Classroom Champions: Troy’s Nathan Westbrook

Published: May. 3, 2023 at 9:18 PM CDT

TROY, Texas (KWTX) -There are a lot of great things about Troy High School’s Nathan Westbrook, especially his hair.

“He has some great hair, that’s all I know,” said Troy track and pole vault coach Shayla Rawls. “A lot of people will sometimes say or ask if he’s my son because we have similar hair, but his hair is much better than mine.”

The senior track star recently tied the school record in the pole vault. He helped lead the Trojan track team in his own, unique way.

“Nathan is definitely one of a kind. He’s definitely a laid back leader. He brought a level of humor that I definitely think we needed,” said Rawls. “He’s very humble about it. Very quick witted, very intelligent, and he’s just a really good kid.”

Westbrook doesn’t take himself too seriously. At the state cross country meet earlier this year, he didn’t perform the way that he probably wanted to; however, it wasn’t a problem for him at all.

“Yeah, I got dead last at the state cross country meet,” said Westbrook. “I was there, and I had a blast. The little cart was trailing me the entire race. That’s actually only the second time, my first race and my very last race, of all time, I was chased by the gator.”

The kid is a walking comedian, but that’s not the most impressive thing about him. He’s the valedictorian of his senior class and next fall, he will be studying neuroscience at Harvard.

“I cannot remember even when I was in school a person going to an Ivy League,” said Rawls. “So it was a shock not that I think he couldn’t do it, but it was a shock like wow, we have a student at Troy that got into Harvard.”

Westbrook chose Harvard over Texas A&M University, though, he has yet to visit the campus.

“I haven’t been up to Boston, which is kind of scary, because I hate the cold,” said Westbrook. “I love Texas, I love the heat, but I don’t know what I’m going to do about that. I heard it’s chilly”

Even Westbrook says that he doesn’t have it all figured out, but one thing he does know is the driving force behind everything that he does.

“I think it’s just passion. You have to find something that you really love and stick with it,” said Westbrook. “Of course there’s always competition and stuff and that always makes things fun, but having that passion helps push you to become better.”

Congratulations to Nathan Westbrook, you’re this week’s Classroom Champion!