Fall 2021 & Winter 2022 EQ

4 6

SWITCHIN’ IT UP Take a look at how two EAST programs are using their BlackMagic ATEM Mini Live Pro video switcher

A MILESTONE FOR MATT EAST is celebrating 20 years with our President & CEO

! p

Fall ‘21/Winter’22 QUARTERLY

ISSUE

34

’ n i h c it

u it

sw

8

STUDENT CHAMPION SPOTLIGHT Meet Lexi Jarrett, EAST Student Champion at Cross County High School

20 22

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

15 MARCH 16

EAST Conference 2022

21

APRIL Day of Giving

17

12

MAY Scholarship Reception

T JUNE B

EAST Seminar

A

29

NOVEMBER Giving Tuesday

08

DECEMBER Encounter EAST 2022

Greetings and salutations, EAST family!

Yes that’s right, I’m the new kid on the block - but it seems that both myself and my predecessor Apryl LOVE the movie Heathers.

It was truly ahead of its time.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Much like the rest of the world, EAST is in a transitional time.

New faces, new technology, new schools...it can be a lot to take in at times. I’m sure for the students who are reading this note, you can relate.

Coming back to school when you could easily be sent home the next day because of COVID can’t be easy, but if there’s one thing I already know about EAST students, it’s that you are resilient.

So keep steady on the course, and feel free to reach out to me any time through my email: bradley@EASTstaff.org.

2

EAST: A (NOT SO) BRIEF HISTORY

3

NATIONAL PHILANTHROPY DAY

4

SWITCHIN’ IT UP

6

A MILESTONE FOR MATT

8

STUDENT CHAMPION SPOTLIGHT

Cheers!

Bradley Brewer Editor

QUARTERLY

fb.me/EASTinitiative

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

@theEASTinitiative

@EASTinitiative

EAST Initiative

Take a quick look at how EAST has changed through the years!

EAST at Marshall High School won BIG at the National Philanthropy Day awards banquet in November!

Two EAST programs are broadcasting what’s going on in their schools for the world to see!

Looking back at CEO Matt Dozier’s 20 years with EAST.

Cross County High School’s Lexi Jarrett is inspring her classmates to pursue their passions.

MAGAZINE TEAM Editor - Bradley Brewer Designer - Kristen Farmin

news.eastlink.me/podcast

EAST Initiative

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 FALL 2021 | EAST QUARTERLY

1

A BRIEF HISTORY

THE FIRST EAST CONFERENCE was held in February at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

MATT DOZIER was named President and CEO of EAST.

VIRTUAL EAST CONFERENCE was a reimagined Conference experience when we could not gather physically.

2

EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

19 95

EAST WAS FOUNDED with its first program at Greenbrier High School. EAST’s founder Tim Stephenson created the curriculum to help students who struggled in the traditional classroom environment by giving students creative freedom and focusing on project-based learning.

19 99 20 07 20 21

20 01 20 15

THE NON-PROFIT “EAST INITAITIVE” was chartered to focus support on EAST programs as the model began to grow.

NEW OFFICES AND TRAINING FACILITIES open in West Little Rock, where facilitator and student trainings are held as well as special events like Encounter EAST and the virtual EAST Conference.

NATIONAL

Philanthropy Day

2021

Founders Award winners EAST at Marshall High School took home another trophy this year after winning the “Outstanding Youth Group” award at the AFP Arkansas National Philanthropy Day awards ceremony.

Junior Meagan Roberts and alumni Emily England, two of the leading students in the program, represented the school in the November edition of the Inviting Arkansas magazine. They shared how EAST at Marshall High School made huge impacts in their community through several projects in the past year.

“Every time we worked on something, the word would spread, and more and more community members would come in and see us to see if we could help with their own projects,” Emily said. “Our town is definitely not tech-orientated, as it’s a small farm town, so to see the community grow with the help of our tech was quite amazing.”

EAST at Marshall High School assisted many community partners across the area. They developed marketing tools for the Searcy County Senior Activity and Wellness Center and created activites that helped keep its participants mentally sharp. They also promoted local restaurants through their own “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” styled series.

“We started a YouTube vlog called ‘Neighborhood Delicacies’ and got out there and promoted all these local businesses,” Meagan said.

“We did one at the Fresh Cut Diner and people who saw the video from out of state came in from hours away just to eat.”

Meagan accepted the “Outstanding Youth Group” award on behalf of EAST at Marshall High School, and while Emily was not able to attend the award ceremony, she was still ecstatic to be a part of such an honor.

