Throughout the school year, Mill Creek EPIC program’s very own EPIC Outreach club has been working on an incredible project that is sure to take a step toward making the world a better place.
Members of the service-oriented STEM club are in the process of building a closet to collect business clothes for Mill Creek students to check out and wear for opportunities and events. “It is for a bigger community project we’re working on. We’re going to try to receive nice clothes like polos, maybe dress pants, ties, and coat jackets, and we are going to store those in the closet,” EPIC Outreach president Carson Goodman, 11, said.
The project has given members opportunities to enhance their STEM skills by allowing them to work with various forms of technology as well as learn to build and bring their designs to life. In addition to building the closet, members have created posters about clothes collection, planned strategies to gather donations and worked in online design programs such as OnShape and Canva.
Members have also learned marketing and persuasion skills as well as utilized creativity and perseverance to accomplish the task. “My favorite part of the closet was learning from the mistakes we made while building,” Goodman said.
Through the closet build, new connections and friendships are being built within the EPIC community as Outreach members all collaborate to contribute to a greater cause. “My favorite part of EPIC Outreach is the community that we build when we’re building the closet. We all work together and work on different parts of it whether it’s designing posters, cutting the wood, or spreading the word about where to donate clothes. We’re working together to help people in need,” EPIC Outreach Vice President Alexis Garrison, 9, said.
Additionally, the closet build has bridged the gap between the EPIC program and the community by allowing community members to take action to shape the futures of students. “I think the closet is a wonderful idea, and I am very excited about the opportunity to donate business clothes to benefit the students and contribute to a greater cause,” Dacula resident Barb Sipsy said.
Furthermore, the closet will serve as an ideal resource for students who need professional clothes to dress for success when participating in presentations, job interviews, or community events. The closet would function like a clothing library and allow students to borrow outfits as needed. “We have presentations, and sometimes kids don’t have a polo to wear or nice pants to wear, and they would check it out just like a book,” Goodman said.
Although the Outreach members’ dedication is certainly set to pay off in the end, building the closet hasn’t come without a fair share of challenges and setbacks. “The most challenging part is communicating with 12 different people to build one thing,” Goodman said.
Despite the obstacles, EPIC Outreach members are continuing to pour hard work into the closet build which is clearly giving club members the opportunity to learn, supporting students in need and uniting Mill Creek with the community one donation at a time.
