Summer 2016 EQ by EAST Initiative

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INSIDE

CONFERENCE 2017 LOGO

Summer 2016 QUARTERLY

ISSUE

L E AV I N G A

L EGACY > SUMMER

HIGHLIGHTS

EAST PROJECT PROFILE

HOT SPRINGS MIDDLE SCHOOL

ENCOUNTER EAST

PAGE

TUESDAY, OCT. 18, 2016

EAST Night Out is a national open house during which all EAST programs are encouraged to open their doors and invite the community in. This is a great opportunity for programs to forge community partnerships, showcase projects and share their stories. For communities, the event is a chance to learn more about the amazing technological tools available to every EAST classroom and to see how those tools are applied to solving community problems. To register or find an EAST Night Out near you, visit

http://www.EASTnightout.com

SUMMER 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2

EDITOR’S LETTER

EAST COMMUNITY

NEW EAST CONFERENCE LOGO

ENCOUNTER EAST

PROJECT PAGE

By Spencer Watson

Here are the new schools with EAST programs for 2016-2017!

Meet the students behind the EAST Conference 2017 logo.

YEAR ONE

FOND FAREWELL

Kelly Falkner describes her first year at our new EAST program at Kiamichi Technology Centers Poteau Campus in Oklahoma.

PROJECT PROFILE

A Hot Springs Middle School student shows off her robotic arm project.

Meet a new member of the EAST staff, Alicia Humbard.

As the founder of the EAST Initiative retires, CEO & President Matt Dozier reflects on the man who helped start it all.

SUMMER EVENTS

See highlights from Phase Training, Summer Seminar and more!

We are inviting the community to discover and encounter EAST.

Discover a new tool for finding amazing projects throughout EAST.

STAFF PROFILE

FEATURE STORY

Here is a little glimpse into the life of EAST founder Tim Stephenson, who will still be working, tinkering and building after retirement.

ALUMNI PROFILE

TEVIN WOOTEN

Meet EAST Alumni Tevin Wooten and learn how EAST helped prepare him for a career in broadcasting and meteorology.

GEEK SPEAK

CALENDAR

GEAR STORE

PARTNERS & SPONSORS

EAST STAFF

Technology tips to start your year off on the right foot.

Upcoming events for September, October and November.

Buy new gear we have in stock so that you can look awesome.

Thank you to all who sponsor and partner with EAST!

Here’s a little insight into what the staff of EAST is really like.

SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

EDITOR’S LETTER

EQ A WISE MAN ONCE SAID THAT, when someone asks how you’re doing, don’t fret over the grammar of whether you should say you’re doing “good” or doing “well,” just say you’re better than you deserve. There’s some truth to that.

The man behind the advice was EAST’s founder Tim Stephenson, whom we celebrate in this issue as he formally retires from day-to-day work with the EAST Initiative. He’s not leaving us entirely — and I, for one, am thankful for that. Not only does he give great advice, I can’t think of a single time in the year that I’ve been working with Tim that he didn’t manage to put a smile on my face. Many who have known and worked with him a whole lot longer would say the same. So it’s a little hard not to say this school year starts off a little bittersweet for all of us. Of course, Tim being Tim, he not only plans to make appearances when he can (ahem, Conference), but he won’t be idle in retirement, either. If you’d like to know a little more about his plans for the future, as well as his thoughts on the past, just flip to the middle of this issue. Don’t let that stop you from reading along the way, though! Because you’ll find more than a few interesting insights into what’s in store for this year. Namely, things like EAST’s plans for an open house this fall, an introduction to EAST’s Project Page and some technical advice on preparing for the year. Of course, we also check in with some neat projects, including a Q&A with the designers of the EAST Conference 2017 logo and a truly mind blowing look at one student’s work turning sci-fi into reality. Naturally, we’ve also gathered a few features from throughout the broader EAST world as well, including an introduction to a new staff member, reflecting on a first-year facilitator’s path to EAST and catching up with an EAST Alumni pursuing his dreams by continuing his education. It’s a busy issue, which certainly makes us happy. It means we haven’t been idle over the summer, and it’s only going to get more exciting now that school has started again. Welcome back!

QUARTERLY

6215 Ranch Dr. Little Rock, AR 72223 501.371.5016 www.eastinitiative.org MAGAZINE TEAM Editor - Spencer Watson Designer - Dave Lewis CONTRIBUTORS Matt Dozier Marisa Damm Kelly Falkner James Hopper PHOTOGRAPHY Spencer Watson Dave Lewis COVER Dave Lewis PRINTING/PUBLISHING Printed by Allegra Print & Imaging of Arkansas, Inc. Published digitally through Issuu at: issuu.com/eastquarterly 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.

Spencer Watson

Editor EAST Quarterly

EAST QUARTERLY | www.EASTinitiative.org

Questions or feedback?

communications@EASTstaff.org

EAST COMMUNITY • • • •• • • •• • •• • ••••••• • • ••• •• • ••••• ••• ••• • • • • ••• ••••• • • • • •• • • ••• • •• • • • • • • • •• • • •• • • • • • • •• • • • • • ••• • • • • • • • • • • • ••••••••• • • • • • •••• • ••• • • • • • ••• • • • ••• • • •• • • • • •• • • ••• • • • 12 NEW • • • •• •• • • • • • • ••

ADDING A

he EAST Initiative welcomes 12 schools for the 2016-2017 school year. The addition of 10 new schools in Arkansas was primarily funded by grants from the Arkansas Department of Education. Additionally, new expansion included two schools in Oklahoma. “For 20 years EAST has demonstrated consistent, steady growth, and that means starting this month over 235 schools will serve more than 19,000 students who will strive to better the communities they call home,” said Matt Dozier, president and CEO of the EAST Initiative. “We are excited to welcome our new schools, and we look forward to seeing what they will accomplish this year and in the years to come.” In establishing new classrooms, the EAST Initiative provides technology resources including mobile and desktop computers, 3D printers, GPS mapping units, microcontrollers and coding kits and more than 60 professional-grade software applications in more than two dozen professional fields to power these tools and others. As of last year, installation also includes development hardware and software for virtual reality. Students use this technology to develop projects that solve community problems.

