Emmanuel Gillespie, a former student at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, is leaving a lasting impact on the school as a current visual arts teacher and a professional artist.  Before he became a teacher at his former high school, he was commissioned to create a sculpture of Ernie Banks, a Booker T. alumnus and baseball hall of fame legend who played for the Chicago Cubs. Gillespie crafted the bronze statue, which was unveiled in 2018, to honor the sports icon and Dallas native. Gillespie began his artistic journey as a student at Booker T.…

The IB film students at Woodrow Wilson High School are gaining lifelong skills that will help them beyond the classroom. “You learn a lot about working with a team,” said Lucia R., a senior. “You work in groups a lot in school, but for film class, it’s different because everyone has their own vision, and you have to work together to create one vision.” In addition to working as a group to shoot, edit, and produce film projects, students also stand in as actors for each other as needed.  With so many moving parts on any given day or project,…

“One of my favorite things about jazz is how it brings people together. You can go across the world to a country that doesn’t speak anything close to your language. You can play with another person and you don’t speak, you can’t interpret each other’s words. But, then if you sit down and play music, it’s like you speak the exact same language. Music connects and brings people together.” These are the words spoken by Tinashe M., a senior piano major at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.  Tinashe comes from a family with a…

Dallas ISD is rolling out an innovative way to bring career training directly to students. Career and Technical Education recently launched a trailer, known as the Career Exploration Mobile Lab, which provides hands-on learning experiences, equipping students with practical skills and industry knowledge. “The inspiration was to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world career possibilities for 7th-grade students,” said Jessica Borges, project manager for CTE. “We wanted to create an engaging and interactive way to introduce them to high-skill, high-wage, and high-demand career paths that they might not otherwise encounter.” The idea for a mobile classroom and finding…