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By Rachel Snyder
rachel.snyder@peoplenewspapers.com
PHOTOS: CHRIS MCGATHEY AND HPISD
After a year of social distancing, the Highland Park High School class of 2021 finally gathered, celebrated, and walked the stage at Moody Coliseum.
“Since freshman year, we’ve established ourselves as a proactive Highland Park class,” valedictorian Clarabel Chen told her classmates on May 28.
“We’ve stood up for what’s right, always striving to learn more in hopes that we can become better versions of ourselves that ultimately form better versions of our communities,” Chen said. “We’ve been community organizers and volunteers; we’ve been protesters and voters.”
The class of 2021 includes 13 National Merit finalists, five National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholars, two National African American Recognition Program Scholars, 32 National Merit Commended students, 47 National AP Scholars, the National Football Foundation Gridiron Club of Dallas scholar-athlete of the year, Texas Girls Coaches Association (TGCA) Cross Country athlete of the year, an All-State band member, and team and individual medalists in various UIL competitions. The class of 2021 also received more than $9 million in scholarships.
“Growing up seems scary, but it’s a part of our lives,” salutatorian Tabish Soleman said. “So as we move forward with gratitude in our hearts and graduation money in our pockets, let us walk in our next chapter with open arms and an even more open mind.” Cate Rhodes receives Blanket Award from principal Jeremy Gilbert Valedictorian: Clarabel Chen Salutatorian: Tabish Soleman
Luke Sloan receives Blanket Award from principal Jeremy Gilbert
Football Coach Randy Allen greets graduates Highland Park Bagpipers
Cameron Laurie Parents: Scot and Louba Laurie Town: University Park High School: Highland Park High School Achievements/Honors: National Merit Finalist, Summa Cum Laude, National Honor Society, National AP Scholar, Gridiron Football Club Scholar Athlete, Academic All-State, 2nd Team All District, Orchestra Honors, Mu Alpha Theta, Cornerstone Athlete Scholar, Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honor society, English National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society, All-Region Orchestra, State Ensemble Qualifier College Acceptance: University of Texas at Austin, College of Natural Sciences Commencement Date: May 28, 2021 @ SMU
Dear Cameron, We are so proud of all of your accomplishments. We wish you the best in your future endeavors and know that you will succeed in whatever you choose. We hope that you have the best time in college. Love - Mom, Dad, Lexi and Jordan
SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN FOR OUR 2021 COLORING BOOK CONTEST!
All entries must be received by July 13
LEFT: Pictured with Mattie Terrell, Donna Pierce wears a string of pearls gifted to her for her years of service. RIGHT: Donna Pierce mans the computer as she gives her final astronomy
show. (PHOTOS: JULIET ALLAN, EDWARD CHALUPA)
Retired! Donna Pierce Stars in Her Final Planetarium Show
Astronomy teacher Donna C. Pierce, wearing a periwinkle spacesuit and signature red lipstick, greeted every attendee personally before her final starry sky show in her namesake planetarium. After 41 years of educating students across Highland Park
JULIET ALLAN ISD, she could “go down the rows” and find so many familiar faces in her last audience.
“There were students, there was family, astronomy club, there were all ages,” she said.
Former student Field Parsons, whose mother was also a student of Pierce’s, helped organize the final show.
He initially met Peirce during his second-grade birthday party, which featured a show about black holes led by the “planetarium lady” herself.
Parsons would later become a four-year member and, eventually, president of her astronomy club when he reached high school.
Although Parsons did not pursue astronomy in college, he carries on what he calls “one percent” of Pierce’s legacy by giving occasional star shows to his friends with his telescope.
“That one percent of the monstrosity of love and experience and care that she has is enough for just about anybody,” he said.
Former students make it clear that one of the most memorable annual events in astronomy was the trip to the McDonald Observatory in Marfa, Texas. There, they learned from astronomers and observed the stars, an experience that had a significant impact on astronomy club president Mattie Terrell.
The rising senior called that first trip to the observatory her freshman year “life-changing.”
