News

During the summer, Westminster's office hours are: 

• 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday
  
  
• On Monday and Thursday, office hours are by appointment only. Please plan accordingly.
  
  
• The offices are closed to the public on Friday.

Regular operating hours, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., will resume on Monday, August 4.

• Students who participate in two seasons of a varsity sport during high school:
  • May choose to be exempt from taking the Personal Fitness class.
  • Will receive a Pass (P) grade on their transcript (does not calculate into GPA).
    
    
• Students who do not complete two seasons of a varsity sport:
  • Are required to take the Personal Fitness course.
  • The grade and credits earned in this course will be factored into their GPA.
    
    
• All students are required to take Fitness Lifestyle Design (Health).  
   
• Students may choose to take the Personal Fitness course for grade and credit regardless of participating in varsity sports.

Click HERE to view the Supply List for 2025-26 high school students.

Preschool
Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade

Grade 6
Grade 7
Grade 8

High School

What is true wealth? Can a surplus of possessions truly bring us contentment and joy? Certainly, there’s a point at which getting another T-shirt no longer brings the kind of fulfillment it once did, right?

What is success? Can a case full of trophies create in you a true sense of self-worth? Will a louder applause ever fill your need to be known and seen? Certainly, there’s a point at which being noticed and celebrated will cease to be enough to heal your insecurities. And if you leave yourself open to receive the praise of others, haven’t you also left yourself vulnerable to their criticisms? Maybe it’s not wise to measure your success in terms of the world’s standards of approval.

What is prosperity? In Psalm 1:3 we’re promised that we can prosper, like a tree planted by streams of water who bears fruit and stays green. Is prosperity measured in material possessions and status alone?

In scripture we are shown examples of people, like Solomon, who were prospering by the world’s standard and yet in Ecclesiastes declared that everything the world has to offer is meaningless. Or, Job, who had and then lost and then got back tremendous wealth and status only to conclude that the true value was in knowing God and trusting His will. Or, Hannah, who once she finally received the fulfillment of her highest prayer in her son Samuel, did not selfishly keep and cherish him, but instead gave him freely back to the Lord.

What did Adam say when asked what his favorite holiday is? “Obviously Christmas, Eve.”

What kind of car did Jesus drive? “A Christler.”

Why did Adam and Eve do math all the time? “God told them to be fruitful and multiply.”

How do you know that Atoms are Catholic? “They have mass.”

Which Bible character was funniest? “Samson, he brought the house down.”

Jesus warns us in Matthew 7:15-20 to beware of false prophets, people who come disguised as someone who can help and relate to you but are actually dangerous predators. Jesus helps us spot their lies before they have a chance to take hold of us. Like the terrible dad jokes we started this article with, we ought to roll our eyes in disgust when these ferocious wolves try to tempt us away from our faith, because their methods are just as dumb.

Summer reading assignments for grades 6, 7, and 8 have been posted to the Summer Reading Resource Board. Links are also available below:

We are pleased to announce that we have selected Melissa Simril as our Math Enrichment and Acceleration Teacher effective for the 2025-26 school year. 
 
Melissa is a dedicated educator stepping into this new role, bringing a wealth of experience from teaching in diverse educational settings. With over 20 years of experience in elementary education, she is committed to fostering a love for numbers and problem-solving in young learners. Over the years, she has taught in a variety of capacities, from small group instruction and intervention support to full-class teaching, developing a deep understanding of how students learn best. Throughout her career, she has designed engaging, standards-aligned lessons that make math accessible, meaningful, and fun for students of all abilities. Her approach emphasizes hands-on learning, critical thinking, and confidence-building to support long-term academic success.
 
As she transitions into this new position, she brings a strong foundation in curriculum development, data-driven instruction, and collaborative teaching practices. She’s excited to continue supporting student growth while also expanding her impact whether through instructional leadership or broader educational initiatives.

Please join us in congratulating her in this new role.

Summer is a wonderful time for children to explore new adventures! What better way to do that than through the pages of a great book! Take a look a the following recommended reading lists by grade, and take part in the super fun Summer Reading Challenges linked below:

Recommended Reading Lists
Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
Third Grade
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade

Summer Reading Challenge
K5-Grade 1
Grade 2-5

These lists are also available Summer Reading Resource Board in myWCS. 

Parents of rising eighth grade students are asked to complete the GR8 Escape Roommate Request form with their child.  The form is available in myWCS in the banner notification at the top of the page, and is due by May 18. 

Questions? Please contact Erwin Escobar.

We don’t like waiting! But waiting is a central part of our faith. There is an “already, not yet” factor we have to consider in every experience in life. In the case of the seniors who are graduating, you are already old enough to vote, go to war, choose a spouse without your parents’ permission, pay taxes, drive a car, a motorcycle or a boat, and sign a lease on your own apartment. On the other hand, you can’t legally buy tobacco, alcohol, rent a car, or buy a gun, not yet anyway.

