by Kayla Rogers | Jan 31, 2024 | Lower School News
The 100th Day of School at Westbury Christian School was marked by joyful celebrations, engaging mathematical activities, and an exploration of how math is intertwined with everyday life. This year our classes celebrated one hundred days of being together and growing academically, spiritually, physically, and social-emotionally.
This school year’s 100th Day of School celebration was extra special thanks to a “Math is Cool” Assembly organized by Kindergarten Teacher, Mrs. Maria Reynolds and Preschool Teacher, Mrs. Kayla Garcia. The assembly’s highlight was a dynamic panel of working professionals, all parents within the Westbury Christian School community, demonstrating the real-world applications of mathematics across various career fields. The panel of experts shared with WCS Lower School students their careers, specifically how they use math in their everyday work.
“Our goal for the panel was to have parents from a variety of fields, who use math in many different ways. All too often, students only see math in a textbook and do not see how it is applicable in so many areas outside of the classroom,” says Lower School Principal Amanda Archer.
This year’s Math is Cool Assembly Parent Panel consisted of:
Mr. Jason Jones, Former NFL defensive lineman for the Titans, Lions, Seahawks, and Dolphins and current real estate investor and entrepreneur
Mrs. Rachel Murphy, Dietician at UT Health
Chef Terry Fontenette, Head Chef and Food Services Director at WCS
Mr. Christopher Taylor, Chief Financial Officer of Life Cycle Power
Mr. Jason Bates, Senior Vice President of Stellar Bank
“Our students were reminded that the math they are learning from their teachers is something they will continue to use every day of their lives, added Archer. “We heard about the difference in finance and economics, as well as how money moves from the US government to banks to people/businesses. Some of our experts shared how math has helped them know how to save, spend, and donate as well.”
Our students were thrilled to hear from their classmate’s parents and asked great questions to our panelists. Special thank you to our parent panel for generously volunteering their time to share with our students. Additionally, we thank Mrs. Reynolds and Mrs. Garcia for their dedicated efforts of organizing the first annual “Math is Cool” Assembly.
by Kayla Rogers | Oct 11, 2022 | Around Campus, High School News, Lower School News, Middle School News, WCS STEM
The WCS STEM Department opened an expanded Wildcat Makerspace this fall to engage the entire student body in STEM exploration.
Makerspaces are dedicated spaces for making things. Every makerspace looks different depending on the resources available to the school. In the past, these classrooms and labs may have been woodshops or the industrial tech areas of campus. In many schools today, the technology and tools used by students feature new advancements in manufacturing technology, engineering, and design; and makerspaces are usually full of crafting and construction supplies.
WCS STEM Coordinator and teacher Colleen Leeson has been dreaming of a high-quality Makerspace for WCS students for more than a decade, and over time, she’s been building and maximizing space on campus for this project.
Many current and former middle and high school students know Mrs. Leeson’s room has always been a workshop for the robotics teams. Her walls are lined with motors, wheels, driveshafts, and spare parts for the VEX Robotics teams. An ever-changing competitive robotics field dominates most of her classroom space. The work done in this room has inspired more than 35 teams over the years and spawned a full robotics program at the school.
But Mrs. Leeson wanted all WCS students and classes to have access to this type of discovery space. The first Makerspace was developed in a portion of the high school science lab, a collection of work tables and resources in a limited space, approximately 640 square feet. Many middle and high school science classes used the space, but the size limited its use.
When a classroom became available this summer, Mrs. Leeson and Kenneth Okwuonu, a STEM teacher and robotics engineer, seized the opportunity to build something bigger and better for students. They relocated the Makerspace into this classroom and stocked it with all the tools and resources currently available at the school. The new space doubled the square footage, allowing more students the opportunity to explore STEM through the Makerspace.
Since that expansion, Mrs. Leeson has worked on encouraging the use of the space by all our Wildcat students–especially our Lower School students–as a hands-on introduction to STEM. One of the first Lower School classes to visit the space was our first grade students, who spent time learning about electricity through their use of Snap Circuits as they built a series circuit to spin and launch a motor operated propeller.
