Before Chase Wade ever set foot on the campus of Southern Methodist University, he had already built a journalism résumé that most high school students could only imagine.
He graduated from Crandall High School in 2010 as salutatorian, Texas High School Journalist of the Year, an Al Neuharth Free Spirit Scholar, and a national High School Journalist of the Year runner up.
Today, his career has moved well beyond the newsroom. ArtWorks, Inc., a Dallas based organizational creativity and consulting company, currently lists Wade as its Growth Officer, where he works with business leaders on innovation and creative problem solving.
It is the latest chapter in a career that began in the halls of Crandall High School.
A Remarkable Senior Year at Crandall
Wade graduated second in Crandall’s Class of 2010 with a reported 4.6615 grade point average, placing him among the top academic performers in his class.
Journalism, however, is what set his high school career apart. Wade worked on Crandall’s newspaper and yearbook staffs before rising to editor in chief.
By graduation, he had accumulated 17 state Individual Achievement Awards during 2009 and 2010, three Dallas Morning News journalism awards, two Tops in Texas journalism awards, and four national Quill and Scroll awards.
His recognition spanned sports columns, in depth news and feature writing, and headline writing, including first place state honors for a sports column and for in depth news and feature stories. He was also part of a Crandall journalism team that won a Dallas Morning News award for a series or project.
That body of work culminated in his selection as the 2010 Texas High School Journalist of the Year, an honor that advanced him to national competition, where he ultimately finished as national runner up.
Representing Texas on the National Stage
Wade’s accomplishments earned him another major honor: selection as Texas’ Al Neuharth Free Spirit Scholar. The national program brings together promising high school journalists to learn about journalism, the First Amendment, and the role of a free press.
Beyond journalism, Wade competed in varsity tennis, earning academic all district recognition and a regional qualification. He also won a district mixed doubles championship and earned team MVP honors.
He served as executive vice president of the student council and was active in the Environmental Club and Mu Alpha Theta. His classmates voted him Most Likely to Succeed.
From Crandall to SMU and The Dallas Morning News
Wade headed to Southern Methodist University with an impressive collection of scholarship honors, including recognition as an SMU Hunt Scholar, Pre Law Scholar, Hilltop Scholar, and Cox BBA Scholar.
He joined The Daily Campus, SMU’s student newspaper, first covering arts and entertainment. He later rose to arts and entertainment editor, then managing editor, where he helped oversee a staff of roughly 30 writers and 10 editors.
In 2011, Wade publicly criticized the removal of an opinion column from a special edition of The Daily Campus, a dispute centered on university transparency and editorial independence.
By 2012, while still enrolled at SMU, Wade was working as a digital producer for The Dallas Morning News. He produced, edited, and published digital content, building a substantial body of work covering Dallas arts, entertainment, film, and lifestyle topics.
He graduated from SMU in 2014 with a degree in journalism. Even after leaving college journalism behind, Wade stayed connected to the profession, joining a group of former SMU student journalists in 2018 who publicly advocated for protecting editorial independence in student media.
Where Is Chase Wade Now?
Wade has since applied the communication, leadership, and problem solving skills he developed in journalism to the business world.
ArtWorks, Inc. currently lists him as its Growth Officer, working with organizational leaders to identify creative resources and develop solutions to business challenges. According to his ArtWorks biography, his career has taken him from a major newsroom into the startup world and across multiple industries.
There remains a connection to his Crandall days. The company notes that outside of work, Wade enjoys exploring Dallas’ culinary scene and still occasionally plays tennis, the same sport in which he excelled at Crandall High School.
Chase Wade built a different kind of Crandall success story, one measured not in championships but in journalism honors, editorial leadership, and a career that has continued to evolve.
The title his classmates gave him in 2010, Most Likely to Succeed, remains a fitting way to describe what came next.
