Photo gallery: Charles Rice Learning Center wins back-to-back basketball titles
For the second consecutive year, the Charles Rice Learning Center’s girls’ and boys’ basketball teams brought home the Dallas Independent School District Elementary Basketball Champion title.
The championship game was on February 11. The boys’ team was led by Charles Rice alum Glen Upshaw, who played against Albert C. Black STEAM Academy, and the girls’ team was led by Coach Michelle Leggins against Mockingbird Elementary School.
Final score for the girls’ team: 13-8. The boys’ team won 31-17.
The students celebrated their victory alongside their community in South Dallas in a “packed” stadium at the Beckley Saner Recreation Center.
For Upshaw, the support he felt from the community on the night of the game was overwhelming. He described the school as a “family-oriented environment.”
“The game was packed,” Upshaw said. “We got a great set of parents, man, they do anything and everything to see these kids succeed in sports and in academics.”
The elementary school did not have a sports program for 17 years, due to a lack of coaches. The program returned four years ago. Since then, the students have not only excelled in basketball and track, but also in working together to achieve a goal, Upshaw said.
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Prior to joining the Dallas Free Press as a visual journalist, Camilo Diaz Jr. was a video intern at KERA, the NPR and PBS member station for North Texas, where he developed a deep appreciation for video production, making his inner child smile by working at a station he watched growing up. He also worked as a multimedia fellow at the Fort Worth Report, covering local news in his hometown. As a teenager, he began documenting his community and identity through photography, leading him to the world of photojournalism. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a concentration in photojournalism from the University of North Texas.
Beat: Visual and multimedia approach to capturing community and civic life
The images of our communities that appear in local news media are mostly of crime and blight, which doesn’t at all reflect their beauty and assets. This visual journalist sees neighbors and captures community and civic life in all of its facets. The journalist is a multimedia reporter with a photographic eye, who has the skills to meld images, video and audio for storytelling, and the desire to reach under-covered audiences.
