Academics

P-TECH has been at Woodrow Wilson High School for two years, but this year it's finally official! The Woodrow Wilson P-TECH is the newest early College Program in DallasISD that is offered for free. It's a great way for students to get a head start in colleges and careers.

P-TECH stands for Pathways in Technology Early College High School. It's a program where students can earn both their High School Diploma and up to 60 Hours of College credits as well as an associates degree. Students also gain valuable workplace experience through internships and mentoring. 

Director of the P-TECH program at Woodrow, Leslie Gyan, said being able to offer this program and work with P-TECH students is a blessing “I feel like I'm able to support students and help shape their lives even beyond their time at Woodrow,” said Gyan “When they leave us they're getting ready to go on to being doctors, nurses, and business owners and so in some way we played a small part in setting them on that path of success.” 

Woodrow Wilson P-TECH looks for incoming ninth-grade students who are wanting to attend College. Each year 125 new students will stay together as a group/family throughout high school. You apply online in eighth grade, and are interviewed. Accepted students are notified in March. In the 9th grade, you go to classes at the Woodrow Wilson High School campus. Then for junior and senior year students are taken with free transportation to the Dallas College Richland campus.You choose between the two career paths: Patient Care or Entrepreneurship and work toward an Associate of Arts Degree.   

Freshman Gaby Cheatham shared advice for someone who is interested in p-tech “If they aren't willing to put in the work don't join it but if you are willing to then id say this is a good program for you.” said Cheatham. Sophomore Derek Sein is a part of the first class of P-TECH. He says he feels special and supported by the program. “We definitely have the people to lean on and ask if we have problems. There are great counselors, great staff members and teachers.” said Sein.

Sophomore Lillian Faz was asked what are the ups and downs of being in P-TECH? “I've definitely been overstimulated with work. The work is very difficult and it comes all at once. And the good thing is, well, when I graduate I'm going to have my associates and I'm going to be ahead of my class, probably going to be at least top 50 of my class. It's just really helping me become a better student than the average student.”

September is deaf awareness month– it's also leading to a 50 year celebration in Dallas ISD. Woodrow has a big deaf ED program.  

The Dallas Regional Day School Program for the Deaf (RDSPD) is dedicated to giving individual services that help students with different levels of hearing loss. Focused on showing communication, language development, and self-advocacy skills, the program works to prepare Deaf and Hard of Hearing students for academic success and life beyond school. This year marks the 50th year celebration of the (RDSPD). 

A key aspect of RDSPD's mission is to empower students to become confident and very capable of things on their own. This is reflected in the diverse opportunities students have to develop their communication skills and life lessons.

Heather Wood, a retired deaf ed teacher, reflected on what deaf education looked like when she first started teaching years ago. “ Early on Deaf students were forbidden to use sign language in school and were encouraged to use speech, lip reading, and auditory skills, and it was VERY challenging!Also, when sign language was finally considered acceptable, it was Signed English, not American Sign Language (ASL). Now ASL is accepted in Deaf Ed, and it is also considered a language, qualifying for “foreign language” credit.”

Throughout Woodrow's years of working in Deaf Ed she hoped to see new positive developments in deaf education students' futures. “ My hope is that more of the Deaf students will consider the opportunity to attend Career Institutes offered at the high school level. I’ve subbed at two CI schools and I’m so impressed with the options available that might help our students with career and job opportunities by testing out these classes.” Career Institutes offer students pathways in careers like instruction, food service, medical. 

Melissa Alloway has worked for Dallas ISD RDSPD for 41 years and also believes Deaf students should have the opportunity to choose and be prepared for college or a career post graduation. While Alloway taught she noticed gaps in at home communication for def ed students, “I hope more families will learn to sign, and hearing students will learn about Deaf culture.”

Overall, RDSPD continues to play a vital role in supporting Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, helping them achieve academic excellence and prepare for successful futures. There will be an upcoming celebration at Mockingbird elementary Dallas for the celebration of the 50th year of RDSPD. 

AI is a powerful tool for school, but with great power comes great responsibility! Students and a teacher at Woodrow Wilson express their beliefs and experience with AI in school! Students believe that AI is a positive addition to their education with many benefits, while teachers believe otherwise!

Woodrow Student Cisco Griffith believes that AI is very helpful with schoolwork. “AI has helped me with getting my answers correct and getting work done quicker.” said Griffith. Griffith says there also are some drawbacks when using AI, “I think that it would limit some of the personal thinking skills of the students,” said Griffith, “I think that they (students) will rely on AI because they will not be able to do the assignments on their own.”

