FOUR YEARS IN THE MAKING: 2021 Founder's Award Winner Mountain Home Career Academies

Meet The Mountain Home Career Academies EAST Team

Joshua Dodson - 12th grade

Sophie Quick - 12th grade

Lauren Dewey - 12 grade

Zack Spaulding - 12th grade

Founder’s is a self-nominated award. Who or what planted the seed that you all should nominate yourself?

Joshua: We have worked so hard these past couple of years, and I think our community was proud of what we have done. Our team and facilitator collectively decided that we should nominate ourselves.

Which project that was highlighted in the nomination and presentation was...

...The most challenging project for the group?

Lauren: The most challenging was the Foodbank of North Central Arkansas project. There are so many parts, and each one is different and challenges us differently. The Blessing Box has pushed us outside our comfort zone. The actual box is a temperature-controlled box that people in our community anonymously donate to or can take food from. If the boxes are not temperature controlled, that would sacrifice the quality of the food. Controlling the temperature of the boxes remotely turned out to be very difficult. The project team had to create several different prototypes and choose the best option for our program, the food bank, and community. Another big challenge for this project was coordinating the grand opening of the food bank. We learned new skills in graphic design, audio software, video production and editing, and more.

...The favorite project of the group?

Sadie: “Baxter County Outside” was probably the group’s favorite project. We get to explore our area and bring attention to all the amazing opportunities to get outside and be active

...The most impactful project for the community?

Sophie: “2 Yes Votes for Mountain Home” has to be the most impactful project for the community. This community center will provide a large and safe recreational space for so many people. The retirement community can use it year-round for exercise, and families can bring their young children there to play. Most importantly, it will provide an ample meeting space for our community leaders to come together. Working on the videos and other marketing materials was very rewarding. It felt great to grow as a team while we provided a space for community collaboration.

Have you applied for Founder’s in the past? If not, what made you feel prepared/qualified this year to do so?

Lauren: This is our 4th year applying for Founder’s. This year was different from all of the others in several ways. COVID-19 made our classroom and projects completely different. We decided to focus on community needs, advance our past projects, and work on things within our program and school. We have worked with the Peitz Cancer Support Center for over five years now. This year we partnered with them yet again to help them with their 20thanniversary celebration. This was the biggest project so far. We produced 20 videos of community members, cancer survivors, and board members in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Support House. We also continued to work on the project Bomber News Network. Last year we produced a monthly newscast, and this year the administration reached out to us and asked for us to create a daily newscast. We have live-streamed news every day this year.

Out of all the technology used, what piece of technology was your favorite and why?

Joshua: Our favorite piece of technology has to be our Sony A7iii. We use this camera all of the time for photo and video projects. The quality of the pictures and video are incredible.

What was the hardest piece of technology to navigate?

Zach: We have many pieces of technology that are difficult to work with, but the hardest would be working with Ronin. This DJI camera stabilizer was entirely new to our program. It was purchased to take b-roll footage for videos. It was a learning experience. We watched youtube videos and read the manual to learn how to use the camera stabilizer. Share with us how you told your community partners, school admins, and family members about the award and some of their responses and reactions.

Lauren: Once we found out we were founders award winners, everyone was so excited. I remember calling my mom and telling her we had won. She told me how proud she was of our program. My older sister was a part of the first team who applied for founders four years ago. She was so happy that we had finally accomplished what so many MHHS EAST students had dreamed about for so long. Our community and administration found out through social media. They were so proud of us, and we were honored that their projects had helped make us the program we are today.

What would you like our audience to know about you, your school, or EAST?

Zach: We are so proud of what we have accomplished this year.

What is the focus now that Conference is over?

Sophie: Our focus is to develop more relationships with our clients and take our projects to the next level. We are finishing the projects that are close to being finished before the end of the year.

What advice would you give to a school applying for the first time?

Lauren: Use the video to highlight everything you have done and what you are most proud of. Put as much in the video as you can. Highlight yourself and what you are proud of.

What advice would you give to a school that is submitting an application for the second or third time?

Sophie: We are the prime examples of not giving up after submitting for the fourth time. We worked very hard every year to push ourselves and not give up. With that being said, you will need to take the feedback given to you and apply those corrections. We were finally able to use the corrections, and in return were 2021 Founder’s winners.

What does the EAST Conference 2022 theme mean to you?

Lauren: The theme “Build Up” to me means investing in your community and school. It means creating strong projects that will continue to help our community.

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