SCHOOLS JOIN THE EAST FAMILY

New EAST classrooms have been established in the following schools:

BY SPENCER WATSON •

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Ahlf Junior High School / Searcy, Arkansas Bentonville West High School / Bentonville, Arkansas Gentry Primary School / Gentry, Arkansas Huntsville Middle School / Huntsville, Arkansas Kiamichi Technology Centers - Poteau Campus / Poteau, Oklahoma Kiamichi Technology Centers - Eufaula High School Campus / Eufaula, Oklahoma Lakeside Middle School / Hot Springs, Arkansas Lee Elementary School / Springdale, Arkansas Mulberry High School / Mulberry, Arkansas Pinnacle View Middle School / Little Rock, Arkansas Westside High School / Jonesboro, Arkansas Wynne Junior High School / Wynne, Arkansas “We are excited with the expansion within Arkansas and in Oklahoma,” Dozier said. “In addition to reaching into and ultimately serving and helping new communities, this year’s growth also sees the completion of a continuum of EAST from intermediate to high school in some districts, such as in Wynne, as well as working to keep up with district growth, as with our new neighbors at Little Rock’s Pinnacle View Middle School. “Of course, we’re also excited to add two more Kiamichi Technology Centers in Oklahoma, including opening the first program on the campus of an Oklahoma public high school in Eufaula,” Dozier said. A map of all current EAST programs can be found at http://arcg.is/1smBStJ. n SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

EAST CONFERENCE 201 7 LOGO

SOUNDTHINKING Wynne duo use teamwork to make audio-inspired logo for Conference 2017

alton Yates and Riley Clark of Wynne High School submitted the winning design for the EAST Conference 2017 Logo Competition. The theme for Conference 2017 is “Level Up: EAST Mode.” The winning design conceives that idea as rising levels on a soundboard. We contacted Dalton and Riley to ask about their inspiration for the design and its evolution. Here’s what they had to say: EQ: You said in your entry that your first thought was video games. This was common among a lot of entries and in fact was suggested by the design prompt. What 4

A CONVERSATION WITH DALTON YATES AND RILEY CLARK

made you decide to take a different approach? Did you have an initial video gameinspired design, and if so what was that like? If you started with video games, why did you abandon that idea? Dalton Yates: When the logo design contest first started, our facilitator, Mr. Harvey, asked us all to individually sketch out ideas for the contest. A majority of us seemed to be coming up with different logos concerning video games. Several people used blocky, pixelated words and the “1+” mushroom from Mario Bros. Once we noticed this, we decided to each try to think of something that represented “Level Up” but

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was not video game related. Within our EAST program, many people came up with logos that featured things that go “up,” such as trees, hot air balloons, skyscrapers and the sun. They each used these things as metaphors of the progress of the EAST Initiative. My initial design was not video game related; it was four very simple and very ugly rectangles that increased in height from left to right. However, this transitioned into the logo that we have now. Riley Clark: Initially Dalton and I were working on different logos, and mine took on a gaming theme. It would have incorporated a level up arrow. However,

my concept didn’t meet the deadline, since I do not design quickly. Whenever we started working together, Dalton was working on the current design. He asked me for some help with putting his idea together. When the final concept came out, we didn’t want it to be about gaming since that would have been every single entry we thought EAST would get. We wanted ours to stand out and be different from all the rest. EQ: When you opted to not to go with gaming, what made you think of audio levels? Have you done much sound engineering or run an audio board before? Have you done sound design proj-

ects? Are you just fans of the Nick Jonas song “Levels”? RC: The concept was “dreamed up” by Dalton, who does a lot of the sound and plays for our church’s youth band. I’m not much of a sound design guy myself, but I am a design guy. Dalton suggested it when we were first drafting ideas, and that was the best, unique option. While I worked on finding fonts he did the basic design of the logo. As we went, I drew up sketches and was trying to make it perfect with revisions. DY: As I looked at my original logo, I thought about how I could incorporate the theme of “levels” into the design. After a while I made the connection to audio levels and realized that my logo could be stylized to look like a depiction of them. I’m fairly active in many aspects of music (I play several instruments and am fairly proficient in a few different recording programs), and I have run soundboards before. I would say that just being around music equipment in general probably gave me this idea. Once I had the idea, I researched several versions of the level lights on different soundboards and in digital software. Once Riley joined with me (and especially during the refining stage), we looked at several images of the level lights for reference, especially in regards to shape and color. I do also like the Nick Jonas song, which is strange because I don’t like Nick Jonas. I would be lying if I told you that I didn’t think about it once or twice in the design process. EQ: Tell me a little about your design process. Did

you sketch something out by hand first and then work digitally? Was it digital from the get-go? How did you translate your concept into a final product? DY: My first designs were all sketches on paper. I made about five or six drafts, refining it each time. Once I had something that I was confident in, I started to try to represent it on the computer. I had worked with Adobe Illustrator some before, but I wasn’t very good at it. I learned along the way and eventually realized that many of the finer details from the paper sketches

in working together? Was there ever anything you struggled to agree on? DY: Riley and I started off working separately on two different logos. Not long after I started trying to do design work on the computer, he started helping me more and more. At first he was basically my tech support guy, (helping me save the file in different formats, helping me download and save fonts, etc.) but as time went on, he started contributing to the design process. After the design was submitted and accepted, we worked on making some changes.

Photo courtesy of Dalton Yates

would not work well digitally, so I discarded them. This led to a cleaner look in the end. RC: As I mentioned I did a lot of concept sketching. We started out with a single drawing of what we wanted, and we created that to the best of our ability. Then we didn’t like it on screen. So we changed it, again and again, until we got all of the variants we sent to EAST. EQ: Tell me about working as a team specifically. Did you each take certain roles on the project and, if so, who did what? Design can be a subjective process. How did you decide who was “right”

A lot of what you see in the final version is his work. Throughout the school year, we built a website for the freshman class at our school. That was a challenge, but through it we learned each other well and learned to work with one another. We discussed what we wanted to do with the logo and generally always came to the same consensus in the end. RC: While working on the logo Dalton did most of the design while I was doing concepts, finding fonts and proper colors. When I gave him those things he implemented them into the concept; when he was done I did some revisions to

make everything balanced. Whenever we didn’t agree, we talked it out and eventually came to a solution. EQ: Lastly, tell me about how you feel knowing your design has been picked. It’ll be on t-shirts, bags, posters, websites... lots of places. What’s going to be going through your head when you see that? Are you the type to nitpick and look for things you’d still like to change about it or just smile and be able to say, “Hey, I made that!” RC: Personally I am amazed that anything I helped work on will be as prominent in EAST as this logo will be. I’m probably going to look at the shirts and see one tiny detail I will want to tweak, and it will drive me crazy because I didn’t notice it before. DY: Before we started working on our design, I thought that the 2016 logo was a good logo but never paid much attention to the details of it. Once I had designed one personally, I had a much deeper appreciation for last year’s winning design. I have a cup and a t-shirt that I brought back from EAST Conference 2016. When I was told that our logo had won, I took them out and thought about just how much I had seen the 2016 logo at Conference. At first I was kind of blown away, and I started imagining our own logo on different things. I will probably be a little nitpicky, but I am actually kind of excited. We definitely will be proud to see it at EAST Conference next year and are honored to have been picked! n

SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

ENCOUNTER EAST

EAST is hosting an open house and silent auction this fall, with vacations, event tickets and all manner of goodies. All proceeds go to supporting student technical training sessions for EAST students. Please invite your parents, community partners, clients and everyone else to come out and see us.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND 4:00-7:00 PM THE EAST INITIATIVE HEADQUARTERS 6215 Ranch Dr., Little Rock, AR, 72223

EAST is excited to announce that Hot Rod Wieners, Blackhound BBQ and Loblolly Creamery food trucks will be on site and have agreed to donate a portion of their proceeds to EAST.

EAST QUARTERLY | www.EASTinitiative.org

PROJECT PAGE

IN THE SPOTLIGHT New Project Page celebrates HERE IS A LOOK AT highlights across EAST THE MAIN PAGE OF www.EASTinitiative.org/projects

his school year the EAST Initiative is launching a new tool to both celebrate the outstanding work of students throughout EAST and also help others find inspiration for their own projects.

Launched in August, the new Project Page, located on the EAST Initiative website, replaces the former Project Database as a way for EAST students to submit their work and have it displayed. “The idea of the Project Database was always that students not only had a place to share their work, but in doing so create a warehouse of ideas to inspire colleagues who could view, analyze and perhaps even adapt that work to their own communities,” said Spencer Watson, communications manager for the EAST Initiative. “Unfortunately, in trying to be as thorough as possible in gathering information about a project, the database proved too cumbersome in the long term for a lot of people.” The idea behind the new page, designed from the ground up by EAST programmer Adam Crider, is to create an easily browsed gallery that showcases outstanding projects submitted by EAST schools. The format allows students

THE PROJECT SITE! to choose a thumbnail image for their project and features that thumbnail and other submitted photos along with a concise, narrative description of the project. “We want to know what the purpose of the project is — who does it serve and what problem does it solve — and we want to know how the project was executed, what technology was used in its completion,” Watson said. While there is no hard cap on narrative submission length, 500-1,000 words is suggested. The Project Page also includes a feature allowing students to convert their submission into a one-page document that can easily be printed and distributed to help them promote their projects with community partners. “Our hope is that this becomes a resource for our schools both in formulating project ideas and in sharing their hard work,” Watson said. At launch, the page included text and photo support, but future plans include adding the ability to upload and embed video, as well as indexing projects to make searching easier. n SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

Middle School student is making muscle-powered robotic hand BY SPENCER WATSON

magine if, with only a thought, an amputee could control a robotic prosthetic. It’s been a dream since before Luke Skywalker’s encounter with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. But, with the dedicated work an eighth grade EAST student at Hot Springs Middle School, a version of that sci-fi dream may soon be a reality. The concept, a project led by Ella Pace, will use sensors to measure electrical signals from muscle movement and then, by feeding those signals into a processor, use them to trigger a servo motor that will control wires inside a 3D-printed artificial hand. The moving wires will allow fingers to bend and grip, providing functionality to the prosthetic. “My dad and I were just talking one day about how I wanted to build a prosthetic hand,” said Ella, whose original inspiration was helping amputees ride horses, 8

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a pastime she’s loved since age 8. “He suggested using surface EMG to track muscle movement. That signal could be converted into an artificial hand movement. So we kind of connected the dots a bit there, and it just happened,” said Ella.

But applying it to actually controlling a hand or human limb is something that’s a relatively new idea.”

EMG stands for electromyography. It’s a medical tool that measures the electrical signal from muscles, which is done through a pad that contacts the skin. And it happens to be something Ella’s father, John Pace, M.D., knows a little something about as a neurosurgeon.

“We can take advantage of anatomy in hand amputees, because as it turns out, most of the muscles that control the hand are not actually in the hand. They’re in the forearm. So when those individuals have a forearm musculature left behind, we can use the signals from the muscle tissue to control motor servos that control a robotic-type hand,” he said.

“There’s currently not much” medical consensus on this kind of device, he said. “There have been a few pilot projects here and there, but nothing that’s been directly applied in a meaningful way. The technology’s existed a long time, though. On the medical side of things, we’ve been recording signals from muscle tissue for decades.

Anatomically, he said, the hand is a good candidate for this kind of idea.

Sounds easy enough, right? Not exactly. The challenges began with just figuring out how to get the 3D printer to make the pieces needed to build the hand, Ella said. The pieces had to fit and had to be free of defects. The fore-

PROJECT PROFILE arm mold also had to be big enough to hold the servos. But it couldn’t be too bulky.

“This certainly struck me as kind of daunting at first, until we actually started thinking through the practical points involved. The coding and the Arduino stuff, those are all her ideas. And John Stokes [Ella’s facilitator] has been a great mentor. She’s had a lot of freedom but also had a lot of practical good guidance.

“Another challenge was trying to find the right language to code it in,” said Ella, who is using an Arduino to trans-

late the signals from the EMG sensors into instructions for the servos. “I think around halfway through last year I started trying to learn Python. That was taking a lot of time. I know a little bit, but I think we’re going to try to find an easier way to code it. So we’ll probably use a different language.” In addition to enrolling her dad as a community partner for his expertise on EMG sensors, Ella also worked with Lynly Billingsly of Henderson State University Teachers College, who brought in the education, physics and computer programming departments to custom build the motherboard that will power the servos. All those parts are in place. Now comes the task of coding and constructing the prototype, which Ella hopes to have ready by EAST Conference 2017 in March. Once done, Ella said they’ll be able to use Leap Motion, a program that tracks hand and finger movement, to fine tune the device so that only certain EMG sensors will read input. That’s important because every amputee patient is different and the inputs will have to be customized for them. Far from being daunted by the work, though, Ella has found a real passion. She loves coding. “When I first started, I think I made like seven mistakes in one line of code, but I just got better and better at it,” she said. “Now that’s really my favorite thing, scanning for problems and finding what’s causing the problems.” She can’t say what career that will translate into just yet, but she’s been thrilled at the chance EAST has given her to explore.

