1. We Give Our Scholars The Best
At EPLA East, we want our scholars to be their best selves and this starts with learning in an intentionally designed environment. We looked forward when we designed our school and curriculum, not backwards. When scholars meet their daily objectives, we give them what they want: freedom and autonomy with plenty of places to lounge and learn together in our state of the art facility. We use positive reinforcement that plays to their strengths and builds their confidence. And it’s easy to support our scholars every step of the way with our small class sizes and engaging teachers and community.
2. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
The 21st century workforce is calling and they want people who can work AND play together which is what we do at EPLA East. We’ve developed a curriculum that teaches how to achieve success through leadership and entrepreneurship opportunities. Our scholars learn how to work in groups, assign roles, and delegate tasks – the way they will be expected to work in college and future careers. And what better place to learn than in our cutting edge modern facility!
3. We Make It Personal
At EPLA East, we strongly believe in an individualized and personalized education. We meet our scholars where they are and give them the support they need – whether that’s catching up or surging ahead. Our smaller class sizes mean we spend more time checking in with our scholars and helping them grow. Every day we have “Power Hour” which is spent in our advisory classroom working on a scholar’s individual goals. We even created software to analyze our scholars’ progress to help them succeed.
4. We Give Our Scholars a Break
Finished a project but there’s still class time? We shudder to think our scholars would just sit there with nothing to do. Instead, we give them a break– swoosh down our indoor slide to our ground level to relax, hop into our esports lab for a little friendly competition, or head into our music studio to create some noise. Research shows that productivity rises when you allow for breaks and we’ve built them into our time and space at our amazing middle and high school.
5. Leadership & Character Development
Leadership is a big deal at EPLA East. We incorporate it into our curriculum, into our student-led weekly assemblies, and into our core values. We expect a lot from our scholars and they rise to meet those expectations. Our middle school scholars model leadership in our CRSHH program and our high school scholars are organized into an animal symbolism housing system where they work together and compete against the other houses throughout the year. We also have an incredible team of student ambassadors who model the culture and standard of excellence at EPLA East, especially when welcoming new scholars.
6. College & Career Prep
At EPLA East, we believe it’s never too early to start thinking about your life after high school. We have a college prep curriculum and partner with local colleges so scholars can get -free- college credit as early as freshman year. We also have Career Tech courses that help scholars combine academic and technical skills to prepare for future jobs.
As we prepare our scholars for the 21st century workforce, we make sure they are exposed to business world concepts…as they are definitely exposed to a modern work environment in our innovative building which feels like a tech start-up campus. And importantly, we focus on building healthy academic and social habits in middle school so that scholars are set up for success.
7. Close Connections
We are a community here at EPLA East. Our school community includes families, caregivers, teachers, administrators, community members, business owners, and nonprofit organizations.
We check in with each other every day and no one slips through the cracks at our small, close-knit public middle and high school. Parents love the ability to call EPLA East and talk to their scholar’s advisory teacher, who can answer any question about their scholar because they know them so well.
8. Our Teachers & Staff
How do we count the ways our teachers and staff are there for this community? From Coach Cruz, our Dean of Students & Culture, to Alex Villegas, our Director of Special Services, our administration makes sure all of our scholars are getting the support and engagement they need. Our teachers are here teaching in interactive ways, not to mention connecting every day at check-in. Our teachers and staff are at EPLA East because they know they can make a difference in our scholars’ lives. As one of our teachers, Ms. Diaz, says, “I am able to be a mentor, a motivator, a teacher, and a friend.”
9. Community Partnerships
Speaking of community, we build leaders at EPLA East and it’s our partnerships in the community with local business owners and nonprofit organizations that help us engage our scholars. We’re also proud to partner with such organizations as the University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP), Microsoft, and the National Hispanic Institute.
10. Everyone is Welcome & Supported
We love our small and supportive school community and everyone is invited to be a part of it. Just moved here through the military? We support military families. Need special accommodations? We have a specific special education department to meet the needs of your child. Is English your second language? We meet you where you are. Are you a parent and have questions? We give you a direct line to your scholar’s advisor. When you enroll at ELPA East, you’ll find a community of people who want your scholar to succeed.
….Aaaand as a Bonus, We’re Growing!
EPLA East opened in 2021 with a plan to start slow and grow intentionally with only 6th and 9th grades offered. For those families who got in on the “ground level” with us, they are so happy they did! We are adding one grade level at the Middle School and High School each year.
For the 2022-2023 school year, Middle School will be open to 6th and 7th graders, and High School will be open to 9th and 10th graders. The following year we add 8th and 11th, and finally add 12th grade after that.
We are so excited about our fabulous new school, inside and out, and we want to share it with you. The steady growth we have planned will create one of the most exciting and innovative schools in El Paso, and your family can be part of it! Learn more about enrolling by calling us at (915) 298-3901 or fill out an application today and join our forward-thinking middle and high school serving 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th grades in 2022-2023!
About El Paso Leadership Academy East
El Paso Leadership Academy East (EPLA East) is a small, tuition-free public charter school serving middle and high school students in El Paso Texas. We’re reimagining education from the ground up, starting with our intentionally designed building and continuing that with our scholars’ innovative and personalized education. We work with community partnerships in preparing our scholars to become dynamic leaders in the 21st century. We stress the importance of collaboration and accountability in all we do. Join our growing 6th, 7th, 9th, & 10th grade school with more grades opening every year. Enroll today!
