EPIC Origins
EPIC Academy began with just four students working out of the Brooklyn Public Library and one clear mission: to build a school where children are treated with the dignity they deserve.
Founder and Head of School Katerina Watson envisioned a radically different kind of educational environment—one that didn’t just accommodate students with special needs, but fully honored them.
Katerina’s commitment to educational equity is deeply personal. Growing up as a student of the public education system, she experienced firsthand the shortcomings of traditional schooling. As a neurodivergent child navigating the effects of complex trauma and as the older sibling to children with both autism and ADHD, she saw how often students with behavioral or learning differences were excluded, stigmatized, and misunderstood.
Determined to create the school she wished had existed for herself and her siblings, Katerina began working in NYC classrooms while studying education at NYU. She found herself most drawn to the students others struggled to reach—those whose behavior often masked unmet needs or untapped strengths.
Her passion led her to earn two master’s degrees from Columbia University’s Teachers College, focusing on Inclusive Education and Teaching Students with Disabilities. Over the next decade, she taught and developed curriculum for public and private special education programs throughout New York City, gaining a reputation for her ability to connect with and support students who had been previously written off.
When a group of children were expelled from their previous program, Katerina began homeschooling them herself. That grassroots program quickly evolved into something much bigger: a school rooted in inquiry, empowerment, and unconditional support.
Katerina officially founded EPIC Academy to bring that vision to life—blending rigorous academics with a trauma-informed, therapeutic approach to behavioral support. Since then, the school has grown into a vibrant community in Gowanus, Brooklyn, with a student population that has more than tripled in size and a deeply committed staff that works collaboratively to uphold every student’s dignity and potential.