“I’VE ALWAYS BEEN A PRETTY INDEPENDENT LEARNER, BUT IT’’S STILL A PRETTY BIG JUMP WHEN THERE’’S ALWAYS BEEN SOMEONE HOVERING OVER YOUR SHOULDEr. HERE THERE ISN’’T ANY OF THAT, WHICH NOW I LOVE.

“I think this is a great community service. If you can get a cost effective prosthesis in these people’s lives, something for $1,000 or less versus $30,000-$60,000 for a prosthetic on the market that doesn’t even move, you can impact a lot of things.” n

“I’ve always been a pretty independent learner, but it’s still a pretty big jump when there’s always been someone hovering over your shoulder. Here there isn’t any of that, which now I love.” she said. Instead of always hearing “do you understand,” it’s now “if you don’t understand, ask me a question, and I’ll help you.” That’s a big difference. It’s a difference her dad said he’s noticed, too. SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

WHITHER TO WEATHER

EAST Alum pours TV career into meteorology

evin Wooten stands on firm ground, one foot in soft skills and the other in hard science. It’s that dual mix that seemed to make his experience in EAST such an easy fit, and in no small part why the Emmy-nominated TV news reporter has temporarily walked away from the cameras in northwest Arkansas to pursue a meteorology degree at Florida State University this fall. “When you think of EAST, you think of something that allows you to do anything — and not just one thing. It opens the doors for almost anyone doing anything,” Wooten said. “For me, it was the STEM fields.”

If it sounds like the budding instincts of a community journalist, that’s because it was. Wooten went on to college at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where he stayed on top of the news — but chose to major in engineering and embrace his interest in science. He excelled, but it just wasn’t enough.

At first, it was video production. In EAST at Camden Fairview High School he expanded a project that had been launched to cover the football team’s Friday night highlights. “I took it one step further. That’s something EAST teaches us. It was just football when I took it over, but I decided to cover different things going on in the school. I turned it into Card Copy TV. In my mind, for that part of the state of Arkansas, that was probably the first time someone had done something like that.” 10

EAST QUARTERLY | www.EASTinitiative.org

cast journalism. “Growing up I was always watching news — KATV, KARK, THV11 — morning, afternoon and night. And I noticed while still in engineering that I was always still checking latest headlines, still seeing what’s going on in news. “I guess my epiphany was, when you’re able to get good grades in a field you enjoy where you graduate going to a good job making more than $60,000 a year and still feel like there’s something else missing, maybe you should go try that something else.”

“It’s not that I hated it or failed at it, but there was always something more, and that was television,” Wooten said of switching majors to broad-

It was in his senior semester of college that he started working for KNWA/FOX24, the local NBC and FOX affiliates, and it was on KWNA that Wooten shone, especially when it came to weather. He enjoyed the

EAST ALUMNI

By Spencer Watson

Photos courtesy of Tevin Wooten

science side of things, he said. And it was EAST that helped him figure out how to take those high level science concepts and break them down into everyman understanding. “It was talking about things based in technology, going to Conference every year, communicating what you just learned to judges. That’s where TV and weather relate to my experience almost to a T,” Wooten said. “As complex as calculus may be, you combine that with weather science but then get to communicate that to the viewer in simple, yet exciting, terms why this front is moving in the way it does and why it’s producing thunderstorms.” Wooten says the evolution — covering school news, starting in engineering, interning for NASA, working the Arkansas Razorbacks video production,

working on local news and now seeking to become a certified broadcast meteorologist with eyes on a national morning show or the Weather Channel — isn’t so much a shift in interests as a natural pattern, one he knew would unfold and one he’s always tried to prepare for. “My road has never really taken a turn,” he said. “It’s just swapped lanes a little bit while I’m on the same interstate.” “The science interest has always been there. The math interest has always been there. TV interest has always been there. I was prioritizing. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other. That’s just how my cards were dealt. So I took advantage of every opportunity I was given, and that’s only going to help me.” n SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

YEAR ONE

Kelly FalkneR EAST FACILITATOR

had never heard of EAST when I learned about the available facilitator position, but I knew Kiamichi Technology Center had a fantastic reputation. And I had seen the innovative things KTC was doing with my high school students, so I decided to do some digging. I called and spoke to the administrator, and he said, “Kelly, you HAVE to check out this program. These are your people!” I was intrigued by his explanation. If this thing was REAL, I had to do what I could to be a part of it. I then started to research...I looked at the EAST Initiative website, I found everything I could on social media and I called 12

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and spoke with an EAST facilitator in our area. Everything was exactly what I wanted to hear. So, naturally, I thought it was too good to be true. I have been an English and Drama teacher for 14 years, and I loved what I did. But, the kids and the people have always been my favorite parts. Don’t get me wrong, I love literature. I love my subject area. But, getting the students out into the community and bringing the people in to see what my kids were about...that’s what I enjoyed the most. I love the field trips and seeing them experience something new. I love watching students become more confident and having a sense of accomplishment. Student growth was

what motivated me, I just didn’t know to call it that until I went through EAST Phase training. I decided to apply for the job, because, in my opinion, I would have been a hypocrite if I hadn’t. I’m always telling my students to try new things, be open to new ideas and to face their fear of the unknown. This was my opportunity to walk the walk. I was fortunate enough to have been chosen for the job and went into my first Phase training hopeful and excited. Phase was confirmation that EAST was everything I had hoped it would be. I came away from Little Rock feeling energized and validated. Honest-

New facilitator offers thoughts on the journey to her first year

By Kelly Falkner EAST Facilitator // Kiamichi Technology Centers - Poteau

ly, I’m still intimidated by the technology. I want to be good at what I do, and it’s tough to “let go of the ego,” as Tim Stephenson would say. I know I have so much to learn, but I’m looking forward to it. I don’t know if I’m “ready,” but I’m ready to go! This year, I hope to introduce our program to the surrounding communities and build trusting relationships. I want to “EASTize” my students and create excitement. The goal is for our program to be so awesome that we have a waiting list next year! n

Photos courtesy of KTC - Poteau Facebook page SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

DANGER, WILL ROGERS, DANGER

BY MATT DOZIER

here are two types of “life-changing moments.” There are the ones everyone knows and expects: weddings, births, graduations, etc.; and then there are the ones that we can’t possibly see coming, the ones we only later appreciate through the rearview mirror of our memories. As he

my role was to put on paper what Tim was thinking.

retires, I find myself reflecting on many experiences (in both categories) with Tim Stephenson. I can say with certainty that I am fortunate beyond any reasonable expectation to have had them.

we met a group of educators from Oklahoma who were excited to hear more about EAST because they had heard quite a bit from other sources already. This is an important detail. Anyway, Tim is introduced and doing what he does best, inspiring people and bringing them together in their mutual conviction that students deserve so much more than schools tend to give them.

