The purpose of Eastside Prep Impact Center (EPIC) is to house an “urban sustainability center” for interdisciplinary education and student projects -- our intention is to make human impact on the world conscious, deliberate, and constructive.

Physically, EPIC consists of four main “spaces”:

1. A the fabrication studio, housing machinery that students can use to investigate/build projects.
2. A media center, with state-of-the-art computers and communication equipment for Eastside Prep classes and future workshops for K-12 students and teachers.
3. A “living gallery” to display functional student projects that are examples of tools for sustainability.
4. A showcase that will present examples of the interaction of science and art.

But, far beyond walls, EPIC houses programs. With the unveiling of this newest building to the Eastside Prep suite, we will be embarking on a number of new and exciting programs that will be woven into our curriculum.

• Watershed Park Restoration. Located within a mile northeast of Eastside Prep, this project provides an excellent opportunity for Eastside Prep students to study the environment. Eastside Prep will be working collaboratively with Cascade Land Conservancy, UW, the city of Kirkland, King County, the EPA and others to restore the site, as well as study and demonstrate restoration.
• GLOBE program. GLOBE is a K-12 interdisciplinary program in which students carry out a series of investigations that scientists have designed to gather data about the Earth and how it functions as a global system.
• Environmental literacy. Integrated throughout EPIC will be activities and classes to ensure that students continue to learn and develop basic literary skill sets, enabling them to communicate about important, fascinating “real world” sustainability problems and potential solutions.
• WeatherBug program. Sitting on top of EPIC is a WeatherBug Weather Station, connecting Eastside Prep with a network of over 8000 schools across the nation. This is a scientific-grade weather station, where it records 27 different weather measurements in real time, and is accessed by local TV stations.
• Renewable energy. Keep your eye on the rooftop of EPIC for future solar and wind energy demonstrations!
• International sustainability. Last year the 9th and 10th graders went to Costa Rica to learn about tropical environments and Tico culture. We'll continue to explore opportunities for our students to have similar “study abroad” environmental service learning projects in the future.
• Campus recycling. We added worm bins last year. This year we will be doing projects with biodiesel made with used cooking oil, making paper from recycled fiber, casting glass from old bottles, and more!