“I felt absolute joy,” Emily said. “It was really cool hearing about the nomination because I had already graduated at that point, and it really made me realize that my work is still going to continue to help others - and that the legacy I left at my school is always going to be there.”

FALL 2021 | EAST QUARTERLY

3

Photo courtesy of Samantha Jones, Associate Editor of the Lovely County Citizen

O

ftentimes the lion’s share of the attention EAST receives is related to technologies like 3D printing, computer science, or software development. But EAST casts a wider net than that—and with new equipment being shipped to over a hundred schools thanks to the Directors Grant—EAST programs are expanding their focus on streaming original content.

Audio and video production provide great opportunities to fulfill needs in schools, and EAST students at Eureka Springs High School realized that this year. The school’s esports team had a need that could be addressed this way and provided a great opportunity to put this project into action “I thought it would be good to find a way to give representation to clubs and organizations who don’t have it like traditional sports do,” said Sydney Shaw, an 11th grade EAST student at Eureka Springs High School. “So we came up with the Twitch channel idea and then it kind of took off from there. Esports is the thing we’ve started with but we are slowly going to tack on other clubs as well that could represent all we have to offer.”

In order to do this, Shaw and her fellow students are using many of the tools that EAST provides such as microphones and the new Blackmagic ATEM Mini Live Pro video switcher.

“We have the switcher that we use to switch through cameras and we also use it for turning microphones on and off,” Shaw said. “We use OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) for the bulk of it right now.

4

EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

It’s a software that can transition from different scenes, so that is our main controller and the switcher controls everything outside of the games.”

Junior Meredith Loudermilk says that the biggest challenge the students have faced is how adaptive they have to be with streaming different games on different devices, as they are forced to use different setups.

“We are still trying to work out balancing because we have different games we have to do,” Loudermilk said. “They’re from different devices so like we have League of Legends which is from PC, and then we have Super Smash Bros. which is through the Nintendo Switch which is a different setup that we have to have.”

The esports team is grateful for the students continuing through their struggles, as EAST facilitator and assistant esports coach Adam Louderback says they use the streams as a valuable resource to improve their play.

“They’re getting a lot of views after the games through the VODs (Video On Demand),” Louderback said. “We have the teams reviewing tape to find out what they did good and bad, and how they can improve for next week. The games don’t save the footage for the players, so they only have the footage from EAST’s live streams to go off of.”

250 miles away, Magnet Cove High School’s football team experienced an incredible season, and two EAST students, who are

also brothers, teamed up to document all of it. Junior Dakota Reid and freshman Dalton Reid have led their class this semester in the creation of “The Coach’s Show,” where Dalton interviews Magnet Cove High School’s head football coach Caleb Carmikle every week.

“I was on the phone with [EAST facilitator] Coach Hartsell this summer, and he used to play and love football so we came up with the idea for this show,” Dakota said. “We were thinking about who should be our main host and I said, ‘Why can’t it just be Dalton?’”

Dakota and Dalton complement each other perfectly in the production of the show.

Dakota has a deep passion for videography and video editing, while Dalton has a deep understanding of football and LOVES to talk about it.

“If you ask anyone at this school, they’ll tell you that I will talk to a brick wall at this point,” Dalton joked. “When Dakota presented the opportunity to me I immediately jumped on it. I used to play football so I know the technical terms, but it also helps to have people like Coach Hartsell to talk to if I need to ask questions.”

Dakota acts as the producer of the show, and has taught several EAST students at Magent Cove how to use video cameras like the Canon XA20 and how to edit in Final Cut Pro. Facilitator Shane Hartsell says he sees Dakota as a leader of his EAST program.

to find highlights to put on the show, and recently we’ve started doing post-game interviews out in the field which presents its own challenges.”

Hard work isn’t the only ingredient in creating a quality show however, as Magnet Cove’s football team began the season poorly which forced the crew to make something out of almost nothing.

“I think that’s the biggest challenge is figuring out how to make a good show when the game did not have the outcome that we wanted,” Dalton said. “One week we did a show after the team lost by 50 points the week before, and Coach Carmikle said he just wanted to say one sentence about the game and move on. So we had to do some critical thinking to come up with content for a decent show that week.”

It doesn’t matter if an EAST program is working with school sports or a community partner. Students are engaging in creating modern media content more than ever with technology made available through EAST.

