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parkcitiespeople.com | January 2023 25 Schools SCHOLARSHIP NAMESAKE MARY DILLARD STILL AN INSPIRATION
Students, family reminisce with beloved teacher as she turns 90
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By Chloe Ching
People Newspapers
Though she hasn’t taught in Highland Park ISD since 2000, Mary Katherine Harris Dillard remains an avid fan of her former students.
Dillard worked in the district for 36 years – teaching eighth grade from 1964 to 1970, then at the high school level from 1970 to 2000.
“My years there gave me more joy than I could have ever hoped to experience,” she said.
As Dillard turned 90 in November, she and others reminisced with Park Cities People about years spent sparking a love for literature and language within her students.
Our classroom conversations about Macbeth and Lord of the Flies snapped me to attention. Here was a teacher who was smart, deep, and funny. Sarah Hepola
“I initially gravitated toward a career in education as a student, admiring the outstanding teachers at Texas High School in Texarkana,” she said. “My calling was confirmed while at Baylor University through the influence of extraordinary English professors there.”
She earned awards and accolades during her career and served in many leadership and advisory roles.
Dillard worked as a faculty consultant for AP College Board, grading the AP Literature and Language exams of students throughout the country.
She authored a study guide for The Great Gatsby, published by the Research & Education Association that is still used today by
Friends and family, including 11 great-grandchildren, celebrated as Mary Dillard turned 90. They dubbed the retired Highland Park ISD high school teacher “Mary, Queen of Scots.”
ASHLEY CONNOR PHOTOGRAPHY
students striving for a deeper understanding of the novel.
However, despite those accomplishments, Dillard views her students’ success as her primary legacy.
“My students’ own achievements in life, literary or otherwise, provide the greatest personal satisfaction that I could ever know,” Dillard said.
Mudbound by former student Hillary Jordan, won the Bellwether Prize for Fiction and was later adapted as a film.
“Dillard’s love for her students was mutual,” added Sarah Hepola, a former student who authored the New York Times bestselling memoir Blackout.”
Hepola recalled entering junior English with a disengaged and lazy demeanor.
“Our classroom conversations about Macbeth and Lord of the Flies snapped me to attention,” Hepola said. “Here was a teacher who was smart, deep, and funny. Writers need an audience, and I am so lucky she was mine.”
Former student Adam Beshara created a scholarship in 2007 in Dillard’s honor, awarded annually to Highland Park students with a particular interest in English. That same year, Dillard won the Distinguished Service Award.
To celebrate Dillard’s birthday, family and friends traveled and gathered on Nov. 17 at the Barcelona Road Baptist Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
“The mother of two, grandmother of five, and great-grandmother of 11 has spent her 90th year doing what she does best — caring for those around her,” daughter Laurie Reasons said. “While our mom is deservedly so highly respected for her professional achievements, her family will be most grateful for her spiritual teaching and guiding us toward faith.”
Dillard still advises aspiring authors: “Dream those big dreams that compel you to persevere [but] accept that there will be failures and rejections.”
Possibilities Await You at Parish Episcopal School.
The Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program features a unique curriculum designed to teach bold and principled leaders the essential skills to be impactful in the military-connected space.
COURTESY GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CENTER Jeffrey Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at SMU.
COURTESY SMU
Victor Acosta credits his older sister, a veteran of both the U.S. Army and Navy, with inspiring his decision to enlist in the
Marines. COURTESY SMU
Veteran transitions
As an amphibious assault vehicle operator in far-flung locations ranging from Jordan to Haiti to Somalia, Victor Acosta ensured that fellow Marines made safe transitions from ship to shore.
With the help of SMU’s Catalyst military transition program, he also sees how his military experience gives him unique skills to offer in the classroom and business.
Acosta completed an eight-week military-to-civilian transition program offered by SMU’s Continuing Education and Professional Development (CAPE) and will transition to the Cox School of Business online MBA program in January.
“Catalyst opened so many doors and opportunities for me,” he said. “It made me realize we are underselling ourselves as part of the military — veterans bring marketable skills to the table.”
“The key thing missing from most military transition programs is how to leverage the skills gained in the military in the classroom or on the job,” said Robert Hurst, a U.S. Army veteran who directs veterans affairs for CAPE. “Providing opportunities for veterans and their spouses is our way of saying thank you.”
Another veteran opportunity
Applications will remain open through midnight Jan. 18, 2023, for the George W. Bush Institute’s 2023 Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program aimed at active-duty service members, veterans, and civilians called to serve veterans and their families.
