There must be something in the water

You hear a lot about Ivy League universities like Harvard and MIT. So they must have a lot of students, right? Wrong. Last year Harvard's freshman class – their largest ever – was under 2,000 students. MIT's is closer to 1,000.

Schools like that are incredibly hard to get into. Top-tier universities admit about one in twenty applicants – and the applicants are super strong to start with. You're more likely to go viral for eating a ham sandwich than to get into a place like that.

Yet, somehow, New Waverly High School graduates are doing exactly that, getting into top-tier institutions four times in the last three years. This would be impressive even for a large school. For a small school, it's astonishing. There must be something in the water down there in New Waverly.

You get admission! and you get admission! and you get admission! – it's like Oprah with the cars

NWHS's most notable college admission this year is senior Jack Register, who will be attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY in the fall. Tuition: $0. Workload: a lot.

Register is unfazed. "I was interested [in West Point] because it's a difficult and formative experience," he says. "West Point is the best leadership academy in the history of the world."

Perhaps being the third New Waverly grad to attend West Point makes it seem more doable. His father graduated from there back in the day. Then two years ago Brooke Munoz got in.

"I saw Brooke when I was on my campus visit," says Register. "It will be good to know someone already when I arrive. And I'm sure I'll meet some of my father's classmates' sons and daughters who are now attending."

You can hear the professors now. "Another New Waverly graduate? What do they put in the water down there?" As if we'd tell!

How hard is it to get into West Point? Well, you first have to be nominated by a member of Congress, or the Vice President, who each have a limited number of spots. Even then admission is not guaranteed. Each freshman class has only 1,100 students. The whole process "took about a year and a half," said Register.

Upon successfully graduating from West Point, Register and Munoz would be commissioned as officers into the U.S. Army, with an obligation of five years of service on active duty.

Two other recent New Waverly graduates have gotten into the Ivy League. In 2024, Brianna Cardenas was admitted to the University of Pennsylvania to study nursing, and last year Madison Wood got into MIT. The acceptance rate at both places is 5%.

MIT was Wood's "dream school. I asked my mom if she'd help with the application fee ($75). She was surprised but supportive."

She has been tested in multiple ways. The homework there is "very challenging," and the Boston weather can be, too. "We had two days where there was more than 15 inches of snow," she says. An engineering student, she did the natural thing: built an igloo, utilizing geometry skills she learned in high school.

Altogether, Cardenas, Munoz, Register, and Wood comprise almost 2% of New Waverly High School's graduates over the last three years. Any school anywhere would be envious of that kind of record.

It happens by accident, if acting with purpose is an accident

What is New Waverly High School's secret sauce? In interviews with students, parents, and staff, one theme emerges: developing a sense of what is possible.

Kevin and Anitra Edney's four children have been in New Waverly schools for a decade, with the youngest graduating this year. They've seen the process firsthand.

"When I think back on ten years at New Waverly High School, there's always been attention for kids who tried. There's a spot for you," said Kevin. "I feel like every one of my kids has gotten special attention."

NWHS Counselor Debbie Choate sees it too. A small high school, with only 400 students, maximizes contact between students and teachers and lets administrators connect with kids individually.

"Not only myself as Counselor," says Choate, "but Principals Mr. (Kris) Drane and Dr. (Ashleigh) Scott and others are open to initiating informal conversations with students, asking 'What are your plans?' or 'Have you thought about...?' Come and talk with me more about that."

"There is such an invitation to participate," says Edney. Whereas some schools may force you to choose between one activity and another, at New Waverly you can do both. Motivated students are "often given opportunities to extend what they know and learn. They don't hold back the horses – they let the horses run."

Register knows this firsthand. "Being at a small high school made participation in multiple activities possible. I went to a big junior high school (in another district) and had to choose just one sport. At New Waverly, I played soccer and football, ran track, was in Beta Club, and participated in UIL academic events."

All in

Beta Club and Academic UIL, while present in many schools, hold particular importance for New Waverly. As a small school, it can't have the specialized high-level classes that bigger schools can. Beta Club and UIL fill that gap.

Just like it sounds, Academic UIL is an extracurricular competition about academic subjects. As Edney puts it, it "takes the core teaching and extends it, going deeper and deeper into what goes on in the classroom. Those kids who went on to higher arenas, they all participated in UIL."

An army of teachers serve as academic coaches in the subjects covered by UIL – from journalism, theater, and literary criticism to accounting, spelling, and social studies to number sense, robotics, and computer science. If you want to know more about a subject, there's a place for you in Academic UIL.

Heading up the effort is math teacher Ricky Cole, whose determination to help kids succeed is unsurpassed. The people we spoke to mentioned several teachers that help kids go the extra mile, and Cole was mentioned by almost everyone. As Edney put it, "He is super involved in academics, UIL, and the Beta Club, and he owns his math class." This year, four teams involving a total of 12 students qualified for the state competition, which happens later this month.

Beta Club is a little different. Dedicated to "leading by serving others," its focus is service and leadership development, with a serving of academics on the side. But there's an army of people supporting it too.

Each summer the Beta Club holds its state convention up near Ft. Worth, and attending isn't cheap. So the New Waverly chapter holds a spaghetti supper and auction each fall to raise money. Last October, they got 139 donations and sold about 300 tickets – in a town with not even 1,000 people.

Cole says, "We have... an excellent auctioneer, Gene Bartee, who knows many in the audience by name. He'll interrupt to say, Mrs. So-and-so, don't you need this for your garden? He keeps the bidding going and keeps it fun for everyone." Silent auction items come from all around: New Waverly, of course, but also Huntsville, Conroe, Groveton, Richards, Coldspring – you name it.

That community support extends beyond Beta Club. Last summer Register participated in Boys State, sponsored by our local American Legion. This summer five NWHS students are participating – all expenses paid. It takes a village, and in New Waverly that village shows up in force.

So the next time you stop at Honey's before work, make sure that coffee is made with 100% City of New Waverly tap water. You won't go viral drinking it, either, but it'll be a whole lot better for you than that ham sandwich.

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