Beilue: WT emphasis on vals and sals takes large leap in latest class
The highest-achieving high school students who enroll at West Texas A&M University come from as close as a mile from campus and as far away as Oregon and Ohio. Seven from Randall County, for instance. Fifteen from New Mexico.
They come to study mechanical engineering, agricultural business, mathematics, environmental engineering, marketing and more. They come to sing in the WT chorale and play intercollegiate soccer.
But the most important thing is they come.
“It is important to secure the best and brightest students from our high schools in the Texas Panhandle,” said WT President Walter V. Wendler. “They have regional and family connections that will help sustain future economic growth in our communities.
“We believe that our best students will be challenged and encouraged through study at WT. It is our pledge to the best and brightest among us.”
Among those enrolled at from the high school graduating classes in 2021 and 2022, 76 are valedictorians and salutatorians, 30 of whom are from the Texas Panhandle.
WT’s current freshman class saw a significant leap in attracting the top two in a graduating class: 75 valedictorians and salutatorians from the Class of 2023 enrolled this academic year, just one behind the previous two classes combined. Thirty-one of those students hail from the top 26 counties in Texas.
“It’s very important to me personally, considering the pragmatism of Texas Panhandle folks, that an excellent education is available at a very reasonable cost at WT,” Wendler said. “We are among the five lowest-priced universities of the 38 institutions in Texas. When you look at ‘bang for the buck,’ WT is a very good deal.”
Charlotte Plotts discovered that. She was the valedictorian of the 229 students in Canyon’s class of 2023 with a grade average of 102.52. Many of her friends just assumed she would take her diploma and leave home.
Indeed, she applied to and was accepted at the University of Texas and to the University of Oklahoma. But she also was quickly accepted to WT. The hometown university won out for one very practical reason.
“To be completely honest, it came down to money,” she said. “I thought it would be more beneficial to go to WT and graduate debt-free. That way I’d have some money to get my master’s.”
Plotts just missed scoring high enough on her SAT for a presidential scholarship. She has other supplemental scholarships, and she said her contacts within the math department earned her more scholarship money than the other two universities.
Plotts, a math major, already has 80 credit honors because of some dual-credit work in high school. She wants to become a data or operation analyst with a graduate degree in applied math.
“I wanted to go away initially,” she said. “There’s a lot of pressure if you finish highly ranked in your class to go to a huge college and do great things. There’s a lot of expectations, but I’m thankful I came to WT. I met some cool people. There wasn’t much of a learning curve which was nice.”
It is a priority, Wendler said, that WT is aggressive in luring top students. At the least, the University will offer generous scholarship incentives to enroll.
“Our scholarships for valedictorians and salutatorians are robust,” he said. “If potential students come with offers from other institutions, we will do our dead-level best to keep the best and brightest in the Texas Panhandle through our Beat Any Offer initiative, through which we try to top any offer from another four-year college or university in United States.”
The seasonally named Summer and Autumn TeBeest are not only twin sisters, but they also were valedictorian and salutatorian in Bushland High School’s class of 2022.
Summer, initially a mechanical engineering major, focused on Colorado School of Mines, OU or WT. Familiarity won out.
“At the end of the day, it was WT,” Summer said. “Honestly, I just grew up here, and I knew WT really well.”
A self-described “major band nerd,” the all-region band musician had been to WT summer band camp. Competing in speech and debate at Bushland also brought her and her sister to WT as well.
In her second year, Summer has changed her major to marketing, a decision she is “100 percent positive about.” Same with her decision to attend WT, a choice she and Autumn, an environmental engineering major, made independently.
“Best decision ever,” she said. “I’ve not regretted it one bit. Working at Starbucks on campus, I made a lot of friends. In classes, I get challenged a lot. I love my professors. They’re amazing. Anytime you need help, they answer questions immediately. I really appreciate that.”
Two significant scholarships, one from WT, provide a total of $7,500. As a community adviser at Buff Hall, Summer has her housing paid. Her only disappointment at WT may be coming up just short on lucrative presidential scholarship. She needed a 30 on her ACT. She got a 28. A second attempt? A 29.
“Dang it, I was so upset,” she said.
More than a local draw
Nine high schools have sent both valedictorians and salutatorians out of the same class to WT over the last three years. Eight are in the Panhandle: West Texas High School in Stinnett, Wellington, Wheeler, Pampa, Sanford-Fritch, Fort Elliott, Silverton and Kress.
There is one outlier— Sargents, Colorado. It’s a tiny stop with a population of 185 that is 128 miles west of Pueblo and 460 miles from Canyon. Sargents High School had a graduating class of 25 in 2022, yet valedictorian Taylor Rockey and salutatorian Emberly Spearman are both Buffs.
Rockey is the daughter of a potato farmer. She wanted to study some branch of agriculture. She also wanted to attend a college that didn’t require a COVID vaccination, which was mandatory in Colorado. It also didn’t hurt that Sargents’ counselor, Janae Naranjo, was a WT graduate.
“When I told my counselor I was considering WT, she told me how much she loved it,” Rockey said. “From there, I went and toured the campus over spring break and really liked the campus and ag program. After that, I was pretty much set in stone I was coming.”
Rockey is majoring in ag business, while Spearman is studying general business.
“The first year was a little rough,” Rockey said, “because I was questioning what I wanted to be. I took some general education classes that I wasn’t that much interested in. Now that I’m in some higher-level courses I’ve come to enjoy it a lot more. I feel safe here and confident about my decision.”
WT, like most regional universities, enjoys a home-court advantage with local students because of familiarity, comfort, cost and convenience. But about half of WT’s students come from outside the Panhandle, and that includes valedictorians and salutatorians.
In WT’s most recent three classes, there are 37 top-two graduates from Texas school districts outside the Panhandle. Additionally, there are 47 valedictorians and salutatorians from 11 states, including 15 from New Mexico and 12 from Colorado. More than half — 55 percent — of valedictorians and salutatorians attending WT come from beyond the Texas Panhandle.
“We attract students from all over the nation and the world,” Wendler said. “It’s a great opportunity for students to be acquainted with those from many cultures and backgrounds right here in our own backyard.”
Emmalee Wood was the 2021 salutatorian of Brennan High School in San Antonio. Her grade point average of higher than 102 was second among 625 other graduates. She received what she called a “good scholarship” from the University of Alabama and was accepted by Texas A&M University. Her local university, University of Texas–San Antonio, also was a possibility.
WT was a consideration — initially, only a consideration — as a place to also play soccer, a sport in which she was a standout at Brennan.
“I don’t want to make it sound like WT was on the backburner, but at first it was, until I visited and then got a phone call from the dean of engineering (Dr. Emily Hunt),” Wood said.
Wood completed her third season in the fall as a defender for the Lady Buffs soccer team, needing only eight more classes to earn her mechanical engineering degree.
A presidential scholarship relieves Wood of much financial burden and allows her to focus on soccer and academics.
“I could have gone to A&M and studied engineering and worked, but here I get to be an active student and play soccer and be in the WT community,” she said. “When I made my decision, I wasn’t totally sure what I was getting into, but I wasn’t going to look back.
“I didn’t know what to expect when I first came — I didn’t realize it could get so cold — but people in the athletic department love on me and get to know me. People are so kind and want to help you and make your life better. That’s my biggest takeaway.”
Editor's note: This column originally appeared on the WT website. Do you know of a student, faculty member, project, an alumnus or any other story idea for “WT: The Heart and Soul of the Texas Panhandle?” If so, email Jon Mark Beilue at jsbeilue@yahoo.com .
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Beilue: WT emphasis on vals and sals takes large leap in latest class
