The Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School is a school for girls in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Part of the

Dallas Independent School District The Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD or DISD) is a school district based in Dallas, Texas (USA). It operates schools in much of Dallas County and is the second-largest school district in Texas and the seventeenth-largest in the U ...

, it is the first public all-girls school in the state and is renowned for its challenging coursework and high college matriculation rate.Hobbs, Tawnell D.
All-girls school thriving
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The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

''. Saturday May 12, 2007. Retrieved on October 17, 2014. The school was established in 2004 and graduated its first class of 21 students in 2009. It opened under the leadership of Principal Vivian Taylor-Samudio. The school is in proximity to

Fair Park Fair Park is a recreational and educational complex in Dallas, Texas, United States, located immediately east of downtown. The area is registered as a Dallas Landmark and National Historic Landmark; many of the buildings were constructed for th ...

History

The school is named after Irma Lerma Rangel who was the first Mexican-American woman elected to the Texas House of Representatives and the first woman elected as Chair of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus. Palm Harbor Homes founder and philanthropist Lee Posey, along with his wife, visited

The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem (TYWLS) is a public all-girls school in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. The school serves approximately 440 young women in 6th through 12th grade. It is part of the Young Women's Leadershi ...

, a high-performing all girls' school in New York City. Posey decided to have a similar school established in Dallas. Posey's organization, originally the Young Women's Leadership Foundation and later the Foundation for the Education of Young Women, established a partnership with DISD and had the school established as the first all girls school in Texas. Originally housed in the historic Stephen J. Hay Building, located at 3801 Herschel Ave. in the city's Oak Lawn district, the Irma L. Rangel Young Women's Leadership School opened its doors to 125 students on August 16, 2004 under the leadership of Principal Vivian Taylor-Samudio, who headed the school from its inception to her retirement in 2015. In the 2005-2006 academic year, it expanded to receive ninth grade students, and the following year, it further expanded to receive sixth and tenth grade students. The school finally opened to grades sixth through twelve during the 2008-2009 academic year, graduating its first class in 2009. In 2010 Rangel parents protested a plan to require children in Rangel's middle school to reapply for the high school grades.

Network

The school is a member of the Young Women's Preparatory Network, which funds programs including leadership-building summer camps and on-campus college advising. As part of the network, it maintains relationships with other institutions in the network, including sister school

Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders is an all-girls college preparatory public school of choice for students in grades 6–12 located in Austin, Texas. The school is named for former Texas governor Ann Richards and is part of the Austi ...

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

. Once graduated, students maintain connected via an alumnae network that helps establish professional connections. The

Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy at A. Maceo Smith (BOMLA) is a magnet secondary school for boys located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas. It is a part of the Dallas Independent School District.Williams, Shawn P.DISD’s Barack Obama Mal ...

, established in 2011, is the school's all-boys counterpart, or brother school.

Creed

In 2013, Principal Vivan Taylor-Samudio introduced and instilled the school creed, to be recited by students each morning.

Programs

The school includes a hand bell choir, a vocal choir, a string instrumental orchestra, academic pentathlon and decathlon, a robotics team, a debate team, a yearbook staff, a GSA called Rainbow Rangers, an after-school community service club, and many more.

Accolades

* Texas Education Agency exemplary school (2006 to present) * Teacher Kathryn Tharp received 1st place in 2005 Dallas Art Educators Association awards * Teacher Kimberly Ferguson received

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...

' 2008 STEM Award * 1st place in District 5A High School One-Act Play Competition (2007-2008) * Received grant from the Dallas Museum of Art for the 6th grade Talented and Gifted class (2008-2009) * Received grant from Citibank for Introduction to Business class for 7th and 8th graders * 2011 National Blue Ribbon School (named by U.S. Department of Education) * Ranked as the 3rd best high school and 2nd best middle school in the North Texas area by

Children at Risk CHILDREN AT RISK is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that drives changes for children through research, education, and influencing public policy. Founded in the year of 1989 in Houston, Texas and with an office opened in North Texas in 2011, ...

* 4th place in Sweepstakes at the 2013 Texas Math & Science Coaches Association State Championship (Many trophies and medals were also awarded to team members individually)http://www.tmscaonline.net/1A_ind.pdf ** 1st place in Science ** 4th place in General Mathematics ** 8th place in Number Sense ** 9th place in Calculator * Named 44th Most Challenging High School in the US by

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

in 2017

References

External links

Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School

Articles about the school at
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'' * Swartz, Mimi.
Going Public

Archive
. ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

''. February 2005 - Rangel is discussed in this article {{DEFAULTSORT:Rangel Dallas Independent School District schools Dallas Independent School District high schools Public middle schools in Dallas Girls' schools in Texas Women's Leadership Schools Public high schools in Dallas Public magnet schools in Dallas Public girls' schools in the United States Educational institutions established in 2004 2004 establishments in Texas