Joel Satterly, Headmaster, Westminster Academy

May 2026 — In an interview with Invest:, Joel Satterly, headmaster of Westminster Academy, discussed how AI, shifting migration patterns, and Florida’s evolving school choice landscape are reshaping K-12 education in South Florida. “School choice has been part of Florida’s landscape for years, but the expansion has changed the marketplace,” Satterly said.

What major changes are having the biggest impact on K-12 education today?

The most significant thing any educator would mention over the last 12 months is AI. It is on everyone’s mind. There are still many unknowns that create uncertainty and concern, because schools tend to be structured environments and AI introduces variables we do not yet fully control. At the same time, it forces schools to reimagine what they are preparing students for and how they assess learning.

For Westminster Academy, that reality is energizing. We are a college-preparatory school, so our focus is not simply on sending students straight into the workforce, but on preparing them for the next level and helping them become thoughtful people with relational capital and positions of influence. The soft skills we have emphasized for decades — relationship-building, critical thinking, decision making — remain central. AI does not diminish that. If anything, it reinforces the value of those human skills.

It also gives us an opportunity to rethink pedagogy, especially assessment. We want students to demonstrate what they truly know and have mastery over in real time. That gives us an impetus to think differently.

Beyond AI, we are also watching the effects of what has been called the Great Florida Migration. Based on what we are seeing in our admissions funnel, that wave appears to have stabilized, and we must now determine what the new normal looks like. 

A third major shift is the universal voucher in Florida. School choice has been part of Florida’s landscape for years, but the expansion has changed the marketplace. For us, it has not created major enrollment growth because we already have limited seat capacity. Still, it has made our program more affordable, while increasing philanthropy, and expanded the pool of qualified applicants.

How are expectations from families and students evolving?

These shifts have made our educational offering even more attractive and in demand with mission-aligned families. In times of flux and change, people look to tradition as an anchor. Westminster Academy was founded in 1971, and we have a long track record of delivering on our mission. We are known as an institution deeply committed to both faith and academic rigor, and that identity becomes even more valuable when the broader environment feels unsettled.

Because we are not in flux about who we are, we are in a better position to address changes such as AI thoughtfully. We are not wrestling with our core identity, so we can focus on the practical implications of new developments in the classroom. That clarity is meaningful to families looking for consistency, substance, and a school that understands its purpose.

What is driving Westminster Academy’s capital campaign and campus expansion?

That is a very exciting part of our story right now. The campaign grew out of the lead-up to our 50th anniversary. We were not only asking how to celebrate the previous 50 years, but also what it would take to ensure another strong 50 years. As current stewards of the school, we felt a responsibility to think long term.

That led us to focus on people, places, and programs. We asked how to invest in faculty, how to strengthen the student and family experience, and what our campus should look like in the future. In the middle of that process, we were able to acquire access to the parcel just north of our campus, which had historically housed a hotel. That opportunity nearly doubles the size of our main academic campus, which is extraordinary given our location on Federal Highway.

We are now executing Phase 1 of a four-phase campaign. The first phase includes a new perimeter loop road inside the campus, which will improve traffic flow, take cars off city streets, strengthen campus security, and improve pickup and drop-off. We are also building a new aquatic center to replace our current one, which has served us well but has aged out and needs to be relocated to support broader development plans. That phase represents a capital investment of $5 million to $6 million.

Phase 2 will focus on the newly acquired property, where we want to expand early childhood education and add a multi-purpose field house. That is where demand is strongest, and we are committed to maximizing the 16,000 hours a student spends in school. In a school like ours, enrollment growth is most effective from the ground up, because families then experience the full life of the school. Future phases will expand facilities on the main campus to support additional programming and student services.

How do faith, character formation, and academic rigor work together at Westminster Academy?

We do not see those as competing ideas. Rather, we see them as complementary and inseparable. In fact, at Westminster Academy, academic rigor comes naturally because we view learning as reflecting the created order. We are not trying to force something artificial. The founders of the school believed that if you are serious about faith, you must also be serious about developing the mind.

When you talk about character formation, the goal is to help students understand how to live wisely and well. That can show up in practical ways — how they speak to guests on campus, how they interact with adults, how aware they are of what is happening in the world, and how confident they are in the gifts they have been given. That is part of why we invest in a robust set of programs across athletics, the arts, and academics. One size does not fit all, and we want students to discover how they are wired and where they can flourish.

At its core, it comes back to three questions we want students to wrestle with: Who is God, and what is the nature of humanity, and what do you do with freedom? Those are foundational questions, and walking through them looks different in kindergarten than it does for seniors. But the consistency comes from what our faculty and staff model every day and from the principles we reinforce throughout the student experience.

What broader trends will most shape the future of education in South Florida?

One of the biggest existential issues for South Florida is affordable housing. I suspect leaders across industries will say the same thing — housing affects the workforce, the makeup of the region, and the resiliency of the marketplace. As a private school, we are offering a program in that same marketplace, so we have to pay close attention to whether the region remains accessible for the kinds of families who need educational services.

The Great Florida Migration helped the education sector because many families with school-aged children moved here, not just retirees. That shifted the demographics in a favorable direction for schools. Still, housing remains a real concern.

The second issue is market clarity. We need to understand where the marketplace is settling after several years of significant movement. The third is AI. We know it will have a major influence, but it is still difficult to say precisely where it will lead. The challenge is that it moves so quickly that schools cannot afford to wait too long before acting, even while many of the long-term implications remain unclear.

How do you see AI affecting the human side of education?

AI will expand access to knowledge and likely transform certain aspects of education, but I also believe strongly that schools are fundamentally about life-on-life transformation. It’s difficult for an algorithm to replace that. The mentor-mentee relationship — committed adult teachers pouring their lives into students — remains central.

When people reflect on their educational experience, they usually remember a favorite teacher, not a favorite lesson. That tells you something important about what has lasting value in education. Technology can support learning, and we should use it wisely, but it does not replace the human relationships at the heart of a strong school. That is our core business, and that remains firmly in place.