Why WCS? Two Alumni Answer that Question...

Parents choose Wilmington Christian School for many reasons. Whenever I interview potential new families, I always ask, “Why are you choosing WCS?” Recently, two of our graduates shared their answers to that question.

Logan and Laura Plaster are the 2026 recipients of the WCS Distinguished Alumni Award, presented at our annual Spring Gala. Each year, we seek to recognize alumni who exemplify the four characteristics of the mature, Godly influencers we want our students to be: faithful disciples of Christ, servant leaders, lifelong learners, and creators and cultivators.

Logan and Laura continue to make an impact in their respective careers and together as a family. But as they reflected on the award in their speech, they answered that fundamental question, “Why WCS?” Here is a bit of
what they shared:

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​Logan:
“This award is very kind, and we feel very undeserving. If we’re to be distinguished as anything, we hope it’s simply as parents who try to point our children to Jesus—following him wherever he leads. As it turns out...sometimes that means Delaware. We didn’t think we’d come back. I graduated from WCS in 2000 and Laura in 2002. We married in 2005 and have spent the last 20 years in New York City and Baltimore. 

We loved both cities—our church, our neighborhood, the quirky parts of city life. It was very hard to leave. And yet here we are, back in the land of Capriotti’s and the Charcoal Pit. It wasn’t the only reason, but we sold our house and changed our lives largely to give our children the experience of attending Wilmington Christian School.

The question is: Why? I came to WCS in 1989, joining Mrs. Eisenhauer’s first-grade class at the North Branch on Pennsylvania Avenue. Veenema, Eisenhauer, Wadsworth, Unruh: This was our ‘Mount Rushmore of Elementary Ed.’ How many lives have these, and others, humbly set on a solid footing? Laura joined the North Branch in fourth grade, when I was in sixth, and we first crossed paths in the carpool line. We wouldn’t date for another 8 years, but that’s a story for another time.” 

Laura:
“In high school, Logan and I had very different experiences. I was an introvert who read books in the corner of homeroom, edited the school newspaper, participated in Mock Trial, and helped with a short-lived literary magazine—all the coolest stuff.  Logan played three sports, had the lead in the school musical, and was vice president of student council (where he consistently showed up late). 

When we decided to return, I briefly worried that it was misplaced nostalgia. I bumped into a friend from college after we moved, and he said, ‘So I hear you decided to relive your childhood.’ He was making a joke, but I, having the brain that I have, kept thinking about the comment.

Now, nostalgia can sometimes get a bad rap. Historically, it was considered a melancholic disease of the heart, first observed in Swiss soldiers, but lately researchers have been finding that nostalgia is highly linked to positive emotions and outcomes—it helps provide continuity between your past and present lives; it helps you maintain friendships; and most significantly as we consider this moment, nostalgia can help you evaluate what is meaningful to you. You’re often nostalgic for a time period or place that deeply resonates—that strikes that bell in your heart that says, something about this is important.”

Logan:
“The brochure answer to ‘Why WCS?’ is that it offers academic excellence and great extracurriculars, grounded in a Christian worldview. That’s true, but it actually misses what resonated with me most. My experience at WCS laid the foundation for my faith. Through Christian education, yes, and through amazing teachers. But even more from being in settings where I saw other students attempting to live out their faith, away from their parents. This happened in student-led prayer gatherings before school, on the worship team, and through intentional discipleship.

I told my kids how important these peer-to-peer moments had been to me, and my daughter Vesper, who is in fourth grade with the amazing Mrs. Gregg, said, ‘We do that!’ ‘You do what?’ ‘We pray together. The girls in my class.’ I asked her to explain. She said that on multiple occasions, at recess, when the fourth-grade boys are, as she put it, ‘crashing out,’ the girls have circled up, held hands, and prayed for them. Why would a group of fourth-grade girls think to pray at recess? And why, once the idea is suggested, do the other girls leap at the opportunity, encouraging it? It’s not that they are little saints, though we love them dearly. It’s because they are mimicking what they’ve seen at home and what has been normalized around them. These girls are being raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and my child gets to experience the overflow of that parenting, of this Christ confidence. 

In Theo’s class, three of the dads are men I’ve known for 30 years. What is the value of being known, and trusting the parents in whose homes my children will play? And knowing that they are helping point my child to Christ, even when I’m not around. I bumped into a parent in the halls of the school recently, and they looked at me and said, ‘I saw you in Fiddler on the Roof. That was great!’ In that moment, she didn’t see me as a tired, mid-40s dad who spends most of his life writing emails. She saw me as a younger, perhaps bolder version of myself. Her smile of nostalgia made me want to be better.

That’s also how I feel about WCS. When I walk the halls, I think of a time when we won a state championship in field hockey and Mock Trial. I think of the student-led prayer gatherings that I attended before school. My WCS nostalgia reminds me of the best this place can be—and it makes me want to help pass that to the next generation. This WCS family—teachers, students, and parents—have been a blessing to us these many years, and we’re honored to work to carry that legacy into the next generation. Thank you.”

 
Educating for Eternity,
Jonathan Nazigian
WCS Headmaster