By Dr. Terry Macaluso, Head of School

You’ve heard me tell these important EPS origin stories before:

My first year at EPS (twenty-one years ago), was spent hoping that we’d receive a single—just one—student application in our mailbox. That wasn’t surprising; we didn’t have a campus or curriculum. We didn’t have any teachers. Who did we think would sign up for that?

Fast forward a few years. We did have a curriculum, faculty/staff, and students. By then we even had a campus. We would
watch families drive onto campus for an open house. Only to watch them make a U-turn and leave without opening a car door. Again, not surprising. We had all the elements that compose a school—but for the campus!

And where are we now? We still have all the important elements: an engaged and highly seasoned faculty/staff, students who are kind and eager to learn, a curriculum that stresses depth over breadth—and we have a campus that functions… well, like a campus. I still believe that the magic happens inside the classrooms and hallways, but it’s nice to have a campus that supports our classroom efforts and provides a ‘home’ for all we do. The fact that prospective families aren’t frightened away is just a bonus!

Another important milestone for Eastside Prep is our financial stability. For the first few years, I’ll be honest, we were highly dependent upon the generosity of a few people. We needed every dime of tuition and Annual Fund dollars just to keep going. Then, over time, that changed. Because of the generosity of EPS families past and present, we raised enough money to build our campus, to have some funds in reserves, and to support the people within our community.

Several articles within this issue of Inspire already mention the emphasis we place on the people (faculty/staff and students) of EPS. And so, in our twentieth year, we have taken the monumental step of creating our first endowment—The Better World Endowment. The funds raised for this effort will directly impact the people within our community through support of:

Financial aid

Faculty/staff professional development
(more details on that effort can be found on pages 13 and 22).

Just like those early families who believed in our mission and invested in the campus, the endowment allows current families to ‘pay it forward’ for future generations.

This, of course, is just the beginning. But this endowment… these efforts…are going to impact our students and teachers for the next twenty years. I can think of no more fitting way to conclude my service to EPS.

If you’d like to learn more about our endowment, we have a short video and some additional details on our website HERE. Or reach out to Vickie Baldwin, Director of Institutional Advancemen.