EAST at Sulphur Rock Magnet Elementary rocked it once again at EAST Conference 2025! The 2025 Founder’s Award Winning Program went home with quite a few accomplishments, one of those being the AGFC Conservation Education Competition Award. EAST students Cohen Hill, Lyla Beth Hughes, Wyatt Conyers, and Kinsley Hurst, created the project, Cave Quest 360. The project was designed to help preserve local caves, and educate the community about the 90+ species that use these caves for their natural habitat. 

Initially, the team planned on working with a cave in a local town, Cave City, to document the life and geography of the site. In order to get the contact information for the cave owner, they called a local business, Poke Bayou Outfitters, to gather the information. To their surprise, they found out that the owner of  this business owned another widely known cave nearby. These quick connections were the perfect way for them to trial run the software and perfect their layout. First the students took it upon themselves to lay out a plan, which included learning new softwares such as Kuula. 

Sulphur Rock EAST student DJ Goff researched and mastered Kuula the previous semester, and was able to teach Wyatt Conyers how to efficiently use the program. Conyers spoke on how he learned “to take the pictures and order them from front-to-back, and set up hotspots in the program.” These technical skills became the foundation for the entire project. However, Cohen Hill further spoke on some of the challenges that appeared throughout the project when using “the 360 camera.” The team had to place the camera in the dark cave, and “find places to hide, while using a phone to take the photos.” This was a hard challenge as the cave had few places to hide. 

Learning to navigate Kuula and the 360 Camera came with a huge learning curve; however, EAST at Sulphur Rock met the challenge. Fifth grader Lyla Beth Hughes spoke on how she felt she could “now teach other people the software and hardware.” From setting up a 360 camera to take professional quality photos, the team became experts at all of it. The entire team elaborated deeper on the effects of the project  and what the project meant to them. Cohen said it allowed him “to create friendships and grow the longer we worked together.” 

The effect of this project is extremely influential, and has had a major impact on not only the community, but also the environment. Hughes spoke on how “the cave was initially closed to the public,” and now their project has allowed the public to have an understanding of the environmental effect that humans have had on the cave over the years. Their digital education tools will help preserve the geographic region of the cave for future generations. Conyers also spoke on how it will “preserve and protect over ninety living species in the cave.” Hughes further spoke on the challenges she faced during this project such as “hiding in the pictures and exploring the cave in the dark,” but using their critical thinking skills they overcame these problems. 

The team cannot wait to continue implementing their project and their cave exploration throughout the county, while teaching the unique set of skills they have learned to other EAST students. Hill summed up not just this project, but the meaning of EAST as a whole, when he said that “EAST gives us a choice where to go, and allows us to navigate our future.”