Wausau East High School teachers have transformed their classes. The well-known dry erase boards are now outdated. Now students are taking notes from a Smart Board, even those without a pen and paper.

It may be surprising to some parents or even unrealistic to the students enrolled in art class, but for Wausau East kids, using a Smart Board is very beneficial.

Anika Heaberlo, a student at Wausau East, said, "They're really interactive and they help the teachers explain what they're teaching easier."

One of the art teachers from Wausau East seems to agree. Joel Pataconi said, "What it enabled me to do is be more spontaneous with my teaching." "If I wanted to give a presentation I would have to set-up the big projector card. This allows me to just say okay, you know, lets go watch this YouTube video."

Not only does the art class have a Smart Board, the school was awarded 55 of the interactive tools and it was all because of Lauren Ebbecke.

"I had seen a Smart Board and I was determined to have one placed in my room, so I could be able to play with it and engage my kids and motivate them. So I wrote the first grant for $2,500, got a Smart Board in the room and began playing with it," Ebbecke said.

That letter lead to every classroom having a Smart Board. Then followed more kids raising their hands and higher test scores.

"It's been phenomenal. The achievement scores have gone up. Students are more motivated." "It's just been a great overall impact on student learning," Ebbecke responded.

Wausau East teachers attend training classes to learn how to use the interactive white boards.