This doesn’t feel fair, right? “Why should I have to wait?” You say, “I’m old enough to die in a war, but not old enough to rent a car or buy a drink? It’s not fair!”

We don’t like waiting and some of you don’t. But have you considered what you might be missing out on by taking now, what might be better later? Waiting is part of life. After all, there’s nine months built into the process of becoming a parent. There’s time required before cashing in on investments, there’s wisdom in counting to 10 before responding if you value your relationships. Similarly, you can get married at eighteen, but to become a great spouse takes a lifetime. You can go to war at eighteen, but to become a seasoned soldier takes time, discipline and training. You can get lots of money quickly, but wisdom to know how to manage it well takes time.

When do you learn how to wait for things that require it if you never practice waiting? Most of our spiritual journey makes us wait. The Bible uses the image of a mustard seed to describe the kingdom of God because to fully discover the kingdom takes time.

I’m convinced that the things we really want in life can only be gained in time. We want joy, a deep sense of peace and belonging that often comes in spite of suffering and loss, but we settle for happiness, a condition of circumstances, often artificially altered. We want true intimacy and love, the byproduct of humility, mutual trust, confession of sin, honesty, transparency and commitment, but we settle for popularity, fame, and social acceptance.

We don’t like to wait, but we also don’t like the results of shallow pursuits and surface level lives.

In reference to the coming Messiah, Zechariah prophesied that we should not despise small beginnings. In other words, if we never learn to wait joyfully on what seems insignificant, we may miss that which is most significant.

As you step into the next season of your life, be content to start at the bottom and work your way up. There are untold treasures to be found in the simple, mundane tasks that make up regular service and necessary work. Prospering comes in the end to those who are willing to wait for it. So, don’t worry if you don’t have everything you ever wanted immediately just wait for it, it’s worth it!

Warrior Week is just around the corner, and we are thrilled for what promises to be an incredible week of worship, fellowship, and spiritual growth for our students. Warrior Week 2025 will take place August 10–15 at SharpTop Cove in Jasper, Georgia.

Parents play a vital role in making this week a meaningful and well-run experience. We are so grateful for your willingness to serve—your helping hands truly make Warrior Week possible.

🛠️ Parent Volunteer Details
As a parent volunteer, you’ll be assigned various tasks to support the week’s activities. These roles may include helping with meals, set-up/clean-up, logistics, or overseeing certain events. We’ll provide details and instructions in advance to ensure you feel confident and equipped.

Please note:

• While your student will be at SharpTop, you may not see them often. Students follow a full schedule and remain with their peers throughout the week.
• Parents are not permitted inside student cabins for privacy and supervision reasons.
• Some activities will be open for parent volunteers to observe, but not all events are open to spectators.

🚌 Travel & Arrival Information

• Warrior Week begins on Sunday, August 10.
• We may not enter SharpTop Cove until 4:30 p.m. that day, per camp guidelines.
• Volunteers have two travel options:
  
  • Ride the volunteer bus, departing Westminster at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, or
  • Self-transport to SharpTop Cove.

It is so tempting to compare our lives to others’, especially now that people’s lives are so readily on display through the many-headed monster of media in all its ubiquitous forms. Unless you are disciplined, really disciplined, you can hardly escape the nagging, on-going, never-ending temptation to compare everything you do and say to other’s lives.

Last summer, I was at Mapleridge Ranch for a week. It’s a small Christian sleep-away camp in Owego, NY run by my cousin, Duane, and his wife Tiana. One of the things they are committed to is giving kids an opportunity to be unplugged. On Sunday, when everyone arrives there is a general reticence to give up the phone, but by the next Saturday, there’s a reticence to take it back. All through the week, campers engaged with increasing freedom in being themselves, joining in with joy and enthusiasm in all the silly games and activities. And, why not? No one had their phone out, and there was no threat of them being exposed. It was beautiful!

Regularly the campers report that being free of the constant pressure and nagging vibrations of their devices, is their favorite part of the camp experience.

I have a friend who has thousands of cactuses! No, seriously, thousands! You might have an aloe vera plant mixed in among your landscaping, or a prickly pear you have to prune back twice a year, he has thousands of different varieties of cactuses and succulents. When I went to his house, I was blown away by the whole operation.

While he was giving me the tour, he said, “cactuses don’t do well with too much water so they really need soil that drains well.” My friend’s connection between the health of the plant and that of the soil is an excellent analogy for what it looks like to prepare the soil of our hearts.

Easter is not just about a break from school, a set of random traditions, or chocolate bunnies and dressing up for grandma.

Easter is the single most important event in human history, and the most profound revelation of God’s love and intentions for humanity ever revealed, because it is the central event when the “super” natural took on a fully natural form to rescue us from our sin. Easter celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Passover lamb of God.

One way you might take some time to appreciate the depth of God’s wisdom this Easter is by studying this angle on the Easter story: Jesus was crucified on the Day of Preparation for the Passover as indicated in all four gospels (Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:14).

