👁️ Woodlands Eye Associates Turns 50, Four Doctors Carry It On

💻 Tomball ISD Plans a Virtual School Offering College Cybersecurity

👗 Golden Gray Boutique Settles Into Its New Market Street Spot

🏥 Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Named a Chest Pain Center

🥩 16 Grams of Protein an Ounce, Zero Sugar: Spring's New Biltong Shop

🌤️ Partly Cloudy · 96°F / 74°F

Humidity up to 95%

Muggy and warm all day, so stick to shade if you're outside long.

Source: Vaisala Xweather

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Dr. George Kaufman opened Woodlands Eye Associates in 1976, just two years after The Woodlands itself was founded, making it one of the community's earliest eye-care practices. What started as a single office has grown into two locations, on West Panther Creek Drive and at Medical Plaza Drive.

Four doctors run the practice today. Dr. Ginger Brown joined in 2005 and works at both locations, focusing on glaucoma, cataracts and retinal conditions. Dr. Holly Navid brings more than 20 years of experience, with an emphasis on dry eye and complex contact lens fittings. Dr. Chad Toups specializes in glaucoma and infectious eye disease, and Dr. Jenna Cedillo, who joined in 2022, treats everything from routine exams to diabetic eye care. All four are trained optometric glaucoma specialists who also co-manage cataract and LASIK procedures.

"Woodlands Eye Associates has cared for generations of patients and built relationships that extend far beyond the exam room," Dr. Brown said. "I've been fortunate to be part of that story for 21 years, and I'm incredibly proud of where we've been and excited about where we're going over the next 50 years." The practice says many patients who came in as children now bring their own kids through the same doors.

Why it matters: fifty years in one place means a practice has watched entire families grow up, the kind of continuity that's easy to lose in a fast-growing town.

Source/Credits: Woodlands Online

Tomball ISD is considering a new Virtual Academy for Cybersecurity, a fully online program that would let students earn an associate degree or 60 transferable college credits in cybersecurity or computer science alongside their high school diploma. Chief Academic Officer Michael Webb presented the plan on Sept. 15; if approved, it would be the 11th program of its kind in Texas and would open for the 2027-28 school year.

The program would run inside Tomball Star Academy, the district's early college high school, in partnership with Sam Houston State University's Polytechnic College. State rules cap virtual enrollment at half the size of the in-person campus, so the new academy couldn't take more than about 60 students out of Tomball Star Academy's roughly 120. Funding would match what the district gets for an in-person student, about $6,215, plus an extra $1,200 to cover career and technical education courses.

Tomball ISD students would get priority, but the program would be open statewide. "In order to have opportunities for Tomball kids, we need the program to be made," Webb said, adding that strong statewide interest could eventually push the district to seek approval for the academy to become its own fully virtual campus by 2028-29. The school board is set to vote on the proposal in October.

Why it matters: it's a bet that giving kids a head start on a cybersecurity degree, without leaving high school, is worth opening the classroom to students who aren't even Tomball's own.

Source/Credits: Community Impact

Golden Gray Boutique has relocated within Market Street, moving into the space that used to hold Draper James. Owner Kirstie Winter opened the new location, at 9595 Six Pines Drive, Suite 950, on Sept. 12.

The store sells women's clothing, shoes, accessories and purses. Golden Gray also has a location in Houston's Rice Village, and Winter said the brand is planning a third location at Creekside Park.

Why it matters: a Market Street storefront swap is a small sign of how much churn and expansion is happening in the district's retail mix right now.

Source/Credits: Community Impact

Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center has earned accreditation from the American College of Cardiology as a Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI. The designation confirms the hospital provides round-the-clock emergency care for chest pain and heart attacks, backed by a cardiac catheterization team ready at any hour to perform emergency angioplasty and stenting.

PCI, or percutaneous coronary intervention, is a non-surgical procedure that uses a balloon to open a blocked or narrowed coronary artery, often followed by a stent to keep it open. To earn the accreditation, the hospital had to pass evaluations of its staff, protocols, equipment and patient pathway, from EMS arrival all the way to discharge, and meet strict benchmarks for how quickly it can open a blocked artery once a patient arrives.

Why it matters: for anyone having a heart attack, the accreditation is a signal that the clock starts working in the patient's favor the moment they arrive.

Source/Credits: Woodlands Online

Maureen Marais opened Angus Biltong on Sawdust Road in Spring, bringing the South African tradition of biltong, meat that's cured and air-dried with no added sugar, to a Houston-area audience split between two very different kinds of customers.

For South African expats, it's a taste of home they can't easily find in Texas. For the health-conscious set, the draw is the numbers: 16 grams of protein per ounce with zero added sugar. Storage depends on the product. Moist biltong needs the fridge, Marais said, while chili bites have the moisture removed and can sit on a shelf once opened; customers who skip refrigeration on the moist product are the ones who end up with mold.

Marais is opening a second location in Katy and working toward USDA certification, which would let her sell wholesale. Her early target list is gyms and bars, betting that a low-sugar, high-protein snack fits both a post-workout routine and a night out better than the usual bag of chips.

Why it matters: it's a small example of how the Woodlands area's growing cultural mix keeps showing up on local shelves, one traditional recipe at a time.

In 2003, The Woodlands Car Club raised funds through one of our early charity car shows to help support The Woodlands Fire Department’s antique fire engine.

Now, more than 20 years later, that same fire engine will be on display at Hot Rods & Home Runs.

It’s a special full-circle moment as The Woodlands Car Club Celebrates 25 years of using cars to give back to our community. 😊

🏆 Awards

🌭 Free food & drinks!

⚾ Softball game between firefighters & law enforcement!

📅 Sunday, September 27 ⏰ 4–7 PM @ McCullough Junior High School

*SHOW CARS OF ALL TYPES ARE INVITED!

For more information contact Dana at The Woodlands Car Club.

Got an event coming up? Reply to this email with the details (what, when, where) and we'll get it in front of thousands of your neighbors, 100% free.
(Restrictions Apply)

In 2022, Howard Hughes commissioned artist Alex Katz to create Flowers, a 35,000-square-foot mural for Waterway Square. It ranks among the largest murals in the entire state.

"Might as well. Can't dance, never could sing, and it's too wet to plow." Translation: nothing better to do, so why not.

Every recipe eventually assumes you were born already knowing what a pinch means.

What soaps are used to keep men away? Deter-gents.

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