"I was one of the few that was blessed to have the chance to come,” Asante said. “I knew it was an opportunity to help people and also to help myself."

CEDAR HILL, Texas — For a student to have a motivational teacher in their life early in education can completely change their perspective on a subject or push them towards a career they never intended on pursuing.

For a decade and a half, there has been a teacher at Cedar Hill ISD who has been passing along his knowledge and is thankful for the little bit of luck that even brought him to America.

Barimah Amoo-Asante is a math teacher for 7th and 8th grade at Permenter Middle School in Cedar Hill. In his classroom, you will find signs that read “reflection,” “rotation” and “translation.” But you will also find signs with “trustworthiness,” “respectfulness” and “citizenship.”

That last word is something Asante didn’t always know he would be able to attain in the U.S.

“I’m originally from Ghana in West Africa,” Asante said.

Credit: Barimah Amoo-Asante

Barimah Amoo-Asante (third from left) poses for a picture in Ghana with six of his classmates one year after high school.

Growing up with six siblings along with a mother who was a teacher and principal, Asante was always pushed to do well at school.

However, when he got to middle school, he really started to struggle with math. It was his weakest subject. Asante said it wasn’t until he had a teacher in high school that made math much easier for him to understand that he looked at the subject differently.

"That teacher was able to motivate me and inspire me by telling me to change my mindset,” Asante said.

Asante loved the idea of being able to help others the way he once was. He also wanted to move to America for more opportunities.

So, he entered the Diversity Visa Program or more commonly called, the green card lottery. Every year, the U.S. government gives people outside America the opportunity to come over through what is practically a lottery system.

As long as you meet certain qualifications, are coming to the U.S. for work and go through an interview process, you are included in the running. Asante was one of the millions who applied in the late 1990s. And he was one of only 55,000 who was picked.

Asante said if he hadn’t gone through the lottery system, it could have taken him 10 or more years to get over here.

"I was one of the few that was blessed to have the chance to come,” Asante said. “I knew it was an opportunity to help people and also to help myself."

Asante initially worked in 20 different states before making his way to Cedar Hill, Texas. This is where he officially became a U.S. citizen and started his teaching career at Permenter Middle School.

Middle school math teacher Barimah Amoo-Asante teaches about translation and dilation during one of his classes.

"I realize that I'm making a difference in the lives of the scholars,” Asante said. “I wanted to be part of their story."

Many of Asante’s students say Asante has a very distinct style of teaching where he makes them work through problems together while also making them explain every single part of their answer.

"He gives us like little strategies to do, and it make it not really that hard,” 7th grader Kevin Jefferson said. “Ever since we took his class, our grades have been going up.”

"It's pretty easy, actually,” Aubrey Skinner said. “Much easier than 6th-grade math was."

“He breaks it down to where you can understand it from every point of view,” Braylen Lloyd said. “As you show your work, it makes it easier to explain. It makes it easier to comprehend.”

Credit: Cedar Hill ISD

Barimah Amoo-Asante received Cedar Hill ISD's Honoring Our Outstanding Paraprofessionals, Lead Educators and Administrators (HOOPLA) Award on Jan. 11, 2022.

Asante has gone on to now become the longest-tenured middle school teacher in the entire Cedar Hill ISD district, as this is his 18th school year with the district. He has also won countless awards, including most recently Cedar Hill ISD’s Honoring Our Outstanding Paraprofessionals, Lead Educators and Administrators (HOOPLA) Award in January 2022.

However, Asante said his favorite moments are when he runs into his former students when they are older and they tell him they remember not his specific lessons but how he taught them to think critically.

“I always ask them why, why, why,” Asante said. “If they justify their reason, that tells me they really understand."

Cedar Hill is a 2023 addition to the state’s flock of Bird City Texas certifications, the Audubon of Texas and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced. Austin also was named as a Bird City this year.

The certification program recognizes the efforts of cities to ensure birds, wildlife, and people thrive in their communities.

“Where birds thrive, people prosper,” Chloe Crumley, Audubon Texas engagement manager, said in a news release. “Human-dominated landscapes can support functioning ecosystems. Bird City Texas is an opportunity for communities to commit to standards that elevate urban areas to be ecologically richer and in turn offer us more beautiful, resilient, and healthful places to live. We are excited to see more cities across Texas commit to this program.”