Program tuition, accommodation, meals, and travel are fully funded during the fivemonth program. Visit bushcenter.org/standto to apply.
Trump vs. history
Donald Trump’s not the first former president to run again after losing a bid to hold the White House, so could history provide a clue to how the norm-defying Republican and his party might fare in 2024?
SMU historian Jeffrey Engel suggests it could.
In a Time Magazine op-ed, the co-author of Impeachment: An American History and When The World Seemed New: George H.W. Bush And The End Of The Cold War, draws lessons from early 20th century president Theodore Roosevelt.
Engel predicts history would likely repeat itself if Trump, like Roosevelt, refuses to step aside for the good of his political party.
Democrat Woodrow Wilson was the beneficiary of the Republican Party’s Roosevelt-fueled division over its nominee in 1912, Engel said, and a Trump candidacy could produce the same unhappy results for the GOP this time around.
“So, if Trump wins (the nomination) in August, Republicans will lose in November,” Engel predicted. “In the more likely event that he loses the nomination, he will run as a spoiler - or at least tell his supporters to stay away from a clearly fraudulent election. With little room to spare in a country so evenly split between red and blue, a Democrat, indeed any Democrat, will win.”
– Compiled by William Taylor
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Student Achievements: Three to Celebrate
1. Giddy up, giddy up HP109
Salute those Texas tuxedoes and dress and boot pairings. The HP Centennial Dance keeps going and going and making a difference.
Created in 2013 by rising seniors, the student-led affair has raised more than $1.5 million to benefit Highland Park ISD teachers and staff over the years.
HP109 drew record attendance in early November and exceeded its goal with $300,000 raised.
Student chairs Shelby Sides, Colin Hale, Vivian Downie, Max Sloan, Charlya Williams, and Judge Ellis credited corporate and family sponsors, the host committee, and those who attended with making it a successful year.
2. Super smart Scots
Watch out for that Highland Park High School Academic Decathlon team. The Scots overwhelmed opponents at the Rockwall Invitational Meet, placing first out of 35 teams on Oct. 29.
In the Honors Division, sophomore Anna Qian won second place while senior Elizabeth Chen and junior Alex Stucka tied for third.
In the Scholastic Division, senior Jeneta Nwosu was first, senior Justine Choi second, junior Vaughan Mullikan fourth, and senior Catherine Lu fifth.
In the Varsity division, senior Sean Ashton took fifth place. Other members contributing to the success: Olivia Xiao, Max
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Nguyen, GB Stalnaker, Zayan Shah, Ceci Coale, Brandon Nguyen, Oliver Muenker, and Mia O’Neil.
The team also won its first home contest of the season, finishing first out of eight teams at the 11th annual Warren Hutcheson Invitational Meet on Nov. 11 and was ranked second in the state with plans to compete in December in Tucson, Arizona.
3. Recognize these scholars
The College Board selected 22 Highland Park High School students as 2023 National Merit Scholar Recognition Award recipients.
The program recognizes students with at least a 3.5 GPA, a score in the top 10% on the PSAT/ NMSQT, and who identify as African American, Hispanic, or Indigenous.
National African American Recognition Program Scholars: Obinnam Nwosu and Savannah Stewart.
National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars: Francesca Carrillo, Cecilia Coale, Emilia Cura, Martin Gonzalez, Kaitlyn Inman, Nia Perez, Katherine Peticolas, Eli Raphael, Briana Rees, Maya Rosalez, Christopher Taubenfeld, Miller Vargas, and Andrew (Dashell) Whitaker.
National Indigenous Recognition Program Scholars: Margaret Hopper, Charlotte McCoy, Hannah McCoy, Ava Mitchell, Addison Renfrow, Donovan Riley, and Sophia Wright.
– Compiled by Carley Hutchison
ANN & NATE LEVINE ACADEMY
Recently, Ann & Nate Levine Academy 6th graders, in collaboration with the Texas Jewish Historical Society (TJHS) participated in a service trip to Bonham, TX. Sally Drayer of TJHS served as guide for the trip, which included a visit to the Jewish section of a cemetery, Willow Wild. Students began the intense work of cleaning gravestones, then left stones at each Jewish site as a symbol that someone had been there to visit. Students spoke a Psalm in Hebrew and English before entering the cemetery and then cleansed their hands upon leaving. Levine 6th graders also packed snack boxes for kids experiencing food insecurity with the North Texas Food Bank in Bonham. They then traveled to Foster Village NTX: The Isaiah Closet, which provides resources to foster kids and the families who care for them, to do yard work in preparation for a future playground.