“It opened my eyes to something that I was really passionate about,” Terrell said.
Pierce described watching students like Parsons grow as the most rewarding part of her career at HPISD.
Unlike most teachers in the district, Pierce had the opportunity to teach students from nearly all grade levels. Starting in elementary school, students take busses to the planetarium.
“They’re just like sponges,” Pierce said. “They’re the best.”
Presenting anything from constellations to spectroscopy, Pierce draws in audiences of every age with her quick wit and matter-offact teaching.
While the visuals on the screen served their purpose beautifully during her final program, Donna Pierce stood out as the star of the show.
Her impact on the community cannot be reduced to her out-of-this-galaxy teaching prowess.
Over the past “41 orbits around the sun” in HPISD, Pierce has created a legacy as an exemplary educator, a coveted member of the community, and friend to all who know her.
Highland Park High School junior Juliet Allan loves to sing and write.
DALLAS ACADEMY Congratulations! CLASS OF 2021
Rhett Sterling Alexander Ethan Gerardo Aunkst Nathaniel Lee Beideck Christopher Bellew Logan Preston Cooksey Joseph Paul Cosby Sebastian Michael Davis Charles McKinley Higgins Jason Matthew Hollander Christopher Carson Jackson Emma Madeline Kenyon Luke Adam Nammari Matthias Thorsen Roostai Michael Bradford Sparks
EMMA KENYON
VALEDICTORIAN
LUKE NAMMARI
SALUTATORIAN
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Robotics Expanding Beyond High School PC-TAG gift supports program for students in grades five to eight
By Rachel Snyder
rachel.snyder@peoplenewspapers.com
Thanks to a $10,000 gift from the Park Cities Talented and Gifted (PC-TAG) parent organization, robotics in Highland Park ISD won’t be just for the high school students much longer.
McCulloch Intermediate and Highland Park Middle School will use the funds to begin offering a comprehensive robotics program with classroom and extracurricular activities in engineering and coding.
The science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) grant also provides instruction and resources for a fifthgrade science unit in electrical circuits.
“(PC-TAG) supports families of students who are identified for gifted services, but they support lots of our innovative programming, and they often propose or look for ways to support our teachers in the classrooms doing any kind of innovative instructional practices,” said MIS principal Skip Moran. “Chris (Miller, HPMS principal) and I with Jean (Streepey, STEAM instructional coach for MIS and HPMS) were able to just do some brainstorming, work with some of our campus leadership, and really identify that engineering and robotics was an area where we wanted to think about what some programming with that would look like.”
Streepey said the grant funded the purchase of equipment – including the VEX IQ
LEFT: Highland Park Middle principal Chris Miller, 2020-2021 PC-TAG president Aparna Bohil, 2021-2022 president Amy Kovac, and MIS principal
Skip Moran. (PHOTO: TINA NETTLETON) RIGHT: HPISD provided robotics lessons to fifth-graders to gauge their interest in the topic. (PHOTO: LAURA STAGER)
robotics system for the fifth and sixth graders and V5 for the upper grades – and allows the campus to align more closely with what the high school offers.
“We’ll have all that equipment ordered over the summer so that when the school year starts up in August, we’ll begin introducing those robotics programs into our fifth and sixth-grade science classes, and hopefully maybe some after-school and extracurricular activities,” Moran said.
Miller said the middle school is adding at least two sections of engineering classes next school year.
“I think the partnership came together at a great time,” he said. “I think it really will build across MIS to the middle school, and even though this is strictly an MIS/middle school grant, the high school will feel the benefits of this, I believe.”
Streepey also hopes the program helps create an entry point for students in fiftheighth grades to pursue their interests in engineering and robotics.
“I think we are so lucky to have our fifththrough eighth-graders all in one building because they come in as young 10-yearolds and leave us ready for the high school,” she said. “And we can create a pathway for them that is vertically aligned so that when they have these experiences, and they love it, there’s a path for them to pursue those interests.”
CONGRATULATIONS, CLASS OF 2021!
