICKETS

Projects

View on EQ bit.ly/NLRFarm

North Little Rock Community Farm North Little Rock, Arkansas

The North Little Rock Community Farm project won the Community Collaboration Award at the 2014 EAST Conference.

North Little Rock High School EAST students started the garden to benefit their classmates and community, which has an estimated 650 homeless students.

The garden provides healthy food options and an outlet for the community to work together. EAST students use technology like GIS and Google Maps, and partnered with a number of organizations in central Arkansas, including The People Tree, NLR Fit 2 Live, the North Little Rock School District and AmeriCorps, to sustain and improve their garden.

10

Greenbrier Space Balloon Launch

View on EQ bit.ly/EQballoon

Greenbrier, Arkansas EAST students at Greenbrier High School launched a weather balloon into space, capturing stunning images miles above the Earth with a GoPro Hero3 camera using a barometer equipped with Arduino microprocessor technology to record data. The data was analyzed and graphed in Microsoft Excel to compare altitude with temperature and pressure.

The project, which started simply as a fun idea, developed into a scientific experiment that gained local recognition and was documented by the EAST students on a blog (bit.ly/KzrKaD).

Greenbrier High School EAST was awarded the Founder’s Program of Excellence Award for Student Growth at the 2014 EAST Conference.

11

National Service Project Health and Wellness The EAST Initiative partnered with the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) for the 2013 – 2014 National Service Project, along with several other community health partners including Becky Comet, a former contestant on the NBC weight loss competition television show The Biggest Loser.

EAST Programs across the country focused many of their projects on health and wellness, including fitness trails, hydroponics, aquaponics and food desert mapping. Students identified needs in their communities and worked toward providing access to resources to improve the quality of life.

12

Events EAST Night Out EAST Night Out is a national celebration of the EAST model, where family, friends and the general public are invited to see how students are making a difference in their community and celebrate the work already underway. During EAST Night Out, EAST classrooms share with their school, community members, business leaders, media and families the power of student-driven, service-based, technology-infused education.

138 EAST NIGHT OUT

EAST PROGRAMS HOSTED

13

GUESTS ATTENDED EAST 4,000 ESTIMATED NIGHT OUT OCTOBER 15, 2013

14

EAST Conference 2014 Your Future is Trending Now Thousands of guests attend the national EAST Conference annually in Hot Springs, Arkansas. EAST facilitators, Core teachers and students share their stories, showcase their work and experience an expo-style environment that offers breakout sessions, networking opportunities and onsite competitions. The most outstanding EAST programs are recognized with prestigious awards at our formal banquet including the Founder’s Award, given this year to Sonora Elementary School, the first elementary school to win the award. Conference was held March 19 – 21, 2014 at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

$136,765 IN SPONSORSHIP AND IN-KIND DONATIONS RECEIVED

PROGRAMS 203 EAST REPRESENTED

2,400 ESTIMATED ATTENDEES

60

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

$6,271 IN PRIZES AWARDED BY THE EAST INITIATIVE

15

16

01

3 E AS

T

The EAST Summer Seminar provides professional development and networking opportunities for EAST facilitators and is hosted in a different Arkansas city every summer. In 2013, Summer Seminar and a Tech Camp were held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Little Rock July 16 – 19.

2

Summer Seminar SEMINAR Little Rock AR

172

FACILITATORS AND CORE TEACHERS ATTENDED SCHOOLS WERE 152 EAST REPRESENTED

72 17

$3,160.66 TECH CAMP PARTICIPANTS

IN DONATIONS AND PRIZES RECEIVED

18

EAST in the Community The EAST Initiative is partnering with the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub to offer the community access to programs like the Launch Pad Technology Maker Space and the STEAM Lab for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics education.

The Innovation Hub is designed to promote entrepreneurship and small business development in central Arkansas through three components: technology education, community membership and professional partnerships with industries across the state.

AT&T and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation are two organizations committed to the growth of the Innovation Hub by providing $70,000 in donations.

