Preston Hollow People January 2020

FOCUSED ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, ART, MATH SECTION B

JANUARY 2020 VOLUME 16 NO. 1

“THE BEST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER IN TEXAS”

PRESTONHOLLOWPEOPLE.COM

I 

COME TOGETHER

A resilient, big-hearted community stepped up to help after October’s tornado, making neighbors after the storm our Persons of the Year Page 6

Thomas Jefferson High principal Sandi Massey and Dallas ISD trustee Edwin Flores celebrate a $1 million donation from the Dallas Cowboys and NFL Foundation.

COURTESY PHOTO

POSTAL CUSTOMER

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID DALLAS, TX PERMIT NO. 3210

COMMUNITY Wright map includes Gillin House 14

SPORTS Parish makes championship journey 28

LIVING WELL Volunteers run with the homeless 40

PrestonHollowPeople

January 2020 Vol. 16, No. 1 prestonhollowpeople.com   @phollowpeople  @peoplenewspapers

2 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

2020: FULL STEAM AHEAD

J

anuary’s issue comes with something new: a pullout section about the importance of and opportunities in STEM/ STEAM education.

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. Add an “A” for art, and you get STEAM. Some, I hear, add an “R” for reading and wRiting to get STREAM. If you are anywhere near my age bracket, you’re likely thinking, “Didn’t I have most of those classes in school?”

What’s different from my school days is the increasing emphasis on combining those subjects. Rather than teaching them separately, students apply the disciplines together to tackle problems. The art and writing can come in with the design elements.

STEAM instruction often emphasizes doing, making, solving problems, and learning from failures more than merely memorizing information.

According to livescience.com, the approach starts with the youngest students and helps teach computational thinking and attract underrepresented populations, including girls. Check Pages B10-11 for stories about area efforts to draw more girls into STEAM studies and careers.

Stories on Page B4 look at the challenges Dallas area industries and workers face without enough STEAM training and interest.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area, with the seventh-highest concentration of high-tech jobs in the U.S. — 252,650 – will need an increasing number of STEAM-trained workers to

meet the demands, according to the Dallas Regional Chamber.

Area universities, including SMU and UT Dallas, help W I L L I A M TAY LO R prepare teachers to apply STEAM approaches in grade school classrooms.

In 2019, I heard Marc Christensen, dean of the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering at SMU, speak to the Rotary Club of Park Cities about research to create imaging technology that could someday allow U.S. soldiers to see safely around corners as if using a mirror.

“We have, in a sense, turned science fiction into nonfiction,” he said.

That story is not in this issue, but one on Page B12 looks at how SMU, Dallas ISD, and Toyota USA Foundation will create in West Dallas a STEM campus meant to serve as a model for future schools.

We could have devoted the entire section to what SMU is doing, or UT Dallas is doing, or private and public schools are doing and still not had enough space.

Fortunately, we are planning on making STEAM a priority, so watch for more stories in the months ahead and another special section next January.

William Taylor, Editor william.taylor@peoplenewspapers.com

Contents Crime ............................ 4 News .............................. 6 Community ................. 14 Business ....................... 18 Sports .......................... 28 Schools ........................ 30 Society ......................... 36 Living Well................... 40 Classifieds .................... 43 STEAM ........... Section B

EDITORIAL Editor William Taylor Deputy Editor Bethany Erickson Deputy Editor Rachel Snyder Sports Editor Todd Jorgenson Production Manager Melanie Thornton

CORRECTION: The Nasher Prize Award Gala is scheduled for April 4. The wrong date was published in the November issue. Preston Hollow People regrets the error.

A DV E R T I S I N G

O P E R AT I O N S

Senior Account Executives Kim Hurmis Kate Martin

Distribution Manager Don Hancock

Account Executive Tana Hunter Client Services and Marketing Coordinator Kelly Duncan

Publisher: Patricia Martin

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Production Assistant Imani Chet Lytle Park Cities People is printed on recycled paper. Help us show love for the earth by recycling this newspaper and any magazines from the D family to which you subscribe.

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by CITY NEWSPAPERS LP, an affiliate of D Magazine Partners LP, 750 N. Saint Paul St., Suite 2100, Dallas, TX 75201. Copyright 2020. All rights reserved. No reproduction without permission. Submissions to the editor may be sent via e-mail to editor@ peoplenewspapers.com. Correspondence must include writer’s name and contact number. Main phone number, 214-739-2244

4 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Crime

SSKU KULLDDUUGGGE G ERRY IES of the M MOO NNTH TH

TIMELESS CAPER EXPENSIVE SELFIE At 12:58 p.m., Stoneshire Berkeley, which offices on Mockingbird Lane, reported a bad deal: a $9,000 watch taken for $100 on Nov. 12 at Preston Forest Square.

COME GET IT Does it get any easier for an auto thief than to find an unlocked target with the key While posing outside left inside?

Before of the Honor Bar1:44 in p.m.

Nov. 20, an opportunistic the Highland Park crook took a 56-year-old Village, a visitor in Rockwall woman’s ready-totownvehicle for a wedding steal from the 4600 put down her purseLane. block of Allencrest

to take a few selfies and sometime around DOG GONE IT! 10:30 p.m. Dec. 30 her Rather than adopting a pet $350a black wallet from shelter,Gucci or purchasing wasfrom stolen.

Thea culprit one a store, crook attempted take the stole a poochto, before 7:15 p.m.

Nov. 26 from credit cards for Petland a spin in Preston Forest Square. at Kroger and 7-Eleven, but both charges were STEALING rejected by the bank.

CHRISTMAS?

Reported at 6:07 p.m. Dec. 3, a porch pirate took a package waiting at the front door of a home in the 5200 block of Caladium Drive.

WANT TO READ WANT TO READ MORE CRIMES? MORE CRIMES? SIGN UP FOR SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY OUR WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER E-NEWSLETTER prestonhollowpeople.com/ prestonhollowpeople.com/ subscribe-to-our-newsletter/ subscribe-to-our-newsletter/

JUST CALL HIM ‘MR. POTATO HEAD’

Serial bank robber was bankrupt, leading double life

By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers

A

man described in his work biography as a proud churchgoer and volunteer with a long commercial real estate career led a double life as a serial bank robber, the Federal Bureau of Investigations alleged in court documents.

When John Thomas Rutledge, 55, was caught by law enforcement on Oct. 30, he reportedly confessed to committing six bank robberies, but the FBI said he might have committed as many as seven in three months.

The complaint against Rutledge named three banks he allegedly hit - Oakwood Bank at Preston Center on Sept. 30, Legacy Bank at Preston and Royal on Oct. 17, and Bank of America at Preston Center on Oct. 30.

He reportedly wore hats and fake beards to avoid recognition, earning him the moniker “Mr. Potato Head” from the FBI. “The defendant’s string of robberies was remarkable with respect to the elaborate degree of deception

Investigators say John Thomas Rutledge disguised himself. (PHOTOS COURTESY FBI) employed,” Rutledge’s detention order reads. “The defendant disguised his appearance with a beard and changed the license plates on his get-away vehicle to avoid detection.”

“The defendant effectively hid his conduct from his wife and close friends, who were shocked to learn the defendant apparently led a double life as a serial bank robber.”

While his real estate license, according to the Texas Real Estate Commission, is inactive, Rutledge was most recently a senior vice

president at Retail Solutions, and also spent lengthy tenures at Venture Commercial, the Weitzman Group, and Henry S. Miller.

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing on June 4 revealed Rutledge carried $425,308 in debt (including a quarter of a million to the North Texas Tollway Authority) and had also filed for bankruptcy in April 2018.

The complaint alleges that Rutledge approached Oakwood Bank wearing a baseball cap and fake beard, carrying a briefcase, and wearing a latex glove on one hand and a cloth or leather glove

on the other.

“The suspect handed the banker a brown plastic bag and told him something similar to ‘Fill it up. You know what to do,’” documents said. When handed the bag with a little more than $12,000 inside, Rutledge reportedly thanked the teller and then left on foot to a parking garage.

Security footage from the bank and parking garage pinpointed a black Cadillac Escalade and a possibly blurred license plate that didn’t match any Cadillac.

However, earlier that day, a Cadillac law enforcement said was similar to the one in the post-robbery video, also pulled into that exact spot. It was registered to Rutledge’s wife, Kelly, and further investigation linked Rutledge to the car. A tracker on the car led police to him on Oct. 30, shortly after he committed his last robbery, according to the indictment.

Rutledge has been held in the Kaufman County jail as a federal prisoner since Nov. 1. He was indicted on three counts of bank robbery on Nov. 20. He is represented by a public defender.

CRIME REPORTS NOV. 4 – DEC. 8 NOV. 4

Stolen before 8:57 pm.: an Irving man’s vehicle at NorthPark Center.

NOV. 7

Burglarized before 3:20 p.m.: a Collin Street Bakery vehicle at the Cooper Fitness Center on Preston Road.

Lane before 3:13 a.m. Reported at the same apartments at 3:47 a.m.: a gun-wielding bully threatened to kill a 42-year-old man.

NOV. 14

Not the best way to avoid buying something at NorthPark Center: A 38-year-old man left his wallet behind in his vehicle, but a thief took it before 5:49 p.m. and used the credit cards.

Vehicles on Thunder Drive didn’t fare so well overnight with one or more burglars choosing them as targets. Reported at 1:14 a.m. a smashed window and stolen property in the 4700 block.

Reported at 7:26 a.m.: stolen property in the 5000 block. Reported at 8:44 a.m.: a shattered window and stolen property in the 4900 block.

NOV. 13

NOV. 19

NOV. 9

As if sending a 28-year-old woman threatening messages wasn’t bad enough, the creep began pounding on her apartment door in the 5500 block of Harvest Hill

Where’s the Village People cop when you need him most? Before 10:35 a.m., a burglar broke into a vehicle at the Semones Family YMCA on Northaven Road.

Burglars struck there again before 4:13 p.m. Nov. 23, targeting two more vehicles.

NOV. 24

Reported at 8:33 a.m.: a crook took cash from a safe at Medical City Children’s Urgent Care location at Hillcrest Avenue and West Northwest Highway on Nov. 22 without doing damage or forcing entry.

NOV. 28

DEC. 2

Couldn’t get in? Reported at 11:35 a.m., a scoundrel damaged a door knob at a home in the 10000 block of St. Lazare Drive.

DEC. 4

Don’t forget your keys: Someone reported at 10:51 a.m. that their vehicle with the keys inside was taken from the 4900 block of Heatherbrook Drive.

DEC. 5

Before 12:36 a.m., a robber punched a 20-year-old man and then stole from him at a home in the 7000 block of Stefani Drive.

Reported at 9:54 a.m.: a thief removed roofing materials from a backyard in the 7100 block of Lavendale Avenue.

DEC. 1

DEC. 8

Before 7:40 p.m. near Boston Market at Forest Lane and Central Expressway, a bully punched and kicked an unemployed 36-yearold woman, causing her to bleed.

A man in the 10000 block of Bushire Drive reported at 2:07 p.m. that someone keeps sending text messages asking for money.

6 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

News

PERSONS OF THE YEAR: NEIGHBORS AFTER THE STORM A resilient community responds to tornado with generosity, caring

Area private schools took the opportunity to be of service to their neighbors, and athletes like Dirk Nowitzki and Clayton Kershaw visited first responders. (COURTESY PHOTOS)

By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers

W

hen an EF3 tornado hit North Dallas and tore through Preston Hollow on Oct. 20, it was neighbors and first responders who came running.

The assistance was practical – places to sleep, clearing debris, helping elementary schools forced to teach in a field house because their schools were damaged.

Dallas is a city full of extraordinary people, and we’ve honored many of them over the years as our Person of the Year. This year, we’re honoring those neighbors that stepped up to help.

For Dallas city council member Jennifer Gates, the resilience and the neighborly reactions from the community were a bright spot during the devastation.

“Witnessing neighbors helping neighbors immediately after the tornado was heartwarming. Instantly, neighbors were checking on each other and providing help and assistance,” she said. “I heard stories from taking neighbors in for overnight shelter to strangers providing rides when they found themselves stranded at demolished shopping centers and discovering their vehicles totaled.

‘In those first few days post-storm, I saw the best of people and the strength of

our community.”

One word was repeated often by city leaders when we asked about their impressions – resilient.

“Our community’s response to the Oct. 20 tornado proved once again that Dallas is a resilient city. Our first responders and city employees did a magnificent job in the aftermath,” said Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson.

“And when I toured the devastating damage, I was touched to see neighbors helping neighbors pick up saws to cut up downed trees, move personal belongings, put tarps over damaged roofs, and pick up the remains of destroyed businesses.”

Johnson toured much of the area just hours after the tornado hit with city council members, including Lee Kleinman and Gates, whose districts experienced a great deal of the impact.

“After the tornado had passed, we saw and continue to see tremendous resilience among the North Dallas community,” Kleinman said. “While the impact was disastrous, people reflected on the fact that no one was killed and just started getting their life back on track. This included finding a place to live, getting their property secured, making insurance claims, hiring contractors, and cleaning up.”

“The area is devastated. Many will be dis-

placed for over a year. Plans were severely disrupted,” he added. “Nevertheless, Dallas people see a problem and work the problem and are getting on with their lives.”

Instantly neighbors were checking on each other and providing help and assistance.

Jennifer Gates After Dallas ISD saw around 3,000 students displaced immediately after the storm, response came from the community with both practical help and contributions to fundraising efforts through the relief fund set up by the Dallas Education Foundation.

“Donations of volunteer hours, school supplies, gift cards and contributions to the Dallas Education Foundation Tornado Disaster Relief Effort has given everyone in Dallas ISD the strength and spirit to move forward, especially when we were overwhelmed with the scale of the impact,” said foundation executive director Mita Havlick.

“What we directly felt through all of this is that Dallas ISD and our students and schools are intertwined with this incredibly big-hearted and generous city.”

Private Schools Serve After Tornado

By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers

Even though many students and teachers at area private schools were personally affected by the Oct. 20 tornado, a strong commitment to public service brought them out to help neighbors in the aftermath.

The storm impacted about 50 Parish Episcopal School families. Still, head of school Dave Monaco said that didn’t stop them from coming to the aid of one of their partner Dallas ISD campuses, Cigarroa Elementary.

“As we offered support to our own families, we also recognized how significantly the Cigarroa community – where 90% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch – had been impacted,” he said.

Students and faculty not only worked to help ready Loos Athletic Complex to house three Dallas ISD elementary schools simultaneously but also delivered more than $6,000 in gift cards to impacted families through their partnership with the nonprofit United to Learn.

Episcopal School of Dallas and St. Marks students worked together to help clear yards and houses of debris, as well as transport valuables, in affected neighborhoods.

Greenhill students and teachers also helped prepare Loos Field House, and Good Shepherd Episcopal School made breakfast for neighbors affected by the tornado.

Ursuline social studies teacher Jeff Girard was unsurprised by the readiness of students to jump in and help – the word serve is in their motto, he said.

