Inside Dallas ISD

Learning how to code and perfecting his programming skills outside the classroom led Sam Hooper to serve his community as a leader, a role model, a tutor and a developer of educational software, all while in high school.  The 18-year-old School for the Talented and Gifted (TAG) senior teaches programming to his classmates, developed an app that helps third- through eighth-grade students review math concepts, and has become an acclaimed coder, earning first place in the UIL State championship for two consecutive years. “I got to learn a bunch of stuff that I wanted to learn and also got to…

Dallas ISD has partnered with The Holdsworth Center to build on the inspiration, tools, and resources needed to grow our leaders. One avenue of this partnership is the Campus Leadership Program (CLP), a two-year program in which campus teams will build stronger leadership muscles while working toward excellent and equitable outcomes for all students. The curriculum is centered in three areas: Developing Personal Leadership, Growing & Empowering Others, and Creating Change. Campus leaders will: Learn from expert faculty and guest lecturers. Collaborate on a Problem of Practice that leads to results that impact students. Develop new problem-solving methodologies by practicing…

Kendall Stafford, senior Teen School Board representative for Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, has been on the board since her junior year. As a student in the theater conservatory at Booker T, her concentration is on stage management, playwriting, directing and design. “I’m really focused on the technical aspect and production aspect of theater, but I like to dabble in everything,” she says. Once in college, Kendall would like to study cultural anthropology, because, as she describes it, “The major allows flexibility for an emphasis on arts, information, history, and culture, all meshed together…

On May 7, the Booker T Washington mock trial team placed fifth out of 46 at the 2022 National High School Mock Trial Championship.  And, in her role as an attorney, Abby Chapman was named one of the “top ten lawyers in the country.” Alessia Chavez-Flores, of Creekview High in Carrollton, claimed second place in the courtroom artist category. The seven members of the mock trial team competing at Nationals were led by co-captains Abby Chapman & Zoë Gameros, who along with sophomore Isabel Gameros, competed at Nationals in 2021. First-year mock trial team members included junior Claire Taylor, sophomore…