four years in the making 2021 FOUNDER’S AWARD WINNER mountain home career academies MEET THE Mountain home Career academies east team Joshua Dodson - 12th grade Sophie Quick - 12th grade Lauren Dewey - 12 grade Zack Spaulding - 12th grade
Founder’s is a self-nominated award. Who or what planted the seed that you all should nominate yourself? Joshua: We have worked so hard these past couple of years, and I think our community was proud of what we have done. Our team and facilitator collectively decided that we should nominate ourselves.
Which project that was highlighted in the nomination and presentation was... ...The most challenging project for the group? Lauren: The most challenging was the Foodbank of North Central Arkansas project. There are so many parts, and each one is different and challenges us differently. The Blessing Box has pushed us outside our comfort zone. The actual box is a temperature-controlled box that people in our community anonymously donate to or can take food from. If the boxes are not temperature controlled, that would sacrifice the quality of the food. Controlling the temperature of the boxes remotely turned out to be very difficult. The project team had to create several different prototypes and choose the best option for our program, the food bank, and community. Another big challenge for this project was coordinating the grand opening of the food bank. We learned new skills in graphic design, audio software, video production and editing, and more.
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EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org
