Executive Summary��

Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies (NEAAAT)��is��not a typical school.������’s��a public charter school built inside a converted shopping mall in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.������’s��a Title I,��project-based learning institution where��teachers��are called coaches��and��learning looks like a lab, and��a��student’s��voice��is at the center of all functions.��

When NEAAAT developed its new strategic plan, students led the process.��One of their clearest��asks: real daily announcements. Not an intercom, not a pre-recorded video, but a live broadcast that felt like theirs.��

That��request��sent Director of Culture and Communications,��Karrie��Chappell,��looking for the right technology. What she found was ���˶���, and what she got was more than she expected.��

Today, NEAAAT runs a student-produced morning broadcast every day. Middle schoolers serve as writers, producers, and anchors. A 12-year-old runs the program. Karrie describes her role as “just the adult in the room.”����

NEA

AAT’s story is a proof point for every charter school, PBL environment, and student-centered campus asking whether technology can��actually keep��up with how they operate.��It can��

At NEAAAT, ���˶���’s single platform��delivers a campus operating system that powers:��

• Active crisis response��
• Unified��campus communications��
• Measurable student impact����
• Real budget protection with higher value upside

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Built for How Charter and PBL Schools Actually Work��

Charter schools and project-based learning��(PBL)��environments��don’t��run like traditional districts. Devices are mixed. Spaces are flexible. Students present, collaborate, and share constantly.��The technology��has to��keep up. Most of it��doesn’t.��

“Sometimes we get sold on great tech, and the learning curve is so overwhelming, people��don’t��use it.�����˶��� is the opposite of��that. Every member of our staff is using it.”��

— Karrie Chappell, Director of Culture and Communications, Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies��

NEAAAT runs MacBooks for��upperclassmen, Chromebooks for��underclassmen, and staff use both MacBooks and HP computers. ���˶��� works across all of them. No dongles, no compatibility dead ends.��

In a PBL school where students regularly stand and present their work, the cable-to-TV drag-and-drop workaround that Chromebooks��require��is a friction point that kills momentum. ���˶��� removes it.��

“Students being able to take over the TV in the room and present their information in real time, without the dongle, and mine doesn’t match — that accessibility has been really helpful.”��

As the campus expands across buildings, ���˶�����seamlessly��keeps��everyone connected��for positive school culture��and continued continuity.��

”It��keeps those two campuses connected��really easily. And it does so much more than we realized when we signed on.”��

One Platform, Every Corner of Campus��

NEAAAT came to ���˶��� for live morning broadcasts. What they found was a platform that kept expanding to meet them.��

“We just kept uncovering layers of the onion. It was like, oh, cool — the front office can message across your TV��screen, ‘hey, send Joey to the office,’ and they can time those individual messages to places instead of trying to call a room or interrupt. We��didn’t��know that when we first signed on.”��

Today, ���˶��� runs across both NEAAAT campuses. Every classroom, the��main office, hallway displays, and��the��multipurpose��space.��Visual emergency alert takeovers run during fire drills. The science teacher projects iPad annotations via the whiteboard feature without a smart board. Parent meetings��run��simultaneously in-person and virtually run through a single computer.��A school social ran on a ���˶���-powered playlist��with��no ads��and��no fuss.��

“We had a school social, and I created a playlist and sent out Just Dance videos on the large screens. I��didn’t��have to worry about��ads,��I��didn’t��have to worry about any of that. I could put that��in��and it could roll.”��

Student Voice Drove It��

NEAAAT��didn’t��come to ���˶��� because��an��IT department had a problem. Students asked for something better, and the school��went and built��it.��

“Our school is very much about student voice — they��kind of drive��the direction of where things are going. When we were putting together our new strategic plan,��all of��our students gave feedback into that process. And one of them was: we want daily announcements.”��

The existing announcement system��wasn’t��the answer. Neither was��pre-recorded video. Students wanted something��live, student-led, and worth watching.��

The��previous��scrolling signage system, a Samsung Business solution, required downloading content to a specific phone and using a dedicated app. It just��didn’t��always work.��

“Sometimes it would talk to it, and sometimes it��wouldn’t. With ���˶���, I can update it from anywhere. I��don’t��have to��be standing��in front of that TV to get it to work. I can do that from home on the weekends — I was working remotely in the mountains the other weekend, and I could still do it.”��

Students��Don’t��Just Use It — They Run It��

The most direct expression of what ���˶��� made possible at NEAAAT��isn’t��a feature.������’s��a 12-year-old running a live morning broadcast while Karrie sits in the back of the room.��

Karrie worked with a student to build the morning announcement program from scratch, including��team structure, interview process,��and��role rotation. The program now has��student��writers, producers, and anchors. Middle schoolers own it.��

“We have writers and producers and anchors, and they switch their roles, and they take that very seriously.��The middle��school students are really the ones who have driven that process.

I think I��was most excited about the fact that it worked right away, and kids could do it. If I was going to be off campus,��I��know��the��kids��have��it. They know where to put the equipment, how to turn it on, what to do with it, how��to send it out.

I have a 12-year-old kid who’s running it. He’s running the program, and I’m just the adult.”