MEET THE FEINSTONES

“This is a funny story,” says Tina Feinstone, explaining how her son, Cooper Feinstone ’22, ended up at CBHS. “At the age of 5, he decided that he was dead-set going to attend Christian Brothers. We really don’t know where that came from, but we’re glad he did.”

The boy’s parents attended local public schools. Andy Feinstone graduated from Ridgeway High School and took a job at High Pockets, the billiard parlor on Summer Avenue. Tina went to Southaven High School, earned a degree in biology from the University of Memphis, and then became a nurse anesthetist, the job she holds today at St. Francis Hospital.

While in school, she began working as a cook at High Pockets, where she met her future husband. They married in 1998, and by this time Andy and his father, Jerry, were involved with a new venture in Overton Square, the popular restaurant and brewery, Boscos. They eventually opened others in Germantown, Nashville, and Little Rock before deciding to concentrate on one location, a mainstay in the Midtown entertainment district since 1992.

They sent their first child, daughter Emma, to St. Mary’s. Cooper went to PDS, then to St. Dominic School. But during all this time, he kept insisting that he would go to CBHS for high school. “I don’t know what to attribute that to,” says Tina, “but he put all his eggs in one basket. For the high school placement test, he didn’t even want to apply anywhere else.”

It was a smart move. The Feinstones hoped it would be a good experience, but they didn’t realize how much CBHS would change their son. “It turned him around from somebody who really wasn’t confident in school,” says Tina, “to somebody who took part in everything they did.”

Cooper played three years for the school's baseball program as a pitcher and outfielder, and he always made sure to go to the basketball and lacrosse games to show his support for the teams. “For him to be that involved, he really had to love it there,” says Tina.

But it was much more than a love for sports. It was clear that he had formed a special bond with his fellow students.

What they say is true. Any boy can find a place for himself there. It doesn’t matter if they’re an athlete, an artist, an academic, or just a regular kid. They will find a group of friends at CBHS.

She thinks the school does “a really good job of meshing these kids together. It’s a brotherhood, with the kids showing total respect and love for each other.”

When Tina and Andy go to games and other school events, they see that brotherhood in action. “Our son graduated with something like 200 other boys,” she says, “and when we would be there, he would be saying ‘hi’ to everybody, and I mean all of them. They know each other, they respect each other, they love each other, and they are there for each other.”

She also gives credit to the quality of teachers, coaches, and advisors her son encountered on Walnut Grove. “Cooper had a lot of mentors, teaching them important life lessons,” and he was fortunate to play under coaches like Buster Kelso and, in his senior year, Jason Motte on the baseball team. “Kelso was a tough act to follow,” noting the nine state championships he had won with the Purple Wave, “but Motte played for the St. Louis Cardinals and even has a World Series ring. His positivity is unmatched."

After graduating in May, Cooper enrolled at Ole Miss, where he is currently majoring in business administration. The Feinstones have high hopes for their son’s future.

“He went from a boy who simply did not care for school to a young man who flourished there,” Tina says. “We just fell in love with CBHS because of how much it transformed him, and we give back through the Annual Fund to the programs that helped him thrive and made him who he is today."