By: Simona Kennedy, EAST Student Contributor

This year, many EAST program members are celebrating its 30th anniversary. Considering the fact that most nonprofit organizations fail by year ten, this milestone becomes even more momentous. But EAST wasn’t always like how it is today, the organization has had a monumental journey through these three decades. 

So, in honor of this milestone, we look all the way back to 1996 when EAST was founded to tell the story of the OG EAST student: Jennifer Burroughs. Before she became a teacher at Mount Vernon Elementary, she spent her high school and college years surrounded by a world of creativity and ingenuity.

Her exposure started when she had Mr. Tim Stephenson as environmental science teacher, which ultimately began her path to EAST. However, when Burroughs first joined, she actually joined the Greenbrier Service Institute (GSI), which would eventually evolve into the EAST we know today.

In the GSI, Burroughs did community based projects just like the ones in EAST. “One of the things we did was trying to raise fish. We had some fish donated and water was supposed to flow off from one tank to the other, keep the fish alive, and circulate back through,” Burroughs said. This was one of the very first projects, which began Burroughs’ intrigue in the program.  

According to Burroughs, Mr. Stephenson was exceptional at drawing in students with their interests while still teaching them important concepts and skills. “He was great at getting you involved in something that you thought was fun, cool, enjoyable when we were doing projects. We weren't actually doing school work, but in all reality, we were actually doing math, writing, science. Important skills we didn’t even realize we were learning,” Burroughs said. In her high school experience, it was a great work environment where communication and innovation thrived--reflecting the very nature of EAST today. 

By the time she graduated high school, she had already traveled all over the nation for EAST. Conferences, presentations-- you name it. When Mr. Stephenson stepped away from teaching and began to pursue EAST, Burroughs began helping him during her job as a counselor's assistant. 

“It all kind of fell into place that I helped him along the way, and when they finally did get big they needed an assistant. So, it all felt really natural, and I began working for EAST as their administrative assistant,” Burroughs said. She went from the very first EAST student to the very first person to be officially hired and work for EAST.

But Burrough’s EAST journey didn’t stop right there. After she received her education degree, she became an EAST facilitator at Russellville High School in 2003. After facilitating for a couple of years, she came back to EAST headquarters, right across the hall from Matt Dozier himself. 

She noticed her former peers in EAST have also used their experiences to help them excel around the world. “Students that were my age or just a couple years older are doing great things and running businesses. I don’t think you can contribute that to anything other than the fact that they were given a foundation of problem solving and being told ‘hey, there's nothing you can't do if you really want it’,” Burroughs reflected.

Burroughs had come a long way, her pathway in EAST being nothing short of greatness. “I'm still in shock that it's year 30… It's one of those things. It's been really cool to see it grow from where it started at Greenbrier with one man and one idea and growing into what it is now,” she said. 

As we look back on celebrating EAST’s 30th anniversary, it's important to remember all the people, projects, and ideas that helped us get this far.

“EAST has been lucky that they've had a lot of great people involved from the beginning, so it's cool to see the progression of how things have gone and the great kids that have come out of it.”