EAST Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas
Sierra Star 3-2-01
A team of
seven people from Yosemite High School attended the EAST (Environmental and
Spatial Technology) Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas last week.
Three
students and four staff members were among the 1,300 people at the conference
from 106 schools in six states.
YHS is one
of 10 schools in California selected to receive an EAST grant this year. The
$125,000 award will provide the school with a 14-station state-of-the-art
computer laboratory and the newest software programs.
Students
will use the equipment in the laboratory to complete service learning projects
for organizations and agencies in the mountain area and for their senior
projects.
Veteran
YHS teacher Larry Pesetski will be the EAST facilitator, assisted by Mike Cole
as back-up facilitator. Mr. Cole is a member of the original staff at YHS. They
will both receive several days of training in Arkansas this summer.
Also
attending the conference were YHS Principal Steve Raupp, Director of Special
Programs Earlene Ward and students Dominick Bernal, Luke Millar and Sabrina
Coulombe.
This is the first year
schools in California were eligible to apply for the EAST grant.
The 10 selected schools will become demonstration sites for the program.
“The EAST
program will afford our students a wonderful opportunity to engage in learning
in a real life context while using state of the art technology,” says Mr.
Raupp.
“Students
will acquire and use the job skills that industry values, such as working in a
project-based environment, being part of a collaborative team, and teaching
themselves to adapt to new technology,” he said.
EAST
schools from other states displayed their projects at the conference and
winners were selected based on the number of years the school had been an EAST
site. The program is in operation in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Chicago,
Hawaii and California. EAST was started six years ago in Arkansas by Tim
Stephenson, a teacher, and Jim Wells, vice president of Wellsco Graphic
Solutions, Inc.
In addition to the displays
at the conference, there were a number of workshops for
facilitators and students, including hands-on lessons for students using the
software programs available through EAST.
One of the
speakers, Allison Nicholas from AXCIOM, a data provider in Conway, Arkansas,
said the EAST labs are producing “a different breed of student,” through their
work with project planning, management and customer satisfaction.
“EAST
students are eons ahead of other high school students and also college
students,” Mrs. Nicholas said.
The goal
of the EAST Initiative is to “provide students the opportunity to develop
skills and competencies that are consistent with what’s real.”
Students
in an EAST lab learn to communicate, work interdependently, create their own
learning, share with others and pass on what they have learned.
EAST is a
student-driven program in which students are responsible for the operation of
the lab. They install the equipment and do the troubleshooting when there is a
problem. The facilitator is available to direct the students but they are in
charge of the laboratory and the projects.
Fourteen
students will be selected to participate in the EAST lab during the 2001-02
school year. Students who are interested will apply for admission to the lab.
The
students who attended the conference will take a leadership role in the
program. Sabrina thought the conference was a wonderful learning experience and
is excited about the class next year.
“It will
be a wonderful learning experience for all of the students at YHS,” she says,
“and a wonderful way to prepare us for the future. It is a good way to develop
our own projects to express our individuality.”
Mr. Raupp
notes that the EAST program is “on the cutting edge of school reform” and will
serve as a model for the kinds of higher level learning of which the students
are capable.