Girard, who volunteered at Dallas ISD’s Loos Field House after the tornado despite having damage to his own home, recalled one student who took food to relief workers.

“I know that many of our students and families, as well as our teachers, staff, and administrators, have been able to help families, friends, and neighbors in need,” said Ursuline principal Andrea Shurley. “I have never felt the force of Serviam as much as I have in these past few weeks.”

The Cambridge School of Dallas seniors, Nolan Runnels and Matthew Moner, cut tree limbs at nearby homes after the EF-3 tornado.

(COURTESY PHOTO)

8 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Tornado Came in Like a Wrecking Ball; Demolition Crews Go Next Except for a few shops, Preston Oaks center buildings expected to come down

By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers

A few weeks after the Oct. 20 tornado demolished their restaurant, the Preston-Royal team at Fish City Grill got together to reconnect and heal.

“Our team is doing better, getting settled at other locations, and they appreciate all your prayers and concerns,” the restaurant said on its Facebook page. “We are all looking forward to the day when we can reopen the restaurant and reconnect with the neighborhood.”

I really miss the people who work for me, and I miss the customers I’ve known since I was a kid.

Frank Nuccio It has been a common refrain among many of the shops and restaurants in the Preston Oaks Shopping Center, which occupies the southeast corner of Preston and Royal. When the EF3 tornado struck that night, it did some of its worst work on that corner, shearing off roofs, scattering parked cars, and crumbling walls.

“We have been told that the

TOP: Coworkers at Fish City Grill met to reconnect post tornado. RIGHT: The community left encouragement for Eatzi’s. (COURTESY PHOTOS) part of the building that we are in will be torn down and rebuilt,” said Fish City Grill CEO Bill Bayne. “It will take up to 12 months before the landlord will turn our space back over to us.”

“Hopefully, it will take about three more months after that to reopen,” he added.

Preston Oaks owner, Regency Centers, is now beginning the process of demolition and meeting with displaced tenants, said

company spokesman Eric Davidson.

“Right now, our focus is on coordinating with our tenants for the upcoming reconstruction work,” he said. “Unfortunately, much of the site has been destroyed due to the tornado damage and will have to be demolished.”

Except for McDonald’s, Central Market, and the building that houses White House Black

Market, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Neighborhood Services, and Viewpoint Bank, most of the

shopping center will be demolished and rebuilt, Davidson said. Demolition will likely start soon.

“There are still many steps we have to take, but we are working hard to make sure we are doing things safely and efficiently,” he added.

Marco’s Pizza owner Frank Nuccio, whose family has been at Preston and Royal for more than 50 years, said tenants expected– for the first time – to gain access to their decimated locations on Dec. 12, when their landlord would also meet with them to discuss next steps.

“There’s so much history in that shopping center, and it will suck to be closed for a year,” he said. “But hopefully, when we come back, I’ll have a way better location and more visibility, too.”

Nuccio said that he’s had lots of suggestions on potential temporary storefronts, but none have been ideal.

“I had dinner the other night with some customers who want me to do a pop-up store that’s open on Sundays,” he said. “I’ve got some options, but I really want to see what the shopping center says.”

“We’ve been a restaurant there for 57 years,” Nuccio said. “I really miss the people who work for me, and I miss the customers I’ve known since I was a kid. I’ve grown up seeing the same customers every week, and I really miss that.”

10 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Federal Funds May Not Flow as Expected Post Tornado Dallas ISD, insurers disagree over extent of damage to some campuses

Both the city of Dallas (inset) and Dallas ISD saw millions in tornado damage.

By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers

Dallas ISD administrators thought that insurance would cover all but the $2 million deductible to replace three schools heavily damaged by the Oct. 20 tornado. A recent school board briefing revealed that might not be the case.

And the news wasn’t much better for the city of Dallas, where the Federal Emergency Management Agency is only counting about $32.7 million of the estimated expenses, far below the $38.4 million threshold required for a presidential disaster declaration.

So far, city officials said the city has about $45 million in uninsured damage from the tornado, but only has an emergency reserve fund of $35 million. The city is still working on finishing cleanup and inspections of damages, and Gov. Greg Abbott asked FEMA to extend its deadline to Dec. 20.

City facilities such as the Walnut Hill Recreation Center and a fire station at Walnut Hill and Marsh lanes sustained substantial damage, and the firehouse at Preston and Royal was destroyed.

At its simplest explanation, FEMA funds would help offset uninsured costs.

Dallas has a $750,000 deductible.

That federal money will also come into play for Dallas ISD, too, which has three heavily damaged schools to replace – Walnut Hill Elementary, Cary Middle School, and Thomas Jefferson High School.

District officials are now expecting about $60 million to $70 million in insurance reimbursements, but rebuilding could top $100 million, officials told the school board on Dec. 5.

The district considers Thomas Jefferson and Walnut Hill as total losses. However, the insurance company so far is saying the two have “significant” damage, unlike Cary, which was a total loss and will remain

closed permanently.

“We will not get full replacement costs, so we’ll have to come up with some bond dollars, or fund balance, or some kind of reimbursing resolution like we did with the bridge fund,” Superintendent Michael Hinojosa told the board.

The rush is that this community was harmed significantly overnight, and building schools takes time.

Michael Hinojosa Officials said they want to have replacement schools open by August 2022, because the longer students are bussed further from their neighborhoods, the more likely the district will lose students to private and charter schools.

“The rush is that this community was harmed significantly overnight, and building schools takes time,” Hinojosa said. “If we don’t start now, we will be much further behind.”

Thomas Jefferson students relocated to the formerly empty Edison Learning Center in West Dallas, and Walnut Hill students are at Field Elementary.

The district is also looking at where to put Cary students, who are split between Medrano Middle School and Franklin Middle School.

One idea: turning five elementary schools in the Thomas Jefferson feeder pattern into Pre-K through sixth-grade schools, with Medrano Middle School serving seventh- and eighth-grade and KB Polk and Walnut Hill becoming Pre-K through eighth.

Watch for more about district plans for the three campuses moving forward at PrestonHollowPeople.com.

12 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Families of Two ‘Best Friends’ Sue NorthPark After Collision

Lawsuit seeks $1 million for each family, closure of mall parking lots for a year

By Bethany Erickson

“While NorthPark remains deeply saddened by this incident, NorthPark unequivocally denies all claims of wrongdoing asserted in the lawsuit. Beyond that, NorthPark cannot comment at this time on pending litigation.”

People Newspapers

Yu Luo and Shiguo Wang were, by most accounts, best friends.

Yu, a triathlete who competed in IronMan competitions, and Wang, a tech executive, found themselves at NorthPark Center one March evening when disaster, in the form of a speeding driver, struck.

The two had, according to their attorney, Marc Lenahan, headed to the mall to grab a bite to eat on March 11. They parked in the garage nearest Nordstrom.

As the two stepped off the curb to follow the crosswalk toward the other skywalk, Christopher Ryan Shaw, 29, reportedly struck them both with his Dodge Charger, killing the 42-year-old Yu who was thrown into a brick wall and gravely injuring the 41-year-old Wang who was launched over the edge of the garage, falling two flights.

Shaw, police reports said, had THC and amphetamines in his system at the time of the crash. He was also hospitalized for a time and is charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The suit not only alleges that

LEFT: Yu Luo (center left) and Shiguo Wang (center right) were hit by a car driven

by Christopher Shaw (above).

(COURTESY PHOTOS)

Shaw intended “to do a highspeed run from the ground floor of the parking garage, upwards ramp to ramp to ramp until he reached the open expanses of the rooftop where he would burn celebratory donuts,” but that NorthPark’s parking lots and structures have been long regarded as hot spots for “joyriding.”

“For at least the eight years preceding, other joyriding drifters had done the same,” the suit says.

“The NorthPark Defendants made no efforts to warn the best friends nor any of NorthPark’s guests that, when they stepped off of the curb,

they were walking onto a de facto race track. Grotesquely, the NorthPark Defendants intentionally hide this from their customers.”

Lenahan said he has been unable to get NorthPark representatives to meet with the families — Yu leaves behind a wife, child, and his father, and Wang has a wife and child — to discuss the situation.

“I have invited NorthPark’s representatives to meet with the families three times, three times before we filed this lawsuit,” he said. “And three times they said, ‘No’, and denied the request.”

“Had they accepted our request,

there would have never been a lawsuit,” he added.

Named in the suit are NorthPark, NorthPark Security, NorthPark Land Partners, and NorthPark Management. Shaw, who is awaiting trial on manslaughter and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges, is also named.

“NorthPark is in receipt of a lawsuit filed against it related to the tragic incident on March 11, 2019. Following the incident, NorthPark immediately began its investigation alongside legal counsel and local authorities,” the mall said in a provided statement.

The NorthPark Defendants made no efforts to warn the best friends nor any of NorthPark’s guests that, when they stepped off of the curb, they were walking onto a de facto race track.

A lawsuit against NorthPark Center The suit seeks at least $1 million for each family, as well as the closure of NorthPark’s parking lots for a year.

14 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Community

PRESTON HOLLOW HOME ON FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT MAP

Gillin House starred in ‘Bottle Rocket’ with Luke and Owen Wilson

By Bethany Erickson

homes, with 11,336 square feet of living space, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District records.

People Newspapers

F

or even the non-architecture buffs, the name Frank Lloyd Wright is a known commodity.

So it’s little surprise that HomeAdvisor looked to the venerated architect’s body of work and thought, “This should be mapped.”

“Frank Lloyd Wright sought not just to mold the architectural legacy of the U.S. but to change the very way Americans lived their lives,” HomeAdvisor said. “And he succeeded: Even if you’re not one of the few who are fortunate enough to call a Wright residence home, the influence of his staggeringly long and wide-ranging career is woven into the tapestry of American culture.”

So far, eight of Wright’s works are in the UNESCO World Heritage Site registry.

In Wright’s five-year career, he designed more than 1,000 buildings (including, it is rumored, a home for Stanley Marcus that didn’t meet with the retailer’s exacting tastes), with 532 being constructed — including the Kalita Humphreys Theater and the John A. Gillin residence at 9400 Rockbrook Drive.

The latter appears in the HomeAdvisors map of significant domestic Wright projects in 37 states.

“Wright’s Prairie and Usonian house designs changed the way we built our homes, and examples

The master architect was notoriously unafraid to blow his own trumpet, so we thought we’d follow his lead by exploring the sheer geographical reach of his genius.

HomeAdvisor

BOTTOM LEFT: A photo by G.E. Kidder Smith shows the John Gillin home shortly after it was built. RIGHT: The home featured prominently in the 1996 movie Bottle Rocket, starring Luke and Owen Wilson. (TOP COURTESY HOMEADVISOR, LEFT COURTESY MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, RIGHT COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES)

of his work can be seen in almost every state in the union,” the site said. “The master architect was notoriously unafraid to blow his own trumpet, so we thought we’d follow

his lead by exploring the sheer geographical reach of his genius.”

The John Gillin residence was built in 1958, seven years after Wright died, and eight years after

he designed it for Gillin, who was known as an oilman and geophysicist. Gillin commissioned the home, which was ultimately one of Wright’s largest single-story Usonian

A central hexagon provides the hub for three wings, with a large fireplace serving as the focal point, and the use of windows that would become the hallmark of Midcentury Modern design showcase the grounds, which overlook a creek.

In 1996, the home became almost another character in Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket, which starred Luke and Owen Wilson.

One might even argue that Dallas supplied three stars for the movie — the Wilson brothers and the Gillin residence, which was the home of the character Bob Mapplethorpe.

Rowdy, Real Reindeer, Bell Ringers, and a Christmas Cause The Salvation Army and NorthPark Center have joined forces for the past 35 years to brighten the holiday season for families in need.

The Black Friday kickoff event brings parents and children out the day after Thanksgiving to see real reindeer, Dallas Cowboys Mascot Rowdy, members of the Dallas

Cowboys Dance Team, and Santa Claus.

The event includes arts and crafts and music plus opportunities to participate in the Angel Tree Program, aimed at providing gifts to those in need.

A Salvation Army band and the Dallas Cowboys drumline also performed.

January 2020 15

2020: Perfect Vision

2020. It conjures up perfect vision. Wouldn’t that be nice in the new year?

Ye t for m a n y, the world seems strangely out of focus.

2020 will LEN BOURLAND be an unusual year. On Feb. 29, the ladies can do the romantic ask since it’s a Leap Year.

It’s an Olympic year with the summer games in Tokyo.

In the Chinese calendar, it’s the year of the Rat, specifically the White Metal Rat ( Just Google it.

I can’t explain). And for all of us, it’s drumroll… a Presidential Election Year as if anybody could forget that.

The number twenty signifies completion in numerology, but methinks double twenties mean volatility: in geopolitics, the weather, the stock market, and just everyday life. Stock up on Maalox.

Then here comes the Great Migration. Buckle up. It’s now not just Central America to the south; California is headed here. It seems “Go West young man” was heeded, and it got crowded for the manifest destiny folks. So many businesses are putting GTT on their doors like pioneers of old and are headed not only to Texas but specifically Dallas. Already, like Los Angeles, we’re becoming one big freeway. Will the Red State turn purple? Will Valleyspeak infect our Texas twang? Will the buckle of the Bible belt be replaced by sansabelt? Dunno. But since it’s New Year’s, let’s give everybody a big Texas “Howdy” and drawl on.

They’ll acclimate.

How much more “new normal” can you take?

I used to believe that the old French maxim, “the more things change, the more they remain the same.”

Now I’m not so sure.

On the upside, maybe in 2020, there will be significant scientific breakthroughs and more kindness as everybody sees the Mr. Rogers movie.

Maybe the Presidential Medal of Freedom will be awarded for the person(s) who stop robocalls.

Maybe there will be a nationwide one-day cellphone hack that causes all phones to lock up, and people will actually look up and look around.

But with all the alertness that comes from our January obsession with cutting back on food and drink and pumping iron, it’s an excellent time to clean out, throw out, reboot, and lighten up.

My 20/20 vision predicts change is coming.

Reach columnist Len Bourland at lenbourland@gmail.com.

16 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Preston Hollow Couple Brings the Music Home Salon concerts provide intimate setting for experiencing art

By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers

Some may have assumed that salon concerts, the 16th-century Italian invention that the French picked up and ran with, had gone the way of the powdered wig.

But Antony and Katherine Francis can attest: They’re still a terrific way to get an up-close and intimate vantage point for the arts.

The Preston Hollow couple have long been a part of the arts scene in Dallas. Antony Francis has been the chairman of the Blue Candlelight Music Series and is on the board of the Dallas Opera.

And not only do they host salons in their home, but they’ve also been known to convince friends and neighbors to do so as well.

The visceral impact is more apparent, there’s an exclusivity about it.

Grover Wilkins “It just happens the great room just lends itself perfectly for this type of event,” Antony said, estimating they’ve hosted eight concerts so far. “We’ve had typically 50 to 60 people in here.”

