East hosted its annual DiscoverEAST event on January 29, where 8th graders from Cherry Hill’s middle schools were invited to come and discover their next chapter in their education. Students and their parents were first brought together in the auditorium for a brief orientation and welcome message from East’s faculty and school-wide president Anna Bardunias (‘26). From there, 8th graders were able to go to Cafeteria 1, Cafeteria 2, and the DiBart Gym to sign up for clubs and sports they were interested in learning about before potentially joining when they arrive at East in the fall.
Most students and parents found the orientation to be quite interesting and helpful. They were able to get a strong idea of what their future experiences would be like at East, allowing for an easier transition.
“‘I did not know 2,000 people went [to East]. It’s a pretty big school,” said Logan Moore (‘30), currently an 8th grader at Henry C. Beck Middle School.
Furthermore, the presentations from the clubs got several students excited about participating in East activities. For example, Caleb Donaldson, an 8th grader at Rosa International Middle School and Rosa’s school-wide president, explained that he feels much more familiar with East’s halls now after attending the open house.
“I never got past the [auditorium] and East seems like [an exciting] place to be at,” said Donaldson. Not only that, after seeing the club tri-folds, he feels “more [eager] to join [as he saw] a lot of cultural [clubs] that [he] really liked,” said Donaldson.
Several clubs and sports provided QR codes or sign-up sheets to collect contact information from prospective members for this upcoming school year and allow 8th graders to feel like a part of the East community even before they officially begin high school..
Club and sports members also tried to make their table more attractive to incoming students by creating interactive experiences.
“We’re [letting students] shoot a volleyball into the basket and get candy as a reward,” said Remy Choi (‘27), East’s boys volleyball manager.
“We have our trifold with Jewish music playing on the speaker and [inviting] students to write their names down,” said Michaela Rosenbaum (‘28), a member of the Jewish Student Union General Board.
Overall, DiscoverEAST was a great success not only for the incoming students but also for students already at East who were able to recruit new members for their club or sports team. East’s teachers and students have high hopes for this upcoming year and are looking forward to welcoming the school’s Class of 2030.