Head of School Weekly Update
May 3, 2019
Westminster Family,
The faculty and staff want to make sure that all of you know how incredibly loved and appreciated you made us feel this week. PAW has gone to extraordinary lengths this entire year, but especially this week, in blessing all of us. Thank you to the PAW team for organizing these efforts, and thank you to all of you parents who have decorated, sent in gifts, donated your time and money, etc. We are grateful.
It was wonderful to see so many of you at High School Awards day and Senior Chapel yesterday. Every graduating class is distinct in their personality and special. This year’s senior class has achieved much in many different areas, yet the legacy they leave us is a vivid depiction of what it means to be ‘one team’. While they have different peer groups and interests, they have always functioned like one big family. It has been our joy to be a part of their lives.
Congratulations to the track team on a great few days at sectionals with a lot of wins. The Boys Team are the 2019 AHSAA 3A Section 3 Champions! These athletes are competing at state today and tomorrow. We look forward to hearing about their success!
Hastings Gray (Girls 1600M 3A Section 3 Champion, Girls 3200M 3A Section 3 2nd place, Girls 800M 3A Section 3 3rd place )
Jewel Krings (Girls 400M 3A Section 3 2nd Place)
John Farmer (Boys 1600M 3A Section 3 Champion, Boys 3200M 3A Section 3 2nd place)
Kyle Van Kirk (Boys 1600M 3A Section 3 2nd Place, Boys 3200M 3A Section 3 Champion)
Seth Peebles (Boys 1600M 3A Section 3 3rd Place)
Auston Leslie (Boys Triple Jump 3A Section 3 Champion,Boys Long Jump 3A Section 3 Champion, Boys 300 meter Hurdles 3A Section 3 Champion )
John Farmer, Kyle Van Kirk, Seth Peebles, Caleb Anderson (Boys 4x800 relay 3A Section 3 Champions)
Robert McCoy (Boys Discus 3A Section 3 3rd Place)
Nathaniel Pride (Boys Shot Put 3A Section 3 3rd Place)
Meg Paparella (Girls Long Jump 3A Section 3 3rd Place) (15'2 School Record)
Layne Baldwin (Boys 400M 3A Section 3 2nd Place,Boys 300 meter Hurdles 3A Section 3 3rd Place )
John Stallens IV (Boys 400M 3A Section 3 3rd Place)
Alex Stanley (Boys 100M 3A Section 3 Champion, Boys 200M 3A Section 3 Champion)
Lexi Fooshee (Girls 100M 3A Section 3 2nd Place , Girls 200M 3A Section 3 2nd Place)
Ashton Loveday, Lexi Fooshee, Meg Paparella, and Jewel Krings (Girls 4x100 relay 3A Section 3 2nd Place)
Jewel Krings, Maddie Taylor, Rachel Pomnitz, and Grace Miller (Girls 4x400 relay 3A Section 3 3rd Place)
John Stallens IV, Chris Landers, Layne Baldwin, and Ian Theis (Boys 4x400 relay 3A Section 3 Champions)
The varsity girls soccer team won the Area championship for the 6th year in a row last week. With five seventh graders on the team, the future of our girls soccer program is bright. The girls are competing in the second round of playoffs tonight at Westminster at 5:00. I hope to see many of you there!
We want to share with you a transition that will take place for the 2019-2020 school year. As you know, Kerry St. John has served as Director of Athletics for the past two years. Beginning in June, Kerry will move into a new position as Director of Spiritual Development. This is a position we anticipated for the future, but the immediate necessity was propelled by our CESA ‘benchmarking’ visit this September. As part of the acceptance as a member of council, and therefore granted accreditation through CESA, our institutional review revealed that our largest area of need is in counseling available to students. At our upper campus, we have approximately 275 students in 9th through 12th grades. The CESA requirement is a ratio of one counselor for every 150 high school students. Kerry can bridge this gap through his pastoral training and MDiv degree, providing spiritual and emotional counseling to our students. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to be in a counseling setting with Kerry, you know how gifted he is in this area. We are excited that he will be filling this important role as he continues to serve the students and families of Westminster.
Our Director of Athletics position will be filled by Jonathan Adams. Jonathan is a 2003 graduate of Westminster who has a B.Sc. in Kinesiology and a M.Sc. in Health and Human Performance Administration. He served for the past 7 years at Mississippi State University. During that time, he filled roles as the coordinator of both competitive and intramural sports, along with his present position as Director of Student Programs. He and his wife Holly have two children, Stewart Ann and Everett.
We are blessed to have these two men working alongside us as we strive for excellence and continue to impact the lives of young people to the glory of God.
The 6th annual End of Year Bash is one week from today. The PAW team has spent many hours preparing for this big event. If you haven't yet rsvp'd, please click here to let us know how many people will be in attendance from your family: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7X7ZK7C This helps our food trucks know how much food to prepare. Food trucks will begin serving at 5:30 and the activities will begin at 6:00. We look forward to a fun night of fellowship.
We hope you enjoy a restful weekend.
Stephen