Five EAST programs from Arkansas and one from Oklahoma have been named as this year’s Founder’s and Cornerstone Award winners, EAST President and CEO Matt Dozier announced today. The schools will be honored during the EAST Initiative’s annual conference in Hot Springs.
This year also marks a new milestone for the EAST community – the first time a school from Oklahoma has been named to this distinguished group. The six programs to be recognized are:
- Northeast Tech – Claremore, Oklahoma
- Sonora Middle School (Springdale, Ark.)
- Warren High School (Warren, Ark.)
- Douglas MacArthur Junior High School (Jonesboro, Ark.)
- Westwood Elementary School (Springdale, Ark.)
- International Studies Magnet School (Jonesboro, Ark.)
EAST Conference 2023 will be held March 14-16 at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Additional detail on these projects can be found below.
“These awards recognize programs and students who become engrained in their communities through service and by working with community organizations to help solve complex problems,” Dozier said. “They exemplify the core principles of EAST.”
Built on the cornerstones of project sophistication and innovation, student growth and engagement, and community and collaboration, EAST provides students in 257 programs across Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Pennsylvania the opportunities to think critically and innovate change in their communities.
“EAST creates the foundation for these students’ passion inside the classroom while pushing them outside of their comfort zones through these innovative, community-based projects,” Dozier said, noting the projects submitted for judging by these schools were as diverse as the schools themselves.
Forty-two schools submitted content for judging, which is a record-high number, Alicia Humbard, EAST’s Senior Director of Program Services, said. 249 programs will fully participate in Conference this year.
On February 13-14, EAST hosted 59 students for a Leadership Retreat at the 4-H Center in Little Rock with the goal of training these students – who ranged from middle school to seniors in high school – to take on key roles at the organization’s annual conference. Humbard noted that EAST expects more than 2,500 students alone to be on hand for three-day event, so having the extra hands from these student leaders is crucial to the event’s success.
“Working with our Leadership Team is such a blast. Their potential is limitless,” Humbard said. “With grit and tenacity, they take on challenges and find the possibility in the seemingly impossible. I appreciate how they push each other and the staff to make Conference better each year. It’s cool seeing student growth and collaboration happen in action.”
Raven Harris, a student at Warren High School was name as one of the chosen student leadership team members for the annual conference.
