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Annual events include Big Day Off, Christian Emphasis Week, Homecoming, Senior Mudslide, and Salute to the Arts. Former events include Fieldigras, which was discontinued circa 2000, and Westafest, which was discontinued in 1994.
Annual events include Big Day Off, Christian Emphasis Week, Homecoming, Senior Mudslide, and Salute to the Arts. Former events include Fieldigras, which was discontinued circa 2000, and Westafest, which was discontinued in 1994.


Westminster maintains a rivalry with the [[The Lovett School]], as well as other area private schools including [[Woodward Academy]], [[Marist High School (Georgia)|Marist School]], and [[Pace Academy]].
Westminster maintains a rivalry with the [[The Lovett School]], as well as other area private schools including [[Woodward Academy]], [[Marist High School (Georgia)|Marist School]], Paidea, and [[Pace Academy]].


==Athletics==
==Athletics==

Revision as of 18:55, 24 May 2009

The Westminster Schools
Seal of The Westminster Schools
Seal of The Westminster Schools.
Address
Map
1424 West Paces Ferry Road

Atlanta
,
Fulton County
,
Georgia
30327

United States
Information
School typePrivate
Motto"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." (Luke 2:52)
Religious affiliation(s)Christian
DenominationNon-denominational
Established1951; traces origins to 1878
PresidentDr. William Clarkson IV
Faculty271
Enrollment1,826 students in grades pre-first to 12; coeducational
Campus180 acres (0.73 km2), suburban
Colour(s)forest green and white
Song"Westminster, Love We Thee"
MascotWildcat
RivalThe Lovett School
AccreditationSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools
NewspaperThe Westminster Bi-Line
YearbookThe Westminster Lynx
Endowment$239,000,000, or more than $130,000 per student
Tuition$15,440 for grades Pre-first-5
$18,000 for grades 6-12
Alumni8,820
Websitewww.westminster.net

The Westminster Schools is a private secondary school in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1951 and tracing its origins to 1878, Westminster has the largest endowment of any non-boarding secondary school in the United States.[1] The school's expressed mission is "to develop the whole person for college and for life through excellent education."[2]

History

Westminster originated in 1951 as a reorganization of Atlanta's North Avenue Presbyterian School, an affiliate of the North Avenue Presbyterian Church. Dr. William L. Pressly of Chattanooga, Tennessee's McCallie School served as Westminster's first president. The school moved to its current campus in 1953 as the result of a land grant by trustee Fritz Orr. That same year, Washington Seminary, another local private school founded in 1878, merged with Westminster. The resulting school was coeducational until the sixth grade, with separate schools for boys and girls continuing through the twelfth grade, a practice that continued until 1986 and provided the basis of Westminster's plural name. In the mid-1950s, Westminster became a test site for a new advanced studies program that would later become the College Board's Advanced Placement program. In 1962, the administration building, later named Pressly Hall, was constructed, bringing the number of permanent buildings on campus to four. Three years later, in 1965, Westminster became one of the first Southern private schools to integrate, and four African American students graduated in 1973.[3] Until 1978, the school operated a boarding program.

Campus

Westminster is situated on 180 acres (0.73 km2) wooded in the Buckhead community of Atlanta. A new campus road, completed in June 2004, rerouted traffic away from central campus. In addition to a new junior high facility, completed in August 2005, Westminster has three main high school academic buildings — Campbell Hall, Askew Hall, and Robinson Hall; Pressly Hall, housing administration offices, the Malone Dining Hall, and McCain Chapel; Turner Gymnasium, which underwent major expansion in 2001; Broyles Arts Center; Love Hall, the elementary school; and various auxiliary buildings.

The campus hosted the Atlanta Marathon from 1964 until 1980.

Traditions

Current school traditions include a student-enforced honor code that forbids lying, cheating, and stealing. In the high school, a student panel oversees disciplinary procedures.

Annual events include Big Day Off, Christian Emphasis Week, Homecoming, Senior Mudslide, and Salute to the Arts. Former events include Fieldigras, which was discontinued circa 2000, and Westafest, which was discontinued in 1994.

Westminster maintains a rivalry with the The Lovett School, as well as other area private schools including Woodward Academy, Marist School, Paidea, and Pace Academy.

Athletics

Westminster fields 81 athletic teams, including baseball, basketball—boys and girls, cheerleading—fall and winter, crew, cross country—boys and girls, football, golf—boys and girls, gymnastics, lacrosse—boys and girls, soccer—boys and girls, softball, swimming and diving—boys and girls, tennis—boys and girls, track and field—boys and girls, volleyball, squash, and wrestling.