The EAST Initiative President and CEO Matt Dozier serves on the Innovation Hub’s board of directors alongside EAST board member David Moody and other individuals who will contribute leadership and insight to the success of the Hub.

19

Awards The EAST Initiative was among five finalists for the 2014 Arkansas Business Nonprofit of the Year Award, presented by AT&T. A banquet was held in February 2014 at the Statehouse Convention Center to recognize the honorees including the other nonprofit finalists: the 20th Century Club, Arkansas Enterprises for the Developmentally Disabled Inc., Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and the winner, the Museum of Discovery.

For 26 years the Arkansas Business Publishing Group has recognized outstanding businesses in Arkansas by honoring the state’s top executives, small businesses and nonprofits with the annual Arkansas Business of the Year Awards.

This is the second year EAST has received a nod in the Arkansas Business of the Year Awards. In 2013, EAST Initiative President and CEO Matt Dozier was a finalist for Nonprofit Executive of the Year.

20

Sonora EAST Students at Esri UC Sonora Elementary EAST students Kylie Miller and Rikki Vaughn, accompanied by their EAST facilitator Josh Worthy, took the stage at the Esri Users Conference in San Diego, California, to share their award-winning mapping projects during the “Connecting GIS with Education” session.

The students were invited to present at the Esri UC by Charlie Fitzpatrick, Esri K-12 Education Manager, after he judged the Founder’s Award finalists and watched their presentation at the 2014 EAST Conference banquet.

Esri President Jack Dangermond joined Kylie and Rikki on stage during their presentation, which received a standing ovation from the crowd. Following the presentation, Dangermond said about the Sonora students, “What an afternoon; these girls will be around and will have their resumes ready for you later this evening.”

15,000

GIS PROFESSIONALS ATTENDED THE ESRI UC

72+ COUNTRIES REPRESENTED 21

View presentation online: bit.ly/sonoraEsri

Support EAST The EAST Initiative is a 501(c)3 national nonprofit organization recognized by GuideStar Exchange as a Gold participant.

Help EAST grow by bringing an EAST program into your local community. Your support allows us to expand services in technical training for students, professional development for teachers and administrators and on-going program development.

Shop Amazon Smile and Amazon will donate 0.5 percent of the price of eligible Amazon Smile purchases to the EAST Initiative: bit.ly/1AyRb50

With your donation, you can support innovative education

SupportEAST.org

22

Sponsors and Supporters

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We thank all the organizations that have helped EAST with their support.

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23

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Financials Statement of Financial Position June 30, 2014 (With Comparative Totals for June 30, 2013) Assets

June 30, 2014

June 30, 2013

ASSETS: Cash Accounts receivable Prepaid expenses Fixed assets, net Other assets

$

Total assets

$

Liabilities and Net Assets LIABILITIES:

Accounts payable and accrued expenses Debt

2,623,229 23,100 44,259 77,454 6,942 2,774,984

June 30, 2014 $

Total liabilities

728,906 728,906

$

$

3,003,415 4,950 42,078 74,251 5,795 3,160,489

June 30, 2013 $

1,535,193 1,535,193

NET ASSETS: Unrestricted Temporarily restricted Permanently restricted

1,416,509 627,623 1,946 2,046,078

Total Net Assets

Total liabilities and net assets See anual audit for notes and additional information

25

$

2,774,984

583,381 1,039,969 1,946 1,625,296 $

3,160,489

Statement of Activities For the Year Ended June 30, 2014 (With Comparative Totals for the Year Ended June 30, 2013)

Year Ended June 30, 2014

Year Ended June 30, 2013

REVENUES AND OTHER SUPPORT: State of Arkansas Department of Education: Appropriations Grants Contracts Fee for service contracts Event revenue Occupancy revenue Interest income In-kind revenue Individual contributions Other revenue Total Revenue and Other Support

