Physics With a Bang!

Thank you to the University of Chicago for partnering with us to provide our students, families, and community with absolutely incredible Physics With a Bang! experience!  It is our hope that this opportunity sparks creativity, imagination, and possibility within our students, growing and nurturing their dreams!

Mentoring Update

Thank you to our high school partners for their teamwork and commitment to launching the East Prairie-Niles North mentoring program this year.

The mission of the East Prairie-Niles North mentoring program is to enhance the academic, social, and emotional growth of the students in our community through meaningful connections with one another.

In its first year, the program will connect 25 middle school students with high school athletes serving as mentors. Through connecting our students with a high school mentor who directly reflects their identity and interests, we seek to help each child envision and develop the best version of their future selves. 

The longer term goal of this endeavor is to expand access to approximately 25% of our middle school students involving a wider range of high school disciplines (drama, band, orchestra, choir, fine arts, global languages, etc.), as well as, to then develop a reverse mentoring program whereby our middle school mentees would serve as mentors to East Prairie students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade.  Thus ultimately establishing a leadership pipeline involving over 100 third through twelfth grade students.

Family Movie Night!

 

Thank you to the PTA for sponsoring this week's Family Movie Night.  Our students voted on Elemental as our featured film.  The selection was beautiful as one of the key themes - not fearing what we don't know and understand - is a valuable lesson for both kids and adults.  Good company, pizza, candy, and buckets upon buckets of popcorn made for a very enjoyable evening!

East Prairie's Got Talent!!!

 From song and dance to gymnastics, stand-up comedy and magic, the East Prairie Talent Show has quickly become a star-studded sold out event!

Congratulations to our many student performers on their courage and creativity!  

Thank you to Ms. Stepney, Mrs. Griffin, Mr. Oliveira, Ms. Torres, Ms. Cirone, Mrs. Rice, Ms. Hernandez, Ms. Krug, Ms. Saxton, Mr. Chiuppi, Mr. Abaraham, and Mr. Kowalski for all of their efforts to help bring this showcase of student talent to life!

Recognition

 East Prairie has again been recognized as a top school!  U.S. News and World Report included us in fewer than 2% of schools nationwide by giving our elementary and middle school top school status. 

Additionally, Niche.com has again recognized East Prairie as a top performing school - rating both our elementary and middle school in the top 3% in Cook county.  While we are honored by these recognitions, our aspirations lie in realizing our vision of becoming “the premier school district in the nation by focusing on community, innovation, and growth, so that all learners will be successful.”  We strive for this because the pursuit of excellence is a journey that leads to greater outcomes and opportunities for the kids, adults, and families we serve.  Thank you to every member of our school community for their contributions in making EPS the very special, dynamic, and caring school it is!

State Rep. Olickal Visits EPS

Thank you to State Representative Kevin Olickal for visiting East Prairie to be "Principal for a Day."  Representative Olickal spent the day visiting classrooms, taking in first hand the wonderful happenings of our school, and impactful learning afforded our students.

Representative Olickal connected with students and teachers, answered lots of questions, and hosted an open forum discussion with our Student Council (of which he used to be the Secretary). 

Representative Olickal - an East Prairie alum - also had the opportunity to visit and reunite with his former teachers - a heartwarming experience for all involved!

We'll look forward to sharing in the near future with students the message he recorded just for them!  Representative Olickal is truly an example of Panthers leading and making a difference!

Preschool Partnerships

Thank you to our families, Ms. Hernandez, Ms. LaPata, Mrs. Byron, Mrs. Bersson, Ms. Simkins, Mr. Gavin, and Mrs. Albandia for supporting our Preschool at Night family event.

The evening was an immense success in bringing our early childhood community together and further equipping our families with strategies and ideas for supporting their child's learning at home.