By Wendy Lawrence, Inspire Contributor

During the year all four Hinsons attended Eastside Prep together (when the oldest was a senior and the youngest a fifth grader), they commuted together in what lovingly became known as the “clown car.” Sam Hinson, the senior (EPS Class of 2018), was participating in Zero Period Instrumental Music, so the whole family came early. But shockingly, they didn’t hate it. In fact, Eli (EPS Class of 2020), the second oldest and Sam’s brother, loved hanging out with his friends in the morning. “A lot of my memories come from that hour with the others who came in early,” he remembers. “We’d all eat breakfast together—Javier would make the best eggs.” And the two youngest, Emerson (EPS Class of 2024) and Ella (EPS Class of 2025), then fifth and sixth graders, must have been inspired because they are now part of Zero Period choir!

Ella is now a sophomore. She loves how intentional EPS has been about keeping its community strong even as it gets larger. Friendly competitions between classes such as during EagleCon build bonds between the students. When the school was operating completely virtually, Ella was on the eighth-grade Leadership Lab team and worked to welcome new fifth graders trying to start a school without even being there! Now that the COVID isolation has come to an end, she notices a general appreciation for being together. Ella is connected to the entire span of EPS grade levels—as a peer mentor she works with the Middle School students and performing with the chamber choir connects her with her older peers. She even works with alumni, since several have returned to coach Ultimate.
Across-grade interactions have been impactful for Emerson as well. “As a fifth grader, even with older brothers, Upper School kids could be intimidating, but through the Peer Mentor program, I was able to make connections with them that developed

When the Hinsons think about what has changed about Eastside Prep, almost all of them default to talking about what has stayed the same.

a sense of belonging. I still have the birthday gift my peer mentor gave me in fifth grade.” As an Upper Schooler herself now, Emerson has
found a home in the EPS theatre program, “Theatre has been another place that I’ve found a sense of community at EPS. The all-school productions have allowed me to get to know Middle and Upper School students I wouldn’t have otherwise known, and I’ve made friends  who are still my friends even after they graduated.”

When the Hinsons think about what has changed about Eastside Prep, almost all of them default to talking about what has stayed the same. Of course, they talk about all the new buildings, as their family has been around for the full transition from office park to modern campus, and they talk about all the new opportunities that have popped up as the programming grows, but mostly they talk about how the vibe persists. The culture stays the same. When Sam comes back to visit campus, he still sees familiar faces of the teachers who were here when he was a student. And even the ones he doesn’t know welcome him back. Ella loves having close relationships with her teachers and notices how different that is from the experiences her friends are having at other schools where the teachers are much more distant. “Here the teachers really communicate with us and listen to our specific needs and requests and even feedback about the classes,” she says. One evolution of faculty that Eli remembers watching is how they used to wear so many hats when the school was smaller. “It feels like people started to specialize more,” he says, which he sees as a good thing. The resulting diversity of courses and programs gave him more choice and prepared him well for college.

“When you start in sixth grade and go all the way through high school,” says Eli, “you yourself change so much it’s hard to say if it’s me changing or the school changing.”

Of course, the ways in which the school has changed is sometimes hard to see from the inside. “When you start in sixth grade and go all the way through high school,” says Eli, “you yourself change so much it’s hard to say if it’s me changing or the school changing.” Eli was the pioneering Hinson, starting in sixth grade. It was a little weird to have his older brother join him later—even though he was the EPS veteran he was now also the little brother. “When my sisters came it was fun to have them around because I hadn’t really ever gone to school with them.” And Emerson enjoyed having older siblings at EPS, “You get to see school traditions and experiences that you know you will get to be a part of in the future.”

As Eli got older, the school kept growing. “Every new freshman class was a record number.” He said his friends were always excited about the new classes and the new batch of peers. When Eli first started and told people where he went to school, the most common response was “Eastside Catholic?” and he’d have to say, “no, Eastside Prep.” But now when he says the name, there’s always a nod of recognition and excitement—“Oh yeah! The one next to Burgermaster!” While the association may be dubious, the growing reputation and validation is clear.

Sam is now already a college graduate, back in Seattle working full-time. EPS definitely influenced his decision to major in computer science. “My interest really took off after one of the teachers (Gunnar Mein, an ex-Microsoft guy), remodeled the computer science course
and I really loved it.”

It turns out the close-knit community doesn’t leave when you leave the school: Sam is still in touch with his EPS friends, talking to several of them every single week and seeing many more every time they come back into town.