Summer 2022 EAST Quarterly

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Summer 2022 QUARTERLY

ISSUE

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36

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MAPPING OUT PROBLEMS Discover how a Benton high EAST student is combating river pollution with ArcGIS

FROM THE ROOTS Explore EAST at Northeast Tech - Claremore's work with community partner Rogers County Conservation District

VACATIONING WITH A PURPOSE Glimpse into what EAST students and facilitators have been up to this summer

What is

?

ted a r le e c c a n o ti a c u d EAST is e gy! lo o n h c te & e ic v r e s by PA OK

LA AR

In 270+ schools across Arkansas and beyond, EAST students are given access to numerous types of technology and are tasked with solving problems within their community.

NO lectures. NO standardized tests.

Just innovation, growth, and life-changing educational experiences. with

30,000+

EAST students enrolled yearly

&

300,000+ EAST alumni

Interested in joining us on our mission to revolutionize education?

Visit EASTinitiative.org to learn more.

It’s that time of the year again, isn’t it?

I remember when I would gingerly walk onto my high school campus after sleeping three hours that night. Partially because of the nervousness of a year full of new classes and friends, but also because my sleep schedule was ruined because of constant all-nighters playing video games.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

For many of us, this is our first new school year at EAST, and there are plenty of new and exciting things coming the EAST Network’s way as we prepare to journey “Into the EASTverse.”

We’ll share more about that later on. For now, stock up on the melatonin.

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DIGGING IN AT EAST SEMINAR

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MAPPING OUT PROBLEMS

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FROM THE ROOTS

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VACATIONING WITH A PURPOSE

Cheers!

Bradley Brewer Content Creator

QUARTERLY

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6215 Ranch Dr. Little Rock, AR 72223 501.371.5016 EASTinitiative.org communications@EASTstaff.org

@theEASTinitiative

@EASTinitiative

Over 200 EAST facilitators spent a week digging in and preparing for the school year! Check out the highlights from EAST Seminar.

An EAST student at Benton High School used ArcGIS to map out the Saline River, identifying areas vulnerable to flooding.

Northeast Tech - Claremore have worked for years to bring a local nature reserve into the next generation.

EAST doesn’t stop when the heat rises! See what awesome experiences students and facilitators had this summer.

ACCELERATING EDUCATION, AGAIN Read how EAST alumna Tina Fletcher is revolutionizing education with her own education nonprofit.

MAGAZINE TEAM Editor - Bradley Brewer Designer - Kristen Farmin Cover Photo - Madison Mitchell

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Disclaimer The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited materials lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of the EAST Initiative.

Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of the copyright holder.

All copyrights are recognized and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review.

Read this and previous issues online at news.EASTlink.me/EQ SUMMER 2022 | EAST QUARTERLY

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DIGGING IN EAST

Harold Copenhaver, the Mayor of Jonesboro, welcomed over 200 EAST facilitators to the city at Opening Session. Copenhaver is extensively involved with EAST programs in the Jonesboro area as he met with EAST at Nettleton High School several times throughout the school year.

AT

SEMINAR Over 200 EAST facilitators had the chance to “Dig In” at EAST’s annual professional development conference, EAST Seminar, in July.

Facilitators attended over 40

e Benson and EAST facilitators Shan hey Broke It. You Fix It” Josh Worthy led the “T ators attending the breakout session, where facilit erent types of technology session learned how to fix diff dents. that are easily broken by stu

different breakout sessions, attended several networking events, and explored Downtown Jonesboro as they prepared for the new school year.

For more EAST Seminar highlights, visit EASTseminar.org!

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EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

Facilitators compe ted against each other at Trivia and Treats, one of Seminar’s networking even ts, in hopes of winning several prizes from winning in tr ivia and spinning the “CARTwheel” .

EAST alumni Emily Herron and Christian Canazales (pictured) as well as Rachel Anderson shared how their experiences in EAST prepared them for university and their careers in the Breakout Session, “Insights from EAST Alumni”.

Over 70 facilitators and several Friends of EAST came out to The Social in Jonesboro for the first-ever “Seminar Social” fundraising networking event. Over $1,700 was raised to support the EAST Scholarship Fund while attendees enjoyed nachos and drinks with each other while competing in Hyper Bowling.

Facilitators participated in several wacky challenges to kick off each day of Seminar with “Morning Sandbox” activities. This activity was called “Adventure: EAST”, where teams had to complete several different tasks like mummifying one member of their team to unlock a riddle.

For many facilitators, EAST Seminar 2022 was their first experience meeting their peers in-person! This year’s event doubled the inperson attendance of last year as the pandemic prevented many facilitators from attending in recent years.

