Lexington Senior High School Student Makes SparkNC History with Statewide Virtual Reality Unit
LEXINGTON, N.C. — Lexington Senior High School student Lennox French is making history through an innovative virtual reality project that will soon have an impact on students across North Carolina.
French has been selected to create, design, and implement a Virtual Reality learning unit for SparkNC’s statewide platform, becoming the first student in SparkNC history to develop a unit for students across North Carolina to experience.
The milestone comes after the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) reviewed the proposed course, “Creating Digital Spaces in VR,” and determined that it aligns with the state’s computer science standards. The unit can therefore be considered as meeting SparkNC’s alignment requirements for aggregation toward course credit.
Garland Beamer, Spark Lab Leader at Lexington Senior High School, shared the news with excitement.
“I just wanted to let you all be the first to know that our very own Lennox French was asked to design a Virtual Reality unit for SparkNC’s Statewide Platform, and our application was approved by DPI this morning,” Beamer said.
For French, the opportunity represents the next step in work that began in the Lexington Senior High School Spark Lab. Last year, he designed an initial version of a virtual reality Spark Lab, demonstrating how immersive technology can be used to create new environments for learning, collaboration, and exploration.
Now, that student-created concept is growing into something with statewide reach.
“This means Lennox will be the first student in SparkNC’s history to create, design, and implement a Unit for the SparkNC platform for students across the state of North Carolina to experience,” Beamer said.
Over the next several months, French and Beamer will work extensively with NCDPI, SparkNC, various stakeholders, and technology companies to transform the concept into an engaging learning experience for Spark Scholars.
SparkNC Executive Vice President and Co-Founder Joe Ableidinger praised both French and Beamer for their work after receiving confirmation of the state’s review.
“Thank you to you and Lennox for your exemplary work on this,” Ableidinger wrote, adding that he looks forward to working with them on the process of developing the project into an engaging unit for Spark Scholars.
The accomplishment highlights what can happen when students are given opportunities not simply to use emerging technology, but to become its designers, creators, and leaders. Through the project, French will help build an educational experience that moves beyond the walls of his own school and becomes available to students throughout North Carolina.
It is also a significant moment for Lexington Senior High School and its Spark Lab, demonstrating how locally developed student innovation can contribute directly to statewide educational opportunities.
The “Creating Digital Spaces in VR” project will continue developing throughout the coming months, with Beamer and French collaborating with their state and industry partners to refine the learning experience.
For Lexington Senior High School, the announcement is more than recognition of an outstanding student project. It is an example of students being empowered to shape what the future of education can look like.
And for Lennox French, a project that began by imagining a virtual learning space at Lexington Senior High School is now poised to become an experience shared with students across North Carolina.