Always Willing to Help

Sophomore Adam Westerbeck may be new to West Ashley High School, but it seems he has already made his mark, as he was recently selected as West Of’s Student of the Month. “Adam is not only doing a fantastic job in Algebra II in terms of performance, but he is also a leader in the class. He is always kind to everyone, eager to participate without overpowering others, and willing to help fellow students,” says his Algebra II teacher Molly Langdon.
“I try to help others who seem to need help in math because it’s my favorite subject, so I’m pretty good at it,” says Westerbeck. Math is not the only subject in which Westerbeck excels. His current grade point average is a 3.8 and he attributes his success to his study habits. “I study for all of my classes, each test and quiz, and I use test taking strategies on multiple choice questions like reading the answers first before reading the questions,” says Westerbeck.
Westerbeck enjoys playing basketball with his twin brother and recently got into skateboarding. Even though he started skating when he was 8 years old, his interest grew two years ago when he watched his friend land a difficult trick. That gave him the motivation he needed to perfect his own kick-flip landing, which he considers one of his greatest accomplishments outside of school.
Part of the reason he’s not more scholastically involved is because of his parents’ profession. “I might be more involved in activities [if they had different jobs],” says Westerbeck. They are both in the Air Force, which means he has to be ready to move whenever his parents are transferred to a new location. “Moving frequently makes it hard to make friends because you know you’ll be leaving them,” says Westerbeck. However, moving frequently has allowed him to experience a variety of schools and schedules. “I really like the block schedule here [at WAHS]. It is way better than the A day, B day schedule at my last school,” Westerbeck says. He also likes the size of the school and the class sizes.
After high school, Westerbeck plans to go to college, but he’s not sure where he will go or what he will study when he gets there. He is, however, certain about one thing: he wants to go back to California after college. “It’s my favorite of the six or seven places I’ve lived because it has perfect weather and it’s where I made the best friends,” he says.