Westminster Christian School celebrates 50th anniversary
At 55 years old, Kari De Ruiter has spent almost her entire life at Westminster Christian School. Wearing many hats at the school — including health and physical education teacher, middle school athletic director, assistant to the athletic director and middle school girl’s basketball coach — De Ruiter of Cutler Bay says she is blessed to be a part of Westminster Christian School’s 50th anniversary celebration because she has been able to watch the school evolve from the beginning.
“I’m told I was a first-grader when the school opened its doors on Sept. 6, 1961,”
De Ruiter said. “I attended the very first day of class, stayed through my came back in 1982 to coach and teach. I’ve been here ever since.” De Ruiter’s grandfather, Jules Vroon, founded Westminster Christian School after it relocated from Shenandoah Presbyterian Church. It was initially only an elementary school and annual tuition back then was just $10 per student. Today, 50 years later, annual tuition for the high school is $16,000.
“It’s pretty incredible and a true honor to be a part of school that has such a rich history and has been able to maintain its roots for the last 50 years,” said sophomore Michael Martinez, 15, of Palmetto Bay, who has attended Westminster Christian since Pre-K.
During his time there, Martinez has been provided many opportunities, including earning college credit through advanced placement courses, joining band and winning several thespian competitions through the drama club. In the next three years leading up to graduation, he wants to be a mentor for incoming freshman and help lead a little brother/big brother group still in development. After graduation, he plans to attend Boston College or Stanford University and hopes to become a pastor. He has two older siblings who also attended Westminster Christian School — a brother, who went on to study biomedical engineering at the University of Miami and John Hopkins University; and a sister now majoring in anthropology at Princeton.
“We have many students whose parents, brothers and sisters and other relatives are Westminster Christian alumni,” said Superintendent A.J. West. “We’re very much a family-centered school, one where the bonds made here traditionally continue into adulthood.
West says that many youngsters who have gone through Westminster Christian School are now successful attorneys, doctors, politicians and professional baseball players, including New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Add to that wellknown realtors like Drew Kern and Mike Pappas, who still have close ties with the school today several years after graduation.
Pappas, the president and CEO of the Keyes Company — a real estate, mortgage, title and insurance company – says his father was one of the school’s founding board members. He attended Westminster Christian from K-12, married his high school girlfriend, also a Westminster graduate, and fathered five children, also all graduates from the school. Daughter Rachel is the current cheerleading coach for both the football and basketball teams.
“There is a strong sense of family with great parental involvement here,” said Pappas, a two-term member of the board of directors and three-term chairman. “Westminster is special due to its Christian foundation, which educates the whole person. It gives the child a renaissance experience, excelling in music, drama and arts, while being competitive in all sports and building a sense of service to our community.”
Pappas says orchestra instruction from elementary to high school, mission trips, multiple sports participation and strong college preparatory education allowed his children to go to excellent universities, including Boston College, Cornell, Wake Forest and Texas Christian.
“My life has its strong roots in the Westminster culture,” Pappas said. To commemorate its golden anniversary, Westminster Christian School has held several celebratory anniversary events, including:
West said the anniversary events have served as both a “walk down memory lane” and a path leading to future memories yet created.
“These celebrations are proof positive that we intend to be around for another 50 years,” he said.
This story was originally published December 1, 2011 at 12:31 PM with the headline "Westminster Christian School celebrates 50th anniversary."