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Showing posts with label Jason Lanoie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jason Lanoie. Show all posts

Friday, September 25, 2020

Delivery made of 2019-2020 Windham Middle School yearbooks after production delay

By Ed Pierce

The cover of Windham Middle
School's 2019-2020 yearbook was
designed by Sasha Funk, who is
now a freshman at Windham High
School. The cover of the middle
school yearbook is always designed
by an eighth-grader at the 
school each year.
 SUBMITTED PHOTO

Student yearbooks are supposed to be a treasured remembrance of time that students spend in school and are filled with pages and photographs of club activities, sports teams and happy occasions in and out of the classroom. But the 2019-2020 yearbook for Windham Middle School may be remembered for being a memento that almost wasn't.

Across America, yearbook production was slowed in the spring because of the pandemic and that not only affected collection of materials for the Windham Middle School yearbook, but also its eventual delivery. Students finally received their 2019-2020 school yearbooks late last week following a delay of almost three months.

Windham Middle School Yearbook Advisor Jason Lanoie said students paid $25 for the yearbook, which was published by Lifetouch, a printing company based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. But with students and teachers having to use remote learning starting in March as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, gathering materials and creating the yearbook was a struggle.  

“Last year the deadline was mid-April, as with most schools many advisors were scrambling to fill pages and was told by Lifetouch, the company we use for our students portraits and the yearbook that we could have until the end of April,” Lanoie said. 

 

According to Lanoie, Windham Middle School’s yearbook typically has 68 pages and they have no problems filling the pages.


“But with many events being canceled, I knew I would not be able to fill all of those pages,” he said. “Lifetouch eliminated eight pages for us which took off some of the stress.”

Lanoie, a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics teacher, has served as the advisor for Windham Middle School’s yearbook for 10 years and said the pandemic threw a monkey wrench into the entire process for producing and delivering the yearbook and is also hampering efforts for this school year too.

“I think the one downfall of the COVID shutdown is that the yearbook club wasn’t able to work on the book,” Lanoie said. “We build the yearbook online and I usually have a team of students who would stay after school and put the candid photos in the book. They didn’t get to do that this year, with after school activities not happening at the moment, we might not have a team this year which puts a lot of pressure on me.”

 

For the 2019-2020 yearbook, the school was contracted to sell 376 copies, so no matter how many yearbooks they pre-sold, they had to order 376. Windham Middle School actually sold 298.

 

“I received many emails asking to be put on the waitlist for those who wanted to buy one but missed


out on the presales,” he said. “I also sell a bunch once they come in. I think that this year the extras won’t sell as well because we don’t have the end of the year thrill of the yearbooks arriving. Plus all of the former eighth-graders, now freshman at Windham High School are not in the building.”

 

As the 2019-2020 school year wrapped up in June and students were still out of the building, those who ordered yearbooks were told they would receive them as soon as they arrived. In August, Lifetouch sent out an email to schools that they were working to clear the backlog and delays.

 

As you may know, our yearbook production facilities are located in some of the states that are being hardest hit by the pandemic. We have prioritized the safety of our employees and we are following all state and local health guidelines to create a safe working environment. Social distancing requirements mean that there are fewer people available to work at any given time,” the Lifetouch email read. “These changes have impacted our production schedule and significantly slowed our production. We realize you, our yearbook adviser, and your families, are eager to receive this year’s yearbook and it has been frustrating to not have an estimated shipping date. Please know that teams are doing everything possible to get you your finished yearbook. Shipping is monitored, and as soon as your yearbook ships, you will receive tracking information so you can arrange to distribute the yearbooks to the students and families in the manner that is best suited for everyone's safety.”

 

Windham Middle School received the 18th and final box of its 2019-2020 yearbook shipment on Sept. 10 and distribution began immediately.

 

“Last Wednesday and Thursday I hand-delivered all of the yearbooks to the students. It actually went very smoothly and with only half the students in the building at a time I only had half to do,” Lanoie said. “The freshman yearbooks were delivered to the high school and handed out in their advisory. Any students who are remote can come to the middle school and pick their yearbook up in the office.”

 

With not every yearbook sold, Lanoie said there are plenty of extra copies available.

 

“If there is any middle school or freshman families that would still like one they can reach out to me directly jlanoie@rsu14.org and we can set one aside for you,” he said. < 

Friday, May 31, 2019

Teacher works to ensure Windham Middle School students stay ahead of the technology curve

WMS STEM Teacher Jason Lanoie, next to
the FlashForge 3D Printer
By Craig Bailey

Windham Middle School’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) teacher, Jason Lanoie, has an objective: to ensure students are fully engaged in the learning process. Lanoie emphasized, “We want our program to change with technology and where things are going.”

To support this, Lanoie is seeking funding for a GlowForge 3D Laser Printer, which he hopes to have in place by the beginning of the upcoming school year. To-date, he has received half of the needed $4,000 from The Perloff Family Foundation.

“This equipment will broaden the scope of experience that the students have with our hands-on program at the middle school level,” Lanoie stated.

Lanoie is not new to the process of obtaining funding to supply his students with leading edge technology. Since joining Windham Middle School, he has written grants for the school’s two existing 3D printers.

A 3D printer is a machine allowing the creation of a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model, typically by laying down many thin layers of a material in succession.

“I began working with the Perloff’s, who hadn’t yet had experience with the technology,” Lanoie shared. “I wanted to make sure we had the best possible technology for schools. The result is that we acquired our first 3D printer, a MarkerBot Replicator 2, during the beginning of the 2014 school year, for $2,500. More recently we acquired our second, more advanced, 3D printer, a FlashForge, at a cost of $300.”

Lanoie reinforced his objective, “We want to provide new technology for students. If we don’t, students can get bored. For example, everyone has a smartphone. We need to keep up with and stay ahead of the students. Soon, these things [3D Printers] will be in the home, as they are becoming more affordable.”

In contrast to the existing 3D printers at Windham Middle School, which create physical objects, a 3D laser printer uses a beam of light the width of a human hair to cut, engrave, and shape designs from a variety of materials.

A few examples of what the students could create with the 3D laser printer include: a family photo keepsake by importing a digital photo into the machine and burning it onto a piece of wood, glass etching to make a special gift for a loved one, or, designing something that can be used on their Rube Goldberg machine (a contraption that uses a chain reaction to accomplish a very simple task in a very complicated manner).

Click to email Tom
Click to email Tom
When asked, why the GlowForge 3D laser printer, Lanoie responded, “I had been doing research on the technology. Then, I watched an episode of MythBusters, in which Adam Savage did a review on the product and absolutely loved it. When seeing someone like Savage, an expert who supports STEM programs, enthusiastic about the tool, it confirmed where I wanted to go. That sealed the deal.”

Lanoie continued, “This investment will ensure our students remain engaged. You should see the look on their faces when new technology is introduced. It really shows they are interested in learning and using the technology. The result: the students are excited about being in school.”
Further emphasizing the point, Lanoie mentioned, “I love to have the 3D printer going when new students arrive. They are excited about it and ask ‘Can I do this, or that?’ That is entirely on them. They can then try it and figure it out. The technology helps our students learn our engineering design process.”

Lanoie indicated, “The students will be happy to create something with this new technology, for public display, to memorialize all donations received in support of this program.”
To learn more about the GlowForge 3D Laser Printer, visit: www.glowforge.com.

Donations can be sent to the Windham Middle School, in care of the STEM program. Any questions can be directed to Jason Lanoie (jlanoie@rsu14.org) or Principal Drew Patin both of which can be reached at: 207-892-1820.