Recently, the two opened up their home for the Orchestra of New Spain’s salon concert featuring

Preston Hollow residents Antony and Katherine Francis routinely host salons. (COURTESY PHOTOS)

the Julius Quartet, an award-winning New England chamber music ensemble and winners of the 2017 Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at SMU Meadows School of

the Arts. It is comprised of violinists Hyun Jeong Helen Lee and David Do, violist John Batchelder, and cellist Brooke Scholl.

Perched on a landing above a

three-step staircase that looked as if it was built precisely to serve occasionally as a small stage, the quartet played to an audience seated in the home’s spacious great room.

“Antony Francis’ home is a perfect space for the occasion,” said ONS artistic director Grover Wilkins.

Wilkins is also a fan of the salon concept, saying that his first experience years ago was “life changing.”

Many find that the intimate setting of a private home can even make familiar pieces seem new, he said. “The visceral impact is more apparent, there’s an exclusivity about it.”

With that love of hosting musical events, you’d think the Francises purchased their 1975 modern home expressly for that purpose, but Antony demurred.

“We picked it because when you walk into this room from the main door, you look through the house (and) there’s a bank of windows that look out over the backyard and the creek and the pool, and it’s just a fabulous view out there,” he explained.

Drinks with Dallas Opera general director Ian Derrer one night, however, started the Francises on their journey to frequent salon hosts.

“He looked around the house and said, ‘Wow, do you think we could do an event here?’” Antony Francis recalled. “And I said sure – I didn’t think twice.”

And ever since, they’ve hosted all manner of musical events.

“We love having people here, and the house lends itself to that,” he added. “And, you know, if it’s not every week, that’s fine.

There’s always a little bit of disruption when you do this because you move the furniture around depending on where you can put the singers or the players. But other than that, I just love it.”

18 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Business

BUCKNER GIVES RETIREES A TASTE OF HIGH-RISE LIVING Ventana aims to set new standards in senior accommodations

Tanika Turner

People Newspaper Bitsy Kirk sat at a table in Ventana by Buckner’s café-style dining area, looking out the window while waiting for her to-go order.

She moved into the retirement community in September 2019, and she most enjoys the spectacular view from her 12th-floor apartment.

“It’s like living in a hotel,” Kirk said. “I love hotels.”

Ventana, as part of a 10-year plan by Buckner Retirement, broke ground on April 20, 2017, and its first members moved in on Aug. 19, 2019.

The 12-story creation has enough glass windows, or ventañas as they say in Spanish, to cover the area of three football fields.

“We are setting a new standard of living for seniors in America,” said Chuck Childress, executive director of Ventana by Buckner.

To that end, Ventana has paired up with top brands. Master chef Stephan Pyles provides culinary consultation while Cooper Clinic and Baylor Scott & White deliver world-class medical care and guidance.

It’s like living in a hotel. I love hotels.

Bitsy Kirk Ventana connected with Cooper Aerobics for its health and wellness program to improve the quality and quantity of life. Drs. Kenneth and

The $136 million Ventana by Buckner continuing care retirement living community includes two highrise towers, an onsite health center, three dining areas, a wellness center with heated indoor pool, a multipurpose Grand Hall, salon and spa, roof garden terrace, outdoor lounges, patio grilling area, and underground parking.

(PHOTOS COURTESY BUCKNER)

Tyler Cooper have created a plan that is a duplicate of the work they perform at the Cooper Center to teach members about the value of exercise.

“They can reverse or slow down the aging process,” Cooper said.

“They have the ability to get healthier as they grow older if they follow the guidelines.”

With the help of Elizabeth Niksich, director of wellness for VentanaFit, residents can take advantage of personalized workout plans. Using a personal key fob, members can view data specially programmed for them for a custom workout. The gym connects their medical care with their personal fitness goals.

The luxury living community provides a continuum of care for its members with a mix of options: independent living units, assisted living units, nursing units, and memory care units.

For those who require medical assistance, Ventana is collaborating with Baylor Scott & White Health. Along with a medical director, BSW also offers coordination of care and provides a fulltime chaplain who will serve a wide range of traditions and fellowship to meet the spiritual needs of Ventana members.

From the dining rooms to the gym, the attention to detail is apparent. With amenities such as valet parking, spacious common areas, indoor pools, movie theaters, and more, Buckner officials expect there will always be things to keep Ventana members entertained.

20 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Snider Plaza Antiques Owners Retire After Three Decades Woodcooks consider future of store building, possibility of online business

By Rachel Snyder

“The community really embraced us,” Martha said. “We’ve had great (customers).”

Over the years, such celebrities as Don Henley, Meredith Baxter, Cloris Leachman, Greer Garson, and Mickey Rooney visited the shop, according to a Dallas Morning News article from 2012.

People Newspapers readers picked Snider Plaza Antiques as their favorite antique mall during the 2018 People Choice award voting.

Martha Woodcook said she and Allan decided to retire to have more time to do things like travel and visit family and friends out of state.

“The (shop) keeps us so busy,” Martha said.

Melanie Keltner has worked in a doctor’s office in Snider Plaza for 15 years and said she was sad to hear of the couple’s retirement.

“Everyone seemed to know them…

Their son babysat for my kids … they’re very kind people,” Keltner said. “I was surprised and saddened to hear that they’re retiring. They’ve always been there.”

Martha said she and her husband are contemplating an online store but haven’t made a decision about it yet. She also wasn’t able to talk about the future of the building the shop was housed in as of press time but said she should know about that early in 2020.

People Newspapers

Allan and Martha Woodcook of Snider Plaza Antiques have been a fixture of the business community in University Park for more than 30 years.

They retired from the shop at 6929 Snider Plaza the week of Nov. 25, but shoppers can still enjoy offerings from the more than 20 dealers. They have everything from English, French, Italian, and Asian antiques to art, books, jewelry, clocks, and more.

I was surprised and saddened to hear that they’re retiring.

They’ve always been there.

Melanie Keltner The Woodcooks, who were longtime Park Cities residents before moving to Dallas in recent years, opened Park Cities Postal Center in 1986 in Snider Plaza before they got into the antiques business in 1989 in the location at 6929 Snider Plaza.

Allan, who was also in the home building business, said they sold the postal center about three years ago.

Martha and Allan Woodcook retired from Snider Plaza Antiques. (COURTESY PHOTOS)

Common Unknown REASONS Why People Fall Or Have Balance Problems. It’s Never Because Of Age... There’s Always A REASON! – Now What To Do About It?

By Leading Balance Expert, Dr. Jeffrey Guild, Physical Therapist Are you worried about losing independence because of falls? Are you seeing your friends around you falling and losing their independence? Are you becoming increasingly frustrated with your doctors and kids telling you not to fall (Ok… How?). Here are some common unknown reasons why people fall, and a SOLUTION to prevent it from happening.

1: Vertigo/Inner Ear Balance Problems: Problems with vertigo and dizziness are symptoms that put older people at fall risk. These symptoms are so common that 1/3rd of people over the age of 70 and 50% of people over the age of 85 are experiencing dizziness and/or vertigo right now!

These conditions are usually very treatable!

2. The Legs Losing Perception Of Where They Are (Proprioceptive Loss): As a balance specialist I see this problem ALL THE TIME. This is a problem that largely goes unrecognized & people have no idea it’s happening to them. I often see this when people are falling or having balance problems for what seems like NO APPARENT REASON. This is simple to find out and there are ways around the problem.

3. Walking Slowly & Furniture Walking: Walking slower makes older people

less balanced, but this is a common strategy to falls and balance problems. Touching furniture and walls while walking is a sign that something is wrong and immediate action is needed to prevent this from becoming a fall! Want more information & solutions? My new special report provides Actionable Tips that will help you keep or regain your independence. And the best thing is it’s 100% FREE, and you’re under no-obligation to buy anything when you call.

IMPORTANT: For obvious reasons, my offer to send you this report FREE must come with a restriction on the number I can mail out… so it’s critical that you call TODAY and request your free report now. What To Do Next?

Call: (214) 712-8242 (Leave a Message 24/7) & Choose: • Option 1: Have your FREE Report mailed or emailed to you • Option 2: Free Report + FREE Balance/Fall Screen Or Discovery Visit Author Dr. Jeffrey Guild, Physical Therapist is owner of Optimove Physical Therapy & Wellness.

You can contact him at (214) 712 – 8242 or email at J.Guild@OptimoveDFW.com

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prestonhollowpeople.com | January 2020 25

Comings and Goings COMING

Saturday and Sunday and Monday appointments are available.

Audemars Piguet

Lela Rose

Highland Park Village The luxury Swiss watch manufacturer plans to open in early 2020.

NOW OPEN

Highland Park Village The luxury clothing store recently opened a bridal boutique next to their ready-towear boutique.

Away

Pilates By Nature

3109 Knox Street The pop-up shop the luggage manufacturer opened will stick around until Jan. 5, offering a variety of travel products from 11 a.m.8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays. Plans are in the works for a permanent store to open in the same space in early 2020. Visit awaytravel.com.

CYL SAUNA

2222 McKinney Avenue, suite 160 The exercise studio offers contemporary and suspension method Pilates classes, infrared saunas for 10-to-45 minute increments, chromotherapy lights, cold brew coffee, and kombucha on tap.

(COURTESY PHOTOS)

Sinai Urgent Care

CYL Sauna

5500 Greenville Ave. No. 214 Park Cities residents Lyle Scovell and Tory Foster opened the luxury infrared sauna studio, which offers clients individual infrared sauna pods for 30-minute sessions.

Goyard

Highland Park Village The luxury French trunk and leather goods maker’s rare Dallas storefront is one of only 32 boutiques in the world and six in the U.S. The store features vintage furniture and rare pieces from the Goyard Heritage collection in marble and mahogany, as well as three salons, including a collection of luggage,

AWAY handbags, and small leather goods, as well as pet accessories from the Chic du Chien range and their unique hand-painted personalization.

Hopemore Specialty Spa

1603 Commerce St. The spa, which offers facials, dermaplaning, LED light therapy, makeup application,

HOPEMORE SPECIALTY SPA and a suite of specialty services for those with skin conditions, recently opened in the sixth-floor salon area of Neiman Marcus’ downtown Dallas flagship store.

The spa also offers services for clients undergoing cancer treatment, including oncology facials, scalp treatments, hand treatments, and wig services. Spa hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

3414 Milton Avenue The clinic, the third in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. The facility takes walk-in patients and offers online booking.

The clinic has X-ray imaging equipment and an on-site laboratory equipped to provide physicals, immunizations, occupational medicine, and other services.

Venture X

8350 North Central Expressway, Suite 1900 The 24,000-square-foot coworking space opened by Park Cities residents Casi and Jason Bowers offers private offices, a community lounge space with a café, podcast, webcast, and green-screen rooms, meeting rooms, and event space.

26 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

HOUSE OF THE MONTH 6729 Aberdeen Avenue

T

his meticulously maintained and updated five-bedroom, 5.2-bathroom Preston Hollow home, built by Rosewood Custom Builders, has all the bells and whistles. Enter and find an open layout with a private office, formal living room, formal dining room, and entrance to the

PHOTOS COURTESY ROGERS HEALY

grand master bedroom. The updated kitchen opens up to a breakfast nook, a casual living area, and a guest suite. Upstairs find three spacious bedrooms with updated en-suite bathrooms, office nook, media room, and game room. Step outside to an entertainer’s paradise with a covered patio, pool, and spa.

28 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Sports

PANTHER PRIDE: SUCCESS DIDN’T COME EASY FOR STATE CHAMPION PARISH Brotherhood of teammates completed journey ‘three years in the making’

By Todd Jorgenson People Newspapers

P

arish Episcopal reached the top of the Texas private-school football ranks this season with a TAPPS Division I state championship.

The Panthers’ decisive 42-14 victory over Plano John Paul II in the Dec. 6 title game in Waco capped an ascent to the summit that began when Parish joined the largest TAPPS classification in 2017.

“This has been three years in the making,” said Parish quarterback Preston Stone.

“The core group of guys we’ve had these past three years, it’s a brotherhood. It’s a lot easier to work hard toward a common goal when you’re playing with your best friends every day.”

In the championship game, Stone rushed for three touchdowns and threw for another, leading the Panthers past the Cardinals for the second time this season.

“He’s done it all year. He’s the No. 1 quarterback in the country for a reason,”

said Parish head coach Daniel Novakov.

“We let him run a little bit more, which I think surprised them.”

It’s a lot easier to work hard toward a common goal when you’re playing with your best friends every day.

Preston Stone Stone, one of the leading quarterback recruits in the country among juniors, proved his dual-threat ability with 146 rushing yards on 17 carries. He also passed for 151 yards in windy conditions as the Panthers rallied from an early deficit and pulled away in the second half.

Christian Benson racked up 187 all-purpose yards and scored twice. And the Parish defense shut out JPII in the second half.

In 2017, Parish owned a history of success

The Panthers won a state championship with a victory over Plano John Paul II in Waco. See more photos online. (PHOTO CHRIS MCGATHEY)

— including state championships in 2010 and 2014 — but little pedigree against the big boys. Two years later, the Panthers improved from five wins to 12 and swept every rival in perhaps the most difficult TAPPS district in the state.

“I don’t think a lot of people realize how hard of a job this was, not just for me, but for a lot of people,” Novakov said. “[The school administration committed] to building this program the right way when we moved up.

Without that support, none of this would be possible.”

Stone finished the season with more than 4,000 yards of total offense. And he’ll return next year, along with Benson, to help the Panthers defend their crown.

2 0 1 9 R E S U LT S Final record: 12-1 Sept. 5 TC-Cedar Hill

W, 33-27 (OT)

Sept. 13 Tyler Grace

W, 49-0

Sept. 20 FW All Saints

L, 24-17

Sept. 27 Trinity Christian W, 41-3 Oct. 4

FW Christian

W, 57-12

Oct. 11 Bishop Dunne

W, 37-14

Oct. 18 Bishop Lynch

W, 54-14

Oct. 25 Plano Prestonwood W, 44-19 Nov. 1

Plano John Paul II

W, 47-7

Nov. 8 SA Cornerstone

W, 40-0

Nov. 23 Midland Christian

W, 44-6

Nov. 30 Houston St. Thomas W, 41-21 Dec. 6 John Paul II

W, 42-14

Greenhill Girls Make Historic Run at SPC Meet

Five runners place in top 12 as St. Mark’s boys earn first team title

By Todd Jorgenson People Newspapers

It had been more than three decades since the Greenhill girls were faster on grass than any of their SPC rivals.

The Hornets won the conference title in girls cross country for the first time since 1985 during the SPC fall championship meet in suburban Houston, led by a gold-medal performance from Maddie Hatfield.

The senior, who has signed to run in college at East Carolina, completed the 5-kilometer course at Spring Creek Park in Tomball in a time of 18 minutes, 54 seconds. She was the only runner among the 110 starters to break 19 minutes.

