Resiliency can always be found.....

At Westlake High School, you can find a combination of 2,700 students with 300 staff members. Everyday our students and staff deal with issue beyond the classroom. As with any group this large, our students and staff can be dealing with all of life’s major issues. Students may be dealing with a loss of a parent, a major personal or family illness, divorce of parents, sibling issues, and the day to day of being a teenager in this fast paced, technological and social media driven society. Our staff can be dealing with these issues as well as the complexities in teaching during this ever changing world. I am consistently amazed at the powerful ways our students and staff deal with the major struggles of life while maintaining such high achievement levels. The relationships with friends, coaches, directors, teachers, counselors, family and administrators must help our students and staff through these times.

As a campus, we have multiple examples of perseverance every day that illustrate our students overcoming obstacles. We would like to share a current event that highlights how our students often turn a struggle, whether small or huge, into a success. Our girls’ golf team left on Sunday to prepare for the regional golf tournament. While eating dinner, Coach Patterson’s vehicle was broken into by a thief or thieves. Her vehicle contained some of the golfers’ equipment and personal belongings. Many of these items were stolen. If you ever had anything stolen, you know all the emotions that come along with this event. After settling in for the night after this theft, the girls woke up Monday and shot the best regional round in the history of Westlake High School. The girls then shot the best round ever for a Westlake High School team on Tuesday to win the regional championship. In the recent reality of these girls’ lives, this is rather monumental! We have even included a picture of the girls in their uniforms which were pieced together and not even matching. While this does not equate to many of the larger struggles we all face at times, it is a good reminder that our students youthful exuberance, optimism and sure will can lead to monumental achievements. Thanks to our coaches, Chuck Nowland and Ashley Patterson, and the girls’ parents for supporting these girls during this time.

It's always a great day to be a Chaparral!