Pipeline for Growth

Maybe it’s something in the air up there.

EAST at International Studies Magnet School became the second school from the Jonesboro Public School system to win a coveted Cornerstone Award this year. This program extended its reach in both the technology used and the community partners they work with in order to be recognized for the immense Student Growth and Engagement that took place.

Following last year’s collaboration with the A-State Museum where they created a 360-degree virtual tour, the students went one step farther and implemented an augmented reality component to the visitor’s experience.

“Using Halo AR, we are creating an augmented reality feature at every exhibit at the A-State Museum,” said fifth-grade student Kenna Weaver. “This will allow visitors to watch videos that further explain the historical importance of artifacts in the museum.”

Another continuation of a project from last year came with the Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center as students wanted to improve the experience of visitors to the habitat. In order to do this, students used Raspberry Pi software to create a mini camera that creates a live video feed of animals in the habitat, even when they’re hiding or resting.

“The animals often go inside their hideouts and cannot be seen by visitors,” said sixth-grade student Addy Rich. “The camera we built allows for visitors to go to a unique link on the internet to watch the animals both when they are inside and outside of their hideouts.”

The program’s most technologically advanced project is right inside their school, as students are working on building multiple robots that help guide students through hallways at the Pre-K center.

“Our students are building and installing programs on five different robots,” Kenna said. “We are planning to use line-tracking to lead students at the Pre-K center, and we are designing different shells like a school bus and a frog to feel more inviting to the kids.”

International Studies Magnet School is only a few blocks from Jonesboro’s downtown area, so it made sense to partner with the Downtown Jonesboro Alliance to assist in their efforts of growing business in the area.

“We came up with the idea of creating a digital map that spotlights all of the incredible features of our downtown,” Addy said. “We quickly created a prototype map within ArcGIS and presented it to the Downtown Jonesboro Alliance and they loved it! When the map is finished, it’ll be featured on their website and it will replace the older physical maps that are currently downtown.”

REPRESENTING INTERNATIONAL STUDIES MAGNET STUDIES AT EASTCON23:

Kenna Weaver*

Suleman Alomari

Ridge Emison

Drew Copeland

Jillian Roberts

Cooper Hunt

George Cavenaugh

Addy Beth Martin

Addy Rich

Caden Byrd

*denotes member of 2023 EAST Leadership Team

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