Education

Woodrow Wilson High School’s debate team is heading to California after winning the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance Varsity Championships. The young orators will compete in the 2016 National Association for Urban Debate Leagues National Championship this month in San Francisco. Last year, Woodrow placed third in the nation. East Dallasite Mita Havlick entered the race for the Dallas ISD District 2 trustee seat a week before the filing deadline. She’s up against Dustin Marshall and Suzanne Smith. Havlick says she decided to run when she “realized that neither one of those candidates represents what I would want in a board trustee because they don’t represent a parent with children in public education.” Her two children attend Travis, DISD’s talented and gifted magnet school for fourth- through eighth-graders. Marshall’s children are enrolled at Greenhill, a private school in Addison. Smith does not have children.

Principal Toni Goodman resigned from Lakewood Elementary mid-year to pursue another career opportunity. According to assistant principal Bert Hart, Goodman “has accepted a position outside of Dallas ISD.” Hart will serve as Lakewood’s interim principal until the school finds a permanent replacement for Goodman.

Enrique Mendez, the janitor of J. L. Long Middle School has been nominated for Janitor of the Year, a nomination that puts him up against school staff from across the United States Cintas is hosting the contest, and if Mendez wins he’ll receive $5,000 and the school will receive another $5,000.

Nonprofits

The Creative Arts Center of Dallas (CAC) recently celebrated its 50th birthday. Octavio Medellín founded the nonprofit in 1966. Neighborhood artist Diana Pollak now heads the center. Pollak and her team plan to celebrate CAC’s anniversary with a robust calendar that seeks to honor the organization’s past, according to CAC spokesperson Krissi Reeves. The annual fundraiser, the Blue Plate Special Gala, falls on April 30. Visit creativeartscenter.org to learn more about the event.

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Highlander School

9120 Plano Rd. Dallas / 214.348.3220 / www.highlanderschool.com Founded in 1966, Highlander offers an enriched curriculum in a positive, Christian-based environment. By limiting class size, teachers are able to build a strong educational foundation to ensure confidence in academics, athletics, and the creative and performing arts. Highlander offers a “classic” education which cannot be equaled. Monthly tours offered; call for a reservation.

Lakehill Preparatory School

Leading to Success. 2720 Hillside Dr., Dallas 75214 / 214.826.2931 / lakehillprep.org

Kindergarten through Grade 12 - Lakehill Preparatory School takes the word preparatory in its name very seriously. Throughout a student’s academic career, Lakehill builds an educational program that achieves its goal of enabling graduates to attend the finest, most rigorous universities of choice. Lakehill combines arobust, college-preparatory curriculum with opportunities for personal growth, individual enrichment, and community involvement. From kindergarten through high school, every Lakehill student is encouraged to strive, challenged to succeed, and inspired to excel.

Spanish House

Four East Dallas Locations / 214.826.4410 / DallasSpanishHouse.com Spanish Immersion Program in East Dallas! Nursery, Preschool, Elementary and Adult Programs available. Our new K-5 Dual-Language Elementary School will be opening in August 2016 at 7159 E. Grand Avenue. Please visit our website (DallasSpanishHouse.com) or call 214.826.4410 for a tour.

ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL

848 Harter Rd., Dallas 75218 / 214.328.9131 / stjohnsschool.org Founded in 1953, St. John’s is an independent, co-educational day school for Pre-K through Grade 8. With a tradition for academic excellence, St. John’s programs include a challenging curriculum in a Christian environment along with instruction in the visual and performing arts, Spanish, German, French, and opportunities for athletics and community service.St. John’s goal for its students is to develop a love for learning, service to others, and leadership grounded in love, humility, and wisdom. Accredited by ISAS, SAES, and the Texas Education Agency.

