With the end of the school year come a multitude of farewells as the Westminster community bids adieu to outgoing seniors and faculty members alike. However, this year the Westminster community has to say goodbye to an individual who has had a huge yet under-recognized impact on the academy: Ben Collison, Westminster’s Head of Facilities.
For the past two decades, Ben Collison has been diligently working to make Westminster the school we all know and love. In total, Mr. Collison has been a part of the Westminster staff for seventeen years, and during that time has worked a variety of different jobs around the academy.
For the first leg of his Westminster career, Mr. Collison served as a science and math teacher for middle school:
“So [my] first year out of college, I taught middle school math and science. We had a little bit different system back then, we had teams, so I actually taught the same students twice. I had them for both math and science.”
After spending seven years teaching middle school, he then left for a few years, and then worked in the maintenance department from 2012 to 2016. He then left yet again to work on a construction project for his church before taking up his current position as Head of Maintenance in 2018.
From educating kids to managing the day to day maintenance of the campus, the diverse assortment of different positions Mr. Collison has worked during his time at the academy has allowed him to make a huge impact in a variety of different areas around the school.
When asked why he decided to return to the school to teach after his college graduation and kept returning afterward, Mr. Collison elaborated on his belief in the mission of Westminster:
“I believe in what the school is doing and the product of a Christian education. I’ve seen the students that I’ve had in class grow up to become good members of society, and generally successful people. It’s been good to be a part of that process. My kids are here and I’ve seen them get good teaching and I know I’m not a teacher, but I’m facilitating safe, healthy, and places for kids to learn, and so that’s why I like being a part of what we have here.”
It is clear that Mr. Collison has truly enjoyed his time at Westminster and his dedication to the Westminster community has had a huge impact on the school during his seventeen years of service. Our community has truly been blessed by his contributions and will miss him dearly as he moves on to a new chapter of his life.
