Growth, Faith, and Wisdom

Coming to a new school can be daunting. Getting around can be challenging, especially when it is an unfamiliar building. Trying to figure out the lunch process, lockers, hallways, and everything else a new school entails is stressful. It can be stressful, too, not knowing what your teachers or classes will be like. Seventh-grader Adam Koenig expected it be difficult adapting to life as a middle schooler at Westminster. Where would his classes be? Would he be late trying to get around the hallways? “I expected Westminster to be so big that it would be hard to find my way around, and that I would mostly be independent with school,” says Adam.

“Now that I’m a student here, it feels easy to navigate with the help of my teachers, and everyone cares for everyone no matter what.”

Graduating seniors stand on the opposite side though the emotions can be quite similar as they navigate what it means to leave high school and move on to the next stage of their lives. Their academic and spiritual growth stems from the community and environment they experience in school. Finding people to walk with you through good times and bad is essential.

Calvin Van Heest, senior, says, “one piece of advice I would give to a new student is to try and reach out and make an effort to make friends. When I first came to Westminster, my sophomore year, I was mostly reserved, and it took a year for me to finally branch out.” Since then, Calvin has made numerous friends. In his own words, his only regret is “not reaching out earlier.”

Just as students are impacted by the relationships they form, they’re also impacted by the teachers, staff, and coaches they interact with daily. For Adam, his teachers have been a tremendous blessing. He says, “The teachers help me, support me, and care for me in and out of school. In every lesson they teach, it always points to God.”

A rigorous academic environment is essential for fostering scholars with a life-long desire for learning, and what makes Westminster and its community unique is everything points back to God’s word and gospel. Each student comes with unique gifts and talents, whether figuring out how to program on the Robotics team or sinking a three-point shot on the basketball court. They learn to use those gifts to glorify God through their relationships with faculty, staff, and each other.

Senior Elizabeth Clawson says it best. Thinking back on her time as a high schooler, she says that Westminster is a “place of joy and curiosity—truth and hope. It offers a truly rigorous education but also an intensely loving environment.

For those willing to give it their all, for those who dare challenge their minds and spill their hearts, Westminster is a place of growth, faith, and wisdom.

This school means so much to me because of the relationships I’ve formed and discoveries I’ve made here.”

This article was originally published in our alumni magazine, Chimes. Read more from the Winter 2022 issue.

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