Jon Mark Beilue: A Hive Five

Principal's Scholars program admits five recommended students to WT

Walter Wendler has this idea.

Wait, so when does the West Texas A&M University president not have an idea? But this one is a little different. As different as the buy-three-years-of-housing-get-one-year-free idea? Well, could be.

To paraphrase the old cliché, Wendler is not thinking outside the box. As a matter of fact, he’s thinking inside the box – that is, if the box is WT and the high schools that surround the University and these other little boxes are small towns that dot the landscape of Texas.

“Too many universities are trying to be something they’re not,” he said. “I want to be what the people right here want us to be. This can be a very good idea. I’m excited about it.”

It’s called the WT Principal's Scholars (WTPS) program, which sounds like just about any other type of program – except that it’s not.  It’s a blending of Texas Panhandle high schools, small high schools across the state, the integrity of high school principals and the opportunity for graduating seniors. 

Last month, Wendler sent letters to every high school principal in the top 26 counties of the Panhandle. That’s about 70 of them. Odds, based on data, are high that each principal has at least one, if not two degrees, from WT.

He appealed to the loyalty of their alma mater, the appreciation of an education in Canyon, with this request:

“What we want you to do,” Wendler said in the letter, “is to give to us five students who you think should be admitted to West Texas A&M University. And on your word alone – we don’t need any paperwork, no application process – but on your word alone, we’ll admit these students to WT.

“They won’t have to pay an application fee or fill out any forms, and they’ll get every consideration for every scholarship we offer.”

In about four weeks, WT has already received 40 students recommended by area principals. The University hopes this is just the beginning.

Wendler selected principals to do the choosing because, in most schools, no one knows students better.

“They know their families. They know where they are at night. They know what they do on Saturday and Sunday,” Wendler said. “Some principals have been at a school for 10 years or more, and they have a sense of who will work hard and do a good job. I think in some cases they’re more qualified to do our admission work than we are.”

Andy Glass is the kind of principal that Wendler envisions. He is about to complete 10 years as principal at McLean High School. He earned his undergraduate degree from WT.

“If a principal has been in a place for a while, he’s able to gauge a student and their level of commitment and maybe their maturity,” Glass said. “I’m telling you, college is a whole new animal for most of these kids.

“But I don’t want to recommend students to WT that are even somewhat questionable. I’d be a little nervous on the ones I did recommend who went there – ‘Please don’t flunk out or be disruptive.’ The students I send would be OK for your school and do well for your school. I think it’s a neat thing what WT is doing.”

There was some pushback from WT faculty who questioned what this might do to accrediting. But Wendler said their admission standards are still in place.

He wrote a short email to the Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp to let him know about the WTPS program. Sharp liked the idea, shared it with the TAMUS regents, who also liked it because it reached out to small communities.

“Then I got all hot under the collar about it,” Wendler said.

He got staff to compile a list of every 1A and 2A high school in the state – about 340 of the state’s smallest high schools – with the same offer of five recommended students would be admitted to WT. Valentine High School in the Big Bend area, the state’s smallest high school with seven students, received a letter.

“I got a call from a principal in the Port Aransas area who asked if this is for real,” Wendler said. “He said that he had been a principal for a long time and never seen anything like this. He’s a WT graduate, and he said that you have no idea how proud this makes me.”

Wendler, a transplanted New Yorker, has an affinity for small towns and their high schools. They produce well-rounded students. No, there may not be a Chemistry III lab, but their curricular and extra-curricular experience is broad and their classroom education is better than most think.

“Look, we have about 40 percent of students from major metro areas, and that’s great. We love that,” Wendler said. “But I’m not stepping over Tulia to get to Dallas. I’m going to stop in Tulia.

“I’m a fairly traditional person. We appreciate the values that come from small communities, often more family-centered communities. I don’t want to hide those value systems under a rock. I don’t want to apologize for that. I’m on a mission to take those value systems and create a really good university and serve people really well.”

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 jbeilue@wtamu.edu.

—WTAMU—