The Fulton School

Our 12 Upper Elementary students went through some pages this year: 642 books that were 150+ pages each!

To celebrate their year of reading, they hosted a Literary Food Truck Day in May. The task? Come up with a food truck offering four menu items based on the characters, setting, author's purpose, and theme of their favorite book of the year.

Their food truck ideas were AMAZING:

- Cat News Food Truck featuring "The Tower"
- Greg Heffley's Party Food Truck featuring "Greg's Party Patties"
- Wings of Destiny Food Truck featuring "3 Moon Cookies"
- 96 Miles Food Truck featuring "Determination Cupcakes"
- Belly's Belly Up featuring "Broccoli Love Soup"

They created poster displays and food that made for a delicious and fun year-end potluck party.

Snapshots from the High School International Trip:

The adventures in Iceland just keep getting better and better!

**Fulton School Receives $20K Grant for Innovative Project**

The Fulton School was one of six area schools chosen to receive 2026 Innovator Grants through the Innovative Technology Education Fund (ITEF). Doling out a total of $298,612 this spring, Innovative Technology Education Fund awards these competitive grants to help schools in the region implement innovative educational technology and creative solutions for K-12 students.

The six recipients were The Fulton School, KIPP St. Louis Public Schools, Nerinx Hall High School, Sister Thea Bowman Catholic School, The Biome School, and the Fort Zumwalt School District.

The Fulton School received $20,988 for their project, “Creating Parallel Timelines: Virtual and Real Life (IRL) Learning Environments.” Their plans support a student-created installation that integrates virtual reality and physical timelines with robotics and AI technology to enhance individual and class lessons. The students will design a website with a virtual reality timeline, build robots, and create 3D-printed models to transform the school’s middle/high school hallway into an interactive learning space.

“I think we all worked really well together to accomplish this,” said Peter Seddon, Fulton School 11th grader and student team member. “I can't wait to get to work on implementing in our school's environment all of the different aspects we've come up with. Personally, I'm most looking forward to purchasing the new equipment. Setting it up will be a lot of fun.”

The objective is to develop the technical infrastructure (hardware and software) to enable students to create parallel, virtual reality (VR) and real-life (IRL) timelines for individual and class projects. This project will result in a website that makes it easy for students to create VR timelines based on real-life spaces. They will also outfit a hallway for real timelines that students can use in parallel to their virtual spaces. The real spaces will be augmented with assistive robotic technology. Both spaces will have access to a local AI conditioned with time and locale-specific documents that can converse with a user.

In the VR space, students will be able to interact with the timeline using VR headsets or a web browser, by touching objects, for example, that would give information, play media, link to other websites, or transport them to other VR spaces.

The IRL timeline could be a basic map on paper, but the students intend to use magnetic whiteboards with QR codes (automatically generated by the website) that map to different viewpoints in the VR space. They will program robotics-based guides to lead to different parts of the timeline, allowing for the addition of 3D-printed and other Makerspace-manufactured items.

The software, robotics, and AI will be built in the Makerspace Lab at The Fulton School by the student team, with the oversight of Dr. Lensyl Urbano, an Upper School Math and Science teacher and Director of the school’s Makerspace Lab.

“I really think that pairing virtual environments with real, physical ones amplifies the advantages of both,” explained Dr. Urbano, “and helps negate the disadvantages. I'm also really excited to see what our students come up with as they collaborate with their teachers to create local AI systems that actually aid learning instead of getting in the way.”

Photo at top: Dr. Lensyl Urbano and the Upper School student team at The Fulton School who worked on the award-winning 2026 ITEF grant proposal, “Creating Parallel Timelines: Virtual and Real Life (IRL) Learning Environments.”

PICTURED ABOVE: Dr. Lensyl Urbano and the Upper School grant proposal team.

The Innovative Technology Education Fund (ITEF) is a St. Louis-based, charitable, nonprofit, private 501 (c)(3) foundation that supports innovation in education by funding advanced technology in the classrooms of public, private, parochial, and charter schools in the greater St. Louis area. In addition, ITEF provides opportunities for educators to continue to grow and learn in their field. Their work is supported through the FCC license they hold for four Educational Broadband channels in St. Louis, Missouri. For more information about ITEF, visit www.innovteched.com

Mrs. Bryan commenting on Dr. Urbano:

Bringing a geologist with you to Iceland: 10/10 ✅

Just before the school year ended, the Children's House 2 students picked berries with Mrs. Mertz in the strawberry patch just outside their classroom. They were so excited to share the berries together during lunch. How satisfying it is to be a young farmer!

Our high school travelers have arrived at the South Coast in Iceland! They spend the first two days exploring:

-Fagradalsfjall and Volcano Skáli (black rocks) near Grindavík
-Hespa Dye Studio in Selfoss
-Lava Centre in Hella (an interactive museum about the volcanoes of Iceland)
-Seljalandsfoss and Gljúfrabúi Waterfalls
-Ice Caves in Katla
-Reynisfjara Beach

On Friday, we said a quiet, but emotional goodbye to Diane Loyd as she begins her well-earned retirement.

Over the course of the last 28 years, she was a parent, friend, volunteer, Chesterfield Day School Trustee, scout leader, Athletic Director, Admission Director, Assistant Head of School, unofficial school nurse, unofficial therapist, student travel agent and chaperone, international student host, COVID symptom manager, Family Life educator, and the biggest TFS Eagle fan ever.

In addition to single-handedly starting our official High School Athletic Program, she helped shape and launch our Homecoming Spirit Week (*Pajama Day was her favorite*), Varsity Athletic Banquet, annual Trivia Night, and the TFS Golf Tournament at The Country Club of St. Albans.

She had a profound influence on everyone who spent time with her. Her character and integrity inspire others to stand up for what is right. She leaves a legacy that includes sports, travel, hospitality, parties, common sense, and admissions best practices. She dedicated more than two-and-a-half decades to our mission, believing in it with her whole heart -- raising her children here, making our community her calling and her second career, and welcoming hundreds of families into it.

Our high school travelers -- chaperoned by Mrs. Bryan and Dr. Urbano -- packed their bags and headed out yesterday for the 2026 TFS International Trip to Iceland. Safe travels!

Stay tuned for updates...

Congratulations to the 202​6 Senior Class of The Fulton School. We held our commencement exercises on the evening of Thursday, May 2​1 here on campus. Led by our Head of School, Kara Douglass, the ceremony included speeches by our Board President, Travis Freeman, and ​1​2th grader, Lily Leonard. What a memorable evening!

Senior Commencement 2026 On Thursday, May 21, we celebrated our three seniors in a Commencement Ceremony here on campus. We are so proud of you! Cheers to the Class of 2026!