Teacher Ashley Hallmark, top, helps a freshman student log in to a test site in her communication-arts classroom at Joplin High School’s 9th and 10th grade campus in Joplin, Mo. Hallmark volunteered to search for missing students after the tornado. The Joplin school district has made one of the more rapid 1-to-1 laptop implementations in American public schooling, fueled by a $1 million-dollar donation from the United Arab Emirates. —Nicole Frugé/Education Week

Juniors Kyle Copple, left, Caitlin Williams, Rex Whisner, and Amber Rutledge, take a break between classes at the campus. The Joplin school district handed out 2,200 Apple MacBooks to all its high school students on the first day of school, just 87 days after a violent tornado devastated the community. —Nicole Frugé/Education Week

The former Joplin High School gymnasium sits in ruins. The storm leveled five of the district’s 20 campuses. —Nicole Frugé/Education Week

Trophies sit in a destroyed display case inside the old Joplin High School. —Nicole Frugé/Education Week

Junior Sierra Bartholomew shares a moment with senior Aidan Shipley between classes at the 11th and 12th grade campus of Joplin High School. The school was erected largely with portable walls inside an empty department store at a shopping mall. —Nicole Frugé/Education Week

Senior Derek Carter, above, reads Catch-22 on his laptop in a Think Tank room at the 11th and 12th grade campus of Joplin High School. —Nicole Frugé/Education Week

Joplin senior Aaron Stark holds Camdyn Miller, 2, during the Christmas parade with junior Elisha Mansour in downtown Joplin. Camdyn's mom, junior Torri Ackeson, is obscured in the background. —Nicole Fruge/Education Week

Senior Aidan Shipley, of the Joplin High School band, waits on a bus before the Christmas parade in downtown Joplin. —Nicole Frugé/Education Week

Freshman Greg Lamp, walks his dog, Belle Starr, near the trailer provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that his family moved into after the tornado. As many as 500 students districtwide are still living in trailers provided by FEMA. —Nicole Frugé/Education Week

Greg Lamp hugs his mom, Darlene Harper, in their trailer home. "School hasn't changed that much. Everyone is coming back to normal. The teachers are really sensitive about the tornado," says Greg Lamp. —Nicole Frugé/Education Week