Hatfield’s teammate, Kaiti Ness, placed fifth individually, while

Greenhill Girls celebrate a SPC cross country title. (COURTESY PHOTO) sophomores Kendall Hashimoto and Ella Dzialowski also ran in the top 20.

Greenhill has won several SPC championships in track and field, most recently in 2016,

but has never taken home the cross country trophy until this year.

Hatfield was the individual runner-up a year ago, and Ness placed second the year before, but the Hornets finished third as a team both times.

The Greenhill runners continued their momentum at a Nike regional meet a couple of weeks later, with Hashimoto placing fifth and Dzialowski finishing 13th in the girls “rising stars” division.

In boys action, St. Mark’s earned its first team title in 2013 by placing five runners in the top 12, led by senior twins Pablo and Andres Arroyo. They came in third and fourth individually, while teammates Sahil Dodda, Tyler Nussbaumer, and Julian Ivarra claimed places 10-12.

That depth allowed the Lions to surpass Houston St. John’s easily and defending champion Austin St. Stephen’s in the team standings.

Also, at the conference’s fall championship meet, defending champion St. Mark’s fell to Fort Worth Trinity Valley in a seesaw five-set thriller in the boys volleyball championship game. The Lions swept rival Greenhill to reach the title match.

In the girls volleyball bracket, ESD advanced to the championship match in a bid for its first crown since 2007 but was swept by Bellaire Episcopal.

Looking ahead, the Dallas schools will host this year’s winter championship meet on Feb. 13-15, with competition in basketball, soccer, wrestling, and swimming.

30 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Schools

HOW SAFE ARE SCHOOLS DURING A TORNADO?

New and remodeled buildings must have secure shelters

By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers

A

fter seeing the heart-stopping damage inflicted on three Dallas ISD schools after October’s EF3 tornado, many wondered: What has been done to make schools safer in the event of severe weather?

Dallas ISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa told reporters that city code requires storm shelters, however, so the district’s newest buildings and newest remodeling projects do have safe spaces for students and staff.

The whole building can be a loss, but the shelter is safe.

John Hoenig “It’s actually driven up the costs of our new schools,” he said. “So if you notice, in a lot of our buildings that we’re remodeling or our new buildings, they have a big space – whether it’s a big cafetorium, auditorium, gym – and it has to meet city specifications for storm shelter requirements.”

But how secure are these shelters?

“The whole building can be a loss, but the shelter is safe,” said engineer John Hoenig, partner and chief operating officer of the engineering firm JP Engineering, which participated in the construction of several Dallas ISD schools.

Complete destruction of engineered and/or well-constructed residence; slab swept clean.

(165-220 mph)

All walls collapsed.

(142-198 mph)

Most walls collapse except small interior rooms.

(127-178 mph)

Entire house shifts off foundation, and/or large sections of roof structure removed; most walls remain standing.

(103-142 mph)

Broken glass in doors and windows, uplift of roof deck and significant loss of roof covering (>20%), collapse of chimneys and garage doors.

(79-116 mph)

Loss of roof covering material (<20%), gutters, and/or awnings; loss of vinyl or metal siding.

(62-97 mph)

Figure A2-1. Typical tornado damage descriptions to one-and two-family dwellings and their corresponding intensity according to the EF Scale. Wind speeds are estimated 3-second gusts. (SOURCE NOAA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, STORM PREDICTION CENTER, WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV/EFSCALE.HTML)

Figure A4-5. Interior operated safe room shutters in multi-purpose classroom/safe room. Image on left is normal usage; image on right shows shutters in ‘lock down’ position where they are closed and latched.

Hoenig and his colleague Jessica Simon explained that Dallas code requires building storm shelters

to withstand 250-mile-per-hour winds. An EF3 tornado like the one that struck the three schools

has a typical wind speed between 136 mph to 165 mph.

Less than 5 percent are an EF3

or above, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said. Thanks to the codes, the structures can stand up to the higher winds.

“The wind loads are five to seven times higher than the rest of the building,” Simon explained.

Hoenig said that he has a 10-year-old child and feels that the shelters built in new schools and school renovations are incredibly safe.

If a tornado hit, “there is no place I’d rather them be than in a school storm shelter,” he said.

The shelters, usually built out of reinforced concrete, have stronger connections between the walls, roof, and foundation, and have shorter roof spans. Many have emergency power to help with ventilation, as well as possible natural ventilation systems with baffling chambers to shield intake ducts from debris. Walls, windows, and doors must meet requirements for resisting flying debris.

They’re located in areas of the school that will allow for the highest degree of protection – usually in the interior and lowest part of the school with minimal glass – that is easily reachable by most students and staff.

Dallas ISD has additional requirements to make sure its shelters are even safer, Hoenig said.

“Dallas ISD actually has gone above and beyond what code requires,” he said, including provisions that require a control room with manuals that would allow someone to be able to operate it in the event of an emergency.

prestonhollowpeople.com | January 2020 31

Dallas ISD Honors Campus Teachers of the Year

K.B. Polk Center: Alissa Anne Rasmussen and Kourtnei Billups

Walnut Hill Elementary: Alejandra Ramos Gomez and Phillip Potter

Dallas ISD celebrated exemplary teachers at Frontiers of Flight.

Exemplary Dallas ISD teachers from each of the district’s 230 campuses were honored in the fall during a recognition ceremony at Frontiers of Flight Museum.

The teachers named as Campus Teachers of the Year were chosen by the personnel at their schools, the district said in a press release, and a new rule required that the teacher of the year couldn’t win if they had won in the past three years.

Each winner received a medal to commemorate the honor and is now eligible to apply for the Dallas ISD Teacher of the Year award, where one elementary teacher and one secondary teacher will win district-wide honors.

(PHOTOS COURTESY DISD)

Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa referenced the impact teachers had after the Oct. 20 tornadoes when congratulating the teachers.

“We do a great job for these students, and that’s why I am so proud of you,” he said. “We’re honored to be here with you.”

Among those honored was Joy Nzeadibe, a 23-year Dallas ISD veteran who teaches preschool children with disabilities at Pershing Elementary, which saw damage from the tornado. Pershing’s students learned at Alfred J. Loos fieldhouse for four days following the storm.

“It’s important that we recognize publicly

Preston Hollow Elementary: Marina Orozco Medina and Vincent Garcia

Sudie Williams Talented and Gifted Academy: Elizabeth Holguin and Michael Jackson

those people that work hard to provide the best educational opportunities,” her principal, Lourdes Morales, said. “That motivates other people to work hard and contribute with everything that they have.”

Nzeadibe said joy and kindness drive her teaching.

“I put in the kind of effort, with joy, with singing, dancing, all the way. And the children recognize that they can learn by what I do,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who you are.

You can learn. I believe that every child is able to learn. But you have to put love into it, and gradually they’re going to start picking it up.”

Other Preston Hollow-area teachers honored include: Pamela Moschioni with Dealey Montessori, Natalie Sharp with Kramer Elementary, Alissa Rasmussen with K.B. Polk Center for Academically Talented and Gifted, Marina Medina with Preston Hollow Elementary, Alejandra Gomez with Walnut Hill Elementary, Elizabeth Holguin with Sudie Williams Talented and Gifted Academy, Rickey Townsend with Franklin Middle School, Joseph Bruno with Longfellow Career Exploration Academy, Karina Sotomayor with Hillcrest High School, and Michelle Pierce with W.T. White High School.

– Staff report

32 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Skilled Programmer Gets Lessons in Entrepreneurship

With Studiously, St. Mark’s student looks to revolutionize how people study

By Mitch Gruen

Special Contributor Sahitya Senapathy is not your average high school senior. He’s got programming chops and an entrepreneurial spirit, and he wants to change how we learn.

The 17-year-old Senapathy started an edtech company in his spare time as a student at St. Marks School of Texas.

His AI-driven study platform, dubbed Studiously, aims to promote understanding over memorization by guiding students through targeted study sessions that cater to an individual student’s needs. Studiously can even analyze photos of difficult homework and automatically generate additional problems that help students solidify their understanding. As Senapathy puts it, he’s “doing for education what Google maps has done for driving.”

When I first started, I was really focused on how technology could better learning.

Sahitya Senapathy Senapathy was inspired by problems he encountered as he navigated the perilous world of high school education. During his junior year, he noticed a shift in the curriculum that made high levels of deep understanding more important than they had been in prior years. The days of being able to score straight-A’s by pounding facts into your head with flashcards began to fade. Though flashcard apps like Quizlet worked fine for learning the state capitals and cell organelles,

Sahitya Senapathy created an app to help with more advanced studying. (COURTESY PHOTOS) higher-level subjects that required synthesis and critical thinking were not well suited to the classic flashcard format.

Taking matters into his own hands, Senapathy began researching the psychology of learning and brainstorming alternatives to

tried-and-true studying techniques.

As any inventor or entrepreneur will tell you, coming up with an idea is the easy part.

All of the value (and all of the difficulty) lies in the execution. To turn his idea into a saleable product, Senapathy had to teach himself business skills, learn the process of working with investors, and research how technology affects individuals. He already had impressive coding skills — he won a $5,000 grant from the U.S. Army for a mobile application he worked on in the sixth-grade — but AI was a new area for him, and he had to selfteach in that realm as well.

His hard work paid off in spades when, earlier this year, Senapathy took home first prize in the i.Invest National Youth Business Competition. Now seeking outside funding for the app, Senapathy has had to learn to see things from the perspective of investors.

“When I first started, I was really focused on how technology could better learning.

But when it comes down to funding, entrepreneurs should be able to communicate the product in a way that anyone can understand regardless of how complex the technology is,” he said.

Senapathy hopes to have Studiously ready for a public release next year.

The platform is in its beta testing stage, where in an initial trial, 96% of students surveyed preferred Studiously over Quizlet.

Senapathy thinks that the benefits of Studiously could extend beyond the high school classroom and imagines a world where it is used in elementary schools, colleges, and corporate environments. He plans to attend college in the fall, and though he hasn’t decided on a school, he hopes to share the benefits of Studiously with his college classmates.

34 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

SPECIAL ADVERTISING CONTENT WESLEY PREP

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URSULINE ACADEMY

Portrait of an Ursuline Graduate

An Ursuline graduate Is a woman of faith and reflection. She embodies Serviam by using her gifts to learn from and serve others. She appreciates multiple perspectives and celebrates the uniqueness of all locally and globally. She encourages and exemplifies integrity and resiliency. She is a lifelong learner who engages with others ethically, critically, and empathetically. She is an independent, innovative thinker who instigates and embraces change. She strives to build a strong sense of community.

Join us at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, an all-girls Catholic college preparatory school for grades 9-12. For more information contact the Office of Admission at 469-232-1800 www.ursulinedallas.org.

Students and faculty gathered in the main quad on Dec. 2 for a celebration of lights. (PHOTO COURTESY SMU) ensemble of theology and sacred music students, and the Perkins community in a program of Christmas music during the last chapel service of the fall semester.

Difference-Making Scientist

A December to Remember

SMU marked the Christmas season with multiple events in early December.

Students and faculty filled the main quad on Dec. 2 for a celebration of lights sponsored by the Student Foundation and supported by the Student Senate and the Michael F. Miller Endowment.

SMU President R. Gerald Turner read the Christmas story and participants enjoyed hot chocolate, cookies, and carols at the lighting of the campus Christmas tree.

Three days later, another celebration marked three milestones: the 60th anniversary of Perkins’ Master of Sacred Music program, the 80th anniversary of the Seminary Singers, and the 60th anniversary of the Advent service itself.

“This legacy revolves around the idea of a community gathered to ‘await together’ the coming of the one who is Emmanuel,” said Marcell Silva Steuernagel, assistant professor of church music and director of the sacred music program at Perkins. “As we wait, we sing our expectation together.”

The Advent service was instituted in 1959 by professors Grady Hardin and Lloyd Pfautsch and is closely tied to the development of Perkins’ Master of Sacred Music Program. A forerunner to this tradition was established in 1948 when Perkins professor Fred Gealy led the Seminary Singers, a non-auditioned

the ingenuity, commitment, and perseverance of the fastest-growing, privately-held entrepreneurial businesses in the Dallas area.

HTS was started at Rome’s kitchen table seven years ago. He now oversees five offices throughout Texas.

“We are a company founded on the philosophy of caring about all the people with whom we work, a value I learned from one of my professors while at SMU,” Rome said.

Arts Center Renovation

Fossils found by paleontologist Myria Perez are on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. (COURTESY PHOTO) SMU paleontology graduate Myria Perez was one of 125 women across the country selected to be an AAAS IF/THEN ambassador.

As an IF/THEN ambassador, the goal is to tell their stories and serve as a role model for girls to encourage women involved in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Read more about the program on Page B10. “ We firmly believe that if we support a woman in STEM, then she can change the world,” said Lyda Hill, founder of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

Perez, now a fossil preparator at the Perot Museum, worked with paleontologist Louis Jacobs and others to unearth never-before-seen fossils from Angola. View them at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

A $34 million renovation of the Owen Arts Center will improve academic spaces in the north wing for visual arts, art history, and creative computation.

With three interconnected buildings, the 25,000-squarefoot Owens Center is the largest academic building on the SMU campus.

With a $1.8 million-dollar gift, former SMU parent G. Marlyne Sexton hopes to encourage others to contribute to help raise the remaining amount needed to revitalize the art hub.

“The improvements will serve as a catalyst for Meadows (School of Arts) to attract the next generation of talented and diverse visual artists, art historians, and multidisciplinary creatives and draw scholars and visitors from across the region and around the world,” SMU President R. Gerald Turner said. Visit smu.edu/TransformOwenArts.

– Compiled by Tanika Turner

SMU Cox Dallas 100

Preston Hollow resident and SMU graduate Trey Rome, founder and CEO of Home Tax Solutions (HTS), accepted an award from the Cox School’s Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship as one of SMU’s Dallas 100.

The 29th-annual awards honored

Trey Rome

36 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Society

PARTY LIKE IT’S 1661 Dallas couple attends fundraiser at historic French chateau

FROM LEFT: John and Susan Cox, Alexandre de Vogüé, and Sophie and Eric Le Calvez. Susan Cox shares an interest in pottery with the Le Calvezes, who live in London but own Bourg-Joly Malicorne, a faiencerie in France that dates back to the late 1600s. Much like an infamous 1961 party at the Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, a recent dinner featured fireworks. (COURTESY PHOTOS)

By Susan Cox

Special Contributor

I

magine thousands of flickering candles, a grand piano accompanying four talented vocalists, and a perfect dinner paired with flowing, fine red and white Bordeaux wines.

The French Room in Dallas? Non. Count Patrice and Countess de Vogüé hosted the Oct. 20 affair with fireworks set to music at the 17th-century French Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, an architectural jewel built as the home of Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV’s superintendent of finances.

Fouquet was said to have given painter-decorator Charles Le Brun, landscape architect Andre Le Notre, and architect Louis Le Vau a free hand and unlimited funds with only one requirement: Build something beautiful and never before seen.