Today, the WCS Makerspace is stocked with three 3D printers, several drones, specialized cutting tools, materials and tools for electronics, hardware items, building kits, strategy and coding games and puzzles, and an assortment of up-cyclable materials. The new space will be a great opportunity for our students, but Mrs. Leeson is always dreaming of more ways to connect Wildcats with a love of learning and future careers and technologies.
by Kayla Rogers | Jun 17, 2022 | Around Campus, High School News, Lower School News, Middle School News, WCS Service
At WCS, we don’t emphasize a day of service with our students, but rather live lives of service.
A beloved annual fundraising drive to benefit Mission Lazarus and Hope for Haiti’s Children continues for its 24th year at WCS. During the spring semester, students from kindergarten to seniors in high school, collected spare change in water bottles to benefit underprivileged orphans. The 2022 collection included donations collected in 2020 and 2021. “What makes this project extra special is that every penny has been counted for 24 years by the students and goes straight to the charities, ” says Coach Steve Hawley, leader of the project. “We don’t take it to a change machine, we don’t bring in outsiders,100% goes straight to the charity.” This project is completely voluntary for WCS students and families. They are not required to participate. Each year students are excited for the distribution of the water bottles.
HISTORY
Westbury Christian Middle School and High School Bible Teacher and Middle School Girls Basketball Coach, Steve Hawley spearheads the spring long collection. While the project has continued for 24 years at Westbury Christian, the project originated in Lebanon, Tennessee at Friendship Christian School in 1995 with Coach Hawley.
Honduras is a special place in Coach Hawley’s heart. His first mission trip to Honduras occurred in July 1998, a month before his arrival at WCS. A few months later in October 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras. Coach Hawley felt compelled to act and serve. Previously at Friendship Christian School, Coach Hawley and a fellow teacher and cheerleading coach initiated the project. After a successful collection in its first year, Coach Hawley recognized there was still work to do. Year after year, Coach Hawley shared the mission of Mission Lazarus and Hope for Haiti’s Children and encouraged participation. He brought the project with him to WCS. Coach Hawley and the former WCS football coach, Chris O’Neal, searched through trash cans to find empty Powerade bottles to pass out to students to collect change. In an attempt to be resourceful, Coach Hawley wrote to Powerade to provide bottles for the fundraiser. Powerade generously donated 600 bottles for WCS students to collect change for Honduras for the 2000-2001 school year. In 2002, a WCS family bought the bottles for WCS students, which included the WCS crest, Mission Lazarus and Hope for Haiti’s Childrens logos. This family has continued to supply WCS students with water bottles for the past twenty years. Coach Hawley’s room has all 20 water bottles on display for all to see.
MISSION LAZARUS AND HOPE FOR HAITI’S CHILDREN
The funds raised at WCS provides support to two nonprofit Christian organizations: Mission Lazarus, a holistic ministry focused on community development in Honduras and Haiti through spiritual, educational, medical and agricultural outreaches; and Hope for Haiti’s Children, which utilizes in-country educators and professionals to nurture, educate and train poverty-bound Haitian children to become spiritual leaders. This year, WCS has chosen to support the Hope for Haiti’s Children school lunch program. Coach Hawley has visited a few of the schools on his past mission trips. “The children at these schools are fed lunch every day. For some kids, this is the only meal they will get.” says Coach Hawley “So it is vital they get some nutrition everyday.” says Coach Hawley. Mission Lazarus has not shared what they plan to do with the funds yet. In the past, our donation has helped supply a pick up truck or any community needs. This school year, the total donation was $11,740 with two checks split to each organization. “The thing I am most…I hate to use the word proud… but the thing I am most proud of as a teacher and a coach is that we’ve been able to keep this project going for 24 years.” says Coach Hawley.
To learn more about the benefiting organizations, visit missionlazarus.org and hopeforhaitischildren.org.
To see a brief summary of the project this year, watch here.
