Below is a letter from the Headmaster regarding the new Middle & Upper School Principals.
Dear Westminster Parents,
In early February, I let you know that we had begun a national search to select Middle School and Upper School Principals. I’m thrilled to announce that Brian Case and Joey Menendez have accepted my offers to serve as Middle School Principal and Upper School Principal respectively. I want to give very special thanks to the 12-member Advisory Committee that supported me with this search process. They all played an integral role with candidate selections, interviews, and finalist selections. There were 69 candidates from which we chose six finalists to interview, and we had an incredibly strong talent pool from which to choose.
Brian Case, Westminster’s new Middle School Principal, grew up in the Chattanooga area where he attended and graduated from The McCallie School. He received his bachelor’s from Furman and master’s from Georgia State University. Brian worked at McCallie for 11 years as a middle school history teacher and coach. The last six years, he has served as Athletic Director and coach at the Randolph School in Huntsville, Alabama. Brian is married to Jamie and they have three children: Caleb, Ruth Ann, and Hannah.
Joey Menendez, Westminster’s new Upper School Principal, received his bachelor’s from UNC-Chapel Hill and his master’s from Columbia University. Since 2001, Joey has served at St. David’s School in Raleigh, North Carolina, a school with a very similar mission to Westminster’s. Since 2008, Joey has worked as the Dean of Students (5th-12th grades) as well as math teacher and coach. Joey is engaged to be married to Julie Ellis in January 2013.
Brian and Joey are deeply committed to Jesus Christ and look forward to advancing Westminster’s mission. They both bring a great deal of experience, particularly at strong college-prep schools like Westminster, which will serve Westminster well. They will begin their new assignments on July 1.
These changes are part of some administrative restructuring that support our strategic plan goals. As a reminder, Craig Johnson will become Westminster’s new Academic Dean (PK-12). Fay Deal, Director of Academic Support, is retiring at the end of this school year and Mr. Johnson will assume her responsibilities. Ken Curry, current Assistant Principal for Middle and Upper Schools, will teach Bible part-time next school year. We will not fill the Assistant Principal position.
Please join me in giving thanks to God for leading Mr. Case and Mr. Menendez to Westminster. Thank you so much for all of your prayers these last few months.
Our Girls Varsity Soccer Team defeated Mt. DeSales on Friday, May 4 in Macon, GA by a score of 3-0. With this victory, the Lady ‘Cats earned a spot in the finals in the GISA State Championship game on Saturday, May 12. The game will be played at Mt. DeSales Athletic Facility in Macon, GA starting at 5:00 p.m. Check in the Middle & Upper School office for information on a ‘fan’ bus that will travel to the game, packed with Westminster fans.
Our Boys Varsity Soccer Team played excellently their entire season and their post-season play has been equally impressive. Unfortunately, their journey in the GISA State Playoffs ended in the semi-final game on May 5, with a loss of 2-1 to Holy Spirit Prep. To read the game recap from the newspaper, click here.
Our Lower School students experienced a fun day of great competition at Field Day on Apr. 28. Activities for Team Blue and Team White included relays and various team competitions. A new inflatable obstacle course was added to the list of events. Team White | Moccia • Pippin • Joiner • Meeks • Buurma • Bone Team Blue | Buchanan • Nye • Wiggins • Coleman • Greiner • Slaten
Thank you to Coach Tebbs, our Lower School teachers and the parent volunteers for the hard work planning, organizing and leading Field Day.
As the Middle and Upper School students came to the stadium to join the Lower School students for the All-School Picnic, the Blue and White teams participated in an entertaining baton relay race. Then students, parents and faculty all enjoyed a picnic of Chick-fil-A box lunches.
Special thanks go out to our Student Leadership Team (SLT), especially prefect Anna Hearon, for overseeing the All-School Picnic and providing leadership. In addition, thanks to Mr. Paul Owen for running sound for both events and leading the ‘Cha-Cha Slide.’
The Boys Varsity Soccer Team defeated Tattnall Square Academy 5-1 in the GISA State Quarterfinal on May 1. Goals were scored by Drew McCartney (2), Patrick Moseley (2) and Jonas Samland. Sophomore Michael Montesclaros led the team with three assists. To read the article in The Augusta Chronicle about the match-up, click here.
With the win, the boys advance to the GISA State Semifinal to be played at 2 p.m. this Saturday, May 5 at HOME. Concessions at the Cat Shack will be open.
Lady ‘Cats Soccer
The Girls Varsity Soccer Team went on the road Wednesday and defeated Region 2AAA Champion Deerfield-Windsor 2-1. Overall it was a great team effort with Nina McCallie and Francis Plunkett netting the goals.
With the win, the girls head to the GISA Final Four where they will play at Mount de Sales in Macon on Friday, May 4 in the State Semifinal. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
TK Gets Up Close with Nature at Reed Creek
The Reed Creek Park and Wetlands Interpretive Center was just the place for our TK students to reinforce a variety of science topics from insects to frogs to seasons.
