About Waggener – WHS Alumni Association

About Waggener High School

Waggener High School is one of 24 high schools in the Jefferson County Public School system

Built in 1954, Waggener High School has been hosting students from the St. Matthews area and throughout Jefferson County in various capacities and configurations.

Currently one of several JCPS high schools within the Academies of Louisville, Waggener was the first school in Kentucky to receive accreditation from the National Career Academy Coalition (NCAC) for its IT and Law Academy, Health Science Academy, and Freshman Academy.

Waggener / JCPS Reference Information (these are all links to other sites – will open in a new window)

CleanShot-2024-07-15-at-15.38.29@2x — Waggener’s Student Boundaries

Waggener Academics

Waggener’s College NoW Program offers our students the opportunity to earn more than 30 college credit hours. This unique program is designed to offer high school students the opportunity to earn college credits with reduced tuition through partnerships with several Kentucky universities. Our partner schools currently include UL, UK, WKU, Campbellsville University, and JCTC. The current course offerings include: English, Math, History, Science, Psychology, Communication, Digital Literacy, Nursing, Law, and Education with many new courses on the horizon for the 2024-25 school year. Individualized college counseling is available to juniors and seniors in Waggener’s College NoW Program. Personal college application, essay writing, and financial aid/scholarship assistance is provided to students in finding their best-fit college.

Waggener’s College NoW Program is offered to students as early as the ninth grade. Our ninth graders with the required 3.0 GPA simultaneously take Waggener’s Freshman Seminar course in the spring with an 8-week online College and Career Exploration course from Western Kentucky University to bank their first college credit hour as a freshman and kick start their College NoW Program!

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Waggener Academies

Waggener is a premier Career Academy, within the Academies of Louisville program.

Waggener is the only school in Kentucky to have academies accredited by NCAC, and earned that accreditation in all three of its academies, and with Model status. More…

Academies are personalized learning communities within 15 Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) high schools that allow students to connect what they’re learning in the classroom to the real world through a career pathway that interests them.

Academies of Louisville explainer

Waggener Academies explainer

Waggener Freshman Academy explainer

Waggener IT & Law Academy explainer

Waggener Health Science Academy explainer

Waggener and St. Matthews History

Thanks to the incredible dedication and hard work of Waggener grad Al Ring (class of 1961), we have a beautiful history of Waggener, St. Matthews, and the St. Matthews Fire Department.

Please take some time to visit these pages – much of Waggener’s early days are meticulously catalogued, with many first-hand accounts of those who were there. We are lucky to have such detail and rich history captured and shared with us. Thanks, Al!