Westminster Christian Academy has occupied the old Ladue High school campus since 1982 but the question to ask now is when. For years now, students have been told that our school will be upgrading to a brand new building located in Town and Country, Missouri.
“They started talking to us [the students of the school] about it during freshman year and we were told we’d be the last class to graduate from here,” said Laurel Dicus, senior.
It will actually happen according to Zach Clark, director of advancement, who has been apart of the project for three years. Discussion for the move began in 2001 and the Town and Country campus was purchased in 2002. The original plan was to start construction this past January but because of the economic situation are country is in as a whole the school had to make some tough decisions.
“The ability to move forward relates to having funds. We had a capital campaign in progress to raise money and we were also working on selling this campus but to insure the well-being of Westminster as a whole we had to focus more on now,” said Clark. The school and faculty are keeping the new plans heavy on their minds and in their prayers.
“There’s virtually two timelines we are considering here: When are we going to move if we sell the current campus and if that does not happen as planned when are we going to move if it does not sell?” Clark remarked.
The school was not short on support for the move, however. Those in charge of the move ran a capital campaign to acquire money for the new campus and the new campus alone.
In a matter of two years, twenty-three million dollars was given or pledged by families and supporters of the school. An anonymous party also donated thirty acres to the forty we had previously purchased allowing us to not only move the high school as planned but to bring the whole middle school along, as well. Westminster has been unable to grow as wanted because of the lack of space.
“The campus is not able to hold as many and that means we will or have been having to turn Christian families interested in sending their children here. The new building is going to allow for 1200 students. It seems like a big jump but it really means having two hundred in a grade as opposed to one hundred sixty,” said Clark.
Not only will the school be able to enroll more families but there are also many more upgrades. Such as parking for every student, an auditorium and a special attention put on the arts. This includes a brand new theatre, something Westminster has never had in the past.
“The whole arts division will be dramatically improved,” said Clark.
Then there is the hallway system. Every grade will have their own hall as usual but it will be more of a community. With larger space and places for the students of each grade to hang out.
The question of when the move will take place still stands, however. Westminster has been anticipating this move for years. There has been great progress but still no move has come.