Westminster Christian School is an independent, college-preparatory Christian school founded in 1961. It serves students from preschool through grade 12 on a 31-acre campus in the Village of Palmetto Bay, Florida, United States, near the Charles Deering Estate. Westminster is accredited by Cognia, Florida Council of Independent Schools and Christian Schools of Florida. The school has earned Microsoft Showcase School status nine years in a row, the only school in the U.S. with this distinction.
Westminster is a covenant school. This means that it partners with families where at least one parent is Christian and actively involved in a local Christian church. Its students come from a variety of denominations, including Presbyterian, Southern Baptist, Catholic, and non-denominational Christian.
History
Around the start of the 20th century, Jules Vroon, a two-year-old boy from a conservative Calvinistic family, emigrated from Dinteloord, the Netherlands to the United States to grow up in Michigan's Christian schools where all subjects were taught from a Christian perspective. During the Depression, Vroon, then a husband and father, moved his company to Florida. When he found no Christian schools like those he had known as a boy, he shared his vision to bring Christian education to south Florida with friends at Shenandoah Presbyterian Church.
Westminster Christian School opened on September 6, 1961 with four teachers and twelve students on the grounds of Shenandoah Presbyterian Church. Two years later, Westminster moved to its new and current location with an enrollment of 169 students and 14 full-time and five part-time teachers. By 1966, Westminster graduated its first class of high school seniors. [2]
The school was formerly located in the census-designated place of Cutler until the incorporation of Palmetto Bay on September 10, 2002.[3][4]
Campus
Westminster Christian School added a new student activities center in 2009, a new middle school/high school science building in 2011, a new elementary school building in 2013; the TIDE Center, a classroom building focused on technology, innovation, design and engineering in 2017; and the Lighthouse, a performing arts center, in 2020. The Lighthouse includes a theater with seating for up to 650. In 2017, Westminster completed the Gutierrez Family Field, which provides additional practice and competition space for the school's growing athletic program. In 2019, the WorldWonder Nature Center was added for students in kindergarten through fifth grade to study, celebrate and discuss God's creation. The learning studio is enclosed by glass walls to the south, which allows students to overlook mature oaks and South Florida vegetation.
Westminster is the home to the 1992 and 1996 USA Today National Champion baseball teams. The 1996 team adorned the cover of one of the first Team Cheerios boxes, and notable baseball alumni include World Series winners Alex Rodriguez and Doug Mientkiewicz. The baseball team has also earned 11 State Championships: '81, '88, '90, '92, '94, '96, '97, '98, '09, '10, and '15.[5] Other state champion teams include softball ('89, '97, '09, '14, '17, '18),[6] track and field ('73, '75), girls' volleyball ('13, '16, '24),[7] and girls' beach volleyball ('21).[8] The Westminster Athletic program won the All-Dade Major Sports Award for girls ('13-'14, '15-'16, '16-'17, '17-18, '20-'21, '21-'22, '22-'23) and boys ('15-'16, '20-'21). Former Westminster women's softball coach Scott Doan is one of the winningest coaches in the history of Miami-Dade County.[9]
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