Photography by Lauren Allen

DeGolyer Elementary’s familiar teal blue hallways welcomed students this year, as they have for decades. It has been a linchpin in the community since it opened in 1959.

The school is named after Everett Lee DeGolyer, a 1900s oilman turned pioneer in education with his leading research in petroleum. DeGolyer Elementary uses his namesake and is a reflection of his bright mind. The school not only focuses on education, but on how it can impact students far past the classroom walls.

“I always call it the Terabithia of Dallas ISD,” current principal Herschel Carter says. “People talk about it, but we’re a smaller campus.”

Alumni fondly recall various aspects of DeGolyer’s past, including the heydays of milk cartons being delivered to the classroom for seven cents each, students receiving polio vaccines via sugar cubes and students tuned into the World Series using transistor radios during classes. And back when the school was known as the Pilots, now the Dolphins — with its mascot affectionately known as Eek.

They’ve ditched most of that awhile ago. And In the early weeks of June, the school will be demolished and replaced with a new building.

Carter has the prime opportunity not many principals have: to bridge the school’s past with its new beginnings.

The 2020 Dallas ISD Bond allocated $3.2 billion for renovations across 200 campuses. DeGolyer was one of 10 other schools on the list for a full replacement project.

Northbridge Construction Group and Caco Architecture are spearheading the construction of the $24,149,784 renovation.

“The new school has really blown our expectations away,” says Amy Shephard, DeGolyer PTA mom and member of the school’s site decision-making board. “It’s just going to be a really great addition to the neighborhood. The kids work so hard so it’ll be great for them to be in a new building.”

Since the first meeting in 2021, the Dallas ISD Bond and Construction board and DeGolyer have consistently had open conversations about the new school’s progress through virtual neighborhood meetings.

“There’s a true collaboration between community and the school,” Carter says. “We gave students the opportunity to be a part of those plans and to have input during those processes.”

The school held a groundbreaking ceremony in the spring of 2023 and contractors have been working in tandem on the new school, with the site towering behind the current school.

The new campus will feature cutting-edge amenities, including NASA-STEM-certified science labs, an expanded gymnasium, a planetarium, and advanced robotics and printing technology. To further its STEAM education, the school will expand its arts, theater and esports programs.

“We’re the biggest supporters and motivators,” Carter says. “I think that’s what makes me smile the most is that you just hear the confidence in which our students think about things that they’re passionate about, and even the things that they aren’t passionate about. They can still speak toward it with confidence. You need that to be successful.”

Last summer after the announcement of the renovation, 80 alumni from the class of ‘67 returned to DeGolyer with heartfelt stories.

One story revealed how the school shutdown on Nov. 11, 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Downtown Dallas. Others shared how much the school has changed, like how the library used to be the art room. Another story teased how teachers used to be able to smoke in the teacher’s lounge. They reminisced about the first donation to the school — the Japanese-style garden in the courtyard.

Some people were even bold enough to ask if they could take souvenirs from the school like auditorium chairs or tiles on the walls.

“This is a special place that everybody wants to come back to,” Carter says. “On the last day of school, 40 [alumni] want to come back to say their last goodbyes.”

The string that connects everyone who goes through the threshold of DeGolyer is the clear school spirit.

“DeGolyer really worked hard to make school fun and I look back on the years there with extreme gratitude and love,” Margaret King, Class of 2010, says. “I only hope that the culture that made DeGolyer special gets brought with them when they move.”

When students return for their first day of school in August, DeGolyer will hold its usual opening day ceremony, but taken up a notch. Along with Carter’s opening remarks, the band playing the school’s familiar song, the principal is excited to present the community with the new school and to cut the ribbon, he says, The first day will have alumni from all years, parents, neighbors and, of course, the students.

“It’s going to be a cumulating moment for what the new frontier looks like,” Carter says.