SUMMER 2022 | EAST QUARTERLY

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Welcome to the

EAST NETWORK! ®

We’re delighted to welcome 13 new EAST programs for the 2022-2023 school year! Several school districts expanded EAST within their communities, while others are experiencing EAST for the first time.

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Arkansas Arts Academy Elementary/Middle School (Rogers, AR)

Melbourne Elementary School

Booker T Washington Elementary School (Little Rock Community School)

Mills Middle School (Little Rock, AR)

Eureka Springs Middle School

Norfork High School

Mabelvale Elementary School (Little Rock Community School)

Stephens Elementary School (Little Rock Community School)

Maumelle Charter Middle School

Vilonia Middle School

EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

Melbourne High School

MAPPING OUT

PROBLEMS

EAST student at Benton High School uses ArcGIS to map out vulnerable watersheds on the Saline River

T

he Natural Resource Division of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture teamed up with an EAST student from Benton High School to create an interactive map of the Saline River in an effort to combat pollution.

Jace Edwards, who completed his sophomore year during the 20212022 school year, utilized ArcGIS technology in order to create a story map of the Saline River and its watersheds, revealing what areas of the community would be affected by trash floods.

“I used ArcGIS and ArcGIS’ story map feature to create a map of the Saline River and its entire stream network,” Jace said. “The map can show people where they live in relation to the several different watersheds of the river and how they can help keep the water clean.”

Jace worked alongside his community partner Tate Wentz on this project. Wentz is the Water Quality Section Manager for the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. Jace held weekly meetings with Wentz to coordinate the project and receive data that Wentz gathered in order to visualize it on his map rendering.

“Tate would send me the percentages of vegetation in different areas of the river,” Jace said. “He’d send me that data so I could put it together and visualize it on the map.”

The pair hope that the map will help local organizations identify areas of the river that are struggling with trash pollution, but Wentz says that the project is a preemptive strategy to prevent a crisis in the future.

“There are some activities from the Saline River Watershed Alliance like trash cleanups, but this project is primarily preemptive,” Wentz said. “In busier areas we’ve seen a bit of an uptick in trash, but in terms of water quality it has stayed pretty consistent. However as the urban center grows, the Alliance is focusing on doing this in a manner that’s sustainable and this [project] can help with that.”

Benton High School began its EAST program in 2020. EAST provides access to numerous different types of technology including the ArcGIS system and encourages students to use that technology to solve problems within their community.

“This was the first time I’ve ever had the opportunity to work on something like this,” Jace said.

“After spending a year in EAST, I learned that there aren’t very many opportunities like this in Benton.”

While Jace is planning to attend a vocational school that does not have an EAST program in the upcoming school year, Wentz is preparing to work with another EAST student from the program to continue work on this project — and is excited to continue his partnership with EAST at Benton High School.

“It’s rare to have students take such an interest in these things and get back outside,” Wentz said. “By partnering with EAST students like Jace, we’ve been able to help teach students not only the technology side of things, but also about environmental science and why these issues surrounding the river are so important.”

SUMMER 2022 | EAST QUARTERLY

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Photo: Faith Thompson Cover Photo: Madison Mitchell

“ To have them meet deadlines and deal with complete differences

of visions is something that I’ve never seen before out of students their age. If I have a different vision for a project than they do, they will come to me and pitch different ideas that would be more optimal for the project. Skills like these that they already have and are gaining through EAST will really prepare them for the real

”

world when they get a job.

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EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

-- Robert Gibbs, RCCD

THE

FROM ROOTS

Photo: Evan Cole

An Oklahoma nature reserve finds new life thanks to EAST students at Northeast Tech - Claremore

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or years, EAST students at Northeast Tech - Claremore in Oklahoma have worked with the Rogers County Conservation District, a small government agency focused on maintaining the environmental health of the area.

Robert Gibbs is the education coordinator at the Rogers County Conservation District and has been the primary community partner with Northeast Tech’s EAST students who work in the area.

Gibbs said that the assistance he’s received from students has been invaluable due to the small number of workers in his field.

“The program itself is unbelievable,” Gibbs said. “I work for a very small local government agency, and we’re very short-staffed and underfunded. To be able to have the students do projects for us in areas where we don’t have staff and the knowledge base is a huge help.”

One of the first projects students took on with Gibbs was mapping out the trails at the Rogers County Nature Reserve, creating a more accessible experience for anyone who wants to go for a hike. On top of this, they also created different opportunities for visitors to learn about the wildlife in the area.