Strawberry Patch
Although filling buckets with ripe strawberries was the highlight of TK’s trip to Gurosik’s Berry Plantation, the day tied together various units that the students’ had studied throughout the year to include Community Helpers: Farmers, Seasons: Spring and Insects: Honey Bees. (photos 1-11 below)
Time Travelers
Mrs. Slaten’s students traveled to the Blyth, GA to experience the Bell School, a one room school house from 1912 (photos 12-19 above). This living history opportunity included writing with slate pencils on slates, practicing penmanship with quill pens and pen staffs, and an authentic spelling bee. The students experienced hands-on opportunities such as drawing water from a well, sawing wood with a bucksaw and shelling corn the “old way.”
They viewed essential items from the homes of 1912 such as black wash pots, lye soap, washboards, carpet beaters, straight razors, chamber pots–and much more. Recess time included walking on stilts, shooting marbles, playing jacks, ring games, and jumping rope.
Visiting the Bell School was truly a “turn of the century” day as students dressed in period attire similar to that worn in “Little House on the Prairie,” and brought lunches with sandwiches wrapped in paper similar to those that children of the era would have eaten. Mrs. Bone’s fifth grade class will have the same experience on Monday, May 7.
Our spring sports teams have performed well in their respective tournaments and competitions during the month of April:
Our Boys Varsity Soccer team beat Prep at the Region Soccer Tournament, earning the title of Region champions. Both our Boys and Girls Soccer Teams have advanced to the State Tournament and will begin playing games next week.
Our Middle School Boys Track Team (photo right) won the Augusta/Aiken Area Championship on April 19. Great job!
Congratulations to Wes Maddox for earning runner-up in the Boys Singles division at the GISA State Individual Tennis Tournament and to the Boys Varsity Tennis Team for their 2nd place finish at the State Team Tournament on Apr. 25, as reported in Thursday’s The Augusta Chronicle. To see the results for the rest of the Varsity Tennis team, click here.
The Varsity Golf team tied for runner-up at the 4-AAA Region Championship on Apr. 23. At the tournament, Evan Downs received All-Region honors for his top-5 finish. The team’s second place finish qualifies them for the GISA State Golf Championship to be held in Albany on Monday, Apr. 30 at Double Gate Country Club. Good luck!
Fourth Grade Science Enrichment Continues
Dr. Todd Cross, Pulmonologist and Westminster parent of Ellie (fourth grade) and Jack (first grade), visited the Miss Buurma’s classroom to bring to life the anatomy function of the respiratory system.
A Field Day Thank You
A huge thank you to all of the parent volunteers that made Field Day possible. If you didn’t make it to the Lower School Field Day on April 27, you missed lots of fun! More details on this event and the All-School Picnic will be available next week…
All The Way From Afghanistan
On Friday, April 20, Colonel John Farr, III, a Brigade Surgeon and Westminster parent of fifth grader Sarah Margaret and first grader Catherine, made a surprise presentation to each of his daughters’ classes.
As previously highlighted in the Scratch these students wrote letters to soldiers in his unit stationed in Afghanistan. In appreciation of this student support during Operation Enduring Freedom, Dr. Farr presented a shadow box that contained a very special flag, unit coins and patches. This particular flag was flown over the Kandahar Air Field Afghanistan on Veteran’s Day 2011.
For the third year in a row the Computer Department at Westminster has sponsored the Middle School Safe-Online Surfing Challenge (USA-SOS). This program is designed to teach students and parents about Internet Safety. Westminster began implementing this program with Middle School students in October 2010.
Created by the FBI, the goal of this program is to ensure that participants can recognize and avoid potential dangers associated with the Internet. To accomplish this, the program addresses and defines topics of a serious nature such as seduction, child pornography, solicitation, exploitation, obscenity and online predators.
After two days of training all students are given a post test and this quarter, sixth grade student Kylie Duckworth scored high enough to be ranked 7th of 3,436 total participants nationwide. Overall, the sixth grade class ranked 27th nationwide.
Congratulations to Kylie and our entire sixth grade!
Our fourth grade classes celebrated the Jewish holiday Purim on April 19 as part of their Bible curriculum. Purim commemorates the time that Queen Esther saved her people from the evil plans of Haman (Esther 3:7).
“Most importantly, Purim was a time to reflect on God’s sovereign role in the preservation of the Jewish people,” said Miss Kathy Buurma. “We saw how God uses people who are willing to play a part in His plans, even at great risk to themselves.”
To prepare for the event, students studied the book of Esther and watched a video on the book of Esther. On the day of Westminster’s celebration, the girls dressed as Esther and the boys dressed as Mordecai. Mrs. Traci Valerio, a former missionary to Israel, spoke to the classes about Purim from her first-hand experience. She taught the students about several customs, including portion plates, Hamantaschen cookies and ‘stomping out’ and ‘blotting out’ Haman’s name by making loud noises.
Our Middle School Boys Track Team (photo right) won the Augusta/Aiken Area Championship on April 19. Great job!
