Villagers Will
Visit Trails
From Home
Computers
 |
| Jessieville EAST students help map and record where plots are located at Shiloh Cemetery. From left, Jessica Buford records the tombstone's information, Marina Sweeten photographs the plot, Austin Araco documents the work, and Joseph Herrington and Paige Williford look at the cemetery's map. (Holly Dasté photo) |
|
Hot Springs
Village trail
enthusiasts or
home-bound
seniors will
appreciate the
work being done
this summer by
Jessieville High
School's
environmental
and spatial
technology
students.
Jessieville's
EAST program,
under the
guidance of
facilitator
DeAnn Bliss, was
awarded $10,000
to fund two EAST
Integration and
Community
Enhancement
projects.
One project,
"Following the
Trail," includes
making
virtual reality
tours of
three of the
more-popular
Village trails.
Students Austin
Araco, Hunter
Griffin, Caci
Herron,
Matthew Trostel
and Michelle
Trostel have
used global
positioning
system devices
as well as
advanced
software to
create virtual
tours combining
panoramas,
pictures, video,
audio and
objects in 3D.
 |
| Jessieville EAST students are creating virtual reality tours of some Hot Springs Village trails. From left, Hunter Griffin plots the site on a GPS device, Austin Araco documents the work, and Caci Herron photographs the trail view. (Holly Dasté photo) |
|
The virtual
tours can then
be placed on a
digital trail
map, where
viewers can
click on a
certain area of
the map and get
a 360-degree
view of the
trail from that
spot.
The students are
creating tours
of the Cedar
Creek Nature,
DeSoto
Multipurpose and
Hernando trails,
which will be
available to
view at
www.jvilleeast.org/
hsv_trails upon
the project's
completion.
The second
project
Jessieville
EAST students
are completing
under the EICP
grant funds is
Shiloh Cemetery
on Highway 7,
just north of
Home Plate.
Again using
GPS devices
and
virtual-reality-tour
software,
students Jessica
Buford, Joseph
Herrington,
Marina Sweeten
and Paige
Williford are
plotting where
each tombstone
is located at
Shiloh, a
cemetery that is
not organized in
definable
columns or rows.
 |
| Jessieville EAST student Michelle Trostel photographs a Village trail view as part of the virtual reality tour. |
|
The idea is to
help visitors
quickly find a
headstone
without having
to walk through
the entire
cemetery.
Using CemEditor,
a specialized
software
program, the
students collect
data and photos
of each
tombstone.
After plotting
Shiloh, EAST
students will
help other local
cemeteries, such
as
Rock Springs,
Green and
Mountain Valley,
create detailed
maps and
information for
its visitors.
The
EAST Initiative
is an
educational
model that is
engaging
students in
sophisticated
service-learning
projects that
involve relevant
teamwork and
cutting edge
technology.
The EICP program
leverages EAST
program
capabilities
with community
needs outside of
the traditional
school day.
"The EICP
program is a
wonderful
extension of the
non-traditional
learning
opportunities
that the EAST
program offers
more than 13,000
Arkansas
students
throughout the
school year,"
said EAST
president Matt
Dozier.
"The students
spend up to six
weeks of their
summer focusing
on a project
within their
community,
honing their
problem-solving
skills and
sharpening other
skills such as
leadership,
teamwork,
marketing and
their
understanding of
technology.
"It's almost
like getting a
full year of
EAST crunched in
to a smaller
time frame, and
it serves as a
tremendous
launching pad
for larger
projects and the
students'
ongoing
relationship
with their
communities."
