12 Jan Our Story For His Glory
During Christmas Break, our Men’s Basketball Team traveled to Bristol, Tennesee, to play in the 39th Annual Arby’s Classic Basketball Tournament. While the tournament was happening, Mary Elbert ’01 Herrera, a Westminster Academy alumna who now lives in Tennessee, took her family to the tournament to cheer on her alma mater. While watching the game from the bleachers, the Herrera family bonded with the basketball families. In addition, Mary used her local connections to have a restaurant stay open late so she could treat the whole team and their families to dinner after the game.
“The basketball team was very respectful during dinner, embraced our children, and invited them to come over and sit with them,” Mary Herrera. The basketball team went on to beat Christ School from North Carolina who is ranked 32nd in the country, and made it to the finals in the tournament, finishing runner-up against the top teams in the nation. Mary and her family were on the sidelines holding signs and cheering them on. A motto you will often hear WA Alumni say is “Family Never Graduates,” and this story is a perfect example of the lasting community that’s created through Westminster Academy.
“I thank my God, always mentioning you in my prayers, whenever I hear of your love and faith, which you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may be most effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you from Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and encouragement on account of your love, because the hearts of the saints are refreshed through you, brother” Philemon 1:4—7