EAST Conference 2013 – Day 3

The Road Home

All good things must come to an end, which is kind of the feeling when Friday rolls around during Conference week.  Most are tired…ok, tired is an understatement….let’s try exhausted, but there is still a lot of opportunities still out there for the kids and facilitators.  I call Day 3 “Fun Friday” because it’s all about jeans, hands-on breakout sessions, and judge-free activities. 

Rikki setting up Final Cut X on the MacBook

On this day I had the great opportunity to host a few breakout sessions.  I’m not really sure what was going through my head we our team registered to host a session, but we really felt the need to display our experience with the new Final Cut Pro X.  In the last two years, our kids have made some pretty fun and creative videos.  They still need a little work with the “planning process” of creating a good video, but they’ve shown a lot of promise in such a short time.  We’ve never used older versions of Final Cut or Adobe Premiere, but the way I figure it is that if our kids can use “X”….anyone can use it.  So Rikki, Emily B. and I hosted an open-forum breakout session that allowed us to share how the film editing application has worked for us and how it compares to what other EAST programs have in their classrooms.

Still to this day, I call myself a high school history teacher…that’s what my degree focus is, anyway.  I have absolutely NO video training.  So to stand up in front of a session of young, prospective movie makers was a bit of a challenge.  As we were setting up, I entered a state of panic…where was the Mac adapter?  You know…that little white cord-thing that allows you to hook up a MacBook to a LCD projector.  Where was it?!?!  I looked in both of our laptop bags, I searched the Rubbermaid trunk with all of our booth materials, and I even checked my dop-kit to see if I had put it in there.  It wasn’t anywhere to be found.  Truthfully, it was sitting on my desk at school…250 miles away. 

TSG to the Rescue.

Mr. Worthy talking about the pros
and cons of Final Cut Pro X

So, I REALLY needed that adapter.  Without it, Rikki wouldn’t be able to showcase her talents on the application.  Without 8 year old Rikki showing off her skills…you’re left with a nervous, bumbling facilitator, who has very little confidence in what he’s talking about.  I looked for Doug Gusewelle, EAST’s red-headed tech guru and problem solver extraordinaire.  He quickly radioed around the Convention Center and was able to track down two adapters, but they were currently in use.  Crap.  Next, he contacted Reuben Canada, TSG Manager and professional “butt saver”.  If I had a quarter for every time Reuben has pulled a trick out of his hat to fix something for our EAST program, we’d all be able to retire in the Caribbean and drink those frilly beverages with flimsy toothpick umbrellas.  He knows every shortcut, every hot-key, the ins and outs of every program, and can fly through a Server-Install faster than most Sonic workers can pour a Diet Cherry Limeade.  He’s THAT good.  He rolls in with his walky-talky headset buzzing and a stack of paperwork tucked under his arm.  “Reuben…HELP” I shriek.  I explain my issue and he replies calmly “Hmmmm, think we maaaay be able to do a screen share through the sketchy wifi they have set-up here,” Within seconds, he has our MacBook linked directly to the Windows-based display laptop that’s hooked up to the projector.  We had a display!  Sure, it was a bit laggy…but we had a visual!  That’s simply the magic of EAST’s Technical Support Group…they are all very bright, they are human sponges who retain so much information, and they are all former EAST students.  That’s right; EAST farms their staff within the public school system…and it’s some of the best and most dependable technical support in the world.  The icing on the cake is that they know how to talk to your EAST kids.  They understand the EAST model and can facilitate your students to a solution without giving them a direct answer; it’s pretty fun to watch or observe during a training or phone conversation.  Reuben rushes off to set up the Tech Support Olympiad, which will go live at 10 am.  More about that later…

Rikki and I struggle through our breakout session, but I think we opened some eyes with film editing.  I had some really great conversations with students from Conway, Morrilton, and several of areas I’m unfamiliar with.  Emily took some pictures and documented the session pretty well.  Once we dismissed, I was able to participate in another breakout session with several AMAZING facilitators, including Carrie Kirkes, Sharla Hartzell, Sandy Williams and Lisa Bryd.    Kudos to Erica Riley for putting this Dream Team of facilitators together; I would love to work with these ladies and/or their programs in the future on ANY EAST project and especially at Summer Seminar…they bring a lot of knowledge and creativity to the table.

I was able to pop in to the Tech Support Olympiad afterwards and I found Austin and Arrington watching the competition intently.  I was able to have a great conversation with EAST President and CEO, Matt Dozier, which really helped me see some things in the big picture I had been missing. Thank you, Matt.

Matt Dozier  speaking at the Closing Ceremonies.
Sonora's Austin sporting an EAST Baseball Cap

Closing Ceremonies

Shortly later, the closing ceremonies were upon us.  The Conference was coming to an end.  We were treated to some “Spatial” awards, a twisted Harlem Shake video, Austin Gill dancing Gangnam Style with the Ambassador Team in front of 2000+ people, and some closing thoughts from EAST Founder, Tim Stephenson.  In short he made three points…

“The three keys to success are honesty, compassion, and student responsibility.”

Jillian and Arrington going crazy
during the ride home to NWA

I cannot echo these works loud enough.  Like I said in my Day 1 post…Tim appears as a simple good ole boy from central Arkansas, but he is actually a very intelligent man.  These are great words to live by.

We returned to Springdale a little older, a little wiser, and some sort of other cliché characteristic that I can’t think of right now…but the kids are holding their heads high and they’re already planning their next move.  We will be recognized with Har-Ber at the next school board meeting and the Northwest Arkansas Morning News will be here tomorrow to interview our kids about their EAST journey.  Jayden has already Skyped with Daniel and Robert from Har-Ber this morning about a future project they want to work on and the plan is to include Westwood and Springdale High in the process as well.  The future is bright for these kids and I have this feeling that they are only getting started.  See you at EAST Conference 2014: The Future is Trending Now.

Thanks for reading this three part series.  I must be crazy to write so much, so quickly after Conference…but we had a really great time and I felt the need to share with our crew. EAST is an amazing educational model and I encourage any school, elementary or secondary, to check out what the Initiative has to offer.

jw