Blackmagic ATEM Mini

About The Tech: The Blackmagic ATEM Mini Pro is an incredibly mobile video switcher that allows EAST programs to create high quality broadcast productions anywhere. Though it is a small device, the ATEM Mini Pro can support up to 8 video cameras and can be connected to computers and gaming consoles.

With it, you can do things like: • Create live/pre-recorded shows

promoting your school or community partner

• Host live streams for esports

programs and sporting events

If you’d like to contribute to making resources like these available in more schools across Arkansas, please consider making a donation at supportEAST.org.

• Broadcast a project proposal using

cameras and a computer input

• Use cellular data to broadcast on

the go

• Record videos directly to USB Flash

Disks

“I don’t even know how that happened,” Dakota said. “I guess I just turned into a leader by accident. I just came in and started working hard, climbed up through the ranks and never looked back.”

While the ten minute episodes on YouTube might look like they are easy to put together, the class puts in a lot of work in research and post-production every week to make the show as informative and engaging as possible.

“It takes a lot of time to brainstorm questions for the show and make sure that we and Coach Carmikle are on the same page,” Dalton said. “Plus in editing we have

FALL 2021 | EAST QUARTERLY

5

att Dozier is a man who goes by several different titles: CEO, boss, facilitator, dad, Batpa (a combination of “grandpa” and “Batman”). For two decades, he’s given everything he has to EAST - and more importantly - to the students in it. Matt has created a profound impact during his two decades at EAST, and it’s a certainty that EAST as we know it would not exist without him.

His career in education began as most do...in the classroom. Matt taught speech and English until 1998, when he was exposed to the success of the EAST program that was plioting at Greenbrier High School. There, Matt met Tim Stephenson, the founder of EAST, and began facilitating an EAST class of his own before beginning work at the EAST Initiative nonprofit in 2001.

Now here we are 20 years later, and much has changed since the dawn of the century. But one thing that hasn’t is Matt himself.

A MILESTONE

FOR MATT CELEBRATING

20 YEARS AT EAST

6

EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

“What I really respect about Matt is that he has a great way of connecting with people from all different walks of life,” said John Riggs, the Chair of the EAST Board of Directors. “What I mean by that is if it’s a room full of kids, he’s on their level and is talking to them and they love it. If it’s a room full of geeks talking about computers or CEOs, he’s able to communicate with them and in my experience, that’s pretty rare.”

Riggs credits Matt as being a key innovator in education, saying Matt cares about the students of EAST more than any other success.

“A part of Matt’s legacy is that he’s been out front in not only STEM education, but nontraditional education,” Riggs said. “He tries to meet kids where they are rather than try to dictate how the kids learn. If we had more educators in Arkansas like that I feel like our education system in Arkansas would be incredible.”

But Matt wasn’t always the CEO of EAST. He took that mantle in 2007 when the future of EAST was in jeopardy, and guided it to its most successful point to date.

“He, as I understand it, didn’t have a strong desire to be President and CEO,” said Jerry Prince, EAST’s Vice President of IT. “But he was the glue during that period of time that really held the organization together. It’s not just passion, but there is that absolute strong desire above everything else that EAST is going to not just survive but thrive, regardless of what might come its way.”

Allison Nicholas worked hand in hand with Matt during her time with First Orion, and she still heavily recruits EAST alumni in her new role with Metova. She also credits Matt as being a leader in Arkansas education, spearheading the training for the best of the next generation.

“When I think of EAST students and the work they’ve done with the help of Matt and his leadership, I think of them as leaders of the nation,” Nicholas said. “Because of their great foundation in their education, the confidence building, and their understanding of diversity and the importance of those experiences.”

Echoing the sentiments of her peers, Nicholas says her favorite quality of Matt’s is his ability to be so down to Earth with students, especially during his antics at EAST Conference.

“What I love more than anything about Matt is how he interacts with students,” Nicholas said. “When he’s looking at their project proposals, wearing goofy glasses with them in the photo booth, those things to me represent Matt more than anything. That down to earth, compassionate person who really loves his students.”

The group of people that has truly seen how much Matt has put into EAST is his family. His daughter, Lauren, has spent her entire life around EAST and is not only proud of the work Matt has done at EAST but is also a proud EAST alum. “[He] has put his heart and soul into EAST for as long as I can remember,” Lauren said. “It has even greatly impacted our family.

Megan [Lauren’s sister] and I are proud EAST alumni and I’m super thankful for an amazing role model like [him].”

