Anahuac ISD

Geared for Student Success

Where Education Meets Community and Opportunity

In the small coastal community of Anahuac, Texas, history, industry, and natural beauty come together in a dynamic way. At the heart of it all is Anahuac Independent School District, which serves not only the city, but several surrounding communities spread across a wide geographic area. While rural in feel, Anahuac benefits from proximity to major economic and employment centers, creating a blend of small town character and meaningful opportunity for students and families.

A Clear Mission for Future Success

At the core, Anahuac ISD is a district that is straightforward and future focused. Interim Superintendent, Cody Abshier shares,  “The mission statement is to prepare students to be lifelong learners, and to be well prepared for their future in a competitive, global society.”

Recognizing the opportunities within the local economy and the workforce students will enter after graduation, the focus is placed on skill development. “Although we are a small, rural community, we are located near the Houston Ship Channel, which offers thousands of high-paying jobs. Many of our students hope to work in nearby refineries or chemical plants. In addition, our close proximity to the Houston Medical Center provides opportunities for students interested in careers in the medical field,” Abshier relays.

Prioritizing Future Readiness

Career and technical education play a key role in the district’s academic framework. Anahuac High School offers 13 career pathways, which Business Manager Tammy Duhon says help to give students flexibility and confidence as they plan their next steps. “Some of them lead to certifications in the industry that they can go straight into work, and then others will help them get a leg up whenever they are applying for colleges,” she says.

The district partners with Lee College to offer advanced opportunities through programs such as Process Technology (P-Tech). “When they graduate high school, they also graduate from this program, and so they are certified to be a process tech at any of the different companies that they should want to go into, whether chemical or refinery,” Duhon conveys.

Additional pathways include cosmetology, a program that prepares learners to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation. The district also boasts a newly launched medical program. “When these kids finish, they’ll have a certification to be a CNA or a CMA,” she says. “They can go into the medical field with that as an entry level position and not have to go into more colleges. They can just go straight to work.”

To assist students in finding these opportunities, Anahuac ISD leverages strong community relationships. “We reach out to people that we know,” notes Duhon. “We’ve had former board members that worked for these different companies, and we could call them and say ‘We have a graduate that would like to do this job. Could you possibly help get them an interview?’”

A local business owner and Anahuac graduate who operates East Side Honda in the Mont Belvieu area, is an example of this community collaboration. “He has specifically come to the high school and recruited kids who would like to pursue mechanics, because he would like to have them come in and intern there, and then eventually hire them,” she recounts. “They get on the job training there.”

Pathways to Success

Among Anahuac ISD’s most recognized programs is its welding pathway, which combines technical knowledge with hands-on application. Students enter with little or no experience and progress through the curriculum. “He will start them at the very basics. They can’t even go in the shop until they’ve made 100 on his safety test,” Duhon says. “When they graduate, they have had experience with all different types of welding. They’ve built farm trailers with hydraulics, water pumps, cooking trailers, they’ve had a wide variety.”

Abshier adds that the welding program also opens doors to competitive opportunities. He says Mr. Lane, the teacher and sponsor of that part of the agricultural program, makes a point of bringing students to competitions where they have the chance to excel. “They do quite well. They’re in teams of four and they have a set amount of time to build a barbecue pit from scratch,” he explains.

“We did quite well in that category, which is huge. We’ve heard people joke before that when they go out to a job site, say in a pipeline, that if there are 30 welders there, it seems like all of them are from Anahuac. We are really proud of our students’ ability to get good, high-paying jobs in the field of welding.”

The district’s culinary arts program is another area of excellence, offering a classroom experience that mirrors professional kitchen environments, emphasizing discipline, safety, and high expectations. Taught by Chef Lofton, the program prepares students for food service careers through intense and realistic training. “They get a food handling safety course, they have all the certifications so that they can go out and get a job in a restaurant,” Duhon expands.

“She goes through an extensive period of teaching them food safety prior to doing anything else, and then they are hired by different organizations to either serve or prepare the food that’s going to be served at a banquet.”

The district’s SystemsGo Aerospace Engineering Program is one of seven schools in the United States that have the opportunity to design and build a rocket to take a scientific payload to 50k feet that is tested with the support of the US Army at White Sands Missile Range.

A Kaleidoscope of Opportunity

Anahuac ISD’s identity is rich and diverse, drawing from the surrounding communities, each with their own character, economy, and traditions. Abshier offers the example of Smith Point, home to Jeri’s Seafood. He outlines, “It’s very isolated on that cape, and it’s a small community with its own volunteer fire department. We have to run buses down there to pick up children every morning and evening, and many of those families work on those oyster boats.

Jeri’s Seafood has been a long-standing company here that contributes to various organizations, including our schools and Education Foundation. They recently sponsored our Christmas Parade, which had a ‘Festival of Lights’ theme.”

Each of the district’s satellite communities have a unique identity and economy, from Oak Island’s crabbing community, and vibrant Asian population, to Hankamer’s brand-new feed company, 1900 Feed, a rapidly growing enterprise owned by former Anahuac students. To help new teachers understand this diversity, the district takes them on an annual one day tour.

“We bring them in, facilitate them visiting with these business owners. For instance, we brought them to T&Y Seafood and had them visit with the founders of that company, who are parents of some of our very high achieving high school students here in our district,” Abshier describes.

“Then we brought them down to Smith Point to Jeri’s Seafood. And those people give them a kind of a tour. It’s a way for them to get acquainted with the demographic and cultural makeup of our district and understand the industries that drive the local economy.”

Investing in Facilities and the Future

Currently, the district is making strategic investments while maintaining fiscal responsibility. “As times got lean, we held back on spending. We have a pretty healthy fund balance because of that,” acknowledges Duhon. “So, we’ve started looking at areas where we could make improvements.” Recent projects include a new primary school and operations center, along with upgraded athletic facilities.

5th graders held a Fraction Investigation Glow Party

Anahuac ISD is also evaluating long term needs, including future campus development. “Our middle school is almost 100 years old and as much as we hate to lose the historical value, all things serve their time and purpose. So eventually, we’re going to have to look at adding new campuses, which means tearing down some of these historical buildings or repurposing them,” she reports.

As the district looks to the future, priorities include curriculum alignment, professional development, and instructional improvement. These initiatives are being advanced through collaboration with the Texas Education Agency and Region 5 Education Service Center. “We’re in a partnership with them on something called the Texas Strategic Leadership Initiative,” details Abshier. “It’s about a three year program, and it is in the interest of making sure that we have the best school district that we can possibly have.”

These efforts, combined with strong connections between local industries and communities, will ensure that every Anahuac ISD student is equipped for a lifetime of success.

Community members read portions of a Halloween story for Anahuac Elementary students and the students moved from station to station.

AT A GLANCE

Who: Anahuac ISD

What: A public school district serving the city of Anahuac and surrounding communities

Where: Anahuac, Texas

Website: sites.google.com/aisdpanthers.com/anahuacisd/home