Last week, nine of our Middle School Wildcats participated in the Great History Challenge, a nationwide academic competition for middle school students to showcase their history knowledge. Earlier in the fall semester, our students signed up by taking a History-themed test. All of the Westbury Christian students who signed up qualified for the regional event in Houston, Texas. At the regional event, our Wildcats competed against other students from the Houston area in an in-person “Jeopardy-style” game with three clues per question, across three rounds of 25 questions each.
Of the 9 Wildcats who attended the regional competition, 7 achieved high scores and qualified to attend the Great History Challenge National Competition in Chicago this May.
“Our Wildcats represented our school well by portraying good sportsmanship and supporting each other between rounds,” says Social Studies Teacher and Faculty Sponsor Mr. Reece Anderson. “I am extremely proud of the students who participated! These students did a phenomenal job preparing for the event as they studied on their own before the competition. The subjects ranged from Ancient and Modern History to US History. This was our first year participating in The Great History Challenge and I’m very excited about our school’s future in this competition.”
Congratulations to our WCS Middle School National Championship Qualifiers!
8th Grade National Championship Qualifiers Ben Ramos (placed top 5) Christian Bird (placed top 5) William Taylor (placed top 5) Derron Robinson Rothanak Heng
7th Grade National Championship Qualifiers Catalina Dewberry (placed top 5)
6th Grade National Championship Qualifiers Wyatt Carr (placed top 5)
Imagine a classroom where imagination takes shape, not just on paper, but in tangible, three-dimensional forms. At Westbury Christian School, that’s exactly what occurred in one middle school classroom thanks to the WCS Makerspace and the magic of 3D printing.
Mrs. Leeson, the WCS STEM Director, challenged her Middle School Engineering I class to learn a new computer design software and use their skills to create a 3D-printed animal toy. Students learned how to use TinkerCAD, a user-friendly basic computer-aided design (CAD) software that allows students to explore using shapes to create forms in art. The middle school students worked through 12 self-paced lessons to learn to place, view, move, rotate, resize, group, copy, duplicate, hide, align, create holes, and use camera controls.
“We also learn how to focus the screen on particular parts of an object, how to change color, and most importantly how to measure!” explains Leeson.
Before the students were ready to design an animal toy project, Leeson tasked her students to recreate a LEGO piece to serve as a replacement part for their EV3 robotics kits.
“Students have three tries to get the sizing right for the length, width, height, diameter, and spacing of the holes. With each print, they test it out with other pieces in their kits to see how well it matches up and works as a replacement piece. They get to physically determine what they need to do to improve,” Leeson explained.
Armed with their new TinkerCAD skills, students then demonstrated their skills and creativity on an animal toy to 3D print. With just two prints – one for the initial prototype, one for the final masterpiece – they brought their vision to life, line by line, layer by layer. Students and Mrs. Leeson beamed with pride at the final results.
As we watch these students experiment, design, and create, we know that their future is bright!
Savannah Chinn, a 7th-grade student at Westbury Christian, embarked on her first international mission trip this summer. She raised money to serve in Ghana with Crossover Bible Fellowship.
“I believe God is now calling me to go beyond the boundaries of my local community and to share His love with people around the world,” said Chinn.
Ghana holds a special place in the hearts of the Chinn family. Savannah’s grandparents, Lloyd and Janet Chinn, have dedicated over 15 years of their lives as full-time missionaries in Ghana.
“I had this feeling that I should just go! It was my first international trip and new for me,” said Chinn.
Chinn spent two weeks in Ghana with the CBF ministry Front Door to Frontier (FD2F). She served along a 15-person team and immersed herself in service.
“In Ghana, we went to two schools, the Shamayim International School and New Life School. I met quite a few kids there, I will admit! We went to a few churches, and we also explored the area.”
Her mission team worked with Justice and Mary Kabuja, founders of a small Christian school called Shamayim International School in Odumase, Ghana. The city has a large Muslim community, and the Christian school had challenges of not being accepted within the community. Over the past two years, the school grew from 25 to 300 students because the community saw a positive difference in the children.
As the school grew, it developed a need for people to encourage the teachers, teach English, build new buildings, and engage the community in community development.
“We mainly played with the kids, and one day we led the teaching. It was pretty fun to teach them. I taught about love and gratefulness. I taught the smaller kids, which was really fun. On the last day, we got to have free time and explore everywhere,” Chinn recalled. “The most impactful part of the trip was helping the schools and playing with the kids. It taught me to be grateful for what I have.”
Chinn shared some of the challenges the team faced in Ghana, especially the time spent traveling between locations. To get to Ghana from Houston, Chinn traveled a total of 21 hours on multiple flights.
“It took a while to get to most places. It was a seven-hour drive to get to Shamayim from New Life. The drive was very challenging, but the flights were worse.”
While there were several memorable moments and experiences on the trip, Chinn will miss one aspect more than the others.
“I will definitely miss the people. They were so nice and always happy even with the little they did have at the school. It made me think of people here. If they were in that environment, they would not be as happy. But the people were so grateful for everything.”
Chinn leaves a trail of light and love wherever she goes.
Middle School Principal Annette Turner said, “Savannah is a light to those around her; her smile brightens up a room. She is an enthusiastic, positive young lady who shines her light for Jesus!”