FALL 2021 | EAST QUARTERLY

7

STUDENT

CHAMPION SPOTLIGHT

LEXI JARRETT

S

tudent Champions do so much for EAST—both their individual programs and EAST as a whole. That’s why we are going to take time in every EQ to spotlight a Student Champion who is making a difference in the lives of students and facilitators at their schools.

For this edition, we sat down and talked with Lexi Jarrett from Cross County High School. Lexi is in the tenth grade and her second year as a Student Champion. It’s no surprise that she rose to take the mantle so quickly, as she’s been familiar with EAST long before she enrolled.

“My dad actually used to be an EAST facilitator at Harrisburg High School,” Lexi said. “So I’ve been introduced to EAST for awhile and always knew I wanted to be a part of it.”

Lexi joined EAST in 7th grade. Initially she focused on 3D printing, but that wasn’t something that drove her. She found her passion the next year.

“In 8th grade I was given the opportunity to provide playby-play commentary for our live-stream program which at the time was an EAST project,” Lexi said. “That’s where I started developing this whole role to where I speak for our EAST program. Everything I do now is oriented around speaking or teaching other students about live streaming.”

Her involvement in providing play-by-play commentary for Cross County athletics events took Lexi out of her shell. Lexi says she now loves to talk to people, no matter if they’re a student, teacher, or community partner. This rapid growth is what led facilitator Jason Blake to appoint her as Student Champion when she reached 9th grade.

“I’ve always selected students that are very well spoken and students that are really good at keeping track of deadlines,” Blake said. “That role of Student Champion has always been a role with responsibilities beyond just normal classroom responsibilities. She was just a natural fit because as she has moved grade-by-grade, she’s taken on more roles and responsibility.”

While many high schoolers are involved in several different extracurricular activities, Lexi’s sole focus is EAST as Blake describes.

8

EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

“She’s bought into the idea of EAST,” Blake said. “To some kids, EAST is just a class. But to her, EAST is what she does. She’s an EAST student first and does other things second. A Student Champion is someone who isn’t only just going to champion EAST, but also champion our program.”

Lexi was brought into her role as Student Champion in a time of great uncertainty for every student across the nation, and while that might have served as a potential excuse for her to slack in her role, she never even thought about it.

“When Mr. Blake told me I was student champion, my first thought was being excited that I could get out and talk to people,” Lexi said. “I kind of took it to heart. If I get chosen to do something like this I’m going to do it to the best of my ability. As Student Champion, you’re involved in the background of everything that goes on like EAST Night Out and EAST Conference.”

During her time as Student Champion, Lexi has already begun inspiring her fellow students to become more involved with broadcasts. Blake says he’s watched several young girls be encouraged by her role.

“I’ve seen more of how our female students are wanting to get more involved with having speaking roles,” Blake said. “It started with Lexi doing commentary and now we’ve got like three or four young girls that are wanting to be on camera and want to interview people.

That started with Lexi leading the way. Champions like Lexi push other students’ boundaries by challenging them to do more.”

Lexi recalls one of the students who came to her with an idea, and by working with her, was able to unlock her passion for broadcasting.

“A student came up to me one day last year during EAST, and she had this note written out on her phone with an idea, and I thought it was a really cool idea,” Lexi said. “She tried to work on a podcast but figured out she wants to be more on camera, so this year she started filming for our sports broadcasts called CCHS Live, and is working as on-air talent at halftime and doing game recaps. It’s definitely been fun helping her get where she wants to be and kind of teaching her.”

Being a Student Champion has given Lexi the opportunity to teach others while learning the real meaning of education. She’s learned many lessons herself.

“I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that there’s always room to improve,” Lexi said. “EAST gives Student Champions support to help those champions find ways to improve and even help some schools win the Founder’s Award.”

As with her future, EAST has revealed exactly what Lexi wants to do for her career, even with two-and-a-half years of high school still ahead of her!

“My dream job is to be a sports analyst or have my own talk show like Colin Cowherd,” Lexi said. “Or I’d like to report on the sidelines and interview players. Before EAST I was terrified of speaking to people and trying anything new. I was not that kid at all. But when I became involved with EAST, it just started opening doors and I got to experience new things and figure out what I wanted to do.

EAST has definitely shown me what I want to do and helped me be who I want to be.”

Creating A Virtual Tour Of The

boyhood home

by Karysn Graham

This article was written by EAST at Rivercrest High School student Karysn Graham about their project of making the experience of touring the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home available to anyone in the world.

ohnny Cash. The Man in Black. Those names are recognized not only in our corner of Northeast Arkansas, but around the world. And while many have made the trek to the historic Dyess colony to visit the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, not everyone can.

