Lincoln High School

Tod Robberson: Building a cradle-to-success pipeline for South Dallas

A relentless vortex of failure steadily yanked at everyone close to Veronica Jacquez, sucking their life dreams away.

As she grew up across the street from the Turner Courts public housing project in South Dallas, Veronica’s father drank heavily and split from her mother. Gang members sprayed her house with...

Graduation marks another Turner 12 milestone

Coach John Carter has devoted years to developing the Turner 12 program at Lincoln High School in South Dallas.

The program gets parents involved in their children’s education and pushes youths to transform their lives inside and outside the classroom. Carter works to instill discipline, good study habits and parental oversight — with a strong emphasis on volunteerism to help uplift the surrounding community.

Twelve students commit to the program in seventh grade, and if they stay with it through graduation, Carter promises them a shot at college.

Mentoring Program Has Dramatic Success

DALLAS - In 1999 John Carter learned some disturbing statistics. In the previous 10 years only six students from the Turner Courts in south Dallas had gone to college. So he quit his job teaching.

But instead of leaving the students, Carter began mentoring them. He worked with 12 students and 11 of them graduated college. He proved with the right attention no obstacle is too great.

And now Carter has done it again with a second group of students from Lincoln High School.

Inner City Kids Return From Yellowstone

A dozen kids from an inner city Texas High School found themselves drinking hot chocolate in a Bozeman coffee shop Friday morning. They were part of an organization that passed through Bozeman after spending a week exploring Yellowstone National Park.

This past week the Turner Twelve spent time in Yellowstone learning about the area and seeing things many of them might never have experienced. Jeniece Madison is another Turner Twelve member, she said visiting Yellowstone "was pretty cool to see the wild. It was like being in a jungle and I thought it was like the best experience ever."

Bridging Dallas' North-South Gap: Parents as Partners

Nothing focuses an audience’s attention like the voice of authority, and there is no question that John Carter, a coach at Lincoln High School in South Dallas, has it when he calls together students and parents for the monthly meeting of his Turner 12 group. His command of the room shows parents that they need to be the ones in control, while students get the message that it’s time to sit up, listen and learn.