As Ursuline Academy of Dallas senior Lexi Obi participated in the Ursuline Education Network Student Retreat earlier this year, she learned something surprising: Despite hailing from different grades, different schools, and even different states, the student attendees each had something fundamental in common — a sense of “serviam,” or sense of service, rooted deeply in their common Ursuline formation.
Schools
When she speaks with school principals, pastors, or parents, Isabel Puente sees them all the same: as family. The 28 year old has spent four months traveling throughout the Diocese of Dallas to show them how children can be educated in Catholic schools using the recently created Texas Educational Freedom Accounts.
Samantha Lopez, a fourth- and fifth-grade science and math teacher at Santa Clara of Assisi Catholic Academy in Dallas, saw her dream of providing personalized support to each of her students become a reality this school year.
Oil, water, two eggs, and brownie mix. Every other Wednesday at Notre Dame School of Dallas, 17-year-old Matthew Salinas mixes those ingredients to make brownie batter.
A career defined by empathy, equity, and genuine connection — that, Alandra Barfield said, is her dream for the future. That future may be years removed from the present moment for the high school junior; but, as a member of Project Guardian Angel’s first mentorship cohort, which launched Jan. 21, Barfield’s dream-building starts now.
At Mount St. Michael Catholic School, principal Melissa Castro said a popular dance program has become a tradition that forms not only skilled dancers but young people who carry themselves with respect and confidence.
Two teachers at Good Shepherd Catholic School in Garland are transforming the lives of children who once struggled to learn to read. Since 2023, Pauline Stoffels and Vonda McFarling, certified academic language and licensed dyslexia therapists, have provided intensive, multisensory intervention to help dyslexic students become successful readers and writers.
At 8 years old, Maddie Muller received earthshattering news in the form of a cancer diagnosis. It was ovarian dysgerminoma cancer, her pediatrician said, and it would require four rounds of chemotherapy — treatments that would leave the young girl nauseous, dazed, and exhausted. Even as her body weakened under the toll of that treatment, Maddie found that she could still capture something all children need — the joy of play — any time she sat atop her HoverflyKart, a hoverboard with go-kart attachments, and zipped down the street with the neighborhood kids.
Janell Miank credits her mother for her passion for photography.
Lisa Long has been appointed the next president of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School, beginning with the 2026–2027 school year.