In 1661, as completion of Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte was nearing, Fouquet hosted a soirée in honor of Louis XIV. The party and fireworks display meant to honor Louis must have surpassed the splendor of even the king’s parties.

Jealous of Fouquet and desiring his position in the Court, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, convinced the king that Fouquet was stealing from the treasury.

With Fouquet imprisoned, work ceased, leaving portions of the chateau and grounds unfinished. The vaulted ceiling of the salon was never painted according to Le Brun’s original design.

Louis XIV confiscated specially-designed and commissioned tapestries, statues, and orange trees and commissioned Le Notre, Le Vau, and Le Brun to begin working on a palace fit for a king at Versailles.

Vaux-le-Vicomte eventually passed

from the widow Fouquet to two more owners, then fell into neglect for 30 years.

In 1875, Alfred Sommier, a patron of the arts and great grandfather of Count Patrice de Vogüé, purchased it at public auction and spent lavishly to bring the chateau back to life.

The three sons of Count Patrice and Countess de Vogüé – Alexandre, JeanCharles, and Ascanio – are the fifth generation of their family to oversee the estate.

A year or so ago, my husband and I attended a talk given by Alexandre at the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, and Alexandre and I have stayed in contact since then. He will return to Dallas this spring.

This inaugural fundraiser dinner drew 140 guests coming from France, the U.S., Canada, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Funds raised from this and subsequent

dinners will go toward the restoration and decoration of the elliptical ceiling in the salon. The original drawing for the salon’s ceiling by the master decorator Le Brun is in the chateau archives and will be followed to complete Le Brun’s vision.

The October evening at Vaux-le-Vicomte may have approached the elegance, splendor, and magic of Fouquet’s soirée.

As divine and memorable as that evening was, one can only imagine that this inaugural event will become a much-anticipated annual event for many years to come.

Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, near Paris, is undoubtedly one of the jewels in the crown of La Belle France, and its splendor should be preserved for many generations.

Susan Cox, who lived in the Park Cities for 28 years before moving to Preston Hollow, has visited Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte several times and considers it her favorite.

38 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

NAUGHTY OR NICE DIFFA WREATH COLLECTION

Reed Robinson and TJ Griffin

By Char McGaughy

Adrian Mercado and Quenton McClure

Miguel Atkins and Aaron Easley

Chris Decker and Austin Ralph

Jenny Figy, Morgan Heinrich, Regan Cole, and Tina Jeppesen

Rhiannon Bolen and Carolyn Fountain

Kathy Cox and Jerry Schultz

By Allan Knight and Associates

Brittanie Oleniczak, Zach Hess, and Greg Haynes Johnson

Ruka Og and Frank Francis

Julio Franco and Chris Say

Zackary Ripp and Andy Kivilaan PHOTOS BY LUIS MARTINEZ

John Haynes, Louis Koay, John Erdos, and Jerry Calumn

Clint Bradley and Shayne Robinson

Samyon Hill and Danielle Roden

On Nov. 14, the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS, DIFFA/Dallas, hosted its 24th Holiday Wreath Collection at Trade Mart to ring in the holiday season with a “Naughty or Nice?

Why Decide!” themed event.

The holiday spirit was in full swing at this year’s soiree. Guests mixed and mingled amongst over 100 one-of-a-kind wreaths and curated accessories displayed beautifully throughout the elaborately decorated space.

40 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

Living Well

VOLUNTEERS HELP

BY RUNNING WITH THE HOMELESS

By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers

I

t may not seem like an immediate fit, but one organization is helping homeless individuals get jobs and housing – by first encouraging them to lace up their running shoes.

Since 2007, the national nonprofit Back on My Feet has helped participants obtain more than 6,500 jobs and homes, logging in a collective 925,000 miles of running in 13 cities along the way.

But how does running translate to jobs and homes?

“We use running and community support and community engagement to help our members move towards independence and make their way out of shelters, essentially,” explained Emily Johnson, a program manager with the Dallas chapter.

“Our primary focus is employment.

A lot of people know Back on My Feet for our running and our races and things like that, but we definitely have a very strong emphasis on the workforce development side of things with our members.”

Johnson said that members run three mornings a week, and if they’ve maintained a 90 percent attendance rate, at the 30-day mark, they can qualify for workforce training.

“We really use that to kind of help instill discipline and then just remotivate them, help them clear their minds through their running, and just create a new vision for themselves and for their future,” Johnson said. “And then as long as they’re active in our program, they’re maintaining that attendance, and they’re engaging with us, we move them into what’s called our Next Steps program.”

The Next Steps program is designed to help homeless individuals become more independent. Accenture has partnered with Back on My Feet to provide job readiness classes, and ACE Cash Express offers financial literacy classes.

And while members are picking up practical skills, they’re still running three days a week, with volunteers who run, walk, and power walk alongside.

We really use that to kind of help instill discipline and then just remotivate them, help them clear their minds through their running, and just create a new vision for themselves and for their future.

Emily Johnson

COURTESY TWITTER

Back on My Feet works with the homeless through running and job and financial literacy training. (COURTESY PHOTOS) “We’re combining the best of the health and wellness world with the workforce world,” Johnson said. “It’s really a unique approach because it also helps restore their confidence, their self-esteem, and it just gives them a lot more confidence to be able to tackle the barriers that they need to, knowing that they have the community support to back them in that way.”

Anyone 18 and older can run with the groups. The Dallas chapter has three that meet at Dallas LIFE, the Salvation Army Carr P. Collins Social Center, and the Salvation Army

Recovery Center – and Johnson said they like their volunteer runners to commit to one morning a week.

And the pace of the runs, Johnson said, makes it an excellent option for someone who wants to be more active, but doesn’t want to run a marathon, either.

“We definitely tell all of our volunteers like this is not going to be your marathon training,” she said.

“We have power walkers; we have joggers; we have guys that can leave you in the dust and take off flying.

But we definitely have a wide range of abilities.”

BY THE NUMBERS 70% of members employed and housed 83% of members maintain employment 44% receive a raise within six months 21% get a Promotion $12.75 an hour average hiring wage for members, versus $7.25 minimum wage 6,500 Jobs and homes achieved

prestonhollowpeople.com | January 2020 41

THINGS TO DO

Lone Star Christmas (COURTESY PHOTOS)

Lone Star Christmas

The Trains at Northpark

When: Dec. 21 - Jan. 6 Where: Perot Museum of Nature and Science Cost: Included with the price of museum admission Come to the Perot and experience the tech side. The museum will be having techthemed activities such as augmented reality (AR), robot hockey, polar pulleys, coat designing, and snowflake races, plus chats with paleontologists as they unearth Arctic dinosaur fossils. Visit perotmuseum.org for more information.

When: Until Jan. 5, 2020 Where: NorthPark Center Cost: $7 for adults, $4 for children (2-12) and senior citizens (65+), children under 2 are free Since 1987, the Trains at Northpark has helped more than 39,000 families by raising more than $13 million for Ronald McDonald House of Dallas. Every year, the largest miniature train exhibit has featured recreations of notable cities such as Dallas, New York City, Washington D.C., and San Francisco. While making rounds Christmas shopping, bring the children in to see this exhibit. For tickets and more information, visit www.thetrainsatnorthpark.com.

Lone Star Christmas

Day 1 Dallas

The Trains at Northpark

Tech The Halls!

When: Until Jan. 5 Where: Gaylord Texan Cost: Ticket prices vary The Gaylord Texan’s annual Lone Star Christmas includes many festivities such as ICE! featuring “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Snow Tubing, Merry Snoopy Christmas Scavenger Hunt, Mrs. Claus’ Christmas Traditions, Breakfast with Charlie Brown & Friends, Gingerbread Decorating Corner, and Ice Skating! Guests can also enjoy more than 2 million Christmas lights decorating the resort. For more information and tickets, visit www.christmasatgaylordtexan.com.

Day 1 Dallas

When: Jan. 1 Where: Dr. Pepper Ballpark, Embassy Suites Convention Center, Frisco Cost: $5 for everyone 2+ Historically held in Fair Park in Dallas, Day 1 Dallas is moving to Frisco. From 3 to 7 p.m., guests can enjoy classic fair activities: magic acts, bounce houses, games, and activities, face painting, live bands, and fireworks. This event benefits Vogel Alcove, a nonprofit educational and therapeutic center for homeless children and their families in Dallas. For more information, visit www.Day1Dallas.com.

— Compiled by Liliann Albelbaisi

42 January 2020 | prestonhollowpeople.com

SPECIAL ADVERTISING CONTENT BRIGGS FREEMAN SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL REALTY

Big change for luxury leader

THE PERRY-MILLER STREIFF GROUP

Strength in Numbers

EBBY HALLIDAY REALTORS

Grand Vie Showcases Luxury Listings and More

ALLIE BETH ALLMAN URBAN

2505 Welborn Street 4 Bedrooms | 4.2 Baths | 7,021 SqFt Offered For $4,900,000 Spectacular Spanish Colonial in the Heart of Oak Lawn. City living that feels like the Mediterranean coast. No detail over-

Sold in 2019: 4745 Crooked.

Visit DPMFineHomes.com for more information.

Lots at Wander Wood, represented by Pogir and Lisa Besserer from $1,125,000 to $1,590,000 Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, the 60year leader in North Texas luxury real estate, has big news: It has moved its longtime Dallas headquarters to prestigious Turtle Creek Boulevard.

The new headquarters not only makes room for a growing agent population — new agents are joining weekly — but also marks the company’s 60 years of success, to be celebrated throughout 2020. The expansive headquarters, at 3131 Turtle Creek, the modernist office tower at Turtle Creek Boulevard and Cedar Springs Road, means even more synergy among the brokerage’s agents and staff. The two full floors, custom-designed by Staffelbach for the firm, are the new home to agents specializing in Dallas, the Park Cities, Preston Hollow, Uptown, Downtown, ranches, land and more.

The growing brokerage now has more than 400 expert agents across North Texas, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Southlake, Lakewood and Plano/Frisco.

Says CEO Robbie Briggs of the move: “The new headquarters is a chance to elevate the importance of networking and collaborating — of bringing groups together.”

Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, founded in Dallas in 1960, represents luxury homes, high-rises, ranches, land and commercial properties. Its briggsfreeman.com website is a cutting-edge portal featuring properties, neighborhoods, schools, virtual tours, architecture guides and more.

When you are navigating unprecedented times, now more than ever, you need a team that understands the market block by block with an unmatched network. The Perry-Miller Streiff Group was directly impacted by the October storm, so we have been on the front lines of the clean-up and rebuilding efforts - giving us direct knowledge of the needs of our clients and neighbors during these challenging times.

As the #1 Team in Preston Hollow, this elite group of 11 powerhouse agents and support closed nearly $300 million in sales in the last two years.

There is strength in choosing who you want representing your home,” says Streiff. “When you enlist The Perry-Miller Streiff Group you tap into the wealth of experience that the team’s two centuries in real estate brings. Thus, reaping the exponential benefits of eight individual networks coming together as one to get the results you need.”

Simply put, The Perry-Miller Streiff Group quietly delivers what today’s buyers and sellers desire: Results. Stellar associates, a sincere focus on clientele, and collaborative leadership combine to deliver a first-class experience, achieving real estate outcomes that are unprecedented.

DAVE PERRY-MILLER REAL ESTATE

Unique opportunity to own in-town vineyard estate

ALLIE BETH ALLMAN

looked. Paneling, stone and hardwood floors. Formal living with beamed ceiling, stone fireplace and bar, gorgeous dining room

Visit grandviemagazine.com to view the fall/winter 2019 edition of Grand Vie: Luxury in Living magazine.

The fall/winter 2019 edition of Grand Vie: Luxury in Living magazine, the luxury-home publication of Ebby Halliday Realtors, recently mailed to homes across North Texas.

The 28th edition of Grand Vie features some of D-FW’s premier luxury properties for sale and inspiring editorial content, including “The Art of Table Setting,” featuring ideas to elevate your tablescapes and entertain in style; “Weekend Getaways: Waco,” offering tips for a visit to the Central Texas city with small-town charm and vibrant local businesses; “Houses of Art,” highlighting some of the top cultural events of the season; and special sections for lake, farm, ranch and recreation properties.

Also, in the fall/winter edition: “All About That Paper: Not Your Grandmother’s Style,” features wallpapering advice from local designers Shay Geyer and Tiffany McKinzie.

In addition to the exposure received from Grand Vie, Ebby Halliday luxury listings benefit from national and international exposure provided by luxury marketing partner Luxury Portfolio International and its website, luxuryportfolio.com, one of the most-visited luxury home sites in the world.

To view the digital version of Grand Vie, visit grandviemagazine.com. To learn more about Ebby Halliday Realtors, its Associates and all of the homes available for purchase in North Texas, visit ebby.com.

ALLIE BETH ALLMAN

New Strategies Nets Real Results

A Premier Neighborhood in the Heart of Dallas

with butler’s pantry. Fantastic kitchen with stone counters, superior custom cabinetry, Wolf ovens and stove, a keeping room with dining area and fireplace hearth. Basement level boasts an incredible media-recreation room, wine cellar and dining space.

On the 2nd level is the Master BR Suite featuring a beamed, vaulted ceiling, sitting area and fireplace. Two other master suites and an exercise room on this level. 4th bedroom on 1st floor. Pool & cabana with fire pit.

For more information please contact Trey Bounds (214) 8834600 or Kyle Crews (214) 538-1310.

ALLIE BETH ALLMAN

Supporting our Community

The holiday season is a time for giving. It’s when we express gratitude and celebrate the unity of the human spirit. By working together and looking out for our neighbors, we can make the world a better place.

Allie Beth Allman & Associates was founded with a goal of serving the community. That spirit is exemplified every day by agents who donate their time, talents and money to local schools, churches and civic organizations.

One cause near to their heart is the S.M. Wright foundation.

This faith-based initiative supports efforts to help local children and families in need. For more than 15 years, the Allman team has partnered with the foundation to bring holiday cheer.

It started with a conversation about making sure everyone had a proper Thanksgiving meal. Today, the annual Thanksgiving feast feeds upwards of 3,000 people. Then came Christmas in the Park.

The celebration at Fair Park hosts over 40,000 people annually.

Guests get a meal, food to take home, toys, clothes, books and more. For many attendees, this is the only Christmas celebration they will have. And every year, Allman agents are there to serve.

“People want to be involved,” Allie Beth Allman said. “It feels good to do something and know that it’s helping.”

ALLIE BETH ALLMAN Today’s marketing departments must innovate to survive. Finding home buyers in the modern world involves more than a list of leads. It requires cutting-edge technology that brings buyers and sellers together. Thanks to targeting, retargeting, behavioral and geographic targeting to specific audiences, this is now done on a larger scale.

From a marketing standpoint, technology has long been able to gather information on a vast scale. Until recently, understanding that information required time-intensive labor. Now, technology not only gathers information, but also mines that data.