1,855,103 601,592 2,456,695

1,799,767 533,448 2,333,215

372,919 82,350 169,018 10,994 43,043 10,491 6,490 12,315 3,164,316

323,733 117,500 157,899 85,176 38,900 11,787 3,906 5,407 3,077,523

103,056 325,102 422,960 279,833 364,245 547,324 196,043 52,661 2,291,225

166,647 338,056 380,747 297,599 281,513 517,884 83,908 208,480 2,274,834

361,073 91,236 452,309 2,743,534

333,487 96,064 429,551 2,704,385

Expenses: Program Services: Program training and development Technical support to schools On-site support to schools EAST Core program Student training Student events Grants to schools Occupancy expense

84%

Program Services

13%

Administration

3%

Fundraising

Supporting Services: Management and general Development and fundraising Total Expenses

CHANGE IN NET ASSETS NET ASSETS, beginning of year NET ASSETS, end of year

420,782

373,138

1,625,296

1,252,158

2,046,078

1,625,296

See annual audit for notes and additional information

26

EAST Board of Directors 2014 - 2015 Jerry Damerow Chairperson Retired, Partner Ernst and Young

Dr. David Moody

Vice-Chairperson Principal Jacksson David, LLC

Melanie VanZandt Bradford

Secretary Division Leader, Research & Technology Arkansas Department of Education

Prakash Jalihal

Immediate Past Chair Retired Senior Vice President FIS Global 27

Dr. John O’Connell Chair, Finance and Audit Committee Consultant E2T2 Ltd.

Dr. John Ahlen

Retired President Arkansas Science and Technology Authority

Joyce Craft

Superintendent Hot Springs School District

Dr. Michael Gealt

Executive Vice President/ Provost Central Michigan University

Dale Johnson

Senior Vice President FIS Global

Dominik Mjartan

CEO Southern Bancorp Community Partners Executive Vice President Southern Bancorp

Dr. David Rainey

Education Consultant

Tommy Tyler

Retired Superintendent Crossett School District

Barbara Warren

Director Arkansas River Education Service Cooperative

EAST Advisory Council Dr. Richard Abernathy

Kelly Lyon

Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators

Webster University

Jerry Adams

Arkansas Research Alliance

Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce

Marie Bruno

Dr. John Mergendoller

Susie Marks

Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation

Buck Institute for Education

Dr. Charisse Childers

STEM Coalition

Accelerate Arkansas

Melinda Faubel AT&T

Charlie Fitzpatrick Esri

Heather Larkin

Arkansas Community Foundation

Suzanne Mitchell

Dr. Eric Sandgren UALR EIT

Kathy Smith

Dr. Gail McClure ASTA

Walton Family Foundation

Bill Nott

Mike Steely

Mechanical Engineer, PE

Sparkible

Warwick Sabin

Lynnette Watts

Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub and State Representative

Women’s Foundation of Arkansas 28

Connect

Communications@EASTstaff.org

Social Media fb.me/EASTinitiative

twitter.com/EASTinitiative

instagram.com/theEASTinitiative

EAST Quarterly Magazine Our quarterly e-magazine, EQ, keeps you up to date on all things EAST. We invite everyone—EAST students and parents, school administrators, civic leaders and anyone else who is interested in impacting education and communities, to read EQ Magazine today.

issuu.com/EASTquarterly

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youtube.com/user/EASTHQ

Message from Board Chair Jerry Damerow

When I initially agreed to join the EAST Board my main objective was to do my part to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education since I saw this as the most important driver of economic growth in America. I was also grateful for the fact that my parents placed a high degree of focus on my education and wanted to play a role in making sure kids had support for their education and development.

My initial view of EAST was that it was all about technology. Kids would have access to a well-equipped “EAST Classroom” in their schools where they could learn how to use the latest technology.

What I didn’t realize was that this is just the beginning. Sure, the kids do learn how to use technology but they also learn problem solving as they use this technology to solve problems in their school and their community. But there is more. EAST students are required to work together so they learn teamwork. EAST students are required to present their projects, often in front of large groups, so they learn presentation skills as well as public speaking skills.

I hope my volunteer work at EAST has benefited students but I can guarantee it has been a huge benefit to me as I watch these bright young students develop skills that will significantly enhance their lives and their careers.

Jerry Damerow Board Chair, EAST Initiative

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/EASTinitiative

/theEASTinitiative

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