Tim’s retirement falls into that first category. It’s one that we’ve known was coming. The good Lord willing, it comes to all of us in due time. I have been very fortunate to work closely with Tim since April 7, 1998. I was in the “room where it happened” for many of EAST’s early successes as we began to grow. In those early days, 14

Tim is quite a thinker, but, as anyone that has ever known him will attest, he doesn’t think like anyone else. One time he was giving a presentation to people from dozens of states at a fairly large conference. Before he took the stage

“I met a principal one time,” Tim said at one point in the presentation, “who told me, ‘Tim you don’t understand! I’ve hired the best teachers, we’ve got incredible facilities,

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we’ve added outstanding programs, I have the best school I can build except for those dadgummed kids!’ “Well, folks, I submit to you,” Tim went on, “that he was telling me his truth, and that’s the problem. If it’s not working for the kids, it’s not working. Period. Because if education

doesn’t meet the needs of the kids, nothing else matters. What that principal said sent alarm bells ringing in my head, and I thought, ‘Danger, Will Rogers, Danger!’...” I could see it on the faces in the room: confusion. For my part, I thought it over and realized what Tim meant to say, though some in the room were too young to have ever seen Lost In Space or know the character Will Robinson. But I also saw how Tim came not to say what he meant. Remember meeting those Oklahoma folks? Tim

clearly made the connection to Rogers, the foremost humorist of the 1920s, who, yes, was born in what is today Oklahoma. I knew I would have a story I could tell one day. Few people often got to see Tim’s mind at work like that, but in many ways that was always my favorite Tim, because he’s a whole other level of fun. It was in the unexpected moments, however, that I came to see the kind of impact that someone like Tim can have on your life both personally and professionally — and in ways that transcend simple categories. One Saturday afternoon in

July, 2002, Tim and I were sitting in a hotel room on Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., after a long few days of sharing EAST. In a rare quiet moment, Tim told me he needed to tell me something and that we needed to keep it between us. I remember him looking over at me and then out the window searching for words, which was not normal for him. His face changed, and his eyes fixed on something no one else could see. “Matt, did you know I’ve been to this hotel before? Except that the last time I was here, I never got further than the

FOND FAREWELL

front doors,” he told me. “In 1968 or ‘69 there was some big meeting here and a lot of the military brass and the politicians met to do something or other related to the war. I don’t know what and doubt many people do. My job was to stand at the front door with other soldiers, M-16s in hand, and make sure no one came in that wasn’t supposed to. You know, I didn’t even realize there were hotel rooms in this place back then. That was a long time ago, and now we’re sitting in one of those rooms, and I think that’s funny.” “I guess,” I said, still very lost. “Matt, some things are getting ready to change, and I need you to know about that

before it happens because I’ve got to go do something else for a while. I’m not really going to be reachable on any sort of reliable basis. When it happens, I’m not sure how much advance warning I’ll be able to give, but I want you to know that it’s all going to be ok and that I know that you will do a good job.” I’m sure I made some sort of silly, mood-lightening joke (because that’s what I would do even now), but I had no real understanding of what he was telling me. By mid-September, Tim was no longer a consistent presence in the office. By No-

vember, he was almost totally incommunicado. He had gone to Canada to work with a First Nations group and was as far off the grid as one can get. It was important work. This presented some logistical challenges for EAST, to say the least. Officially, I was Tim’s second, with some responsibility for our training and site support but no authority for any decisions in staffing, budgeting or planning. Officially, Tim was still our National Program Director. So, I did what I thought Tim would do. I rolled up my sleeves and tried to make sure things got done, which may or may not have involved sending out emails using Tim’s account to answer questions and provide direc-

tion. Beyond that, well, I’m not sure the statute of limitations has expired on some of the crazy things that went on back then. I finally saw Tim again in February, and I was so mad at him that I wanted to wring his neck. Tim, being Tim, just laughed at me and asked me what in the world I was so upset about. He’d warned me that this was going to happen, hadn’t he? Not long after this, though, we were in another hotel room, this time in Sacramento, California. We were

going to open the West Coast EAST Conference the next day, and Tim told me two things of note: 1) His absence would continue and was probably going to be longer than he thought, and 2) No matter what came next, I was doing ok.

back to the EAST staff two years after that, and we have been very fortunate to work with him since.

I was glad to hear him say that, but what really stuck was what he said next: that I was a fundamentally different person — a stronger, better person — than when we first met six years earlier.

I can tell you honestly that it can be difficult at times to have your mentor, the very person who hired you, as a member of your staff. Though, to be totally honest, I’ve often envied the work Tim’s been doing these past five years, because it looks like a lot more fun than the work I usually get to do. But we all have our parts to play, right?

Well, what do you say to that? Nothing, that’s what. There just aren’t any words to capture how you feel when someone you look up to tells you that.

Tim Stephenson changed my life. He took a school teacher and father of two small children and threw him out of his comfort zone because he thought I was capable of

I’ve always thought that this very quality, the ability to believe in you before you believe in you, is at the heart of all of the success Tim has seen. By extension, it’s the secret of EAST. We believe in our schools, our facilitators and, most importantly, our students when they don’t, can’t or won’t.

more. I know that I’m not terribly unique in that scenario, because it’s what he’s done his entire educational career, which at this point has touched hundreds of educators and, by extension, roughly 170,000 students over the years. He’s nudged, pushed and sometimes just plain left so that many of us take the chances that needed to be taken if we were going to succeed in doing something that could make a lasting impact.

In May of that year, Tim went away for what would turn into a more-than-five-year absence. He snuck back into Arkansas under the radar and spent a year incognito (teaching, of course) before we heard from him. He would come

Happy retirement, Mr. Stephenson. You’ve earned it.

SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

LIFE’s work EAST Founder Tim Stephenson talks about overcoming obstacles

BY SPENCER WATSON

im Stephenson will be the first to tell you that Tim Stephenson isn’t special. And doing so, for him, isn’t demuring to a newly discovered false modesty all too common among the highly successful who’ve chosen to step away from their life’s work. Rather, the statement is a sincere belief embedded in the very fabric of the legacy he leaves behind. That legacy, the EAST Initiative and the model of education it promotes, is one of providing opportunity and equipping students to take advantage of it, something Stephenson has been doing since he started working in education more than two decades ago. The only singularly unique thing about him, he said, is his drive (some may say stubbornness) to see EAST succeed. “I’m determined that, when people look at my life’s work in education, they don’t come to this conclusion that, well, he’s just a very special person, and that’s why it all happened. That’s not true. Circumstances and things well beyond my control allowed everything to happen,” said Stephenson. “I mean, I’m a guy that likes to raise cows and pigs and, you know, there’s nothing extraordinary about any of that.” What’s extraordinary, he said, is how things have changed. “Today we have far more schools who want EAST than we can provide with EAST. That’s a whole different paradigm than we confronted 20 years ago when I was begging people to try it, saying ‘please, just give me a teacher and a classroom, and we’ll make this work and you’ll see.’” Stephenson said. “It’s a whole different deal today. “Is that important? I think it’s important that people know it 16

EAST QUARTERLY | www.EASTinitiative.org

wasn’t an easy thing. And here’s why that’s so critical: the next needed steps are going to be resisted, too. They’re not going to be embraced just because they’re good.” For proof, Stephenson points out that success in the classroom, while essential, wasn’t always enough to convince people to try EAST. Sure, some people saw the results and wanted to be a part of it. But skepticism of new ideas and different ways of doing things — and EAST was very much both — is not only natural for most people, it’s very hard to overcome, even with all the charts and graphs one can muster. That’s especially true when education had been done basically the same way for a very long time. Yet, failure to convince educators of the efficacy of EAST was not an option, said Stephenson, for whom the importance of education simply could not be overstated. It was, for him, the path to opportunity and social mobility, and to reject a different way of doing things out-of-hand was to close the door on students’ futures. “That’s a pretty hard pill to swallow. My dad was a product of the American dream, overcoming and transforming from literally a street kid to a huge success through public education. I’m a product of that in my own experience with public school,” Stephenson said. From that understanding, he said, he determined that nothing would be too hard or take too much work, because “the stakes were simply too high.” Fortunately, he said, life had given him the personality, the family support and all the tools to persevere. But, as a man of deep faith, Stephenson credits “divine intervention” with ultimately swinging the pendulum of opinion his way. “That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Because there were too many times when I made mistakes. I made bad judgments, but thankfully they weren’t terminal.” There are still people who need convincing that education can be different. The future is a tricky thing, so mistakes are something that bear thinking about going forward, he said. Be it 10 or 20 or however many years down the road, different voices may advocate for different priorities. The EAST Initiative, like any organization run by people, is susceptible to fickle — and not always selfless — trends, and in that regard is particularly vulnerable because of its devotion to service. Losing sight of that, Stephenson said, could prove destructive. But, like any organization, it will grow and change, even in the short term — and change isn’t always bad. “I have confidence in the leadership at EAST,” Stephenson said. “I mean, seriously, there’s a great mindset there.

FEATURE STORY

I’m determined that, when people look at my life’s work in education, they don’t come to this conclusion that, well, he’s just a very special person, and that’s why it all happened. But there will always be a balance between ‘we need to keep it just like it is’ and ‘no, we probably don’t.’ I think the litmus test for any change must be run through the filter of the right reasons: ‘Are we doing this to make EAST better?’” Sometimes those questions can’t be answered, at least not in a predictable way. Matt Dozier, current CEO and president of the EAST Initiative, said he learned that very lesson working as a second to Stephenson. In 2002, he had to assume the day-to-day operations of the nonprofit organization while Stephenson was away — a hectic and stressful few months he’d been warned would be coming. When they passed, Dozier fumed to Stephenson that “it didn’t happen like you said it would.” “‘It never happens like we think it will, Matt,’” he recalls being told.

In that lesson is an example of how Stephenson has changed lives throughout his educational career, Dozier said.

number of implements he uses in farming, from 1950s tractors to a late 19th century steam engine.

“He’s nudged, pushed and sometimes just plain left so many of us to take the chances that needed to be taken if we were going to succeed in doing something that will make a lasting impact,” he said.

He and his wife, a retired teacher of 20 years, had also often talked about launching new educational endeavors even in retirement, but, well, it never happens like you think it will. It’s more likely time for at least some rest, Stephenson said.

See, Stephenson would say. He’s not special. He just provides opportunity. While he intends to stay involved with EAST, the founder is now taking his own opportunity to step away from the dayto-day, this time permanently. The time has come for different priorities. Always handy with tools, Stephenson looks forward to time spent in his shop, where all manner of tools and machinery allow him to rebuild and repair any

“As much fun as that would be, I’d rather have a swimming pool and the grandkids over to play with them. I love the time I get to spend with the grandkids, and they listen to all my stories,” he said. “So that’s what I’m going to do. If you find yourself wondering what Tim is doing, he’s either researching (I do a lot of that), out in the shop, with a cow, or I’m building that swimming pool.” n SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

STAFF PROFILE

ick out a handful of kids randomly and, at best, you’re likely to get a tepid response to going back to school. Most would probably rather spend at least a couple more weeks sleeping in and hanging out by the pool. But Alicia Humbard, an “Arkansan by way of California and Virginia” who joined the EAST Initiative as a program coordinator this summer, said she was a bit different. She would play school, including when not actually in it. Her parents joked she just liked being bossy, but the early indicators were plainly there for a career in education. 18

EAST QUARTERLY | www.EASTinitiative.org

“By high school in Arkadelphia I knew I wanted to be a teacher. Though back then, I was almost afraid to tell anybody, because I thought somehow it wasn’t good enough to say I wanna be a teacher,” she said. “But then I realized how important it is and that it’s ok. So, I debated what kind of teacher I wanted to be.” The answer was English, specifically in secondary education, but the path to getting there offered yet another option. “Before I left Ouachita Baptist University, I was actually roommates with an elementary ed major, and her experience in school was a lot different than mine, much more hands-on than the-

oretical,” she said. “I saw that it was just a very different way of educating educators. So, before I left college as a teacher, I thought I might want to educate educators.” But that’s skipping ahead a bit. First it was a tenure in the classroom. She taught English at Robinson High School for nearly 10 years. And that, she said, is where she first ran into this idea called EAST. “I worked with our facilitator, who was Lisa [Cook, who joined EAST’s program team five years ago]. I worked with her Conference kids in their presentation,” she said. “That turned into being the other chaperone at Conference. I had

