Inside Dallas ISD

Local heroes such as a Dallas Police officer and Dallas Fire Department lieutenant recently inspired more than 350 students at S.S. Conner Elementary School to become the next generation of community heroes. Conn’s HomePlus presented the event coined “Heroes Among Us,” and the furniture and specialty home goods retailer also donated a washer-dryer to the school. “It’s wonderful that our partner Conn’s has taken time out of the day to show our students that we have everyday heroes beyond the sports arena, movie screen and video games,” said Tom Hayden of Dallas ISD’s Volunteer and Partnership Services. “They’ve shown us…

Carlos Hernandez, a Hillcrest student and writer for the Hillcrest Hurricane, the student newspaper, wrote this article. The Hillcrest gymnasium may hardly fit 500 hot, sweaty, and cramped students at any given basketball game or pep rally, but it is filled to the brim with the memories of countless past students and staff. Literally and figuratively, the gym is the heart of the Hillcrest campus; built with the original 1938 front hallway, it has endured five different generations of angst filled teenagers sitting within its walls. To commemorate its 79 years of faithful service to the Hillcrest community, a group of…

Dallas ISD’s William L. Cabell Elementary School celebrated its transformation into a Personalized Learning campus on Wednesday, April 19. Parents, community members, district staff and representatives from organizations involved in the project attended the event, which included a campus tour after songs performed by fifth-graders and a ceremonial ribbon cutting. The physical structure of the school has changed to accommodate the different style of learning, which focuses on the education of individual students. Several classrooms feature dividers that can be opened to create a larger learning environment, combining classes for core lessons. Adaptive furniture that moves easily – including computer desks connected…

An all-girl robotics team from Sunset High School is the first ever Dallas ISD team to qualify for the Robotics World Championships in FTC. Sunset’s 8811 Robo* Bison Amistad team is competing in this week’s World Championship in FTC in Houston. It’s a grueling four-day, 128 team competition against the best in the world. “As a young woman, society doesn’t expect me to be involved in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) field, so joining robotics was a great challenge and reward,” said Karen Garcia, one of the four members of the advancing team. “I never expected myself to…