By Karla Harris, Student Life Coordinator
AS WE CLOSED OUT OUR INAUGURAL Eastside Prep Winterfest, I thought about all the effort the students put into the planning and execution of the event. Our Student Leadership Council (SLC) has been hard at work this year, creating memorable experiences for the student community, including homecoming, Winterfest, EagleCon, and our upcoming spring events.
Over the past few years, I have spent some time developing the Student Leadership program. At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, the student body voted to add two new positions to the leadership council, one Fine and Performing Arts Chair and two Equity, Inclusion & Compassionate Leadership (EICL) Co-Chairs. We now have a total of eight SLC Chairs. As a result of these additions, for the first time this year we hosted a Leadership retreat for our SLC chairs and our Grade Level Representatives in August 2023. Our student leaders arrived on campus early to participate in a three-day experience where they spent time learning about their individual leadership style, vision boarding, planning for the school year, and learning from our Senior Leadership Team members about how they lead this community. The experience culminated in an afternoon of team building and bonding at a high ropes course.
As we began to plan, I could tell that the students had some very big ideas about what they wanted the year to look like, and as we talked further about how to accomplish this, we started to discuss their legacy. Last year’s SLC built their legacy around the rebranded US assembly that is now a student-led EagleCon, but the 2023-2024 SLC wanted to take a different approach.
As we began to plan for the year, I could tell that the students had some very big ideas about what they wanted the year to look like, and as we talked further about how to accomplish this, we started to discuss their legacy.
Following our summer retreat, students came back to campus on their day off for our fall leadership retreat. At this retreat, SLC decided on their objectives for the year. This was a simple but meaningful process where each individual selected their core values that were important to them. They took those values and brought them to the group. From this collection of values, the student leaders chose the ones they felt were important for the community. These values became our objectives for this year; the four objectives selected to be the focus this year are Development, Unity, Equity, and Risk-Taking. We took these words and looked at what they meant for SLC and the work they were doing. The students reflected on the upcoming events and how these values aligned with their planning. This is when we started to take a closer look
at Winter Wars.
Having only been at EPS for what is now my third year, I could not get a clear idea of what Winter Wars was, and when the students were asked to define it, they could only really define the objectives. The students decided to take a risk and use the TALI mission to rebrand Winter Wars into what is now Winterfest, a celebration of community and light during the cold, dark days of the winter trimester. We spent a lot of time thinking critically about Winter Wars and the meaning and purpose of the celebration. The students had to innovate wisely as they discussed ways to keep the things they liked about the celebration and how to incorporate the new traditions that unify the entire community. What they created was a two-part celebration that included the community as a whole, not just the Upper School but also the Middle School students and the faculty and staff. The week before break, the faculty and staff created a winter wonderland in TALI and Middle School for students to enjoy. Meanwhile, SLC planned a Spirit Week with hot chocolate and cider distribution on the last day to wish the community farewell as they headed off to Winter Break.
As we began to plan for the year, I could tell that the students had some very big ideas about what they wanted the year to look like, and as we talked further about how to accomplish this, we started to discuss their legacy.
Once the community had returned to campus in the new year, in the middle of January, when the days are long, the SLC planned some Middle Band activities to break up the monotony and spread some joy. Upper School students participated in bingo, karaoke, and Capture the Flag. While our Middle School students, led by our eighth-grade Leadership Lab and Ms. Peeden, swapped out their Clubs experience for Winterfest Clubs enjoying painting with Bob Ross, cookie decorating, sweatshirt printing, and more. To close out the week SLC hosted a Hearthside Hangout, where the community could gather and enjoy a cocoa and cider bar with all the fixings, doughnuts…and what is a hearthside hangout without s’mores?
The time, energy, and innovation that the SLC has put into unifying our community has been amazing. The care and detail with which the students plan the events is impressive. This year, we learned that not all ideas are brilliant, but there is success even in our losses. As we look ahead to the spring trimester and the many events we have coming—spring socials, spring tailgate, prom, many more EagleCons, and finally, the 2024-2025 SLC elections—I can’t help but hope that the community sees how the members of SLC have taken risks this year in developing new ideas to unify our EPS community.