It was 7th grade, the world was in the middle of a pandemic, and Sammie Nguyen (Class of 2026) was sitting in front of a screen in an online classroom at DSST: College View. Her teacher, Ms. Crystal Purvis, now Dr. Purvis, was walking students through different engineering fields. One of them was...
Each year, DSST honors a graduate with the Distinguished Alumni Torch Bearer Award, recognizing someone who has taken the light of their DSST experience and carried it forward, illuminating the path for the next generation. This year, that honor belongs to Giselle Garcia-Gonzalez, DSST: Montview...
Each year, DSST honors a graduate whose life and career embody what it means to blaze a trail - someone who took everything the DSST experience offered and used it to do something extraordinary in the world. This year's Distinguished Alumni Trailblazer Award went to Evan Sauls, DSST: Montview ‘15,...
There's a particular kind of pride that comes not just from personal achievement, but from knowing your success belongs to something bigger than yourself. For Ben Garfield, a member of the first graduating class at DSST: Cole High School, that feeling has been a compass ever since he walked across...
She grew up in Green Valley Ranch (GVR), the same neighborhood where she would one day teach. She sat in the same kinds of classrooms where she would later stand at the front. And when she crossed the stage to receive her doctoral degree, she did it knowing she wasn't walking alone. She was carried...
As a first-generation student at DSST: Montview, college felt like a distant possibility for Perla Bustillos Gutierrez, not a guaranteed next step. But, through guidance, encouragement, and consistent support, Bustillos Gutierrez, Class of 2014, came to see that a four-year college was within...
Sandra Ross remembers sixth grade clearly. Sitting with her advisor at DSST: Green Valley Ranch Middle School, on the verge of tears, working so hard yet still building her reading skills. It was frustrating. It was vulnerable. And it shaped everything that came after.
For Jadyn Nguyen, a 2019 graduate of DSST: Green Valley Ranch High School, identity isn’t just about where you come from—it’s about how you grow, who supports you and what you give back.
At DSST Public Schools, a diploma is just the beginning of a journey toward lasting success. The mission goes beyond academic achievement—it's about preparing students for a future of opportunity. A recent study by the Charter School Growth Fund reveals just how far DSST students go to turn their...
When Matthew Telles walked through the doors of DSST: Green Valley Ranch in 2010, he wasn’t just another sixth-grader starting middle school—he was a founding student. The weight of that title settled on his young shoulders as he and his classmates set out to build something special, something...
