Like many seventh grade boys involved in after school and extracurricular activities, Westminster honor roll student Gray Miller is busy as a bee.  Well, to be accurate, Gray is busy with his bees.  While he enjoys playing soccer, fishing and hunting, Gray has one very unique hobby – he is a Bee Keeper.

Gray Miller :: Bee Keeper

In the two short years since Gray started bee keeping with his grandmother, his honey has won awards and he is now even turning his interest into a business as he sells honey and other bee products.

 
At the Georgia Honey Show in Callaway Gardens Gray’s honey received second place, and at the 2010 Madison County Fair his dark honey nabbed first place while his light honey was awarded third place.
 
A member of the Oglethorpe County Bee Club and occasionally attending the Piedmont Bee Club, Gray is serious about his bee keeping.  He took continuing education classes in September, and with only the written portion remaining to pass before he becomes a certified bee keeper, Gray already passed the physical part of the certifcation exam.
 
Interested in indulging in some award-winning honey?  Gray sells his sweet honey for $10 a pint and $12 for comb honey.  To purchase some, you may contact his mother at dewmiller@hotmail.com.

Westminster Christian Academy invites you to its Open House for prospective families from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 8.  Families will have the opportunity to tour the school, meet members of the Westminster community and enjoy an open conversation about the high-caliber educational experience Westminster Christian Academy provides in a small private school setting.

Like most schools, Westminster takes great strides to secure the best and brightest teachers.  In order to be a school of excellence and continue to produce students who are wise and eloquent, there must be faculty, administration and staff who are excellent.

This year, Westminster has been blessed to add more outstanding faculty members to its already impressive roster of talented educators.  One of the school’s newest members isn’t entirely new to the school, as she completed her student teaching with us last year.  As the school has grown and more faculty needed, she was a natural choice.
 
Nine weeks into her first year teaching fourth grade, Laura Kittle is no stranger to the independent Christian school environment.  Kittle grew up in Conyers, GA where she graduated from Young
Americans Christian School and went on to earn her Bachelor of Science in Child and Family Developmentgraduated from the University of Georgia. 
 
Currently enrolled in the Master of Arts in Teaching program at Piedmont College for Early Childhood Education, Kittle also enjoys spending time with family and friends, going to concerts,
scrapbooking, playing the piano, and aerobics.
 
“I feel blessed beyond measure and honored to be working at Westminster. The uplifting, encouraging, and loving environment that all the teachers, staff, and families create is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It truly feels like family and I am forever grateful to be a part of it,” said Kittle.
 
Westminster is equally as blessed and honored to welcome Laura Kittle to the Lion family!

As the bright morning sun greets the day, offering enough warmth to burn away the sweet dew covering the ground, the Westminster Christian Academy school bus is effortless reversed into its parking space near the school’s playground, where its precious cargo descend the steps, eager to start their school day.

For eight years Rhonda Hayes, who is as cheerful as the bright yellow bus she drives, has provided safe and inexpensive transportation to Westminster students who live in Morgan and Walton counties.

While school transportation is not a new concept, in fact, most take it for granted, but at Westminster, there is no local transportation option and most students are found in the “car rider” lane.

The bus routes to Morgan and Walton counties was started eight years ago to help parents transport their children safely and inexpensively to and from school each day.  These routes have set pick-up and drop-off locations and are very dependable.  This service affords families, who without it would have to drive 20 miles or more each way, an opportunity to send their children to Westminster – a covenant school providing high-caliber education, Biblical worldview and spiritual nurture from PK 3 to 12th grade.

“If you have never checked out this service, we are here to let you know that after running the cost numbers, we are providing this service that will save you money each month,” said Mrs. Hayes.

Mrs. Hayes, a former Westminster parent, has a love for the school, its history and core values that is evident in all she does.  Not only does she transport some of Westminster’s “precious cargo” to and from school, but as the school’s Library Assistant she also offers them a world of adventure and learning as she assists them with reading selections.

For more information about Westminster’s Transportation Department, please contact Rhonda Hayes at  706-461-4880 or email hayes1572@charter.net.

When Linley Needham arrived at Westminster Christian Academy last month for the first day of school as a new student, ready to start first grade, there may have only been a few people who knew her. Now, four weeks into school, the entire Westminster family knows her name and calls it daily as it is lifted up in prayer, along with her family and little sister, Piper.

Linley Needham standing in front of a Prayer Bow for her and her sister Piper

This summer, two-year-old Piper completed two years of treatment for leukemia, and merely one month later, the sweet toddler has relapsed. New rounds of chemo have begun and the Westminster family is embracing her and lifting up “Prayers for Piper” that the treatment will cause the leukemia to go into remission so she can receive a bone marrow transplant.

With Piper at a hospital in Atlanta, the family is forced to spend a lot of time traveling back and forth and being apart from each other. As a community that is very much a family, Westminster is finding several ways to help the Needham family and provide unlimited amounts of “Love for Linley”.

Linley’s first grade class tied together fleece blankets for Piper and Linley, and last Friday the school presented Linley with two goody buckets, one for her and one for Piper, filled with treats and notes of prayers and love.

Several fundraising efforts are in the works including a bake sale sponsored by Westminster’s After School Program to be held during the school’s Back-to-School Bash next Friday, Sept. 9.

As you drive onto campus, you will see two big pink and green bows tied around two separate trees. These were placed as a visual reminder to all in the Westminster family to send “Prayers for Piper and Love for Linley.”

Adrienne Pruett at a young three years old, enters into her first day of PK 3 at Westminster Christian Academy as the school’s first legacy.  Along with being the daughter of Josh Pruett and Westminster alumna Rebecca Schaefer Pruett ’02, Adrienne is also the granddaughter of one of the school’s founding families, the Schaefers.

Donning a pink “Hello Kitty” t-shirt and pink sparkly painted fingernails, the slightly timid preschooler started her first day happily painting a colorful circle.

Adrienne’s colorful circle is symbolic of the full circle formed by her attendance at Westminster.  The circle began nearly 23 years ago when Dr. Henry “Fritz” Schaefer and his wife Mrs. Karen Schaefer, along with a small group of families founded Westminster Christian Academy in 1988.

Pictured L-R in front of the Karen Schaefer Adminstrative Building, Rebecca Pruett '02, Adrienne Pruett and Karen Schaefer.

Dr. and Mrs. Schaefer’s involvement with the school is tightly woven into the tapestry of Westminster.  Mrs. Schaefer, the school’s first teacher, is still educating Westminster’s kindergarteners.  In recognition for all she has done for the school, the Main Administration office was named after her and dedicated in 2005.

Dr. Schaefer is a former president of the Board of Directors where he still holds a seat and continues to be a source of accountability towards the school’s founding principles.

Westminster is grateful for all the Schaefers have done and continue to do for the school, and everyone is delighted to welcome Adrienne as she is now an official Westminster lion!