Wesleyan School Celebrates 25 Years in Peachtree Corners- Brown 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 Brown family

For some parents, their children’s time at Wesleyan has been more long-lasting than others. Pam Brown, wife of Lewis Brown, has had children in the Wesleyan school from 1988 through 2010. Her oldest son, Davis Brown, was not only Evergreen, but also now works at Wesleyan as an educator, peer leader and coach.

In the mid 1980s, Pam was looking for a Mother’s Day Out program for her young children. A neighbor recommended that she look into the Wesleyan Day School, so she toured the facility.

“When I walked in, I felt that it was just warm, inviting, nurturing… you know I just felt that it was friendly,” said Brown. “I’m still good friends with some of the teachers from back then.”

The Browns applied and when their daughter was accepted, that allowed her younger children to also get into the school. The Brown family enjoyed Wesleyan so much they stuck with the school for the duration of their children’s schooling.

“We just both really loved it. That’s why we stayed when they moved out here, and why we moved out here. We could have stayed in Dunwoody and done other schools there, public or private,” she explained. “We came out here when it was just a dirt mound with trailers.”

After his graduation, her son Davis initially worked at other schools and churches in and around the Buckhead area, but he eventually realized that what he truly wanted was to continue working with the kids at Wesleyan. It was a perfect fit for him, both academically and ethically, and he has found success as an Evergreen-turned-teacher. He even met his now wife at Wesleyan when they were in elementary school together and got married in the chapel on campus!

“The people all of my children have met here, the teachers, they really were nurturing in elementary school and they were nurturing in a caring and encouraging way in high school, and there were three different teachers that made an enormous difference on the path my children took,” said Brown.

She explained that when kids become teenagers, they often pull away from their parents. For her children, the teachers and staff at Wesleyan played a central role in their development during that time. “The teachers here could see the potential; they see the potential and they encourage their students. They care, they are friends, and they invest in you. They see the student as a person.”

Always taking an active role in her children’s lives, Brown found ways to volunteer at the school and served on the athletic board as well as overseeing the arts alliance. She pointed out that the families of students who attend Wesleyan are all very engaged with the community around them, and how that integration plays out in athletics.

“Most teams out here have community coaches as well as the team coach, which is good because the community can come out,” she explained. “People in the town invest as well. My husband did pole vaulting in high school, and we didn’t have a pole-vaulting coach, so he came out after work and coached the pole vaulting. It’s very interactive and parents can be as involved as they want to be.”