Things I learned in high school

Reflections on how Westgate Mennonite Collegiate shaped a former student

September 12, 2012 | Young Voices
Aaron Epp | Special to Young Voices

This past August, my friend and I hosted our 10-year high school reunion. It was fun to reconnect with a number of the 60 people we graduated with from Westgate Mennonite Collegiate in 2002.

Now, if you ask me about math, science, history or language arts, there are only about three things I can easily remember that I learned while attending Westgate from Grades 7 to 12:

1. The moon does not produce its own light, but rather, it reflects light from the sun.

2. When you hand in an assignment, it’s a good idea to include a title page.

3. E.E. Cummings wrote some nice poetry.

You’re probably thinking it’s really too bad if that’s the only knowledge I walked away from the school with. But as I was thinking about the reunion, I reflected on three of the ways Westgate—a Christian school grounded in the Anabaptist tradition—shaped me.

1. At Westgate, I learned leadership skills.

For most of my time at Westgate, I was involved with the Student Council and the school’s Peer Support group. I learned lessons that are still valuable for me today in my work as the managing editor of a small newspaper with a staff of 14. Some of the things I learned were fairly minor, like how to come up with a meeting agenda, and how to lead a focused meeting.

But some of the things were definitely more major: How to be a person of integrity; how to actively listen to people when they are presenting an idea or voicing a concern; how to solve conflicts in a respectful way where all parties involved walk away feeling good about the outcome; how to speak in front of a group of people; how to weigh the pros and cons when making a difficult decision.

If it wasn’t for my time at Westgate, I’m not sure I would have gone on to study at Canadian Mennonite University, where I was in leadership roles like being a residence assistant and president of the student council. I’m not sure I would have gone on to preach on occasion at my church. And I’m not sure I would have been prepared to take on the position I’m in now at the newspaper I work at.

2. At Westgate, I learned about the importance of service.

Westgate wasn’t the first place where I was taught that helping your community is important, but it’s definitely a lesson that was reiterated throughout my six years there. One of the two annual fundraisers that students participate in is a Work-a-Thon, where students get people to sponsor them with money and then they work odd jobs for a day, like raking leaves or helping out at an MCC Thrift Shop.

But the importance of service was highlighted in other ways as well. I can still recall the Red River flooding in 1997. Not only did students, teachers and staff sandbag the school, which lies near the Assiniboine River, but we also went out into the neighbourhood to help other people build sandbag dikes around their homes.

And I’ll never forget the spring in Grade 10 when one of my teachers announced to the class that he wouldn’t be returning in September because he and his family had accepted an MCC service assignment in the Middle East. I’d no doubt heard about MCC and its work before that time, but I’m not sure I’d ever known someone who had gone on an MCC assignment before that.

While I haven’t done any overseas work myself, the spirit of service that was championed at Westgate has stayed with me, whether I’m helping a neighbour move, teaching Sunday School or volunteering at a local music venue.

3. At Westgate, I learned that Jesus loves me.

Again, I knew this before going to the school. But still, I appreciated that at Westgate we could talk and learn about who Jesus Christ is and what it means to follow Jesus. Often I find myself forgetting that there’s nothing I can do to make Jesus Christ love me any more or any less than Jesus already does. I simply have to accept God’s grace, realizing there’s nothing I can do to earn it.

I can’t recall being taught that explicitly at Westgate, but it was meaningful for me to go to a school where talking about your faith was encouraged and where I could learn about the history and teachings of the Mennonite Church.

At my 10-year reunion in August, we didn’t spend much time talking about the impact Westgate had on our lives. We mostly talked about humourous memories from events that happened outside of class.

But as I look at the group of people that were there—a group that included, among other things, a police officer, a nurse, a mathematician, a historian, a doctor and a pastor—it was clear to see that I wasn’t the only person Westgate impacted.

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