Allie Beth Allman & Associates has invested heavily in artificial intelligence in order to connect with global buyers. Instead of casting a wide net, this high-tech approach helps agents focus efforts where they will most likely find success. Known for neighborhood knowledge, now their agents can gather and evaluate relevant data at a new level.

Make no mistake, AI targeting will not replace real estate professionals, but to only improve knowledge and yield better results. However, messaging, creativity and design are essential with any campaign.

Modern marketing is multidimensional, and companies need more than one platform. The key to success is allocating resources to reach targeted audiences. Armed with these tools, Allman agents are prepared to achieve goals of clients with trust and integrity.

With the only active, professionally managed vineyard in the city of Dallas, 8123 Inwood Road (8123inwood.dpmre.com) is a rare find. Offered by Cassie Bledsoe for $2,995,000, the recently updated 5,165-square-foot home (per appraiser) is set on 1.6 lush acres.

The home combines urban living in the heart of Dallas with the feel and privacy of a country home. It’s also one of only six homes on Inwood Road with front and back driveway access.

The four-bedroom, 4½-bath estate is deeply set on the lot. Mature trees offer shade in all the right places, while its 10-foot wrought-iron and wood fence and two electric gates provide security.

The family room with large fireplace offers a full view of the vineyard, the professional kitchen has been recently remodeled, and the dining room has a custom-designed 400-bottle wine cellar. Other highlights: fully renovated first-floor master suite and newly constructed three-car garage and guest house.

To schedule a showing, please contact Bledsoe at 214-536-2416 or cassie@dpmre.com.

Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate (daveperrymiller.com) is a division of Ebby Halliday Real Estate, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, with four locations that specialize in Preston Hollow, Park Cities, North Dallas, Lakewood, East Dallas, Uptown, Kessler Park and Farm & Ranch properties.

People on the Move to Dallas Caruth Homeplace, a pocket neighborhood in the center of Dallas, is part of a great legacy of one of Texas’ founding families.

A quarter mile southwest of the intersection of Central Expressway and Northwest Highway, the Caruth Homeplace neighborhood has about 90 high-end homes, built between 1979 and 1990, on small lots.

Considered one of Dallas’ best neighborhoods, this gated and guarded community is perfect for buyers looking to downsize to an elegant, well-located home. Its homeowners association, which provides common area and exterior maintenance and landscaping, organizes frequent parties and events.

Allie Beth Allman & Associates, the leader in sales for homes in the Park Cities and for estates in Dallas County, is an expert in Caruth Homeplace. Allman associates are listing six homes there and have sold five of nine homes in 2019.

Homes available include 13 Saint Laurent Place, 7711 Caruth Boulevard, 7706 Caruth Boulevard, 7 Saint Laurent Place, 7611 Marquette Street and 10 Lakeside Park.

Caruth Homeplace is part of the original home site, a 30,000-acre farm, founded in 1852 by William Barr Caruth.

A pioneer family that came to the Dallas area in 1848, the Caruths have been major philanthropists, building hospitals, schools and youth camps. In 1911, they donated land to establish Southern Methodist University.

The start of a new year means another influx of people moving to Dallas. Those planning to sell their homes soon should get to work now.

Over the past eight years, the North Texas region has added over one million people, including more than 130,000 in 2018 alone.

Job opportunities continue to attract growing numbers of people.

Through November 2019, DFW added 115,800 jobs, the most of any region in the country. The area’s 3.1 percent job growth during that time is the highest among the nation’s 12 largest metropolitan area.

If you are planning to sell your home, keep in mind that it needs to be presented in a way that emotionally connects with buyers.

They want homes updated that are ready to move into. Begin preparations by inspecting interior and exterior to identify work that needs to be done.

Keep in mind that mind that corporate relocations are not the only thing driving people to Dallas. During the first quarter, scores of families seek out premiere neighborhoods close to the best schools.

Whether for work or family dynamics, all signs point to more people moving Dallas. Therefore, imperative that sellers prepare today. Opportunities abound for those ready to seize them.

prestonhollowpeople.com | January 2020 43

New Year’s Resolution: Break Free of All This Stuff Mother’s vintage china that the kids don’t want. His bowling shoes. How long ago did he quit the

league?

The old filing cabinet full of warranties for products replaced long DINA TAYLOR ago.

These are only a fraction of the contents of our garages, spare bedrooms, and closets.

Where did it all come from?

We remodel rooms, the children

move in and out, we inherit Aunt Sally’s antiques, and we can’t bear to part with those sentimental knickknacks gathering dust and sending pangs of guilt every time we think of disposing of them.

Postponing the purge — a tempting yet ineffective decision — results in overflowing, unsightly homes, garages, or offsite storage units sitting idle for years and costing a small fortune.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Before downsizing, we must ask ourselves some crucial questions: Do we really need all this stuff?

Have these items outlived their purpose?

Can I afford to postpone dealing with treasures that are transforming to burdens?

Am I comfortable with family members — or even strangers — going through my things if I am one day unable?

And here’s another critical question: Is now the time to break free — free of all this stuff?

Let this New Year be a time to be good to you and take action. Decide to cut ties and free up time, money, and energy to enjoy today without the burdens and clutter of the past.

Dina Taylor, owner of Easily Organized in Dallas, works with clients in Texas and Florida. Visit easilyorganized.com.

CLASSIFIEDS To place your ad in People Newspapers, please call us at 214-523-5239, fax to 214-594-5779, or e-mail to classified@peoplenewspapers.com.

All ads will run in Park Cities People and Preston Hollow People and online on both websites. Pre-payment is required on all ads. Deadline for our next edition is Monday, Jan. 6. People Newspapers reserves the right to edit or reject ads. We assume no liability for errors or omissions in advertisements and no responsibility beyond the cost of the ad. We are responsible only for the first incorrect insertion.

HOME SERVICES

H E A LT H

HOME SERVICES

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Classifieds: 214.523.5239

STEAM Park Cities People

Preston Hollow People

SCIENCE • TECHNOLOGY • ENGINEERING • ART • MATHEMATICS

Helping Today’s Youth Become Tomorrow’s Future JANUARY 2020

6

8

10

FOUNDATION HELPS HPISD TAKE STEAM TO EVERY CLASS

DALLAS ISD CENTER OFFERS 500 ACRES OF SCIENCE

AMBASSADORS GIVE GIRLS ENGINEERING ROLE MODELS PHOTO BY KAITLYN KILPATRICK/PEROT MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE

B2 January 2020 | S.T.E.A.M.

peoplenewspapers.com | January 2020â&#x20AC;&#x192; B3

B4 January 2020 | STEAM | peoplenewspapers.com

DALLAS BUILT IMPRESSIVE HIGH-TECH ECONOMY

But more training needed to keep up with workforce demands

By BILL MILLER

Special Contributor

D

allas is known for its heritage of cattle barons, big oil, and “America’s Team,” but some historians give Big D credit for launching the “Information Age.” In 1958 Jack Kilby, an electrical engineer at Texas Instruments, invented the integrated circuit, also called the “microchip.”

Today, according to the Dallas Regional Chamber, the Dallas-Fort Worth area has the seventh-highest concentration of high-tech jobs in the U.S. — 252,650 of them.

Many Dallas businesses, therefore, are champions for education programs that blend science, technology, engineering, and math — called “STEM.”

The thing I lose sleep over is, ‘Can we reach the kids who don’t have a computer at home?’

Drexell Owusu “We think it is a sizeable universe of companies contributing to this work,” said Drexell Owusu, the chamber’s senior vice president

Business leaders say STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education is vital, so Dallas can keep attracting companies like Uber Technologies. The 23-story Uber headquarters is expected to open in late 2022 in The Epic, an 8-acre mixed-use area under development by Westdale Real Estate Investment and Management beside Deep Ellum. (PHOTO COURTESY WESTDALE) of education and workforce. “But the reality is the pressure is going to accelerate.”

A STEM curriculum is interdisciplinary, providing coursework that simultaneously teaches the fields represented in the acronym. It’s designed to nurture a student’s ability to draw upon all four of them to think deeply and solve problems.

There are other variations of this concept, like “STEAM,” which adds an “A” for arts. For example, a graphic design student must

master modern software to create the cutting-edge designs demanded in competitive advertising markets.

The various STEM/STEAM paths draw numerous other advocates, including the Dallas Independent School District, the Dallas County Community College District, Southern Methodist University, The United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, and the Community Council of Greater Dallas.

Earlier this year, Dallas philanthropist Lyda Hill announced a $25 million commitment to inspire girls

in STEM through “IF/THEN.” This new initiative is from the mantra, “If we support a woman in STEM, then she can change the world.”

Owusu recently chaired a roundtable discussion for Dallas Innovates about STEM/STEAM education. Panelists included local stakeholders who shared their organizations’ efforts.

Sorabh Saxena, president of global operations and services for AT&T Business, said the company gave $2.4 million to STEM

education in Dallas-Fort Worth during the past four years.

Hilary Jackson, vice president of technology at Capital One Financial Services, said her company advocates STEM/STEAM through its Future Edge Initiative, National Academy Foundation, and Capital One Coders program.

Oswaldo Alvarenga, executive director of Dallas ISD’s STEM department, described the schools’ STEM Expo, held in January, to showcase student projects involving high-tech fields like artificial intelligence and robotics. About 5,000 attendees, including parents, have seen what students can do, and realize the potential for their children, Alvarenga said.

But even with so much attention and money for STEM/ STEAM, Owusu warned about a possible gap.

“The thing I lose sleep over,” he said, “‘Is can we reach the kids who don’t have a computer at home?’”

He praised Dallas ISD for recently winning a grant from the 1Million Project Foundation. The money pays for 5,000 mobile LTE hotspot devices for high school students who previously had no Internet access at home.

“This generation of students is more digitally savvy than ever before,” Owusu said. “But above and beyond that, we want to ensure these skills reach everyone.”

Community Council To Launch ‘5,000 Jobs 2020’ Initiative

Nonprofit provides technical skill training needed to earn livable wages

By BILL MILLER

ON THE WEB

Special Contributor The Dallas mom’s stress was enormous.

SheDarrylle Davis was raising two children on her own but had no education to qualify for a “middle-skills” career like nursing.

It’s a familiar story in Dallas where, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 22 percent of residents live in poverty.

Meanwhile, Dallas has tens of thousands of unfilled middle-skills jobs. These occupations require education or training beyond high school, but not a four-year college degree.

School children get technical training through specialized curriculum involving science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

But adults aren’t alone in their hopes for a better future.

The Community Council of Greater Dallas helps unskilled people become able workers who can earn a “livable wage.”

“That’s about $24.24 an hour in Dallas,” said Janie Bordner,

Community Council of Greater Dallas https://www.ccadvance.org/ 5,000 Jobs 2020 https://www.dallas5000jobs.org/ Interfaith Family Services https://interfaithdallas.org/ United Way of Metropolitan Dallas https://unitedwaydallas.org/ Clients get tips on improving their resumes. (COURTESY PHOTO) the council’s president and CEO. “And if you’re not making that, you’re not making enough to squeak by. You better not have an emergency of any kind.”

Numerous nonprofits have joined the fight against poverty inNorth Texas, including Interfaith Family Services, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, and the Child Poverty Action Lab, to name a few.

The Community Council, however, has been in the fight for nearly 80 years. It offers a wide range of

services, first helping clients with necessities so they can focus on skills training.

Financial assistance helps cover childcare, transportation, food, utilities, and even temporary housing, Bordner said.

Next, is a wide range of training through the program “Skill QUEST,” taught at the council’s offices, 1341 Mockingbird Lane.

For example, people interested in information technology (IT) careers can learn “full-stack” web

Child Poverty Action Lab https://childpovertyactionlab.org/ development, the Python programming language, and cybersecurity.

“Once you graduate, you get a certificate,” Bordner said. “And, all this training is project-based, so you can make a portfolio as well.”

The council wants to connect 5,000 people with middle skills jobs in 2020.

This “5,000 Jobs 2020” initiative launches in January with a goal to raise $3 million for skills training and other services.

The money is intended to

match a $3 million Community Services Block grant, Bordner said. Visit dallas5000jobs.org to donate.

Helping people escape poverty improves their households but also gives them spending power that boosts the local economy, Bordner said.

And, she noted, helping 5,000 adults will have spin-off benefits for an estimated 20,000 people, considering many of the clients have families.

“They’re not asking for a handout,” Bordner said. “They want to get working and to give back to the community.’”

One such resident is the afore-mentioned single mother, SheDarrylle Davis. The council helped her become a nurse.

“They took care of everything, from tuition, to books, to uniforms,” she said. “Keeping up with my studying and assignments was stressful enough. Skill QUEST gave me peace of mind by eliminating my financial worries. I really thought (it) was too good to be true.

I’m forever grateful.”

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Highland Park Makes Every Class a STEAM Class Moody Foundation funded curriculum changes, new high school center

By Rachel Snyder People Newspapers

Highland Park ISD incorporates STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) in all classes.

The district has expanded its STEAM-related curriculum in recent years thanks to a fiveyear, $5.8 million grant from the Moody Foundation. HPISD’s STEAM initiative began about three years ago, with 26 pilot teachers creating lessons across campuses and grade levels.

“We have been very pleased with the early impact of our STEAM program on students and teachers across the district,” said Geoffrey Orsak, executive director of the Moody Innovation Institute.

STEAM jobs are expected to account for 60 percent of new jobs created in the U.S. this century with jobs requiring advanced STEAM education expected to grow by as much as 45 percent in the same time frame, according to HPISD’s website.

We have been very pleased with the early impact of our STEAM program on students and teachers across the district.

Geoffrey Orsak “We want to show students the career options that are out there,” Orsak said.

STEAM coaches Ashley Jones and Ericca Vandagriff work with teachers across the district to incorporate STEAM concepts and activities into lessons, even in classes people may not expect, like foreign language classes. For example, Orsak said they’ve included lessons about disaster response in France in French courses.

Jones has worked for more than 12 years in education in various positions in Garland ISD,

McCulloch Intermediate and Highland Park Middle School students work on projects. (COURTESY PHOTOS) Richardson ISD, and Georgetown ISD before joining HPISD as a STEAM coach. Vandagriff has worked in HPISD for more than 12 years and taught fifthgrade science at McCulloch Intermediate before becoming a STEAM coach.

Jones said projects they’ve worked on recently include

building a life-sized gingerbread house for the holidays.

One of the projects Vandagriff is most proud of is McCulloch fifth-graders’ winning best overall exhibit at the Earthx2019 Expo for their project that showed how plastics get into watersheds and oceans and the impact that has on ecosystems.

MAPS Center Offers College-Level Classes, Expert Speakers

By Rachel Snyder

from the business world,” Howland said.

“I feel I’m a better teacher.”

Lauren Hickey, a student, said she enjoys the speakers and experience the MAPS Center offers.

“It provides a different learning experience than any other class,” Hickey said.

“It’s an interactive experience.”

People Newspapers

The new Moody Advanced Professional Studies (MAPS) Center in Highland Park High School offers students the opportunity to take college-level classes and learn from experts in the fields of science, technology, engineering, the arts, math (STEAM), and business.

