Student Achievements: Big Check, Impressive Scholars

1. Money for music

The 64th Annual Junior Symphony Ball raised a record-shattering $446,000 for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra League. The money supports music education programs serving disadvantaged youth throughout North Texas.

2. Tower builders

At the invitation of AECOM, third-grader girls from Arthur Kramer Elementary explored potential career paths during the global infrastructure firm’s Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day on March 10. FRONT ROW, FROM LEFT: Natalia Blanco, Sydney Draper, Sophie Kitner, Ann Waldrop, Mary Louise Waldrop, and Millie Masters. BACK ROW: Emily Elson, Revathi Veriah, Alisha Khanal, Diana Cabrera, Jessie Hand, Amanda Koif, Tisha Eames, and Dev Rastogi.

“I didn’t know engineers did so much,” Sophie said. “It was neat to learn about all the types of engineers, but I really liked building the tower. We worked as a team and got to use marshmallows.”

(Photo: Paula Paggi)

3. Rename Hockaday? 

Graduates of the Hockaday School have impressed D Magazine editor Tim Rogers so much he wants to rename the school “The Rhodes Factory on Forest Lane.”

The witty blogger suggested as much after learning 2018 graduates Mary Orsak and Elizabeth Guo are headed to the University of Oxford in England in October as Rhodes Scholars.

“That’s four Hockadasies in six years — and five in the last 11 years,” Rogers noted.

Mary Orsak, a senior at Yale University, plans to pursue a master of philosophy in Russian and East European studies in England and one day become a professor of Slavic literature and art history. Talk about a timely choice given world events.

Elizabeth Guo, a senior at Harvard University, plans to pursue master of science degrees in mathematical and theoretical physics and social science of the internet at Oxford before returning to Harvard for law school.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Hockaday

William Taylor

William Taylor, editor of Park Cities People and Preston Hollow People, shares a name and a birthday with his dad and a love for community journalism with his colleagues at People Newspapers. He joined the staff in 2016 after more than 25 years working for daily newspapers in such places as Alexandria, Louisiana; Baton Rouge; McKinney; San Angelo; and Sherman, though not in anywhere near that order. A city manager once told him that “city government is the best government” because of its potential to improve the lives of its residents. William still enjoys covering municipal government and many other topics. Follow him on Twitter @Seminarydropout. He apologizes in advance to the Joneses for any angry Tweets that might slip out about the Dallas Cowboys during the NFL season. You also can reach him at william.taylor@peoplenewspapers.com. For the latest news, click here to sign up for our newsletter.

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