thought I knew what EAST was until I went to that very first Conference, and then my eyes were opened. “So I know what it’s like being that classroom teacher and not knowing the wealth of resources that were just down the hallway.” But her involvement would not end there. When Cook joined the EAST Initiative staff, she invited Humbard to keep coming to Conference as a volunteer. She judged and generally helped staff wherever needed. “That has been my involvement and where my love of EAST comes from. I’ve gone from being the outside teacher to being the behind-thescenes volunteer, but now I’m also a parent. My own child is in EAST as well. So I see it from that perspective as well.” Her own path would take her out of the classroom, however. In the middle of her master’s in education theory and practice, she left Robinson to take a break. She finished the degree, started consulting and found a love of teaching teachers through professional development. She would continue to do that with a theater group out of Houston, Texas, called Troupe d’Jour, which essentially embedded professional development to work with both teachers and students and focused on engagement. “I was an artist in residence in the school, and I worked with somebody else and we worked in tandem. It was a kind of different title that I had, and I’d probably still be doing some of that, but that’s when my husband, a medical doctor, opened his own family practice office,” she said. “Behind the scenes I would answer phones, contract vendors, that kind of thing. I was able to help fill that role during start up.”

I know what it’s like being that classroom teacher and not knowing the wealth of resources that were just down the hallway. saw it as a logical move given her background and experiences with the staff, programs and students. “The appeal of EAST for me and what makes it different is that it’s not something in theory; it’s actually applicable. It’s making a difference,” she said. “I think that’s the big thing

that I see. In a traditional classroom we may get to talk about something, but we may not necessarily go out and do it.” For her, she said EAST is a great mix. She’ll get to meet and interact with students, which she misses from her teaching days. She’ll also get to meet, work with and even help train educators. It’s a great fit.

“Early on, I didn’t realize that EAST went beyond the high school age. That’s all I knew, so as my horizons broadened, I could see that age isn’t a limitation on what EAST can accomplish. And I think that’s been my biggest wow factor. The younger ones can do as much as the older ones. And I think it will be amazing to see what the ones who start very young are going to be doing by the time they get to high school.” n

Still, when the opportunity arose to become part of the EAST staff, Humbard SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

SUMMER

EVENTS

EAST QUARTERLY | www.EASTinitiative.org

EVENTS

SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

t’s that time of year when students and teachers are returning to school and it’s time to get your classroom technology up and running. Our Help Ticket System is stacking up, and we are so excited to hear from all of you! Let’s talk about a few general housekeeping tips that can help you get back to a working EAST classroom.

PHYSICAL VS. DIGITAL Digital

Anti-virus and security are other things to check-up on during the first weeks of schools. A few simple solutions we at EAST TSG are recommending are Avast (which can be downloaded for free) and CCleaner (which is also free). Avast is an anti-virus program with many features, including allowing you to build a management tool online and run scans on each computer remotely. It will also send you e-mails when a virus or potential threat is detected on your computers. CCleaner helps with the little things like cleaning up your internet history and temporary files, which could help your computers run a little faster.

Student admins, do you know what software is on your computers? There is no telling what was installed last year! So, an easy answer is to download and run Belarc Advisor on all of your computers. It’s free to download and really simple to use. This will provide you with a detailed list of what is on each device as well as any license information that may be associated with that product.

Physical

Facilitators, do you have students that were in EAST last year but are not in EAST this year? It may be time to remove their files from your server. Before you do, you’ll want to carefully consider what needs backing up: a student who may return in a semester or a legacy project that’s being handed over to a new team. Once you’ve figured out what can safely be deleted, you’ll have to remove data from two different places. First, you can delete a student account out of your Active Directory Users and Computers. This will prevent them from having an account for logon purposes. However, if they were saving their work into their Z: drive, then you still need to delete their folder as well. This is where backups are important. Once you’ve made copies of important data, while still on your server, you’ll need to go to My Computer and then into your Students folder in your data drive. There, you should see all of the folders associated with each student’s username. Find the students whose files you wish to remove and delete them.

1. Your computer will have a power cable. 2. Your monitor will have a power cable. 3. Your keyboard will plug into your computer. 4. Your mouse will plug into your computer. 5. You will need an Ethernet cord plugged into the back of the computer. 6. You will need a display cable connecting your monitor to your computer. The most common types are: a. Display Port b. VGA c. DVI d. HDMI

EAST QUARTERLY | www.EASTinitiative.org

Cords, cords, cords! Often facilitators and students return to school only to find a box full of cables and all of the computers unplugged in a pile. Re-connecting your computers can be really simple if you start with six basic connections.

GEEK SPEAK

Getting the EAST classroom back together after a hiatus

By Marisa Damm

The next physical connections you need to look for are

1. An Ethernet cord coming from your school into a classroom router 2. An Ethernet cord running from your router to your switch 3. Ethernet cords plugged into each port in your switch go into the back of your computers (some schools do this by drops in the wall that run to a patch panel and then into the switch). Other issues are, of course, likely to come up. But this should be a good starting point for every classroom. When you do run into trouble, remember that while we always encourage students to exhaust online resources and tutorials first, the EAST TSG is here to help.

You can download free software mentioned in this article at these websites:

http://www.belarc.com

https://www.avast.com

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER 2016 21st-22nd Summer Remix Encounter EAST 22nd EAST Vision Building 27th

Little Rock Little Rock Nettleton

27th-28th Phase II 27th-28th Storytelling with Motion Graphics

Little Rock Little Rock

OCTOBER 2016 3rd 3rd-4th 3rd-4th 4th-5th 5th 5th-6th 6th-7th 10th-11th

Introduction to DSLR Photography Fayetteville Final Cut Pro Little Rock Phase II Little Rock Why of Where: Bring Your Own Project Fayetteville Building the Internet of Tomorrow: Intro to HTML5 & CSS3 Little Rock Phase II Little Rock Build Your Own Map in Unreal Engine Fayetteville Building Virtual Worlds in Unity Little Rock

12th 12th 12th-13th 18th 24th 25th-26th 25th-26th 27th

Fruity Loops EAST Vision Building Introduction to Geospatial Technology EAST Night Out Learn to 3D Print with NWA3D Introduction to Geospatial Technology Systems Administration Create Androids Apps with MIT App Inventor

Fayetteville Harrison Little Rock Various Fayetteville Fayetteville Little Rock Fayetteville

15th-16th 16th 18th 28th 28th-29th 28th-29th 29th 30th 30th 30th-Dec 1st

Why of Where: GIS in Education Fruity Loops Introing 3ds Max: An Overview of its Components Introduction to Programming in Python Why of Where: Bring Your Own Project Phase III Training Create Android Apps with MIT App Inventor Introduction to Arduino Adobe Lightroom Phase III Training

