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Westminster Christian School senior Andrew (AJ) Kern is heading to Tallahassee in the fall to study business. He’ll start at Tallahassee College and transfer to Florida State University’s Business School in January.
He’s taking this route because FSU had a low acceptance rate this year, receiving 60,000 applications but only accepting 6,600.
Kern plays varsity lacrosse at Westminster. He’s been playing lacrosse since sixth grade, when he started with a club team. He joined the lacrosse team at Westminster in seventh grade. Kern has continued to play club lacrosse, first with Miami Stone Crabs and switching this year to the Miami Lacrosse Club.
Westminster lacrosse has had a terrific year. They won their district semi-final game April 15 and went on to play in the district finals.
It’s a big difference from the last school year when the season was cut short because of the pandemic. They had already had a two-three week pause because a team member had passed. Now that they are back, COVID protocols have changed things. Kern says players have to keep their distance from opponents and the tradition of shaking the opposing team’s hands at the end of the game has been dropped.
He couldn’t play club lacrosse last summer, but he was able to play again in the fall.
“It’s been a big part of my life for a long time, I really enjoy playing,” he says.
That’s why he’s considering playing for the FSU club team. He’ll talk to the coach in the fall to see if he can work that into his schedule.
Some of Kern’s community service included teaching middle school students how to play lacrosse at Westminster sponsored lacrosse clinics.
“I work with the goalies,” he says. “I work with them to develop their skills and get them to the next level to prepare them for high schools.”
His community service includes volunteering at the summer camp sponsored by the Old Cutler Presbyterian Church.
“Every year I do the same thing, I worked in the cafeteria to provide the food and serve the kids,” he says. “I’d walk with the group to their separate activities throughout the day.”
He volunteered at four or five of the church summer camps.
At school, he’s in the Fine Arts program and plays clarinet in the Westminster Concert Band and saxophone in the Jazz Band. When asked which instrument he prefers, he laughs.
“I love them both. I don’t know if I have a favorite,” he says. “Our school just got a new soprano saxophone so I’m learning to play that for the last concert this year.”
Being in the band has enabled him to attend band trips. His freshman year they went to Chicago, his sophomore year they went to Hawaii and played at Pearl Harbor. He wasn’t able to go on the trip to the Midwest his junior year because he was sick for a month – right when COVID was ramping up. This year the band is going to the Grand Canyon and San Diego right after graduation.
“As well as doing a lot of sightseeing, we plan one to two concerts,” he says. “Usually in a public space so people can gather around and watch.”
He’s a member of Tri-M, the Music Honor Society. Members work to encourage younger students who might not be in the Fine Arts Program, which includes choir, band and orchestra, to enroll in a fine arts course.
“We tell them to try fine arts for a year, and most students are glad they were given the opportunity.”
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
