Community service and social justice are cornerstones of the EPAA curriculum. Giving back via dedicated service builds leadership skills among our students and contributes to a stronger community through the projects of the many local organizations.

Every year, EPAA seniors participate in Compassion in the Community, a year-long research project dedicated to fulfilling an unmet need in their community. Students groups develop community-engaged projects and then present the results to local stakeholders and professionals. For example, during the 2017-18 school year, one group of students worked with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula to create and teach a step dance class to boost kids’ self-confidence and aid them in celebrating their culture. Another group offered bilingual mindfulness classes for Latino/a parents. And another group facilitated a renters’ rights workshop for local families and spoke on a panel about the housing crisis at Stanford University’s Haas Center of Public Service.

These community-engaged projects led to EPAA winning the Civic Learning Award for California Public Schools, one of only six winners in 2018. EPAA “was selected because of its innovation, the intensity, and the commitment of the school behind the program.”