In early March, just before tip-off of the NCAA Hoops Conference Tournaments that precede March Madness, I travel to Hot Springs, Arkansas, for the Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) Annual Conference. In the modest confines of the Hot Springs Convention Center, several thousand middle-to-highschoolers and their EAST Facilitators arrive, following bus trips of varying durations. They gather to celebrate a truly unique technology program, and to showcase the projects on which the students have been working throughout the school year.
The multi-tiered projects--- ranging in scope from campus recycling to mapping optimal school bus routes, honoring war veterans to designing airport web sites, robotics competitions to city park planning--- feature the underlying themes of technology usage, community service, and educational improvement. These students are to be commended, both for the results of their efforts, and the passion for completing the tasks at hand.
Many of these EAST schools subscribe to our Be Careers Network academic software program, primarily to teach MicroStation in the classroom. Bentley is proud to support the EAST Initiative, and to sponsor the MicroStation Student Competition, in which the winning team is recognized before the entire roster of attendees during the Opening Plenary.
This year's showcase winners hail from Little Rock, Arkansas. Henderson Middle School students Terrell Henry, Antonio Igbokidi, and Javier WIlliams took top honors for their project, 'School Yard Habitat Arboretum'. Each received a $50 gift card and a 2-year XM version Academic Student Suite. Congratulations to them and their EAST Facilitator, Teretha Kelly. To all EAST schools-- Keep those submissions coming! We look forward to seeing more competition entries in 2010.
Hi Ed,
good to see you keeping up the good work.
best regards
Charlie