2012. The happiest year of my life, or so I thought. I had graduated college with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from my dream college! I couldn’t find a job, but that didn’t bother me so much. I loved substituting in all the area schools and eventually, I found two part-time teaching jobs where I got to teach music (and Culinary Arts). I then quit teaching altogether and worked full-time at an Amish restaurant in Ohio as a floor manager and cashier supervisor. I was very happy with my job and I loved everyone I worked with, but my life was about to change in a BIG way!
One day, I decided to look for a teaching job and came to the conclusion that anywhere was fine. I just wanted to look for something different and I think that was God’s way of putting Westlake Christian Academy right before me. I typed “Christian school music teacher jobs” into Google and there it was: Westlake Christian Academy. I started looking at the job description and every part of the document screamed my name! After I had applied, Dr. Healan invited me to check out the school, along with Grayslake and I accepted.
Wednesday morning, I pulled into the parking lot for my first time ever being in Illinois. I stepped out of my car and instantly felt God’s presence at Westlake. As I began interacting with the staff and the students, I could tell that everyone was bursting with the joy of the Lord!
As I started my journey in Grayslake, I found that 2012 wasn’t the year I was happiest. 2015 was! Here I am, living out my dream in a school that so boldly puts God at the forefront of everything. Westlake Christian Academy is not so hidden, being that it’s on the corner of a fairly busy intersection, but some of it’s treasures are.
Mr. Pugh and Mrs. Kurtz serve at a WCA Culver’s night
Hidden in an older building off of 120, some of Illinois’ nicest people work and learn. The people that are in Westlake’s well-loved facility day in and day out are people that love Jesus, no matter what. Through experiencing the WCA culture I, almost instantly, got to become a part of the family that all parents, students, faculty and staff get to be a part of. Just stepping into the school for the first time I felt welcome because of everyone’s kindness. The faculty and staff regularly pray for each of the students and their families. We (I’m so glad I can say I’m a part of Westlake!) love each one of our students and our goal is to draw them closer to the Lord through our lives and what we teach.
Hiding God’s Word in our hearts as we learn more about Him is something the students do as part of their daily curriculum. Being a faculty and staff member, we try to encourage each student to be active in their church and the community, striving to spread the Word that they have hidden in their hearts.
Mr. Pugh gets “pied” for the senior missions trip
Last, but certainly not least, I believe that the hidden gem of Westlake Christian Academy is our music program. Now I understand that this may come off as biased because I’m the music teacher here, but I firmly believe in music education taking a big part of the students’ lives here at Westlake. Ever since I stepped foot in the building for the first time, I have revered the students who are in Concert Band. Some of you may not know that our Concert Band meets at 7:30 am… BEFORE school starts. The 30 students that are part of Concert Band are in it because they love music and love making music with other Christian teenagers. But the reverence for music doesn’t stop there! Even the groups that meet during the day strive to become better musicians because they WANT to! Our elementary program immerses each 1st-6th grader in 70 minutes of music instruction a week – more than any other school I’ve worked at!
Westlake Christian Academy is set apart from any other school in the area because of the loving, family-centered atmosphere, our constant discipleship and mentoring each student to be a disciple of Christ, and our focus on music education. If you haven’t considered sending your student to Westlake, please do. We are a loving, growing, educating, Christ-focused school and would love to have YOU here! Please visit www.westlakechristian.org or call the office at 847-548-6209 for more information on our amazing school!
-Mr. Pugh
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