Watch Savannah’s Journey: For a recap of Savannah’s transformative mission trip, view the video here.
In its first performance of the year, the Westbury Christian Theatre program presents the historical drama Radium Girls from December 1-3.
The play opens Thursday, December 1, at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The upcoming shows are Friday, December 2, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, December 3, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Admission is $15 for reserved seating, $10 for general seating. Student tickets are $5. Purchase tickets at the door or here
In 1926, radium was a miracle cure, Madame Curie an international celebrity, and luminous watches the latest rage—until the girls who painted them began to fall ill with a mysterious disease. Inspired by a true story, Radium Girls traces the efforts of Grace Fryer, a dial painter, as she fights for her day in court. Her chief adversary is her former employer, Arthur Roeder, an idealistic man who cannot bring himself to believe that the same element that shrinks tumors could have anything to do with the terrifying rash of illnesses among his employees. As the case goes on, however, Grace finds herself battling not just with the U.S. Radium Corporation but also with her own family and friends, who fear that her campaign for justice will backfire. Written with warmth and humor, Radium Girls is a fast-moving, highly theatrical ensemble piece. Called a “powerful” and “engrossing” drama by critics, Radium Girls offers a wry, unflinching look at the peculiarly American obsessions with health, wealth and the commercialization of science.
Q&A with Directors Ronnie Blaine and Malaika Lund
What do you hope the audience experiences while watching Radium Girls?
RB: Amazing courage and bravery can rise from the most underestimated and underappreciated. Grace [the lead character] is a young girl, only in her teens who never spoke up for herself and always did what she was told because that is how her parents raised her. Yet, once the shameless and unjust actions of a huge corporation claim the lives of her friends, she summons strength from within to do what’s right and hold them accountable against all odds.
ML: There is no such thing as being too young or not being educated enough to make a change. These were young girls from poor backgrounds and little education that stood up for what they believed in, regardless of all of the odds stacked against them. Their sacrifices and bravery shaped so much of what we take for granted today.
Is there a specific scene you are looking forward to seeing? If so, why?
RB: Grace has a monologue directed to her mother that sums up the message of the play for me. She tells her mom that the company knew that she would consider herself too small and insignificant to make a fuss about what was going on even though she knew. This speech hits home for me because too often our youth, specifically our young women are made to feel like they have no voice and they need to stand down no matter how righteous their cause may be. “That is what they were counting on.”
ML: There is an amazing scene with Kathryn, Grace and Landon as Kathryn is searching for answers at the records office. In that moment we learn just how much these girls suffered as well as the obstacles they faced from the public and government. In this scene, Kathryn’s persistence and desperation sets the tone for how Grace later responds to their situation.
What is one of the biggest challenges of the show?
RB: Definitely one of the biggest challenges for most of our productions would be scheduling. Trying to coordinate a cast of 20 students who all have different extracurricular obligations is never easy. It truly takes a village. Thankfully, our athletics department, as well as the VEX, engineering and fellow fine arts departments all make a concerted effort to be as flexible with scheduling as possible to allow our students to participate. Still nothing is as important as all of our amazing parents! Along with our incredible PTO, our cast parents are the glue that holds this entire show together. From feeding us amazing meals on those late tech nights to setting up seats for our audience to sit in, it is without a doubt the WCS Families that make it happen!
ML: I would say one of the biggest challenges of the show is also one of our biggest blessings. We have so many new students participating in the production this year. This includes students new to Westbury Christian School as well as students who have never done a production before. Our veteran students have done an excellent job with supporting the newer cast and crew members and “showing them the ropes.” The new actors and crew members have done amazing jobs with reaching out for assistance when needed and building relationships with the veteran cast and crew members in order to ensure success with this production.
How have students been preparing? How would you describe the preparation?
ML: This has been a demanding process for our cast, especially for our younger students as the play is very serious in tone due to its historical context. Mrs. Hatfield and Mrs. Román worked with our cast members to help them to understand the context of the show and what informed the decisions the different characters made. The students have worked hard to support one another and it has been amazing watching them research more into their individual characters and connect to the show.
I heard the 5th grade class is doing the stage crew! How are they doing?
ML: It has been great seeing the 5th grade class step up and join the stage crew. I had the opportunity to work with many of these young students in Mary Poppins Jr. last year, and it is amazing to see how much their love of theater has grown. They are working very hard, and it is often difficult to tell that this is the first time they have ever done stage crew for a show!
Anything else you would like to share?
RB: I cannot overstate what a privilege it is to watch these young people grow in self-confidence and self-assuredness. It is truly a blessing.
ML: I am so excited to see Westbury Christian School’s interpretation of Radium Girls. This is my third time working on this show, and each time has been from a different perspective. It has been fun to see how these students and Mr. Blaine take this show and put their own stamp on it!
We have been blessed to have three of our alumni return to participate in the crew for Radium Girls. Jill Chauvin ’22 has returned in the position of Stage Manager, and is fully utilizing her experience from Fourth Wall Theater to elevate the theater program here at WCS. Sarah Asteriou ‘22 has returned to act as our props master and has been thriving taking what she has learned in the WCS theater program to guide the young crew members and create amazing props for the show. Finally, Andrew Archer ‘20 has returned as our lighting designer and has brought with him his training from University of Houston as well as the professional work he has done with lighting and sound design.
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.
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.