Fayetteville Little Rock Fayetteville Little Rock Fayetteville Little Rock Little Rock Little Rock Fayetteville Little Rock

NOVEMBER 2016 1st-2nd 3rd 3rd-4th 3rd-4th 3rd-4th 3rd-4th 7th-8th 7th-8th 9th-10th 9th-10th 15th

Why of Where: Bring Your Own Project Digital Photography Concepts Education Unleashed Google Training Education Unleashed Digital Mapping Final Cut Pro Giving Life to Your Game Why of Where: Geospatialization Workshop Introduction to Gespatial Technology (Elementary / MS) Building Virtual Worlds in Unity Reality Capture Workshop Learn to 3D Print with NWA3D

Little Rock Little Rock Little Rock Little Rock Fayetteville Little Rock Fayetteville Little Rock Fayetteville Little Rock Little Rock

For an up-to-date listing of EAST training, visit 24

EAST QUARTERLY | www.EASTinitiative.org

www.eastinitiative.org.

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THANK YOU

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

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EAST STAFF

We asked the staff “In light of EAST founder Tim Stephenson’s retirement, what’s something you hope to do or accomplish when you retire?”

Matt Dozier

President / Chief Executive Officer Matt@EASTstaff.org

Mary Forst

Chief Financial Officer MaryF@EASTstaff.org

“I have about a thousand odd projects started that I keep saying, ‘One of these days, I’m going to just spend a week and organize/ research/collect/clean that up.’ It would be really nice to actually get to one (or several) of those.”

“Once I retire, I hope to have lots of time to spend with my future grandchildren, traveling, baking, reading great books and maybe even finish some of the many craft projects I’ve started over the years.”

Tami Baker

Amy Bell

Program Coordinator Tami@EASTstaff.org

Program Coordinator Amy@EASTstaff.org

“Hopefully one of these days I will be a grandmother, because I would love to spend retirement spoiling grandbabies! I would also like for my husband Chris and I to do mission work for our church in Costa Rica, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

“Mission work in a Spanish-speaking country.”

Sam Byrd

Lori Canada

Technical Support Group Member Sam@EASTstaff.org

Program Coordinator Lori@EASTstaff.org

“When I retire, I want to research computers so I can finally figure out how modern tech works.”

“I am an old soul at heart, so I hope to quilt and craft on the square of Mountain View. I love to listen to folk music and tap my foot and hopefully I can do a little jig, too. I enjoy being able to make things for those that I love. I am hoping to have a “she-shack” so that I can craft my heart away!”

Toni Cook

Adam Crider

Purchasing Coordinator Toni@EASTstaff.org “I want to travel and finish checking off the items left on my bucket list. I would also like to be an adjunct professor. I believe everyone should be a lifelong learner. I see retirement as another stage of that. Overall, I hope for a retirement full of good tacos, wild adventures and studying things that I haven’t had an opportunity to yet. ”

Programmer

Adam@EASTstaff.org “When I retire I’m going to live out the rest of my life in VR.”

SUMMER 2016 | EAST QUARTERLY

Marisa Damm

Lead Technical Support Marisa@EASTstaff.org

Jessica Dunham Events Manager

Jessica@EASTstaff.org

“My grandparents told us stories growing up about traveling to all 50 states together after retirement. So, in honor of them, I hope to do the same; take a trip around the U.S. with the love of my life so I can tell the story of my journey to my grandchildren!”

“Retirement will be an opportunity to relax and do nothing—just kidding! I hope to travel, spend time in Europe, visit all the best flea markets and make every Pinterest craft I can. Of course, I also want to spend time with my husband and kiddos and try to do more volunteer work.”

Doug Gusewelle

Rinda Hall

Technical Resource Specialist Doug@EASTstaff.org

Program Coordinator Rinda@EASTstaff.org

“When I retire I want to be a professional pokemon trainer. Gotta Catchem All.”

“In retirement I hope to travel more and eat at every Triple D / Food Network restaurant I can! (Recommendations are always appreciated!)”

Phaedra Hawkins

Eric Holt

Student Training Coordinator Phaedra@EASTstaff.org

Internet Services Manager Eric@EASTstaff.org

“I hope to be healthy, to enjoy life each day and to be spoiling my grandchildren.”

“I hope to do whatever it is I feel like doing, all day every day. Also, yelling at kids to get off my lawn.”

James Hopper

Alicia Humbard

Development Coordinator James@EASTstaff.org

Program Coordinator

Alicia@EASTstaff.org

“It may seem strange for retirement, but I want to continue learning and teaching. I would love to take culinary classes since I love to cook — and perhaps more importantly eat. I would also enjoy teaching a couple of courses at a local university as an adjunct professor.”

“I would like to not have any calendar or clock while I drink tea, read books and travel.”

Lani Jennings-Hall

Cody Jones

Office/Event Coordinator Lani@EASTstaff.org

“As cliché as it sounds, I want to be that typical retiree that moves to somewhere tropical, basking carefree in the sun, with no decisions to make other than what my next meal is!”

EAST QUARTERLY | www.EASTinitiative.org

Staff Accountant Cody@EASTstaff.org “I’m pretty sure my wife’s dream retirement would be to start a corgi ranch. I guess I would have to do things like mend tiny fences and throw a lot of tennis balls.”

Dave Lewis

Jerry Prince

Designer

Senior Director of Program Services

Dave@EASTstaff.org

Jerry@EASTstaff.org

“I love the idea of building a tiny house and traveling all over the US with my wife, living in different places and experiencing the outdoors like never before. That definitely beats watching daytime TV in a recliner for the rest of my life.”

Melanie Ridlon

“I would love to find myself on one of the deserted islands off the coast of North Arkansas — close enough to stay in touch yet far enough away to disappear — listen to the waves, feel the breeze, feast on unlimited buffets and sip from a tall, tall glass of water, no ice.”

Spencer Watson

Senior Director of Operations

Communications Manager

Melanie@EASTstaff.org

Spencer@EASTstaff.org

“I dream of a slow-paced retirement with my amazing husband that includes a beautiful view of both mountains and water while sitting on a covered patio and sipping on extremely good coffee. I hope to also be outdoors hiking, biking, kayaking and fishing as often as possible.”

“Besides writing the next great American novel, I’ve always wanted to be Dr. Watson (for elementary reasons). Given the steep discount many universities offer to senior citizens, I’d like to pursue a doctoral degree, probably in some obscure historical topic. I’ll always be a nerd, even in retirement.”

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