“They used GPS and [Arc]GIS on the trails and created great maps that are now all around the reserve so people can see where they are going,” Gibbs said. “They’ve identified the birds that visit various areas of the reserve and created cue cards showing guests where they can be found, as well as including QR codes that will give visitors more information on the area and the animals.”

Joshua Driskel is a junior at Northeast Tech and has led the overhaul of the RCCD’s website. Gibbs admits the website has been barebones and aesthetically lacking in the past, but says Driskel has introduced several new features and designs.

“He had ideas that I didn’t because in the past, we’ve used our website but definitely haven’t used it to its fullest extent,” Gibbs said. “Before I would just use it as a calendar to show availability for the nature

center, and would literally copy pictures over from Microsoft Word on the website. So he completely redesigned the website to make it look a lot better and made it a lot more user friendly.”

Driskel implemented different pages sharing information about the RCCD, the nature reserve and its wildlife — as well as providing a map with directions to the trails.

“The changes consisted of an overall redesign of the site layout,” Driskel said. “The color was changed throughout the entire site and the pages themselves were rearranged to be more accessible and user-friendly.”

The most recent project the program has started with the RCCD involves finding ways to combat invasive species in the area.

Through a partnership with Phil Handly and ERGIS, students were able to scan the area using a drone, and are working through the data to find areas that are most affected by invasive species.

“With the invasive species, trying to control them is a day-to-day process,” Gibbs said. “So finding out where they are spreading the fastest by using the data is critical because it helps me focus on where to use my spare time to combat that.”

The data that Phil Handly and the students gathered takes months to process, but the students are planning to track where invasive species are located by mapping using ArcGIS this semester.

EAST at Northeast Tech - Claremore’s work with the Rogers County Conservation District may never be completed, but to say their involvement has improved the RCCD and its exposure to people in the area would be an understatement.

“They’re bringing in technology and new things that I’m not very comfortable with and don’t know how to use,” Gibbs said. “It’s letting me take the nature center to the next generation of visitors and education programs with technology that I would have never thought of.”

SUMMER 2022 | EAST QUARTERLY

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Vacationing with a

Purpose

Even though EAST students took a break from school over the summer, that doesn’t mean they stopped learning and helping their communities!

Members of EAST Staff and Rivercrest High School facilitator Dave Diagostino volunteered at Arkansas Northeastern College’s Career Exploration Camp, showing students how to use virtual reality, coding languages, drones and more in their EAST programs.

EAST at Cross County High School student Lexi Jarrett is a part of the Clinton School of Public Service and met Chelsea Clinton at the beginning of the summer. The Clinton School of Public Service is an educational program that focuses on providing philanthropic opportunities outside of the classroom to students.

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EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

EAST students from Midland Elementary School, among several others, volunteered to help with training new facilitators at EAST HQ, and enjoyed lunch with EAST president and CEO Matt Dozier and members of the EAST staff.

EAST at Lakeside Junior High (Springdale) facilitator Jamie Stallings visited Disney World in Orlando after being selected as one of the 50 educators in the nation to participate in Disney’s Imagination Campus. Here, Jamie learned how Disney operates their theme parks and how he can utilize some of their strategies in his classroom.

Over a dozen students from EAST at Hellstern Middle School joined their facilitator Nicole Pena for a weeklong trip to Washington DC! Together, the program visited several historical monuments and museums.

SUMMER 2022 | EAST QUARTERLY

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Accelerating

Education (Again)

T

ina Fletcher is an EAST alum from Morrilton High School and attributes a lot of her successes to her foundations in EAST. Tina graduated from Harvard University with a Master’s Degree in Teacher Education, and followed that up with a PhD in Education Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

Tina became passionate about education at a young age, and following an internship with First Lady Michelle Obama, she and her sister Trina became inspired to create Fletcher Education Solutions, an education nonprofit that seeks to provide more educational opportunities to low income students and people of color.

How did EAST impact you as a student and prepare you for life after high school?

In essence, EAST prepared me for actual independent work which is much more common in college and professional work. Unlike other courses that often consisted of rote learning, EAST pushed you to the edge and asked, “What will you do?" EAST prepared me for moments in the college classroom, office roundtable, and in other professional spaces where I had to be prepared to not only explain how I compiled my idea but also the steps necessary to complete it successfully.

EAST taught me how to start and finish major projects in college and beyond and how to think beyond the book for answers to challenges. I’ve shared this before with the EAST team, but it’s worth repeating. EAST also taught me how to work well with others and understand that it’s okay for someone else to have the right answer and that life isn’t always a competition. Earning a PhD really taught me the value of learning from others.

