Our students at Gateway have had the awesome opportunity to go on two field trips so far this school year. We have attended the Oklahoma National Bombing Memorial in October and the Cowboy Hall of Fame in earl January. Our students received Chick-Fil-A afterwards and it was such a blessing. Many of our students have never ate at this establishment. We are planning to use the remainder of our budget and funds for the Medicine Park Aquarium and Lawton Animal Welfare as well as an end-of-year celebration field trip to HAYDAY in OKC for our students that completed their required coursework and had good discipline. Thank you so much for blessing our amazing students LPSF! You are greatly appreciated!
Programs/Materials
Yearbook Photography Equipment
Normally, Yearbook Staff Members use a plain wall and natural school lighting to take photos of students they interview for sidebars on their yearbook spreads. Using the backdrop and lighting kit we received with the LPS Foundation Grant, we were able to transform our pages and make all the sidebars uniform. After taking the pictures of the students in front of the backdrop, staff members uploaded the pictures to Canva and used the background remover tool to easily change the background to the standard grey color the staff chose to use. Because they had the lighting kit, staff members were able to adjust lighting and find the correct white balance depending on the hallway or classroom lighting and make all the pictures consistent. The first two photos attached are students using the lighting kits and backdrop and the third photo shows the difference between a previous year’s interview bar with varying backgrounds and this year’s uniform backgrounds. Thank you all so much! It has made a major impact in our yearbook program.
Yes to Brain Games!!
The students are super excited about the logic brain games purchased with the LPS Foundation grant. The games have helped the students with their cognitive skills, memory, spatial awareness and strategic thinking while building self-confidence. Some students like working on them together and I especially enjoy seeing the students beam with pride when a puzzle is finished.
Eagle Express Print Shop
The Eagle Express Print Shop is an extension of Tech Now here at Eisenhower High School that gives the students the opportunity to experience entrepreneurship first hand. The students design and produce all the products in class using Corel Draw, which is the program used in Tech Now. Tech Now is an entrepreneurship course that focuses on developing a career minded skill set using modern day technology. The Eagle Express has grown over the years with the addition of equipment and products provided by the Lawton Public Schools Foundation Grants.
The Eagle Express Print Shop has a 3D printer, 2 button makers, a T-shirt press, 1 color printer and 1 poster size printer, One Cricut maker, and 1 document binding machine. The students work in the print shop to fill orders as well as developing our EHS Eagle Pride product line. The students are exposed to cost analyses of our products so they can come up with cost effective prices for the products. The students have generated over $750 in sales which is deposited into our Tech Now account and used to replenish our supplies.
STEM Curriculum
STEM learning is very important for students. These centers allow my students to use their imagination and be creative while building skills that will benefit them in the future. Hands on learning is something students benefit from and these centers allow for more of that in my classroom.