SONORA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Meet the EAST Conference 2020 team of Sonora Elementary School led by facilitator Josh Worthy!

QIs this your program's first time submitting for the Founder's Award?

FACILITATOR: This was not our first time submitting for Founders. It was actually our fourth time. In 2012 we applied as a first-year program. At that point, I'm not sure many elementary programs had entertained the idea of applying for Founder’s. We were awarded the EAST Rising Star Award. In 2013, we were a finalist for the Founder’s Award. We were excited to see HarBer High School win the award that year. In 2014, we applied and actually won! It was super exciting being the first elementary program to finally break through and tell our story on the big stage. We created a "Draw My Life" video for our submission this year. Many of the kids on our team were familiar with that style from YouTube videos from their favorite Vloggers. We just thought it would be a fun and unique way to tell our story. Mr. Worthy really tried to impress on the team that submitting an application for Founder’s is not a video creation competition, it’s a storytelling competition, and we thought the Draw My Life format was the best way to tell our story of the past 12 months.

Q

Why did you decide to submit an application for the Founder's Award?

TEAM MEMBER: Mr. Worthy always leaves it up for the team to vote. In the last few years, the team was only interested in smaller competitions or maybe a Cornerstone award. FACILITATOR: The kids felt like we had the projects to showcase and some cool partnerships to feature so they went for it.

QDescribe what it felt like when you were notified that you were 1 of 4 Founder's Award winners for EAST Conference 2020.

TEAM MEMBERS: Shocked. Surprised. Anxious. Mr. Worthy turned on the live-stream late, right as "Sonora Elementary" came across the screen...so he had no idea what it was for. Was it for a Cornerstone award? Maybe a project finalist competition? Then his phone blew up with texts and it suddenly became real.

Turns out Mr. Worthy was watching alone in his classroom because he thought they wouldn’t be named for Founder’s Award recipients again, but perhaps Cornerstone winners in the Growth category. He shared the news and live-stream with the kids that afternoon.

QWhy was it important for your program to submit a Founder's Award application?

ONE TEAM MEMBER: Mr. Worthy always tells us that reflection is the most important part of EAST Conference. We hadn’t submitted for Founder’s in about six years, and we had not reflected efficiently in recent years. FACILITATOR: The entire process of analyzing projects for growth and community involvement is so valuable. We knew the sophistication was there but didn’t know how to showcase it. The Founder’s application is one of the best tools to enforce that reflection. It fosters growth: win, lose, or draw.

QWhat advice would you give a school who is considering submitting for Founder's Award next year?

FACILITATOR: Do it! Take some time to apply...you’re not THAT busy. Put your projects on hold for a day or two and do it. The process is worth every second of reflection; it will pay off WAY MORE in the long run. I feel like I sold my kids short the last six years by not applying every year. You don’t even need to click the submit button... just do the application for yourself. It’s THAT important.

QWhat is something you know now that you wish you knew prior to submitting for the Founder's Award or even starting EAST?

FACILITATOR: Facilitators...stay out of the way, dang it. If you get in the way and try to make this program or even application yours, the kids will overrun you and call you out.

Meet the Sonora Elementary 2020 EAST Conference Team: Emily Parks Ellie Worthy Lathan Copeland Rylie Ebey Kemper Lieutard River Provence Nayeli Rodriguez Quinn Spurlock

This is THEIR application. It may not be perfect, it may have some loose ends, but let them do it. This is THEIR reflection. So get out of the way.

QHow do you plan to follow up on the success of this year?

FACILITATOR: Rest up. Get healthy as a country, state, and EAST program. Reboot. And do it all again next year. From experience, the following year after winning Founders is HARD. You can’t get a big head or rockstar syndrome, you HAVE to stay grounded and focused. I think with all the extra time off, the kids will be ready to come back motivated and hungry.

QIf you could plan a Founder's Award recipient celebration what would it look like?

FACILITATOR AND TEAM: Maybe some sort of "EAST Night In" at EAST Headquarters in the Fall of 2020. Something special with the sponsors, the board, and the four programs with their teams. It would be great PR for EAST and an awesome opportunity for the kids. I know Springdale would fill a bus and be there!