EAST Initiative

The EAST (Environmental And Spatial Technologies) Initiative is an educational non-profit that oversees and trains for a school program, EAST, that operates primarily in the United States. It is unique for offering students and teachers professional technology and software for use in a loosely structured, self-driven environment. The EAST philosophy, taken from the EAST project website ([1]), is as follows:

To further this, EAST program instructors (known idiomatically as facilitators) maintain a curriculum designed to allow students to familiarize themselves with technology (granted through partnerships with leading technology firms, such as ESRI, Intergraph, Microsoft, Dell, SoftImage, Adobe Systems, Macromedia and Avid among many others) while at the same time helping their community and/or school. Major technology groups used in EAST programs include software for Geographic Information Systems, computer animation, computer modeling, and video editing, as well as GPS utilities and CAD.

Reproduced from the EAST website:

"As a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the EAST Initiative is supported by a dynamic collaboration of government, education, and business partnerships that share a common goal of striving to make a difference in the lives of children and their communities."

EAST began with one classroom in Greenbrier, Arkansas in 1996. Former law-enforcement officer Tim Stephenson was in his first year of teaching, and having had experience with “disconnected” youth, had been assigned a classroom of “at risk” students. In seeking a point of interest for them, Stephenson proposed an outing to a spot near the school where students often went to skip classes. The wooded area included a creek and a pond. It was pointed out that it would be muddy crossing the creek. The first EAST project turned out to be a bridge across that creek.

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