Woodrow Student Colton Williams uses Grammarly’s AI tool, to help him write better papers in his English class. Williams believes that AI should be allowed and even integrated into schools, saying that it is a very helpful tool for the future. “It helps around the world currently and we are using it more and more.” said Williams.

On the other hand, Woodrow journalism teacher Ms.Nicholson believes that AI is not helpful and actually damages students' learning skills. She said, “Coming from a teacher standpoint, I feel that AI is a little distracting and kind of prevents people from being able to access their original thoughts to be able to build that skill of thinking on their own.” Nicholson also believes AI should not be allowed in the classroom because she thinks that school is a place to learn, and we shouldn’t be using AI to do the learning for us. Finally, AI has impacted her teaching because it is an easy option for students to use AI instead of trying to think for themselves and creating their own story. She said, “Since I am in a journalism classroom, I have ran into some students who do not want to put in the effort to think about how to put a story together, make a headline, or even just draft questions to ask people.”

What do you think about AI in school?

Some students may need some help when it comes to studying for tests. Students are sometimes better at studying than others, and might have some helpful tips to share. It might be helpful to spend some time in your day dedicated to studying for your particular test. You might also want to form a study group with your friends so you can help prepare each other. Even if this means going to your local Starbucks or someone's house, and studying. 

A freshman named Ansley said “a good study tip I use before a unit test is to read through your notes or passages, and highlight important key words.” Another freshman named Maddie said “when I study I make flashcards by hand so that it sticks in my brain, and I learn the words and definitions.” These tips could potentially improve your test scores. 

Although freshman Bonnie, who hasn't had good luck with studying for tests, has said “I do need help with my studying because my methods of just winging it are not working out for me as well as my grades, and I'm wanting to try out these methods to raise my grades”. All these methods are worth a try if you are willing to give them a shot. Lastly, many people also say getting enough sleep might influence this, and hiring a tutor might also be beneficial. 

The start of a new school year is always a chaotic time.  This fact holds especially true among the student athletes of Woodrow Wilson High School.  Several athletes are in the wrong athletics periods, or they don’t have an athletics period at all.  This problem has unfortunately become a common trend across previous years as well, leading athletes to miss valuable time with their coaches and teammates.  One group of students that has been deeply affected by this issue is the Woodrow Wilson Tennis Team.

The athletics period is a time dedicated for students to practice their sport.  It’s a time for training of the body, mind, and bonds between teammates and coaches.  For many, it’s the highlight of their day, and to miss it would be a loss of their school identity.  11th grade tennis player Brooks Fuquay is one of several players on the varsity team who are experiencing conflicts in their scheduling.  Instead of being in the correct athletics period, he is instead in a global politics class, which he said, “was only offered one period” and “coincided with tennis”.  When asked how this problem has affected his development, Fuquay said, “Without the scheduled practice time, I am unable to get a consistent practice schedule going outside of school because of homework, family responsibilities, and other obligations.”  Aside from lacking time to practice, Fuquay said that he is, “very rarely playing with other members of the team, and because of this feels less of a part of the team come game day.”

The root of this issue can be traced back to the complex master schedule that organizes all classes taught at Woodrow Wilson.  With the vast variety of courses that students can choose from, there are bound to be conflictions between class periods.  For example, there are multiple courses that are limited to one or two class periods, such as AP Calculus AB -- which only exists as an eighth period class.  As a result, any students that have an eighth period athletics that wish to take AP Calculus AB are forced to choose between the two.  This scenario is just one of many real situations that are affecting student athletes at Woodrow.  For students who are just as passionate about their academic profiles as they are about their sports life, this choice can be a difficult one to make.

In this tumultuous start to the semester, all eyes have been on the team of school counselors responsible for making changes and corrections in student schedules.  Many students have been quick to label incompetence and lack of care as the culprits for this chaos, but the cause of this problem may be more nuanced than that.  School counselor Cris Luisi acknowledged the frustration of students who are unhappy with their schedules.  “What they don’t understand is that we, as counselors, have no say over the master schedule.”  According to her, the creation of the master schedule involves a variety of administrative members in a puzzling process.  In her final statement to the student body, Luisi said that she wants students and parents to know that, “We are on ya’ll’s side; I am an advocate for you guys.”

It is unclear whether or not the students of Woodrow Wilson High School will ever see a solution to this complicated problem.  What is clear, however, is that school scheduling is an unrefined process causing trouble in the athletics department.  When the second semester of the 2025-2026 school year begins, the doors will be opened once more for students to make adjustments to their schedules.  Athletes, coaches, and parents can only hope then, that they will find answers to these problems.