Westminster and Saemmul Build Community

About 6,682 miles (or 10,753 kilometers) away from WCA is a sister school that is remarkably similar in its mission to give students a Christian education and prepare them to engage the world for Jesus Christ.

For the month of January, 23 students from Saemmul Christian Academy in Yongin, South Korea visited Westminster.

Saemmul Christian Academy started as a kindergarten in Saemmul Church and then became a full-time school in 2009. Westminster and Saemmul have been partnering since then. Now, there are around 300 students enrolled at Saemmul in grades 6-12.

Saemmul seeks to provide students with an academically well-rounded education based on a Biblical worldview so that they may grow into “perceptive and caring Christian servants.”

“Westminster helped Saemmul establish the middle school for one year prior to the opening of the school,” said Dani Butler, International Student Program Director.

For the past five years, Westminster has hosted a January camp for students at Saemmul to come study in the middle school.

“We added more activities [this year] such as more field trips and a longer Chicago trip so that the students can have more cultural experiences and exposure,” said Butler.

Our sister school students are a part of the Westminster community, and in the future, Butler hopes to improve the program by giving the Saemmul students more opportunities to participate in spirit week. This year, all of the girls are participating in lip sync which will allow them to be even more engaged with Westminster students.

While here, the students have a chance to improve their English as they attend classes, stay with host families, experience St. Louis, and participate in activities at WCA.

“Drama is my favorite class because there are interesting activities. I also like American food. My favorite is mac and cheese,” said Mason (Kim Jong Seo), eighth grade.

Some of the students like Grace (Park Hee Eun), seventh grade, also attended the English camp that Westminster led over the summer at Saemmul. As the partnership between Westminster and Saemmul continues to grow, more students are becoming interested in the camp.

“My friends told me it’s super cool, and I wanted to learn english,” said Daniel (Ahn Sung Jae), eighth grade.