INSIGHT: EPS: Where Community Grows

By Cheryl Schenk, Director of Enrollment Management

There’s been a lot of activity within the landscape of our campus lately! Perhaps you’ve spotted the snowdrift clematis blooming on the TALI roof deck or remembered the forget-me-nots in the raised bed between TALI and the LPC. Maybe you’ve noticed the Welcome, Future Eagles! messages sticking up out of the planting beds, in which case you have literally seen signs of our newly enrolling students and families joining the EPS community. From late February through late March, we share our student acceptances for the coming year and families make their enrollment decisions. As trees and plants come into bud and bloom in the late winter and early spring, there is visible and vibrant growth of the EPS family happening at the same time.

Further into the campus as you move toward the Sport Court, you can admire newly planted baldhip rose, among other native species. These plants might help you envision how the land on which EPS is located might have looked thousands of years ago. In the upcoming issue of Inspire, you’ll be able to read more about the independent study that Addison ’24 has undertaken on local ethnobotany with a specific focus on EPS campus ecology. With other wide-ranging topics from existential philosophy to nanotechnology, these student-motivated courses showcase their vivid, diverse interests—as well as the faculty connections which serve to support and encourage their investigations.

While you await the opportunity to learn more in the new issue of the magazine this spring, I encourage you in the meantime to take your own moment to admire the campus landscape. Whether you’re considering plant ecology, connecting with newly enrolling families, or simply taking a breath of fresh air, I hope some aspect of our campus community brings you a moment of peace and delight in these final days of winter. Just like plants emerging as the days grow longer, the warmth you share as EPS community members beckons others.