By Kyle Roberts

No doubt, you’re aware that a certain football team in Ruston is headed south to play for a state championship Saturday.

While you’d be well within your right to gleefully celebrate Ruston’s second straight Superdome appearance, it’s worth mentioning that the Bearcats are not only excelling on the football field: Ruston is tied for first in school performance scores for public school teams that will be playing for championships this week with a score of 104.7.

And their SPS twin? None other than Zachary High School, the same Bronco squad they’ll be trying to knock off Saturday night for the first Bearcat state title since 1990.

“People get a misconception maybe about me or coaches in general, that all we talk about is the athletics in the end of things,” Baugh said. “But to me, what they do out here normally is an indication of what it is that they do in the classroom and what they do over there. I mean our group of seniors for the most part have gone in and done what they need to in the classroom. And they’re a bright bunch.

“The correlation to athletics and in academics is really, really consistent for the most part. How they behave out here is a lot of times how they behave there (in the classroom). Ruston High School is probably the best school that I’ve coached at that pushes kids the same way that I feel like we push kids out here athletically.”

---

Senior Ruston defensive lineman Ahmad Breaux understands the importance of putting academics first and sees his time in the classroom as a conduit for his success on the field, evidenced by his most recent 4.75 GPA and 29 superscore on the ACT.

In fact, Breaux takes pride in the fact that Ruston and Zachary both have the highest SPS scores in the Superdome.

“It’s a really good balance,” Breaux said. “In fact, I think the academic rigor at the school; it really taught me how to work as an athlete also. I think it’s really directly correlated to our least success because the two teams playing in the state championship, us and Zachary, we actually have two highest performance scores in the whole state. I think that’s really, you know, a big part of our success and my success as a student athlete.”

Emily Howell is the ELA facilitator for Lincoln Parish who still teaches English part-time broke down the criteria for school performance scores.

“I see it all as pieces of a pie,” Howell said. “The first piece is going to be strength of diploma. So that has to do with the types of classes that students take; the rigor of class. Then an assessment index, which includes LEAP scores, and the next one is ACT and ACT-WorkKeys. This is a big one, and it’s one a lot of high schools have trouble with. There’s also a very tiny piece called Interests and Opportunities, and it’s a really small percentage of space.

“The final one that Ruston does really well with all, along with all of the high schools in our parish,  is cohort index. When kids start as freshmen, do they graduate in the appointed time four years, and we score really high on that. So those pieces are the metrics that the state uses to measure how successful we are as a school.”

For context, Ruston’s 104.7 school performance score is the only one in the triple digits when compared to schools of similar size along the I-20 corridor and within District 2-5A.

Howell then spoke to the contributions that student athletes are making to these scores, particularly while the spotlight is shining the hottest on a week with a state championship on the line.

“I’ve always seen at Ruston High is there is the expectation for athletes to perform in the classroom,” Howell said. “They do not get passes. Their coaches hold them accountable. And that’s all the sports in my experience.”

Junior running back Dylone Brooks takes pride in the school’s academic approach, even if it’s not always easy balancing student and athlete.

“Athletes are sometimes not expected to be as smart as other students,” Brooks said. “However, we at Ruston High take academics seriously because we don’t get special treatment or days off as athletes. It’s actually quite stressful, to be honest. There’s a lot of homework. You have to make sure to check your grades. But the coaches expect us to do well because they know that’s what we need to go to college.”

Senior football player and choir member Avery Overstreet credits the accountability from the coaches as the reason the academics for the football team is such a success.

“We definitely emphasized the student part of being a student athlete, because you have to make the grades to be eligible to play,” Overstreet said. “It hasn’t really been that much of a difficult task because Coach Baugh has implemented ways for us to have time to go ahead and do our work. And we also, like have this accountability training that just comes with you’ve got to have at least a C or above, or else you’ll be in the stands.”

Senior safety Nate Johnson, who recently scored a 35 on his ACT, gives everything he has regardless of what he’s doing, grades included.

“I’ve always taken a lot of pride in not doing anything halfway,” Johnson said. “In football and with my grades, I always try as best I can.”

A common theme from players and teachers that were interviewed is that the athletes are proactive with their work when there is a conflict rather than trying to scramble to make up work.

For teachers like Ashlee Bell, seeing the commitment to the academic side for her football players, as well as other athletes and club participants, makes her want to give them the opportunities they need to succeed in class during their busy sports seasons.

“I think a lot of our student athletes in particular have learned how to anticipate when what’s happening on the field or on the court is going to pull them away a little more,” Bell said. “And they work ahead because they know that their attention is going to be drawn in other places. They’ve learned how to balance that.

“From a school perspective for their success, it’s the expectations we put on them, hands down. Everyone is expected to do their work and to be successful. We believe that every student can be successful and if we equip them with what they need, then they’re able to see that success early and often. And whether you are a standout athlete or musician or dancer, the expectation is that in the classroom you’re also going to be a standout academic. And that is for every single level, ninth through 12th grade, every student is expected to be successful and see success in the classroom.”

And while, undoubtedly, the focus this week is primarily on the Superdome, it’s good to be reminded that Ruston is a school that is committed to the academic side just as much as the athletic success.

“I wish people realized how hard these students work,” Bell said in conclusion. “We have some of the best athletes in the state, some of the best musicians in the state. So many students are multi-talented. But the diligence that they have in the classroom is, I think, what makes them so phenomenal.”

The Lincoln Parish Journal will have another story next week featuring more athletes, students and school administrators weighing in on how Ruston High’s culture is generating success all across the school.