Meet Our Donors
We thank all our planned-gift donors for their generous support. Here are some of their stories.
Dave & Kim Durham
As a military family, we moved a lot and, as a result, we have experienced every conceivable education this country has to offer. Our children have attended Christian school, public school, public alternative/charter school, DOD school, and boarding school. We were a homeschooling family for several years and the Classical "model" was what we aspired to but never felt like we quite achieved.
When we finally settled in the Memphis area and looked around at the educational options, we decided that Westminster Academy offered our son the best chance for educational and social success. During his time at Westminster, our son grew in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. He learned to think and to express himself. He was the recipient of both wisdom and grace through the faculty and the education he received prepared him for college academics. We couldn't have hoped for more.
Kim has also been privileged to work at Westminster and our appreciation for the school only deepened because of this "inside" perspective. It is a privilege to help support the school in both particular and general ways through the Annual Fund.
Hollis and Brenda Halford
It is difficult to summarize why we are involved with and contribute to Westminster Academy, because this school has meant so much to our family. We have had three children graduate from WA and have two still there now. Most of us as parents can only give our children one thing to help them succeed in this world under the sun-and that is an education. So our children’s education is a so very important part of how we choose to raise our children. And as such, we should be involved with our children's education. We should know their teachers and know the curriculum, maybe even know the goals and objectives of the classes taught. Westminster Academy has given us the opportunity to do this.
Why Westminster Academy? Westminster's distinctive are in this Classical Christian school idea. We use a "classical" model or approach to education. There is so much that could be said about this classical pedagogy, but this would be well beyond the scope of this. In its essence though, this classical education teaches my children how to think. They don't just learn facts. Can you imagine having your high school education focused on teaching you how to think and then how to express yourself? Many of us parents have said how we wished we had such an opportunity. But for us the real strength of this school lies in the "Christian" part of this Classical Christian School. Westminster Academy is distinctly Christian. Our reformed faith is woven through all the classes, all the board deliberations, everything. Our faith is brought to bear on all our relationships, all our conflicts. You see, we don't think we can understand history until we understand how God sees history. This applies to all subjects.
For us, Westminster Academy is a family. We talk about or refer to the Westminster family. This family includes parents, teachers and administration. This family really knows how to appreciate and enjoy God's creation, which includes fellowship with Him and other believers. There is so much we want to teach our children, so much we want them to learn. At Westminster there is no tension between what we teach at home and what is taught at school. One of the founding principles of this school was that it would be an extension of the parental authority, and extension of what we teach at home. The heart of this school truly is the dedication of our teachers and administration. God promises us that in this world there will be struggles, and we can't imagine going through the struggles of raising our children without this school.
David & Alice Howard
During their third grade year at WA, our children learned about Greek and Roman history. One history test that year focused on Alexander the Great: regal, bold, larger-than-life. The first test question asked for a list of the accomplishments that caused Alexander to be known as the Great. Our nine year old children listed not only his military conquests and travels, but also retold the story of how he learned to ride the famous horse, Bucephalus, that no one before had been able to ride. Alexander realized what others had not: the magnificent horse was afraid of his shadow. Alexander turned him away from the sun, and triumphantly rode him. By the time the students has completed their study of Alexander, both they and their parents understood his name. The list of his accomplishments took up a significant part of a page. There was one other question on that test. It was: "What does the Bible say makes one great?" The answer was 1. To be humble and 2. To be a servant. The children discussed and then memorized a Bible verse which taught this. They wrote and recited it. (Luke 22:26-27) Topics and teaching styles vary from year to year, but bedrock truths like these are thoughtfully, creatively, and consistently taught at Westminster. That's why we give.