UT DALLAS CHESS CAMP

800 W. Campbell Rd., Richardson 75080 / (972) 883-4899 / utdallas.edu/chess ) 2016

Summer Chess Camp Campers learn while they PLAY. Chess develops reading, math, critical and analytical skills, and builds character and self-esteem. Just don’t tell the kids…they think chess is fun! Join beginner, intermediate or advanced chess classes for ages 7 to 14 on the UT Dallas campus. Morning (9am-noon) or afternoon (1-4pm) sessions are available June 13-17, June 20-24, July 18-22, July 25-29 and extended playing classes. Camp includes t-shirt, chess board and pieces, trophy, certificate, score book, group photo, snacks and drinks. Instructors are from among UT Dallas Chess Team Pan-Am Intercollegiate Champions for 2010-2012!

WHITE ROCK NORTH SCHOOL

9727 White Rock Trail Dallas / 214.348.7410 / WhiteRockNorthSchool.com

6 Weeks through 6th Grade. Our accelerated curriculum provides opportunity for intellectual and physical development in a loving and nurturing environment. Character-building and civic responsibility are stressed. Facilities include indoor swimming pool, skating rink, updated playground, and state-of-the-art technology lab. Kids Club on the Corner provides meaningful after-school experiences. Summer Camp offers field trips, swimming, and a balance of indoor and outdoor activities designed around fun-filled themes. Accredited by SACS. Call for a tour of the campus.

ZION LUTHERAN SCHOOL utdallas.edu/chess james.stallings@utdallas.edu

6121 E. Lovers Ln. Dallas / 214.363.1630 / ziondallas. org Toddler care thru 8th Grade. Serving Dallas for over 58 years offering a quality education in a Christ-centered learning environment. Degreed educators minister to the academic, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of students and their families. Before and after school programs, Extended Care, Parents Day Out, athletics, fine arts, integrated technology, Spanish, outdoor education, Accelerated Reader, advanced math placement, and student government. Accredited by National Lutheran School & Texas District Accreditation Commissions and TANS. Contact Principal Jeff Thorman.

25 Years

It was a quarter-century ago when the very first Advocate landed on porches across East Dallas, promising to tell the stories that matter most to our neighborhood. Since then, we’ve covered countless stories and photographed hundreds of neighbors in their best and worst moments. All together, it paints a rich tapestry of what makes Lakewood the unique, historic and eccentric neighborhood we love. We’ll mark our silver anniversary by taking a look back at our top 10 favorite covers.

Road to hell

November 1994

East Dallas has come a long way in the last 22 years, when the crime rate spiked as you crossed Beacon driving north on Abrams. While Lakewood was a family neighborhood, just five minutes up the road then-17-year-old Woodrow senior Patty Galva laid in bed at night, listening to gunshots and praying that stray bullets wouldn’t ricochet into her house. Now, property values have skyrocketed in many of those northern neighborhoods, which are now bustling with young families. The criminal element remains in some corners, however. The 2010 census bureau showed that of the entire city, you are most likely to be the victim of a crime in East Dallas’ Ross Avenue/ Bennett Avenue area.

DART Dilemma

June 1996

DART was not a welcome addition when the city planned to build the northeast line, stretching from Mockingbird to White Rock Lake and beyond. Most were initially concerned over the noise the trains would make barreling through the neighborhood every 15 to 20 minutes. Others feared the rails would bring in crime and negatively affected property values. The city planned to begin construction in 1998, so neighbors spent much of 1996 trying to ensure that officials listened to their demands regarding the new development, particularly when it came to sound walls.

There are few neighborhood places East Dallas residents adore more than White Rock Lake; we run there, we party there and we flock there to check the banks after particularly nasty storms. But when the city made plans to invest $42 million on lake improvements, powerboats were proposed and the neighborhood split between those who wanted to preserve the bucolic nature of White Rock Lake, and those

Tore up over teardowns

November 2002 that wanted to get peak recreational value from it. It was time for us to take a deep look at the lake, what it had once been and what its future would hold. We also stumbled on some fun facts, like the time a German soldier was so taken with White Rock Lake during his time as a prisoner of war on its banks, he wrote the Dallas Morning News to seek help immigrating to Texas when he was released.

