Inside Dallas ISD

When members of the Dallas Wind Symphony played songs from the movie “Frozen” for Dallas ISD fifth-graders last year, many of the students began singing along. It was that spontaneous reaction that prompted the band to encourage singing along. This year, the Dallas Winds returned to play concerts in late January for 12,000 district fifth-graders, hoping to inspire them to choose an instrument and join their school bands when they reach the sixth grade. “Can we play music that resonates, that is part of their lives?” asked Dallas winds founder Kim Campbell. Many of the songs were instantly recognizable, from the…

About 300 students from eight Dallas ISD schools heard from a woman who last summer climbed a 30-foot flagpole to remove the Confederate battle flag flying on the grounds of the South Carolina State House. Bree Newsome was the featured speaker at a youth forum in the Zan Wesley Holmes, Jr. African Heritage Lecture Series on Monday, Feb. 1, at St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church. She talked about the history of the Confederate flag, the reasons behind her actions and the need to make a difference. She also answered questions submitted by the students. Newsome was already an activist…

At 6-foot-2-inches and 215 pounds, Kendrick Bright flashes a coy smile when recalling his introduction to football at just five years old. Several years removed his days in Pop Warner— a popular youth football league where his earliest lessons on the gridiron took place—Bright will see his hard work pay off when he walks the red carpet at Dallas ISD’s upcoming Athletic Signing Day. As he prepares to celebrate signing a football scholarship with West Texas A&M University, Bright, who doubles as quarterback and wide receiver for the Thomas Jefferson High School Patriots football team, reflects on his development over the…

A project from three eighth-grade students at W.E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy that proposes an innovative way to help end credit card fraud is in the running to win a nationwide contest and $2,500 for them and their school. Micaiah Davis’, Rodolfo Manriquez’, Lion Roberson’s business idea—the Iris of the Eye Scan—is one of the top three finalists in the World Series of Innovation contest sponsored by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and Mastercard. Their business idea is for a product that scans a person’s iris when they make a purchase in person or online. The students are asking everyone…