"[7] East is a highly competitive school in which students typically score above the national average on standardized tests.

[12] At the 2012 NAQT high school national championship tournament, East tied for 13th place overall in the playoffs, with individuals ranked 31st and 43rd.

In 2016, East claimed the national championship title for High School Fiscal Challenge.

Due to their radical, left-leaning proposal including a financial transactions tax, creating an aggressive estate tax, cutting agricultural subsidies, and shrinking the defense budget, the Koch Foundation pulled their funding from the competition.

East's Model United Nations team frequently wins national titles at university conferences, including DUMUNC (Duke University), MUNCH (UNC Chapel Hill), and ILMUNC (Ivy League).

[18] In the fall of 2015, the field hockey team won the NCFHA State Championship for the eighth year in a row but finished fourth in their 2016 season losing to rival Chapel Hill High School.

The East men's lacrosse program has also won 2 state championships and was runner up three times in the past ten years.

These efforts took off in 2009 with the drafting of organizational bylaws, the creation of a Board of Directors, and the launching of their website.

Foster held teacher Lisa Kukla and a student hostage with a shotgun, a hunting knife, and a pistol in the schools "Lower Quad C" hall.