These teams have won 209 state championships since 1951. Westminster has received the Georgia Athletic Directors' Association Directors Cup in its respective classification each of the nine years it has been awarded, 2000–2008[4], and the GADA Boys and Girls Cup for best all-around boys and girls athletic programs in its respective classification for five years, 2002–2006.[citation needed] The varsity boys' tennis team has won the Georgia State High School AAA State Championship for the past nine seasons, 1999–2008. The boys' team has yielded many Division 1 NCAA scholarship tennis players over the years, and it has won several regional tournaments as well. Head Coach Wade Boggs has been at the helm of the program for 34 years. Westminster fields the sole varsity squash team south of Woodberry Forest School in Virginia featuring full interscholastic competition; the team placed 16th in the 2004 U.S. National High School Team Championships, held at Yale University. The team is coached by Tom Rumpler, a former hardball tour player and current U.S. #2 in the 55s-age division.

Extracurricular activities

Activities

  • Academic Quiz Team
  • ASK, after school kids, includes many extracurricular activities including swimming, cooking, dancing, chess, knitting, arts and crafts, and tennis.
  • Discovery, an experiential learning program for freshmen headed by Meghan Brown
  • Peer Leadership, a senior-freshmen guidance and counseling program

Policy Debate

The team has won 16 state championships as well as many large national tournaments, including the national Tournament of Champions in 2009 (Anshu Sathian and Rajesh Jegadeesh) and 2005 (Anusha Deshpande and Stephen Weil). The 2008-2009 team is ranked first in the country and won multiple national tournaments, including the Greenhill round robin, St. Mark's, the Glenbrooks, Ohio Valley, the Barkley Forum for High Schools, and the University of Georgia's tournaments. The team finished first place (both individually and as a team) at the Glenbrooks Tournament, the largest national debate invitational of the fall semester (2005). The team also won the Greenhill tournament, the Greenhill round robin, and the New Trier tournament in 2006. The team also won the National Debate Coaches' Association Championships in 2007 (Stephen Weil and Anshu Sathian) and came in finals in the 2007 Tournament of Champions, also receiving top speaker (Stephen Weil). The team has produced more national championships in the last decade than any other school in the country and has received the Baker Cup, the award for the top ranked team in the country, twice, in both 2007 and 2009.

Clubs

  • Bridge Club
  • Campus Conservation Corps, an environmental conservation club largely responsible for new attitudes toward conservation at Westminster headed by high school math teacher Dr. Chris Harrow
  • Community Service Club headed by school Community Service Coordinator Stan Moor
  • Culinary Society
  • Economics Club
  • Tikkun Olam, "changing the world", a Jewish fellowship club for Junior High students
  • Far Out Far East, a cultural club that explores Eastern cultures and traditions
  • FIRST Robotics Club, an award winning organization that helps lead students on a path towards higher education in science and engineering in a hands-on manner[citation needed]
  • Human Rights Club
  • Origami Club
  • Tea Club, a club that meets twice monthly and serves teas from around the world
  • [1]The East African Children's Education Fund
  • Young Democrats Club
  • Young Republicans Club

Fine Arts

  • Men's A Cappella, Women's A Cappella, Ensemble
  • The Westminster Players: Westminster's theater department, led by Eric Brannen, is widely regarded as one of the best high school theater programs in the region[citation needed]
  • Symphonic Band
  • Orchestra

Publications

  • The Westminster Bi-Line, a nationally acclaimed[citation needed] monthly newspaper publication
  • Crossroads, a literary magazine in languages other than English
  • Embryo, an arts, music, and literature magazine
  • Evolutions, a poetry and creative writing periodical

Notable people

Alumni

Notable alumni of The Westminster Schools include:

Faculty

Benefactors

Miscellania

Footnotes

  1. ^ "At Elite Prep Schools, College-Size Endowments." Fabrikant, Geraldine. The New York Times, January 26, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/business/26prep.html?pagewanted=2
  2. ^ The Westminster Schools: About Us: Mission and Philosophy.
  3. ^ "History of Westminster."
  4. ^ http://www.westminster.net/athletics/championships.asp
  5. ^ "Teaching For Tomorrow Assures Excellence for Today." Adams, Abby. The Westminster Bi-Line, December 8, 2006. pg. 3.
  6. ^ "Grad Gossip". The Westminster Bi-Line, May 26, 2006. pg. 3.

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