Innovation often requires a willingness to step into the unknown. In Fall 2025, La Crosse Polytechnic successfully launched 30 Apple Vision Pros at scale in a shared classroom environment. This journey began in Spring 2025 when our district leadership—specifically Director of Secondary Education Stacey Everson —challenged us to find a project that was truly "new and different". One that truly embodied our technology department motto, “Innovation, not Imitation.” Stacey’s directive at the time was clear: Dream big. With a grant coming to its close, we wanted to put the final dollars to use being completely innovative.
While we initially considered a small pilot of 10 Vision Pros, Stacey pushed the vision further, suggesting 15 for a full class set and ultimately scaling to 30 units so that multiple classes could explore spatial computing simultaneously. While navigating grant funding was a brand new process of quotes, approvals, and purchases, with the help of our instructional team (and many hours of navigating new processes) we came together to pave the way for future learning.
The project was not only born out of the idea of innovation, it also served as a solution to the physical constraints of our school. Our historic downtown building lacks traditional science labs, and tech-ed spaces. By utilizing virtual experience with the Vision Pro, we envision our students will be able to engage in chemistry experiments, spatial dissections, and other experiences that were physically impossible in our current square footage.
Throughout the launch, our ultimate objective was to move students out of being consumers of technology. We wanted them to be active creators. When we made the decision to purchase Vision Pros, we intentionally chose to also purchase hardware that would support their abilities to take on that role. In the spirit of dreaming big, we proposed purchasing iPhone 16 Pros as well as drones so that students could capture content and build their own immersive experiences.
This successful start of this dream was a testament to the administrative bravery from our leadership team—including not only Stacey, but also our Tech Director Jeremy, principal Q, and Curriculum Director Kari—who navigated the complexities of finance and paperwork to bring this vision to life.
Attach up to 5 files which will be available for other members to download.