Juniors and seniors get the opportunity to combine traditional coursework with college-level classes, including business design and leadership, and engineering design.

The MAPS Center has 10 3D printers, six plug-and-play monitors for students to work collaboratively on projects, upto-date software, a laser etcher and cutter, and other technology. Students began using the center this fall.

The business design and leadership class incorporates entrepreneurship, AP Microeconomics, and Economics Advanced Studies, and the Engineering Design class combines the practices and procedures used in engineering and in making aesthetic decisions.

“You’d have to be crazy to put engineering and design in the same class at the same time unless you wanted to do something remarkable,” Moody Innovation Institute executive director Geoffrey Orsak said. “We’re mixing two classes at the same time, so (students) can see how these two ideas intersect together.”

MAPS Director Michael Warren said

You’d have to be crazy to put engineering and design in the same class at the same time unless you wanted to do something remarkable.

Geoffrey Orsak

Students, faculty, and staff attended the opening of the Moody Advanced Professional Studies Center at Highland Park High School in October. (PHOTO BY RACHEL SNYDER) the district developed the curriculum and built the space based on student interests and preparing them for the workforce.

“It takes a lot of support and buy-in from more than the school district,” Warren said.

“It leans on the support of the community;

it leans on the support of professionals.”

MAPS Business Design and Leadership teacher Jerry Howland said the new curriculum and facility allows him to take a different approach with his students.

“We try to bring a lot of guest speakers in

Adelaide Aiken said she uses programs like the 3D modeling program SketchUp, MATLAB, Adobe Photoshop, and InDesign in her Engineering Design class.

The center is also home to the EarthX globe until around February.

“Our hope is (students) can use (the globe) in their lessons,” STEAM Coach Ericca Vandagriff said. The globe can enhance lessons on a wide range of topics, from climate to bird migration.

Original funding for the MAPS program came in the form of a $5.8 million STEAM grant from the Moody Foundation.

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500 Acres and Endless Science Lessons

Learning gets real at Dallas ISD STEM Environmental Education Center

By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers

More than 20,000 students come to Dallas ISD’s STEM Environmental Education Center in Seagoville each school year. However, administrators still view it as one of the best-kept secrets in the district.

“I try to advertise we’re here as much as possible, but somehow, some people just don’t know we’re out here,” said Mark Broughton, the center’s director.

The center sits on 500 acres and offers teachers and students opportunities to do field and lab research and get hands-on science lessons they might not be able to recreate easily in their school classrooms. It employs four teachers, plus Broughton, supervisor Bob Gorman, and administrative and other staff. “ We have 300 acres of forest preserve, and then the other 200 acres is mostly farmland,” Broughton explained.

“Students mostly from Dallas ISD – but any ISD or charter school can visit - come out, and they do mostly field investigations for science.”

The center sees up to 240 students per day, who go through a mix of self-guided instruction with their classroom teacher, and programmed lessons with the center’s instructors.

“We could take them to the forests and do forest ecology. We have a couple ponds so we can do aquatic science,” he added.

“We have a working farm with some cows and pigs and ducks and chickens and turkeys, a sheep, and a goat, so they could see what a working farm is like.”

Broughton said that for many of the students, it’s their first time to visit a forest or a farm.

“I can tell when I talk to them, because I’ll ask them if they’ve been in a forest before and they’ll tell me, yes, but they’re thinking about the five trees that grow close to each other at the park,” he said. “Then we get a quarter-mile into a real forest, and their eyes kind of get wide and they get real quiet and start asking questions like, ‘Are we going to see monkeys?’

“Or I’ll ask them where milk comes from, and they just say Wal-Mart,” he said. “So then we introduce them to our dairy cow.”

The facility also has a fossil pavilion for studying geology, an observatory for nighttime astronomy classes, three nature trails, four science laboratories, a 70-seat theater, gardens, outdoor classrooms, and a planetarium.

An indoor facility includes interactive exhibits and space to interact with live amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds.

“Depending on the grade level, we offer

Or I’ll ask them where milk comes from, and they just say Wal-Mart.

So then we introduce them to our dairy cow.

Mark Broughton

anywhere from three to like eight different programs, so the visiting teacher will choose the program they want for their kids,” Broughton said.

“They just get to come out and do all kinds of science,” Broughton said. “We see all grades, too, from as young as 3 years old up to seniors in high school.”

DISD’s STEM Environmental Education Center sees up to 240 students a day. (PHOTOS COURTESY DALLAS ISD)

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Dallas ISD STEM Expo a Family Learning Opportunity

By Jordan Kiefer

enough time to see and do everything!”

The expo started in 2014 at Skyline High School, and in the seven years since, has grown and developed exponentially.

With more than 5,000 in attendance last year, the expo is now the biggest STEM event in Texas.

“We try and switch things up and update based on what people say,” Alexander said. “What can we do differently? We always seek to make things better for everyone involved and grow an interest in STEM in our community.”

The 2020 activities and organization will include Dallas Zoo, T-Mobile, wellness booths, national and international engineer organizations, coding exercises, Girl Scouts, aviation organizations, and the planetarium.

Scheduled sessions include Robots on the Move, 3D Printing, Concrete Bowling, Build Your Own Flashlight, and Green Screen Tech.

Special Contributor The purpose of the annual Dallas ISD STEM Expo is to pique interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, get children excited about learning, and show students just how impactful STEM is in the world.

The motto of the 2020 expo, scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Kay Bailer Hutchinson Convention Center: “Come, explore, design, build, and create.”

Organizers expect museums, STEM-focused organizations, engineering organizations, and local colleges and universities to provide more than 150 hands-on exhibits focused on STEM-related careers and coursework.

Visitors will get the chance to learn about collegiate academies, STEM/ STEAM campuses (the “A” is for art), and the technical and career education pathways.

The expo also serves as the culminating event for these district championships: Lego Robotics Competition. VEX Robotics Competition, Science Fair, Mathematics Olympiad Video Challenge, and Mathematics Bridge Building Competition.

“It’s chaotic, but to see all the smiling faces and seeing everyone having a good time, being excited while learning or being a part of a new experience is amazing,” said Crystal Alexander, STEM manager for Dallas ISD. “The only complaints I hear are from people saying that they didn’t have

R E G I S T R AT I O N O P E N WHAT: Dallas ISD STEM Expo, a free event open to Dallas area students and families WHEN: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 18 WHERE: Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas Visitors to the Dallas ISD STEM Expo often don’t have enough time to see and do everything.

ONLINE: dallasisd.org/stem

(COURTESY PHOTOS)

The Robots Are Coming Dallas to host championships again beginning in 2021

By Maddie Spera

Special Contributor Robotics fanatics, gear up! The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation’s VEX Robotics World Championship, presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, will return to Dallas from 2021 to 2024.

The week-long event celebrates hands-on STEM learning as the world’s top teams gather to compete in robotics competitions focused on creative design and problem-solving.

The championship showcases students’ technical skills and accomplishments through the following programs: the VEX IQ Challenge (elementary and middle school), the VEX Robotics Competition (middle school and high school), and VEX U (college/university).

“Robotics teams from across the world compete in these programs on a local level throughout the year, culminating in 1,650 teams who qualified to attend the VEX Robotics World Championship based on their success at

the regional championship,” said Monica Paul, executive director of the Dallas Sports Commission.

The competition will kick off with opening ceremonies, then move to high-energy matches where students put their custom-built robots to the test with the help of mentors, educators, and professional engineers.

“Over the course of four days, the different divisions compete in robotic engineering challenges to ultimately be crowned World Champions,” said Jenn DeBarge-Goonan, CEO of Rocket Social Impact. “Spectators get immersed into the highly dynamic environment and will experience innovation, teamwork, and creative problem-solving at its best.”

Local schools are welcome and encouraged to participate in the competition. A World Champion crowned in 2019 was from Flower Mound High School, and the REC Foundation hopes to see more local schools vying for championships, Paul said.

“This competition has grown significantly over the years on a local level because it has been an

Louisville, Kentucky, hosted the 2019 VEX World Championships. (PHOTO COURTESY THE REC FOUNDATION) inspiration for fellow students to be a part of a highly rewarding experience,” Debarge-Goonan said.

“Nothing gets people fired up like the excitement of head-to-head competition. Either in the classroom or after school, students are given a chance to create and design a robot, build it, program it, and compete with other teams in their community. By building a robot,

students open their eyes to exciting career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”

The championship will take place at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas. Dallas hosted the competition in 2009 and 2010, and Paul said the REC Foundation is excited to bring it back to the area and extend the

STEM education and opportunities here within our community.

“As a hotbed for STEM jobs and the home of the REC Foundation, based close by in Greenville, Dallas is the perfect choice for the competition,” DeBarge-Goonan said. “We know firsthand how committed the city is to innovation, STEM education, and the future workforce.”

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IF/THEN Program Gives Girls Role Models

Lyda Hill CEO: STEM examples will help students believe

By Lisa Ferguson

Special Contributor As the daughter of a physician, Nicole Small was exposed to science at an early age.

“I was always interested in it, but I didn’t know my career options,” Small said. She went on to study political science and business in college before becoming the CEO of Dallas-based Lyda Hill Philanthropies, which in 2019 announced a $25 million commitment in support of the IF/THEN initiative.

We want to create a cultural shift about the perception of what a scientist or engineer looks like.

Nicole Small Designed to help advance women “innovators” in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), IF/THEN is working to “inspire the next generation of pioneers,” namely middle school-age girls, by raising awareness about the growing number of occupations and fields that require such knowledge and skills, including social media, fashion design, and professional sports.

FROM LEFT: Former first lady Laura Bush, Lyda Hill, Geena Davis, and Nicole Small attend the IF/THEN Ambassador Summit in October. (PHOTO COURTESY GOODMAN MEDIA) “STEM is everywhere, in almost every career at this point,” explained Small, who for a dozen years served as CEO of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science before joining Lyda Hill in 2013. Founded by Dallas entrepreneur Hill, the organization is “committed to funding transformational advances in science and nature, empowering nonprofit organizations” and improving communities in North Texas as well as in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, in 2015, only 24 percent of all STEM jobs nationwide were held by women.

Whether it is climate change or cancer research, “We need every mind at the table to try to solve these issues, and we need it fast,” Small said. “If you’re leaving a good part of the population out from the conversation, are you getting the best ideas?”

As part of the IF/THEN initiative, “We’re listening to what these women have

faced as women in science, and we’re looking at these kids not really seeing a lot of women in science. … You come back to the age-old (adage), `If you can see it, you can be it.’

“If you’re going to school, you’re watching TV, you’re watching YouTube … and you don’t see a wide variety of people who look like you, you don’t begin to associate yourself with those opportunities,” Small explained. “Conversely, if … you are experiencing and interacting with people who look like you, you begin to believe, `If she can do it, I can do it.’”

To demonstrate this, 125 female STEM professionals from throughout the U.S. were selected in 2019 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to serve as IF/THEN ambassadors. Small said the hope is that they will be “high-profile role models” who empower girls to pursue STEM careers.

Ten women from throughout North Texas were appointed ambassadors.

The initiative is also co-producing “Mission Unstoppable,” a weekly children’s program that airs Saturday mornings on CBS. It highlights the work of female scientists and others in STEM professions.

IF/THEN also has paired with organizations including Girl Scouts of the USA and Teach for America to help further its mission.

“We want to create a cultural shift about the perception of what a scientist or engineer looks like,” Small said.

Makins Finds Beautiful Learning in Failure

OTHER NORTH TE X AS AMBAS SADORS Minerva Cordero, UT Arlington, associate dean of science

Newly named ‘ambassador’ leads NASA Rover Team at Parish

By Lisa Ferguson

Special Contributor As director of the STEM Education program at Parish Episcopal School, Jennifer Makins knows that failure can be just as valuable a lesson for students to experience as success.

Earlier this year, she applied to be an ambassador for the IF/ THEN initiative, which is working to expose middle-school-age girls to STEM-related careers. It is supported by a $25 million commitment from Dallas-based Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

As part of the application process, Makins opted to highlight challenges her students have faced over the years, as well as the few victories they’ve savored.

“A benefit to STEM (education) … is the beauty and the learning that comes through failing,” she said. “I think the more that kids have that tenacity and the mindset of, `All right, let’s figure it out, and let’s not be afraid,’ especially girls, the better the world will be.”

Makins was among the 125

“women innovators” from throughout the nation, including 10 from North Texas, who were selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to serve as IF/THEN ambassadors.

They represent a variety of STEM-related professions – from medicine and sports to fashion – and act as role models for girls by demonstrating the growing number of math and science-related career opportunities that are available. In October, nearly all of the ambassadors convened in Dallas for media and other training at the IF/THEN Summit.

Raised in Dallas, Makins has been on staff at Parish for more than a decade. A graduate of Texas A&M University, she studied space policy at George Washington University and formerly worked as an education associate at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. She began her teaching career at Good Shephard Episcopal School in Dallas and helped found its Lower School Science program.

At Parish, Makins co-leads the Rover Team. Each year, the

Julie Mirpuri, UT Southwestern Medical Center, assistant professor Becca Peixotto, Perot Museum of Nature and Science, director, Center for the Exploration of the Human Journey Myria Perez, Perot Museum of Nature and Science, fossil preparator Members of the Parish Episcopal School Rover Team, led by Jennifer Makins, prepare to drive the vehicle they built for a NASA competition.

(PHOTO COURTESY JENNIFER MAKINS)

mostly female team competes in NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge in Huntsville, Alabama. The students design and construct a vehicle that is put through paces on a course meant to mimic the out-of-this-world terrain of other planets.

In 2014, during the Parish team’s first appearance in the elite competition, the wheels of its rover literally fell off during the contest.

The group finished 47th out of 50 international high school teams.

However, as a result of their determination, Makins’ students were invited the following year to speak about their experience as part of

the TedxSMU lecture series (it can be viewed on YouTube. Search for “Daunted & Lost”). She said NASA had featured a video of the students’ speech at workshops.

“To find out that … NASA has been using it to inspire other teachers and kids – that doesn’t happen every day,” Makins said.

When the Rover Team returned to the competition in 2015, it finished in seventh place and took home several awards.

“I do on a daily basis (at Parish) what they are hoping to do at the (IF/THEN) initiative,” Makins said. “We just teach all kids how to think like a problem solver.”

Danielle Robertson, UT Southwestern Medical Center, associate professor Nina Niu Sanford, UT Southwestern, assistant professor Nicole Sereika, Southwest Airlines, aviation maintenance technician Kirsten Tulchin-Francis, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, division director of movement science Jennifer Stimpson, The Hockaday School, middle school educator, innovator, scientist

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Girls Who Code Aims to Address Gender Gap

Activist alerts parents, their daughters to opportunities in computers

By Bethany Erickson People Newspapers

Reshma Saujani is on a mission to bring up a worldwide cohort of girls who can code – despite not knowing how to do so herself.

