Westminster Christian School senior Daniel Penton has been on two Blue Missions trips to the Dominican Republic. On one trip, he worked on improving the sanitation in the rural village by building 12-15 latrines throughout a two-mile radius.
“There were two houses on cliffs,” he says. “We built the latrines on the sides of the cliffs.”
The latrines were simple structures, four walls, a toilet over a hole in the ground and a door.
Such simple outhouses would not make people in the U.S. happy but it meant the world to the villagers.
“It’s eye opening to see how people so far away from us live,” he says. “The experience really put things in perspective for me. It’s crazy to think I have all these things and can still be angry that I don’t have more while they are so happy with the little that they have.”
On the second trip, they built an aqueduct to supply water to a different village. Organizers wanted the Westminster students to understand what the villagers went through on a daily basis to get water, so they took the students on a hike up the mountain to the water source.
“It was a serious eight-hour hike,” he says. “It was funny to see us kids struggling and working hard on this hike while it was just a walk in the park for the villagers.”
He loved the experience so much, he wants to go back again while in college.
At Westminster, Penton is on the board of the Blue Missions Club and captain of the football team. He’s been team captain for three years and recently won the 2019 Team MVP Award. Penton has been a two-way player, anchoring the offensive line and the defensive line. He admits to liking playing defense more.
The team had a good year, making the playoffs, quite a feat considering they had lost 12 seniors to graduation last year.
“We picked it up and we proved ourselves,” he says. “It’s cool to be a team captain and see these guys step up when we needed it, especially the younger guys. I was really proud of them this season”
Penton is also a three-year captain of the lacrosse team. He says this year’s team is looking pretty good, although they will be facing some heavy competition as Ransom Everglades and Gulliver Prep have moved into their district.
Penton is also an actor. He’s been in drama all four years and has been the lead in several plays. He was Capt. Von Trapp in The Sound of Music and he’ll play the Mufasa in the Lion King this spring.
He’s been on Westminster’s Leadership Council all four years and he’s also the president of the Be the Light Club, an offshoot of the Be the Light Foundation, started in honor of Ari Arteaga, a personal friend of his, who passed away in a 2018 car accident.
“We sponsor events and hold collections throughout the year,” Penton says. “We most recently had a toy drive for Christmas and took the toys down to the Chapman Partnership for the Homeless in Homestead where we handed them out to kids who are less fortunate.”
Future events include a spike ball tournament and a domino tournament. To date, Penton has been accepted to Appalachian State, Texas Christian University, Florida International University, and the University of Alabama. He’s still waiting to hear from Clemson, Florida State, the University of Florida and Tulane.
He plans to major in Business, possibly marketing or business management.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
