Wesleyan School Celebrates 25 Years in Peachtree Corners- Binion Family

Four families share their stories

Walking through the grounds of Wesleyan School, it feels more like stepping onto a college campus. For those unfamiliar with the school, it may be surprising to learn that Wesleyan is actually a K-12 private college-preparatory nondenominational Christian school with an enrollment of 1,171 students.

Chris Cleveland, who has served as Head of School for nearly 20 years, describes Wesleyan as many do — a family. The Wesleyan family is made up of teachers, community members and, of course, students and their families.

The Binion family

Rob Binion and his wife Cathy had been sending their children to Wesleyan since 1990 when their eldest was only 3 years old. Back then, they were living in Roswell and commuting daily to Wesleyan. In 2002 they decided they would relocate to Peachtree Corners, followed shortly thereafter by Rob’s father and brothers.

“For us it became just…” said Rob. “Our home,” added Cathy, finishing his sentence. “It became our home,” continued Rob. “Even though I worked here, I’m not sure we would have ever moved here without Wesleyan moving here. It was just a perfect fit for Wesleyan in the beginning and has continued to be a good fit once the city was formed.”

Due to the spread of their children’s ages, Rob and Cathy Binion were Wesleyan parents for a total of 26 consecutive years. All of their kids are considered “Evergreen,” a term given to children who attend Wesleyan for all 13 years from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Today, Rob and Cathy are still active parts of the Wesleyan community. Rob is Vice Chairman of the board and served as Chairman for about 20 years. Cathy is the manager of the Spirit Shop, an on-campus store that offers Wesleyan merchandise, school supplies, snacks and even sells Starbucks and Chick-Fil-A. She has been managing the shop since 2015.

“I won’t leave; I know they wish we’d leave,” said Cathy with a laugh. Always an active volunteer, it was a natural fit for Cathy to run the Spirit Shop once her kids had all moved on from the school.

“It was a collaborative effort with my college roommate [Erika Laughlin] who is also on the board and acts as my mentor. She has owned a retail store in Buckhead for over 20 years,” she said. “When the concept came about to bring the store on campus and for the school to own it — it was always operated by a third party prior to that — it just seemed like it was a good fit.”

It’s not just material goods and munchies that can be found at the Spirit Shop. Cathy has also found herself in the position of being a sort of unofficial counselor and surrogate mother figure for the students who frequent the shop. She gets to know the kids and can provide unique insight into their home lives, offering yet another connection between the students and faculty that might otherwise go unnoticed in a traditional classroom setting.

Cathy described the Wesleyan experience and the immeasurable impact it has had on her life and that of her family. “It provides a cornerstone, not just for us but for the students and families. It is a community-centered, faith-filled, caring community that provides — in addition to those things — an incredible education. With all the things you see in the hard middle and high school years, at the end of the day, invariably, it produces an incredible young adult. It might have a lot of bumps in the road, but the seeds are planted really deeply.”

“When they will bloom, you just don’t know. But you know you’ve planted a seed. And you’ve shown them that somebody cares,” Cathy explained.