On Thursday, February 16th, EAST students from Lonoke Middle and High School showcased their new and exciting projects to the community in the LHS Cafeteria from 5 to 6 pm. Students revealed the EAST Conference theme of “Into the Eastverse” and showed their creativity with their space and Hollywood-themed booths. Each school got a booth to decorate and explain its plans to the many attendees of the night.

Lonoke High School EAST featured five of their projects that consisted of decorating street signs, reimplementing the big brother and big sister program, obtaining trackers for cochlear hearing aids, creating the “SafeAR”  app for mental health help, and the hit of the night of renovating the old gym. Senior Monroe Brewer spoke about the old gym’s renovation plans. The creators, Carson Lingo (12) and Jordan Gatter (9), want to start by fixing broken things in the old gym like the lights and windows but then expand the lobby to make an auditorium. Lonoke used to have an auditorium for meetings and pep rallies but it was torn down when new buildings were added. Brewer added, “They are using Sketch Up, a 3D building app, to get an idea for dimensions and they are working with Mr. Whitehead to also feature more classes in the future like theatre.” Senior Susie Moysh also mentioned her mental health app, SafeAR, which will allow anonymous messages from students to express their issues and offer links to make passes to see a counselor. “Teens’ mental health is usually lacking and we want to help,” Moysh explained. Freshman Isabella Wallace described her project as well. She is starting the program for big brother and big sister back up to “help kids who don’t make friends as easily or sit alone.” Lonoke High School EAST is making big moves!

Lonoke Middle School EAST announced numerous projects that included some such as 3D printing, making teacher profiles for new students, a “Fulfill” app to help those with eating disorders, teaching EAST to 5th grade, and many more. The creativity of these students was endless. Lillie Moysh (6) mentioned that EAST is working with the technology department to “rebuild the 3D printer to help with future projects.” Fellow EAST student, Lilly Billings (8), announced the Fulfill app which is completely made by students in EAST and is meant to help people struggling with eating disorders by setting calories that should be reached daily and allowing people to get medical help. Isabella Osmet (6) shared her project about “teaching EAST to 5th graders” to get them started with ideas and projects in EAST earlier and let their creativity flow for community projects. The ambition of LMS EAST is unmatched.

EAST Night Out was a clear success that introduced many new ideas into the Lonoke community. We can’t wait to see what EAST has in store for the future and wish the students the best of luck for their EAST Conference!