Advancement Plans

Westlake Lutheran Academy News: A Year of Progress

Westlake Lutheran Academy has truly been blessed!  We are deeply grateful for your unwavering support through giving, volunteering, and lifting our school up in prayer.  Your generosity is making a tangible difference in the lives of our students and advancing the mission of our school.  For the 2024 calendar year, total giving to WLA reached an impressive $581,858.  That includes the gala last spring, the annual fund, and gifts to various special projects.  In a year end update, total giving to the Annual Fund in 2024 totaled $158,470.

Over the past year and a half, we've seen exciting developments thanks to your generosity:

• Rebranding: New signage featuring our refreshed logo is now proudly displayed on the building, bus, and trailer.
• Academic Advancement: Donations have supported curriculum upgrades and professional development through the Teaching Better Institute, enhancing the educational experience for our students.
• Campus Enhancements: We’ve added an athletic field and a new metal building to house our weight room, in addition to significant facility upgrades like landscaping, fresh paint, and improved gym lighting.

The Future of Westlake Lutheran Academy:  What’s Next?

As we look to the future of Westlake Lutheran Academy, we see an exciting journey of growth and development on the horizon. The 42-acre campus, acquired years ago by the Lutheran Education Association of Houston (LEAH), was a visionary step that laid the foundation for us. The foresight to secure a large property is a blessing, providing space to expand academic and extracurricular offerings for current and future generations of students.

We have worked with our architects to build out a Master Plan for our 42-acre campus that meets our long-term vision.  Having a clear plan, we’re able to take the next step in the journey of WLA.  In talking with many of our families and the staff last year, we determined that adding an entrance off Katy Gaston was essential.  This will help our families enter and exit campus and connect infrastructure to future facilities.  Adding parking to the entrance helps with event parking needs and provides space for future high school student parking.  We’ve been working through time consuming traffic studies and storm/detention challenges and are moving toward breaking ground on the project.

The first phase of our next giving step includes a new classroom building and upgrading our lower school playground.  The building is essential to support growth and the addition of HS over the next four years while upgrading the playground is a high priority for our lower school families and staff.  The upgraded playground will provide a safe, engaging, and enjoyable space for our children to play and grow.  Future giving and proceeds from our Gala this spring will go toward this phase.

In the latest revision of the classroom building seen here, we’ve taken feedback from staff and current 8^th grade students.  There will be state of the art academic spaces highlighted by a 1,500 square foot science classroom where students will have unique engaging hands-on experiences.  We’ll have a bistro-like collaboration area and an 1,800 square foot multipurpose room that can be accessed for chapels, lunch, meetings, etc.  The multipurpose space and science classroom will connect to a 1,964 square foot covered patio for collaboration, activities and social space.

As WLA grows, so too will our campus. The Master Plan envisions future buildings that will further enrich the educational experience. We are particularly focused on designing spaces that foster collaboration, creativity, and community, with areas for both academic learning and extracurricular activities to accommodate the needs of our growing student body.

The journey to these exciting new developments is just beginning, but it’s a journey that we will take together as a community. Your involvement in our efforts, such as the upcoming Gala, is critical to making these plans a reality. We are so grateful for the support of our families, staff, and community, and we look forward to continuing this partnership as we build a stronger future for Westlake Lutheran Academy.

GO WILDCATS!

Bret Walter

Chief Advancement Officer