Reflection on Our Time at EPS
By Rhea ‘19 (Student Government President) and Millan ’19 (Student Government Vice-President)
Since joining Eastside Prep as Middle School students, we have watched the school grow and change and we have grown and changed right along with it. Now, as we come to the close of our final trimester of senior year, we reflect on the incredibly positive impact this school has had on our lives. Be they lessons learned in the classroom or skills developed in a social setting, EPS has done a great job of preparing us for our futures as we take our first steps into the world as fledgling adults.
Our Middle School experience was drastically different from that of current Middle Schoolers. EPS started out as a school in an office park and when we were taking classes seven years ago (wow, that’s a while!), you could definitely feel it. We would not have believed it if someone told us then that we would get to watch plays in our own state of the art theatre, one of the best on the eastside. Nor would we have believed the vertical growth of the buildings—we would never imagine buildings taller than two stories. It is exciting and impressive to see how the Middle Schoolers today have taken full advantage of the opportunities made available to them. The civic engagement club scheduled a trip to Olympia to see government procedure firsthand and the 8th Grade Leadership Lab is an entirely student-run operation that works to provide real change. We are proud to see that the Middle Schoolers today fully embody the spirit of our school’s mission and vision and are already working to make the world a better place.
Although we may not have caught on quite as quickly as those Middle Schoolers, we try to embody the mission to Think Critically, Act Responsibly, Lead Compassionately, and Innovate Wisely in everything we do in the Upper School and as the student body President and Vice President. When it comes to Student Government, we have felt the shifts our a growing school—both the good and the challenging. With the new building came new spaces for students to pursue their widespread interests. At the same time, this made meetings more challenging to organize, as each of our Student Government members is an excited, engaged, (and busy!) member of the EPS community. For us both, spending time chatting with our classmates during lunch or simply in passing is what makes us proud to be among the leaders of EPS.
Through our roles, we have been able to connect with students across the Upper School and have worked to help advocate for their ideas and desires. Whether it be in helping to select the new Head of Upper School or choosing the venue for prom, we have been lucky to work with such receptive peers—they know what they want and have confidence in us to effectively convey their ideas. The challenges of leading a dynamic group of students, while being students ourselves, have presented us with an age-old dilemma: there are only 7 days in a week and 24 hours in a day. We will be the first to admit that this task has been one of great reward, while being one of difficulty, as well. We have found our roles as the leaders of Student Government as a platform to amplify the voices of our classmates—to make each and every one of them feel heard and represented.
As we wrap up our time at EPS, we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to serve our peers and are excited to see what the future has in store for our “not-so-small-school-in-an-office-park”.