STEM

This year, though seventh- and eighth-graders are at L.G. Pinkston High School's campus, they’re in a separate school with a unique learning approach — the new West Dallas STEM school.

Paul L. Dunbar and H.S. Thompson schools in South Dallas received grants to support innovation in areas like leadership, technology, STEM.

The idea formed a few years ago, when UNT Dallas biology professor Kelly Varga took her students to the Mill City neighborhood to help clean up a community farm. The woman who ran the farm told Varga she saw a need in her neighborhood for quality food and a healthy outlet for young people.