As a leader in innovation and change, a new opportunity is emerging for a school in the southeast corner of Dallas ISD.
The girls at Young Women’s STEAM Academy at Balch Springs Middle School will soon drop a piece of their name and become Young Women’s STEAM Academy at Balch Springs. Through a partnership with the Young Women’s Preparatory Network, YWSA will become the second all-girls high school in Dallas ISD.
When the school bells ring and doors open back up for the fall 2024 semester, YWSA, which historically served girls in grades six through eight, will serve students all the way through twelfth grade.During its first year, YWSA will add a 50-member freshmen class. The campus will then implement a new grade level each year until the inaugural class graduates in 2028. The school will also make history as Dallas ISD’s only all-girls high school offering athletics.
Rubianna Sanchez, principal of YWSA, said expanding into high school is pushing the norm for an all-girls neighborhood school.
“This is an opportunity for the girls in our community to get a premium, private school education right in the heart of Pleasant Grove,” she said.
While continuing to be a neighborhood school and holding on to the principles of growth, innovation, leadership, and service, the school will offer rigorous and advanced placement courses to the students in the community.
“Every day, the girls are asking what we are going to do and what the activities are going to look like, so they are really trying to get in the high school mindset,” said Sasha Hampton, assistant principal.
With a mixture of nerves and excitement, the school is ready for this new opportunity for not only the girls but the community as a whole.
“I’m a first-generation college graduate, my dad is from Mexico and only finished the sixth grade and my mom graduated from high school. A lot of students here have the same experience,” Sanchez said. “ With an opportunity such as this we’ll be able to guide students early and help their parents go through the process of preparing for life after graduation. Families won’t have to figure it out on their own like I had to do.”Instead of having to travel to different parts of the district, students will have in-house access to corporate partnerships, internships, and engineering certifications courses that will help to close the opportunity gap and change the long-term trajectory for themselves.
With more work comes the need for more help, so the campus will implement a full-time college success advisor for students beginning the moment they step on campus in sixth grade.
“When girls start in sixth grade, we want them to start thinking that they will be with us until they graduate,” said Hampton. “You are Lady Jag from sixth all the way through to twelfth h grade.”
