Dr. Jim Sefrit, assistant head of school, will be rounding out his time at Westminster this year, or his eleventh “one,” as he affectionately calls it. According to Dr. Sefrit, he has begun each year at WCA not knowing if he would return for the next one, making his decisions one year at a time. He claims that while he continues to look forward, the direction of his life in its entirety has never been a clear and obvious path to an end, but rather a journey made up of baby steps, taking each year as God leads.

Once Sefrit had graduated college with degrees in business and education, he soon became a success in the workforce, holding a profitable title in management at AT&T. While desirable, this position proved not to be the right fit for Sefrit.

“I was blessed with a great deal of success, but never felt that it was my calling. Through a series of events and a lot of prayer, my wife and I made the decision that we would seek out opportunities in education,” said Sefrit. Looking back, he acknowledges that this change was divinely coordinated.

“God’s hand was obviously evident,” said Sefrit.

Sefrit began teaching in the Parkway school district in 1971, where his career in education began. Throughout this time, he held positions as a department leader, administrator, teacher, and coach. After 33 years at that school, he retired yet continued to stay open to new opportunities.

Westminster had first come to Sefrit’s attention in the fall of 1983 when he and his wife first enrolled their daughter as a student, soon to be followed by their son. Sefrit served on the board of directors and education committee and was highly involved as a parent, though he was employed elsewhere. During a large period of growth at WCA, he was contacted with an offer to be a one year interim for head of upper school. And he kept coming back for 10 more.

“In all of the 44 years I’ve been in education, I’ve never wished that I was doing something else,” says Sefrit.

Over the course of his time at Westminster, Sefrit has seen significant growth in the areas of academics, athletics, and teaching. He claims that it has been his goal to encourage this growth without losing the personal touch of a WCA education.

“One of the biggest challenges for me was to continue to keep [my] vision above the horizon, but also to be able to focus on the immediate. There’s a vision that we’ve got to continue to work toward.”

While this entails many responsibilities for Sefrit, his philosophy is simple:

“When it comes down to it, it’s honoring God, and helping young people.”

During his final year, Dr. Sefrit hopes to propel the school forward and see wise decisions concerning change put into practice. Regarding the transition to a new assistant head of school, Dr. Sefrit claims that he does not believe in “tag leadership” in which a leader abruptly drops his responsibilities upon his successor and walks away. Instead, Dr. Sefrit hopes to make the transition into new leadership as seamless as possible.

“My vision is: How can we work this so that it’s more of a relay? How can I run alongside and hand that baton to the next person?” he said.

Sefrit credits God with guiding him to each destination throughout the entirety of his career, even though the path has not always been clear. Going forward from his education career, Sefrit admits that he still doesn’t know in which direction he’s heading next, but he claims to rest comfortably in the fact that he has yet to discover what the future has in store. Despite all of the uncertainty that lies in the future, to Dr. Sefrit, one thing is sure: Christ will show him the way:

“[God] doesn’t tell us He’ll show us a beacon all the way down the line. He says ‘I am the lamp to your feet. Keep following Me,’” said Sefrit.

Sefrit: Through the Years

1968 – Graduated with BS from Northeast Missouri State University (Truman State
University)
1969 – Graduated with MA from Northeast Missouri State University (Truman State
University), and began managing at Southwestern Bell Telephone (a division of AT&T)
1971 – Began work at Parkway North High School
1980 – Received doctorate in education from SLU
1983-1988 – Daughter, Janna, attended WCA
1985-1991 – Son, Jason,
attended WCA
2004 – Began work at WCA as Head of Upper School
2011 – Opened new WCA
campus in Town & Country
2014 (Spring) – Granddaughter, Emma, graduated from WCA
2014 (Fall) – New role as
Assistant Head of School
2015 – Will retire from WCA