May '25 School Spotlight - Western Academy in Houston, TX

Western Academy opened its doors on Houston’s west side in 2009 with just forty-five boys, eight enthusiastic teachers, and a clear conviction: form young men who will transform the world because they “see what is true, do what is good, and love what is beautiful.” Fifteen years later the campus is alive with 230 third- through eighth-graders—the maximum the woods-surrounded property can hold—and the waiting list grows longer each spring.

Modeled on The Heights School in Maryland and animated by the educational insights of St. Josemaría Escrivá, Western Academy marries a classical liberal-arts curriculum to an unapologetically Catholic culture. Daily Mass and Confession at the campus chapel stand at the heart of the schedule; religion class alternates between rigorous doctrinal study and quiet “chapel periods” in which boys learn to pray through the Rosary, mental prayer, and examinations of conscience. A priest of Opus Dei guides this formation, and feast days of Our Lady are celebrated with the pageantry boys remember for a lifetime: solemn liturgies, poetry contests, spirited field games, and shared meals. Each spring a Eucharistic procession weaves through the live-oak canopies, drawing parents, alumni, and neighbors into the school’s rhythm of gratitude and petition. The fruits are tangible—three alumni are currently preparing for the priesthood, four others are pursuing consecrated life, and every Easter a handful of students and even entire families are received into the Church.

The very design of Western Academy’s campus functions as a silent teacher. Classrooms built of wood and stone sit unobtrusively behind a foreground of trees, fields, and a creek where boys climb, invent games, and tend to chickens and reptiles. Teachers—an all-male faculty who model the fatherly virtues they wish to instill—deliberately protect this freedom of play because it forms grit, creativity, and fraternal loyalty. Inside, lessons stretch well past textbook boundaries; a math problem becomes an occasion to ponder engineering wonders, a literature passage sparks debate about honor and friendship. The approach works: on Stanford-10 tests Western students score, on average, two grade levels above national norms, and graduates arrive at high schools known for sharp minds, sturdy character, and genuine camaraderie. In the past four years alone, two Western alumni have earned valedictorian title at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory in Houston and many more its coveted “Crusader of the Year” award.

Western’s influence extends far beyond Houston. Its faculty-mentored Advisory program and merit-based House system have been adopted by local high schools, while three independent schools—Sparhawk Academy near Boston, Camino School in Orange County, and Magnolia School across town—trace their founding vision directly to Western’s example. Among the 403 “Old Boys,” friendships forged on the playing fields endure into adulthood; they now stand as each other’s best men, godfathers, entrepreneurs, and, above all, faithful Catholic husbands and fathers.

This flourishing, however, demands sacrifice. Because Western insists on small classes and relies on fathers—often sole providers—to teach, the operating budget must be fortified each year by generous benefactors and the revenue from more than fifty summer camps. Looking ahead, the board is studying a high-school division to answer families’ growing plea for four more years of this formation.

For the St. John Henry Newman Institute, Western Academy is more than an inspiring case study. Its eighth-grade leaders are yearly guests at Acton Institute luncheons, the youngest scholars in the room yet fully conversant in the moral and economic ideas under discussion. They exemplify the very purpose of Catholic classical liberal arts education: to raise up men who can renew culture because they know the Truth, delight in the Good, and stand in awe of the Beautiful. In a city—and a nation—hungry for such witnesses, Western Academy offers a living, hopeful proof of what is possible when grace, nature, and a boy’s adventurous spirit are allowed to converge.