That is where education truly begins.

Tell us a bit about Fletcher Education Solutions and its mission.

Fletcher Education Solutions (FES) is an education consulting firm that aims to help schools inspire the youth, teachers, and families they serve. FES also specializes in helping teachers pass the Praxis exam, the most widely used teacher licensure exam in the country.

The mission of FES is to help close the opportunity gaps that exist for low income and students of color by increasing the number of high-quality Black, Hispanic, and Indigneous teachers 10

EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

in the United States through intense licensure exam support.

Did your experience in EAST impact the creation of FES in any way? And if so, how?

Interestingly, the lessons I have learned from EAST - both as an alum and now as a supporter - have impacted both the creation of FES and the current work we do. Regarding the creation of FES, I drew upon skills gained in EAST on how to create something from scratch.

Building a successful small business takes time, passion, dedication, and trust in oneself and your team. While most small businesses aren’t successful after 5 years, we are proud to be going strong in our 7th year!

From EAST, I learned to regroup once I made it to the edge and thought there was no way to turn. I have learned that heading in a new direction with a project or task can actually be a good thing and that no challenge has a straight and narrow path to the solution - hard work is always required!

EAST has played many roles in my consulting work since returning to Arkansas. My first contract 2017 included assisting an Arkansas Delta school district with their first EAST program, an extremely rewarding assignment.

We also worked with another district in Southeast Arkansas that has both a middle and high school EAST program.

Because that district was more advanced, we were able to connect them with the other district to share ideas and best practices. To see both groups at the annual conference in Hot Springs brought our work full circle, a very rewarding moment.

AFP Honors EAST Programs & Partners ®

National Philanthropy Day is a special day set aside to recognize and pay tribute to the impact of philanthropy in the world around us.

The Arkansas Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals honors several philanthropists, volunteer groups and nonprofit organizations every year on National Philanthropy Day, and we’re excited to share that EAST and several of our partners will be recognized as finalists during the NPD luncheon this November.

EAST at Nettleton High School

Mildred Franco, EAST Board of Directors

Outstanding Youth Volunteer

Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser

Women’s Foundation of Arkansas

Windstream, EAST Change Maker Sponsor

Outstanding Foundation

Outstanding Corporation

T S A E t r o p p u S I # EAST alumna & Community Partner Rachel Anderson shares her story Students should be excited to see what each school day will bring. Unfortunately, Arkansas students are not feeling inspired going to school. I have the key to turn that around for all schools across the state. I know because my life was changed by EAST during my time at Nettleton High School.

Did you know what path you were wanting to take in life when you were 14 years old? I didn’t know either, but that’s how old I was when I knew I wanted to be part of EAST at Nettleton High School. As an EAST student, I participated in exciting yet challenging activities in my class using video and digital cameras, 3-D printers, and drones.

Because of EAST, I made a valuable connection with the Mayor of Jonesboro and began work as the city’s Communications Coordinator right after college. And now, I’m making a real difference as the head of the Jonesboro Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center.

I often think of EAST when I hear the song by Miranda Lambert called, “The House That Built Me.” It’s clear that EAST played such an integral role in shaping who I am today, and I want that for ALL students in Arkansas.

Today, I give back to EAST students by serving as a Community Partner. These students now work hand-in-hand with myself and Jonesboro Police by creating driving tutorial videos and booklets providing information on where the needy in our community can find support.

EAST students even mapped the entire city with the location of every fire hydrant to enable first responders to save lives and structures faster than ever before.

Your $50 contribution to EAST provides students all across the state with modern, state-of-the-art technology that will continue giving them the chance to achieve incredible things like these.

Will you join me in investing in our communities and future generations through EAST?

-

You can give a gift to EAST by going to supportEAST.org.

EAST Initiative is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID# 71-0863568).

Your gift is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

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EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

“

Recently I did a student training class on Hollywood Lighting and it was really amazing because I learned so many different techniques that help with making films.

I love to learn about that; it’s my passion, so the fact that I can go to EAST HQ and learn from professionals is incredible because I hope to be in their shoes one day.

Jaylinn Williams Senior EAST Student, Paragould High School

”

EAST CHANGE MAKERS An EAST Change Maker is a special EAST advocate that supports four annual events. These partnerships elevate the student and educator experience by providing resources and opportunities that exceed beyond the classroom.

THANK YOU

to all of our sponsors and supporters who help make EAST happen for students.

SUMMER 2022 | EAST QUARTERLY

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6215 Ranch Dr. Little Rock, AR 723 501.371.5016 EASTinitiative.org communications@EASTstaff.org

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