And while that might seem like a mind-bender, the Girls Who Code founder said that her situation is actually a great way to illustrate to the parents of her core audience that just because they don’t know how to code, doesn’t mean they can’t encourage their daughters to get involved.

“I just don’t feel like it’s a prerequisite that we have to know how to do it for our kids to learn how to do it,” she said during a break in Comerica Bank’s recent Dallas Women’s Business Symposium, where she was keynote speaker. “It’s economic opportunity – take, for instance, how much you make as a software engineer, something like $120,000 a year.

“Those are the conversations I have in those communities where they’re like, ‘Wait, my kid can make what?’”

Saujani, an attorney and activist,

first gained notice when she ran for Congress in 2010. That foray into politics led her to the classroom, where she saw a gender gap in computing classes that led to the start of Girls Who Code.

You have to let your girls get dirty and use their hands to fix things and to break things.

You have to let them learn how to solve problems. We need to be very intentional about what we put in front of our girls.

Reshma Saujani Saujani points to the ongoing gender gap in the computer science

MORE ONLINE • Visit our website to read more of our conversation with Reshma Saujani.

• Check out GirlsWhoCode.com to learn more about the organization she founded.

Reshma Saujani visited North Texas in the fall. (COURTESY PHOTO) field as the driving force behind her organization, which has now served more than 185,000 students to date. It has more than 700 clubs in Texas and roughly 11 in the Dallas area, including clubs or programs at the Hockaday School, some Dallas ISD schools, and the Dallas Public Library.

“Dallas is actually one of our largest networks of Girls Who Code,” she said.

The link between learning to code and changing the world,

Saujani said, is also something she hopes her organization can demonstrate.

“Girls want to change the world – they think about things like ‘my friend’s being bullied at school,’ or ‘my brother’s dyslexic,’ and a lot of other things they want to solve,” she said, adding that showing girls how to use technology to address those problems is paramount.

The organization’s other aim is to get more women in computer science fields.

“When we started in 2012, people talked about this issue like there was a pipeline problem – there’s just not enough women, there’s just not enough people of color,” Saujani said. “And now, seven years later, we’ve taught a lot of that, but now the challenge is, ‘Will you hire them?’”

So what do you do, if you’re a parent of a girl, to make sure they at least know that coding is an option?

“To me, it’s even deeper than that,” Saujani said. “You have to let your girls get dirty and use their hands to fix things and to break things. You have to let them learn how to solve problems. We need to be very intentional about what we put in front of our girls.”

B12 January 2020 | STEAM | peoplenewspapers.com

‘Alignment of the Stars’ To Create STEM Campus

SMU, Dallas ISD, Toyota unite for pioneering school in West Dallas

By Mitch Gruen

Special Contributor When Stephanie Knight became the dean of SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development in 2017, she had a vision for a campus that would integrate everything she had learned in her decades-long career as an educator and education researcher.

She imagined a mold-breaking school, deeply involved in its surrounding community, and using evidence-based education research to prepare students, parents, and teachers for success.

But Knight never expected that all the pieces of such a massive project would materialize and fall into place during her first year at SMU.

STEM is everywhere.

Even if you don’t go into a STEM field, you’re going to live in a STEM world.

Dr. Richard Duschl After helping to create the MLB Youth Academy in 2017, the Toyota USA Foundation wanted to continue its involvement in the West Dallas community. It sought guidance from the Simmons School and SMU’s Budd Center.

Plans include remodeling Dallas ISD’s soonto-be-former Pinkston High School to open in 2021 as a new STEM campus in West Dallas.

Pinkston High is moving into a new campus.

Richard Duschl

(PHOTOS COURTESY DALLAS ISD)

Stephanie Knight

Once a private nonprofit and now a subsidiary of Simmons, the Budd Center has spent the past decade in West Dallas, focusing on students who live in marginalized and low-income communities. Its mission: creating a social safety net that prevents students from falling through the cracks on their way to high school graduation.

After a series of meetings and input from Dallas ISD and the West Dallas community, Simmons received a $2 million grant from Toyota for planning a new

STEM school in West Dallas.

Since 2018, design teams comprised of representatives from SMU, Toyota, Dallas ISD, and the West Dallas community have been hard at work completing models for curriculum and community engagement, laying the foundation for the school to open its doors to the inaugural class in the fall of 2021.

The range of contributors, all leaders in their fields and passionate about education, have given the project an extraordinary feel.

Dean Knight refers to their collaboration as an “alignment of the stars.”

Toyota brings insights for educating today’s children for tomorrow’s jobs and a desire to provide a pathway by which West Dallas students can come into STEM fields via college, community college, or vocational work.

The Budd Center’s intimate relationship with West Dallas will help the school to achieve the vision of a school involved in its surrounding community that provides opportunities and support for parents and students.

Leaders at SMU — from Simmons, Dedman, and the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education — play a crucial role in shaping the curriculum and guiding teachers.

Dallas ISD has provided the soon-tobe-former Pinkston High campus as the site for the new STEM school, and an architecture team is planning a remodel that will transform the former high school into a learning environment suitable for students ages 3 through 14. Dallas ISD will also name the school.

The benefits of STEM education are numerous, regardless of the career path these future alumni ultimately take.

“STEM is everywhere. Even if you don’t go into a STEM field, you’re going to live in a STEM world,” said Dr. Richard Duschl, executive director of the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education.

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Innovative Private School Approaches Coming in Many Forms Dean’s Choice Award, which recognizes students for exhibiting excellence in a diverse array of categories.

Early childhood is the perfect time to introduce the magic of STEAM to a child.

Katie Zeller

Ursuline students utilize a virtual 3D dissection table to better study anatomy. (COURTESY PHOTO) What does STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) education look like at private schools? We checked around for a sampling of what they offer.

Ursuline Academy Ursuline was one of the first six schools in the U.S. to pioneer the 1:1 laptop program in the U.S. in 1996, so the school’s ties to the tech world are long and storied.

Nowadays, the school offers such classes as Engineering Design Innovation and anatomy – where they even have an Anatomage Table – a virtual 3D dissection table – and a Virtual Tee that, when paired with an app, helps students visualize various organs in the body.

The school boasts that 100 percent of faculty completed training to become Microsoft

Innovative Educators and that the school was named Microsoft Showcase School for September 2019.

That emphasis on STEAM education is paying off for alumnae.

Dr. Allison Mathews, who graduated in 2003, is now a postdoctoral researcher at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of Social Medicine and the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Disease, and serves at the director of the 2BeatHIV project, and founded Community Expert Solutions. In 2017, she was awarded the Dr. Hatch Early Career Professional Award at the North Carolina Health Equity Impact Awards.

Jacqueline Gibson, who graduated in 2015 and went on to attend the University of Texas, was awarded the College of Natural Sciences

Good Shepherd Episcopal Twenty-five years ago, Good Shepherd Episcopal School launched Classroom of the Earth, which takes students on everything from nature hikes to 10-day adventures in the Rocky Mountains, all the while following ecologically friendly principles to leave the sites as pristine as they were when they arrived.

Students also learn to use cutting edge and innovative tools to create and learn and also have access to personalized learning programs through child-centered technology offerings.

Winston School Rather than teaching a fixed curriculum, the Winston School prides itself on aligning with a student’s learning style.

The school offers specialized academies, including the Winston Solar Science Academy. Interested students get in-depth, hands-on learning by building, maintaining, and driving a solar car raced on a closed track and the open road in a cross-country race.

Last year, the team raced at Texas Motor

Speedway, creating a car that completed 144 laps around the track.

St. Michael Episcopal School Established in 1986 as a ministry of Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, the school now serves more than 195 families with students ranging from toddlers to kindergarten.

Among learning the basics of math, the school has partnered with the nearby DaVinci School to offer Science Explorers, which promotes STEAM concepts through hands-on learning and simple science experiments and explorations.

In the summer, the school offers age-appropriate summer camps that can explore everything from the life cycles of bugs, Lego engineering, the five senses, and more.

The Day School at Highland Park Presbyterian “Early childhood is the perfect time to introduce the magic of STEAM to a child,” said Katie Zeller, office and technology coordinator at The Day School for students ages 12 months through kindergarten. “Our interactive and hands-on program captures students’ imaginations and unleashes their creativity.”

After reading about the Brooklyn Bridge, students might build their own, and teachers take advantage of what is going on near them to expose students to new occupations.

“For example, we are watching and documenting the construction that is happening in our building, and our children now know all about architects, engineers, and electricians,” Zeller said.

– Staff report

B14 January 2020 | STEAM | peoplenewspapers.com

Perot Museum Makes Science Fun Renovated hall becomes technological wonderland

I F YO U G O WHAT: The renovated Engineering and Innovation Hall features interactive exhibits.

WHEN: Museum hours, 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. through 5 p.m. on Sundays.

By Dalia Faheid

People Newspapers Inviting curious learners of all ages, the newly expanded Engineering and Innovation Hall at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science intends to bring out the innovator in every child and the child in every adult.

Partnering with the Texas Instruments Foundation, the renovated exhibition spurs curiosity through fun stations, allowing visitors to explore their inner engineer and become inspired by local engineers.

“You’re going to have an opportunity to engage in science in this really risk-free way, and find out that it’s fun, which is what you don’t learn in classrooms,” Perot’s CEO Linda Silver said.

At the center of the 4,500-square-foot hall, two stations allow hands-on learners to play with robots using controllers to complete missions collaboratively.

For visual learners, an attention-grabbing music coding sequencer stands out with a colorful LED display, allowing visitors to create music using light-up buttons.

You’re going to have an opportunity to engage in science in this really risk-free way, and find out that it’s fun, which is what you don’t learn in classrooms.

Linda Silver

WHERE: Perot Museum of Nature and Science, 2201 N. Field St. TICKETS: $13 for children, $20 for adults, and $18 for seniors.

ONLINE: Visit perotmuseum.org.

EXTRA: Exhibits are in Spanish and English.

Visitors interact with exhibits. (PHOTO BY KAITLYN KILPATRICK/PEROT MUSEUM OF NATURE AND SCIENCE) Technology fanatics might look forward to a real-life ‘Snapchat filter’ with the facial recognition station, customizing their avatars and characters to use for themselves and friends.

If you’re up for a challenge, the hall also features the 1,400-square-foot “ChallENGe

Lab,” where visitors engage in timed, thought-provoking engineering challenges such as a high-tech egg drop, where they work analytically and creatively on finding a solution.

For younger learners, watching objects flow through the 23-foot “Amazing Airways”

wind tube can be exciting.

Officials hope the hall will nourish young minds, igniting future innovation.

“It’s certainly our sincere hope that this inspires some young minds to choose engineering as a profession and innovation as a passion,” Terry West, chair of the TI Foundation, said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“But I think regardless of what young minds choose, this is a place that will inspire curiosity and a desire to help make our world just a little bit better through technology.”

Check It Out: Libraries Offer More Than Books STEAM kits, classes, events help make learning fun

By Tanika Turner People Newspapers

Overheard at the Preston Royal Branch of the Dallas Public Library: a mother suggested to her daughter a trip to the State Fair of Texas, but the little girl had other ideas.

We provide a place for kids to blow off steam…no pun intended.

Connie Maxwell “But what about STEM?” she asked. “I want to go to STEM.” Libraries have always been goto places when seeking knowledge and now also offer programs that

Children learn about the stars with a Night Sky Kit that includes a telescope. (COURTESY HIGHLAND PARK PUBLIC LIBRARY) cater to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) or STEAM (the “A” is for art) education.

Of the five years Connie Maxwell has managed the Preston Royal Branch, the STEM program has been hosting STEM & Stories for four. The goal is to expose

school-aged children to STEM in fun ways.

Laura Collins, the youth services librarian at the Highland Park Harvey R. “Bum” Bright Library, has noticed an equal interest from both girls and boys in the STEAM program there.

The library has 11 STEAM kits

thanks to grants from La Fiesta de las Seis Banderas. The kits, available for children as young as 3, include a Night Sky kit, which contains a telescope and helps teach children about constellations and planets. With the Dash! robot kit, users do basic coding to make the robot respond to voice, surroundings, and other inputs.

The Highland Park library also hosts events such as the Codea-thon and a Star Wars-themed technology lab for children, ages 9 to 14, who are interested in tech and coding. The library frequently combines old crafts with new technology such as virtual reality headsets.

“We see a lot of people come in during finals,” Collins said. “We provide a place for kids to blow off steam…no pun intended.”

University Park Public Library has been hosting STEAM Station

and Elementary Explorers for a year. While the STEAM Station is more interactive and hands-on, Elementary Explorers is more like a class where children ages 6 and older learn new concepts and how those ideas are used in everyday life.

“I try to give them visuals to understand the concepts,” said Zoe Williams, University Parks youth services librarian.

While the libraries may not tie into schools’ curriculum directly, librarians stay in touch with teachers to promote what the libraries have to offer.

While the programs are there to engage students, librarians stressed the importance of parental or guardian involvement. Learning is a group sport, and the STEM/ STEAM programs are opening the minds of students to prepare them for a lifetime of learning, they said.

peoplenewspapers.com | STEAM | January 2020 B15

UT Dallas Aims To Teach Younger Students, Too

Programs offered include Techtalks, workshops, annual engineering day

Explore Engineering Day draws thousands of families to UT Dallas each year. (COURTESY PHOTOS)

By Liliann Albelbaisi People Newspapers

The University of Texas at Dallas, known for its programs for undergraduate and graduate college students, also aims to impact grade school students in the areas of science, technology, engineering art, and, mathematics (STEAM).

The Science and Engineering Education Center (SEEC) works with community partners and

corporations to provide accessible learning opportunities meant to expand the knowledge of students in kindergarten through 12th grades.

UT Dallas wants to “teach kids how everyday life relates to math and science,” explained Lolani Connolly.

She has worked at the center since its founding in 2008 and served as its director since 2013.

Explore Engineering Day – one of the center’s most popular events

– introduces children to how engineering helps everyday life and connects them with engineers so students can learn more about what engineers do for the community.

Registration is free.

The day’s activities line up with courses taught at the university and are interweaved in current events, Connolly said.

She described it as a powerful family event that caters to children’s passions and curiosity and helps

parents figure out how to help their children succeed.

The center also works with student volunteers to successful Dallas professionals to offer workshops and Techtalks.

Techtalks, offered for older students, feature professionals and professors who speak about the big problems and challenges the engineering world is facing at the moment.

“It’s important to educate the public about what we are doing in North Texas,” Connolly said. “Why not have those conversations with those kids early on?”

The center provides learning opportunities to more than 150,000 students a year.

Of those, “85% feel better informed about the roles engineers play,” she said. “What we are finding

is that this is a critical part of the recipe: to experience math and science in the everyday.”

E XPLORE ENGINEERING DAY WHAT: A free family event featuring opportunities to meet engineers and learn about what they do WHEN: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Feb. 15 WHERE: University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road REGISTRATION: utdallas. edu/evites/exploreengineering-day/registration. html