Our educational ecosystem is a complicated one. Change occurs at breakneck speed and yesterday's innovation is sitting on today's classroom shelves. This ecosystem gets more challenged when it is constantly surrounded by the call to embrace new technologies, like AI, that require us to lend an eye and ear to determine what will work for our schools and what will become white noise. All of this becomes more complicated when your school is 80% economically disadvantaged and your district is Title I. This session will highlight how the original AI - arts integration - gave teachers at E.M. Rollins STEAM Elementary in Vance County permission to teach differently, engage students more strongly, and embrace the totality of how students actually learn. From personalized staff professional development to grant based activities linking dance to science, E.M. Rollins committed to changing the culture of their building and impacting student growth and proficiency through the transformative power of arts integration. Andrew Markoch, Director of Fine Arts for the Vance County Schools and Dr. Carnetta Thomas, Principal at E.M. Rollins will take you on this journey to break through barriers and embrace the arts integration framework and invigorate the "A" in STEAM. The results...join us! Presenters: Andrew Markoch, Carnetta Thomas