Few things get East Dallas residents more heated than real estate. In 2002, neighbor took on neighbor in the battle over teardowns. Sick of seeing quaint homes ripped out and replaced by houses twice as large, residents got vocal with developers, complaining about everything from the tacky styles, to the impact on the neighborhood’s charm. The city took a more mild approach, wanting to look at teardowns on a case-by-case basis. But it clearly marked one of the turning points in Lakewood, when neighborhood character became a topic of great concern.

Of Woodrow fame

February 2004

It was the year Woodrow Wilson High School marked its 75th anniversary, so we decided to spotlight some of the high school’s most well-known students. There was class of 1940’s Carroll Shelby, whose track record in the classroom was less than stellar, but who would go on to develop the famed Shelby Cobra and Viper. He also earned Sports Illustrated’s Race Car Driver of the Year in 1956 and 1957 and had his name included in both the International MotorSports Hall of Fame and the Automotive Hall of Fame. There was also Jerry Haynes, class of 1944, who rose to fame as Mr. Peppermint on the long-running beloved WFAA series, “Peppermint Place.”

Getting trashy

October 2009

Garbage. We all have to deal with it, but what happens after it leaves our curb each week? We got our hands dirty with an indepth look at the business of trash. Most interesting to us was the items people leave behind. There’s the criminal side — the dead bodies and meth lab remnants that make their way into the landfill. But there’s also the treasure, like the time they found a box containing three Rolex watches and four large diamond rings. “It turned out a family had been cleaning out their home and accidentally threw the box away, but we were able to return it to them,” said Ron Smith, the city’s assistant director of sanitation services, at the time.

McMansion madness

September 2005

Concern over development in East Dallas began about the time the first houses went up, but general hatred of McMansions replacing residential bungalows reached fever pitch in 2005. Neighbors successfully fought to create the Neighborhood Stabilization Overlay Districts in the City of Dallas, which provides less protection than a historic district but allows more input in how projects are built, including yard size, height and garage location. Simultaneously, East Dallas was staring down the prospect of a $50 million, 25-story luxury apartment complex at 1000 Emerald Isle, and enough was enough. More than 200 attended public meetings to oppose the development. Ultimately, the project was scaled back and eventually killed off all together.

Racism relived

August 2011

Dallas’ history of racism is long, ugly and well documented. When the 40th anniversary of desegregation in Dallas’ public schools loomed, we took the chance to sit down with East Dallas residents to remember what those years were like for both black and white students. They noted that, more than most places in the country, Dallas did its best to avoid integrating schools for as long as possible. “I was surprised by the amount of resistance [to integration],” said Ed Cloutman, a Lakewood resident who spent 33 years representing a black student in a desegregation case against DISD. “You read about it in a lot of places, but it seemed to dissipate, even in the Deep South. We were still dealing with it 10 years in. I guess you just can’t underestimate the racism in some people’s hearts.”

Lakewood Enquirer?

June 2009

With tongues fully entrenched in our cheeks, we took on a tabloid look complete with paparazzistyle photos of local celebs as they went through their regular days, shopping, dropping kids off a school and heading to work. It certainly wasn’t our most hard-hitting piece, but we have fun playing celebrity stalkers with some of East Dallas’ most well-known personalities, from former CBS sports anchor Gina Miller, who left the air in 2013 to pursue “entrepreneurial projects,” to Craig Miller, whose velvety voice can still be heard daily on “The Ticket.” It was a journalistic joke that got lost on some of our readers, a couple of whom wrote us strongly worded letters denouncing our new tacky tabloid design.

Grand ole’ Greenville

October

2014

Few streets in East Dallas get as much ink in Dallas as Greenville Avenue. Love it or hate it, it’s a hub of our neighborhood and its changing faces has been a hot topic of discussion for decades. We decided to dig into the various opinions on Greenville, from its plummeting crime rates in recent years to its proliferation of partying frat boys. From its history as one of Dallas’ main thoroughfares before the Central Expressway was built in 1950, Greenville has long set the pulse in East Dallas.

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