EAST at Rivercrest High School set out to make that journey and experience available to literally anyone with a network connection through a couple of projects — a video for the Johnny Cash Heritage Festival and a virtual tour of the Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home.

Students had the opportunity to create a virtual tour of the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home highlighting not only the replica structure that Cash grew up in, but artifacts and history as well. The creators of the tour itself include William Beckett, Josh Sanchez, James Simpson, and Johnathan Smith. The narrators for this project are Welsley Gray and Jackson Ephlin. The virtual tour was made to promote the history of the Arkansas Delta and to connect our school to our community.

EAST at Rivercrest High School was also tasked with the challenge of creating a video to be shown at the annual Johnny Cash Heritage Festival. Our student creators of this video project are Gloria Edings, Colton Ball, Jackson Ephlin, and Jered Robertson.

Our EAST program is thankful for the privilege of being a part of these projects. We love partnering with Arkansas State University and the A-State Heritage Sites. A-State University Heritage Sites develop and operate historic properties of regional and national significance in the Arkansas Delta. These sites provide educational resources for formal and informal learning, including serving as living laboratories for students, and attract heritage tourists from around the country.

Rivercrest High School EAST students use a 360 camera to capture images for creating a virtual tour of the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home in Dyess, Arkansas.

10

EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

Rivercrest EAST is already partnering and planning with A-State Heritage Sites for an upcoming project highlighting their Southern Tenant Farmers Museum in Tyronza, Arkansas. Our program and school love and support our surrounding communities and look forward to sharing a piece of our heritage and history with the rest of the world.

CHECK THIS OUT! We love seeing all of the awesome things EAST programs are doing on social media, so here are some of the coolest posts we saw from last semester! Remember to keep sharing to have a chance to be featured in the next EQ!

GIVE THESE EAST PROGRAMS A FOLLOW HELEN TYSON MIDDLE SCHOOL @htms_east

DOVER MIDDLE SCHOOL @eastdovermiddle

LAKESIDE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL @ljhs_east

FOUNDERS CLASSICAL ACADEMY OF WLR @fcawlreast

WASHINGTON JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL @eastwashingtonwildcats

Thank you to our friends at

Women’s Foundation of Arkansas for their generous gift of $10,000!

This grant will be used to spearhead a new student training course that will focus on giving female EAST students more resources and opportunities to begin careers in STEM.

#ISupportEAST You can give unlimited possibilities to a student with a gift of $100!

Erin Rappold, EAST facilitator at Vilonia High School, watches every day as her students blossom in EAST, a self-directed program that builds their confidence and gives them real-life skills. In 2014, following a devastating natural disaster in Vilonia, Arkansas, the EAST students in Erin’s class recognized an urgent need in the community. Family photos and mementos had been scattered for miles, seemingly lost forever to the winds of a catastrophic tornado.

Using digital cameras and marketing skills, sophisticated software, and drones, the students carefully documented each item recovered. They contacted the local media for help to spread the word about their project.

Working together, they were able to return the cherished photos and priceless family heirlooms back to families who had lost so much. Can you imagine how much the actions of these students meant to these families?

A gift of $100 wil allow one student to travel to the EAST Initiative Training Center in Little Rock for an in-person student training session.

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.

12

EAST QUARTERLY | EASTinitiative.org

If it weren’t for EAST, I would have never had the opportunity to be where I am now. My facilitator Mrs. Kefir was amazing. She really helped us learn 3D printing to the extent where I can now teach other people. She told me that I pretty much revived 3D printing in EAST at Valley View, and that means a lot to me.

-Noah George, Product Designer for Vitalacy & Senior at Valley View 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.

FALL 2021 | EAST QUARTERLY

13

Non-Profit Org U.S. Postage

PAID

Permit 521 Little Rock, AR

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

Read this and previous issues online at news.EASTlink.me/EQ

@theEASTinitiative

fb.me/EASTinitiative

@EASTinitiative

EAST Initiative

EAST Initiative

news.eastlink.me/podcast

Get ready for

#EASTcon22

March 15-17

!

Website is LIVE!

Call For Speakers

Visit EASTconference.org for scheduling, attendee information, & more!

Want to be a guest speaker?

Sign up online now!

Founders & Cornerstone submission deadline: January 28 at 3:00 PM CST Competitions submission deadline: February 4th at 3:00 PM CST