When you’re hanging out with your school friends there’s usually a little competition involved. You’re always wondering if you’re wearing the right clothes, using the right words in the right way. You’re worried if you’re going to be invited to the next thing or start in the next game. Why is this? What is the insecurity that always seems to be lurking behind the scenes of our relationships, even our closest and/or most intimate ones? There is a nagging fear baked in all of our human interactions that we will not measure up, or for some of us, that others will fall short and let us down. This is evidence of the limitation of our fallen nature – it’s not how it was supposed to be.

Alcohol abuse is an issue. Alcohol impairs judgement and produces results a sober person would never have allowed. This is a case where the natural thing (alcohol) is being used in a way it was never intended to produce results it does not have the power to deliver.

If you tried to hang from a small branch of a tree, for example, you would hardly be surprised when it snapped, and you ended up with an injury. But isn’t this exactly what we’re doing when we expect spiritual results (joy, fulfillment, peace, satisfaction, love etc...) from natural things?

We are physical beings living in a physical world with natural desires, but that’s not all we are. We are also spiritual beings with souls and eternal needs that can only be satisfied in supernatural ways. Jesus says in John 15:1, “I am the true vine...”. Vines, the ones he’s referring to produce grapes. Grapes, when pressed, fermented and stored for an appropriate amount of time in the right conditions produce wine. Wine, for those living in the United States who are over the age of 21, is part of the meal. It’s also part of traditions, and ceremonies. It represents investment, love, and time. It indicates that this meal is not just for sustenance, it’s for enjoyment.

Join our 2nd Annual Green Challenge and make a difference—it's never too late to start! Since October, students have been earning points by completing fun, eco-friendly activities that help care for God’s creation. This year, Mr. and Mrs. Heetderks have been inspiring us with lessons about coral reefs in their WorldWonder and Art classes as part of the Everglades Foundation Challenge. We’ve all become obsessed with the Coral City Camera livestream, watching day and night as fish, manatees, dolphins, sharks, and stingrays bring the reef to life! We've even added exciting coral reef activities, like creating a Minecraft biome to explore the beauty and importance of these ecosystems. Click here for details, and don’t forget—student journals will be proudly displayed in the Nature Center! 

Westminster HOSA students, Future Health Professionals, are hosting a blood drive on Wednesday, February 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the high school circle (main entrance). You must be at least 16 years old. Consent and ID are required. Students, staff and parents may donate. 

Donors may receive:

• Refreshments
• Long-sleeved t-shirt
• Wellness checkup (including blood pressure, pulse, temperature, iron count, and cholesterol screening)

Appointments are encouraged. Please visit oneblood.org/donate-now.

I will never forget the moment while we were remodeling our house in Charlotte, NC, and my wife walked in to where I had pulled up floorboards in the kitchen so that she could see the dirt under the house. With a look of horror and discouragement on her face she said, “I didn’t realize that vaulting the ceilings meant gutting the house.”

Julia Tuttle’s orange blossoms, sent to Henry Flagler during a particularly harsh freeze in the winter of 1895, played a significant role in the oil-baron-turned-railroad-tycoon’s decision to bring his trains south. In reality, Flagler had always had his sights set on Key West, believing it would be a great city and shipping port. With the failing health of his wife, and the mounting frustrations and costs of building railroad tracks through the swampy everglades, however, he may have simply stayed in Palm Coast. But for Tuttle’s creative persistence, Flagler came south! Three years later, Miami was incorporated.Today, it is everything Julia thought it would become and more, as one of the premier cities of the U.S. and a gateway to Latin America. And Flagler too, spurred on by an irrational drive, made it to Key West cutting the path that would become what is now U.S. 1 on the first “railroad across the sea.”

Did you capture the excitement when you received your acceptance to Westminster? Whether it’s a joyful video, a candid family photo, or a fun celebration of this milestone, we’d love to see it! Share your special moment with us by sending your photos or videos to itorres@wcsmiami.org, and you could be featured on the school’s social media. Be sure to include the student’s name and graduation year along with your submission. Don’t miss the chance to showcase your excitement with the Westminster community!

• Step Up will receive funding from the Department of Education on the following projected dates: September 1, November 1, February 1, and April 1.
• Step Up will deposit the funds on a quarterly basis in the student’s EMA account.
• School invoices will be generated in EMA (Education Market Assistant) for schools and parents/guardians to approve. Parents must approve quarterly payments in EMA.
• Once approved by the parents/guardians and the school, Step Up will initiate quarterly payments to the school within seven (7) business days.

• September funds will be deducted from your October tuition payment. 
• November funds will be deducted from your December tuition payment.
• February funds will be deducted from your March tuition payment.
• April funds will be refunded in May 2025. 

• September funds will be deducted from your November tuition payment. 
• November, February, and April funds will be applied to your Blackbaud account and refunded in May 2025.

• In May 2025, the credit balance will be refunded.