White Station High School

I usually start any description of White Station with the unique fact in pretty much every classroom the ceiling tiles would randomly fall down. One once missed me by a foot. While the Memphis City Schools administration seems to continue to practice a policy of malicious neglect of White Station, the school continues to do well in attracting the best of Memphis’ high school students.
I came back the other night to visit during their Open House and it’s still the same ol’ White Station– in fact, the graffiti from the late 70s on the science lab tables is still there (it’s almost historic enough to get its own marker).
Some of the best teachers have retired relatively early, moved to private schools, or basically crossed themselves off from caring, but there are plenty of excellent teachers still out there committed to helping students succeed. In fact, White Station is less about the teachers and more about the other students. Excellent extracurriculars– like superb Model UN and Mock Trial teams– round out the best high school academics you’ll find in the city of Memphis.
While visions of WSHS being a multicultural utopia are overblown– take a look at the color divide in the lunchroom even now– it’s certainly better than any of the private schools in the area, especially in interaction between various social cliques. It doesn’t hurt that the sports teams are usually excellent too, with a football state championship in 2009 and an always-​in-​the-​hunt basketball team.
Both my younger brothers have gone here too and while it’s seen its ups and downs, White Station continues to be the best all-​around education you can get in West Tennessee.

White Station High School is easily the best high school in the Memphis area. I graduated from the Class of 1999, so I encountered students from the Classes of 1996 through 2002. Here are what I know some alumni are doing from that time period:
One class of 1996 alumnus went to Princeton University, where he was president of the student government.
One class of 1997 alumnus was the ACC freshman of the year in men’s basketball.
A class of 1997 alumna became an actress and model in Hollywood, and is engaged to producer and actor Seth Green (of Robot Chicken and Austin Powers fame).
One class of 1997 alumnus was the National Spelling Bee champion.
One class of 2002 alumnus is one of the two founding members of the band MGMT.
Over Labor Day weekend of 2009, I went to my high school reunion. Here is what has happened to some of my colleagues from my class: Two graduated from Harvard Law School, one of whom is joining the Stanford University Law School clinical faculty. One friend completed a PhD in computer science, and is now an assistant professor of computer science at Brown University. One friend did a PhD in computer science, and now works for Disney Animation. (He was in the credits of The Princess and the Frog). A large number of my other friends got PhDs, MDs, JDs and several other degrees.
As for my own White Station experience, there is a lot to say. It is the school where I have made my best lifelong friends and molded me more than any other school into making me the person I am today.
Even the relatively recent graduates are really smart. Since 2005, I have interviewed tens of high school seniors from Memphis, Berkeley, and the San Francisco area for University of Pennsylvania undergraduate admissions. The smartest kid I ever interviewed was from White Station High School.