Cedar Hill, roughly 17 miles south of downtown Dallas, is being recognized for having displayed leadership as a Bird Friendly City by excelling in three criteria areas: community engagement, habitat enhancement and protection, and creating safer spaces for birds, Texas Parks and Wildlife said.

The Cedar Hill and Austin Bird City Texas certifications will continue through 2026, the state agency said.

Since the Bird City Texas program started in 2020, several cities have been certified. Dallas, Bastrop, Houston, and Port Aransas were the inaugural cities. Three new communities were certified in January 2021: Galveston, San Antonio, and Surfside Beach.

Certified cities participate in the community-focused program to protect birds and their habitats where people live, work, and recreate. To do this, TPWD said that cities employ science-based bird initiatives and community-centric action. It said that Bird City Texas communities are able to leverage this designation to attract 2.2 million bird watchers in Texas, a major component of the $1.8 billion economic impact from Texas wildlife viewing across the state.

“As development continues across the state, reducing viable habitat for resident and migratory birds, cities that engage their community to maintain or create habitat are crucial for our dwindling bird populations,” Judit Green, TPWD urban wildlife biologist, said in a statement. “We need everyone’s help! We all have the ability to make a difference in our homes, schools, businesses, and public city spaces by adding native plants and following environmentally friendly practices that support safe, healthy areas for birds and us.”

As spring nears, certified communities will host a variety of events across the state in support of breeding birds migrating back to northern nesting territories as well as World Migratory Bird Day on May 13, TPWD said.

According to Cedar Hill, birding locations in the area include:

Priority birds in the area include the painted bunting, summer tanager, red-shouldered hawk, carolina chickadee, golden-crowned kinglet, brown creeper, hermit thrush, and white-throated sparrow, the city said on its birding website.

For more birding information from Cedar Hill, go here.

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CEDAR HILL, Texas — Each year, 12 outstanding U.S. high school juniors are selected for the Bezos Scholars Program. Cedar Hill High School student Chandler Vernon is one of those students chosen for, "Demonstrating curiosity, academic rigor and leadership in their community,” according to the organization created by Jackie and Mike Bezos, parents of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

As a senior, Vernon is known by her fellow athletes on her softball team as someone who goes out of her way to lend a helping hand. She’s known by the girls on her team as a Miss Congeniality for the positive words of affirmation she gives during practices.

Cedar Hill High School senior student Chandler Vernon during an after school softball practice. As a Bezos Scholar, Vernon aims to teach her classmates how to become financially literate before they can acquire debt as college students. (Spectrum News 1/Lupe Zapata)

Vernon’s been playing ball since she was 10 years old and it’s just one of the many things that’s keeping her busy in her last year of high school.

“We try as educators to give kids the basics to make themselves successful,” said Vernon’s softball coach, Regis Andrea Sr., who leads the softball program at Cedar Hill High School. “Sometimes students help each other out, and that’s one of the things I really admire about Chandler whether it's out here on the softball field or out there in the community, she’s really good about trying to mentor and lead others.”

Vernon’s working on a project to help her fellow classmates learn about financial literacy as a Bezos Ambassador.

Pictured are this year’s Bezos Scholars. Cedar Hill student Chandler Vernon was chosen among 17 students from across the United States and Africa who have demonstrated curiosity, academic rigor and leadership in their community. Vernon aims to focus on teaching financial literacy to her fellow students at Cedar Hill High School. (Courtesy: Bezos Scholars Program)

“Learning financial literacy at a young age would really just set you up for the future success,” said Vernon “It’s better to learn now rather than you trying to learn it while you’re older and you’re just kind of stuck.”

Here in Texas, about 52% of college graduates finish school with student debt averaging more than $26,000, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.

Vernon is organizing free informational sessions open to the public with the goal of teaching her peers about practical financial literacy.

“Texas has one of the highest amounts of net federal student loan debt,” said Vernon.

According to the Federal Student Aid Office, Texas’ student loan debt totals $120 billion, second only to California at $141 billion.

Vernon said she gets her passion for money management from her parents.

“How do you live in a 21st century and graduate and know more about history and know about writing a composition or algebra, but you can’t budget?” said Vernon’s mother Denise Archie Vernon.

Vernon has big ambitions that include opening an accredited bank in her high school, studying at the prestigious Columbia University, and becoming a plastic surgeon.

Her advice to younger students wanting to follow in her footsteps is simple, “You need to believe in yourself, said Vernon. “Not everybody is going to believe in you and you have to be the one to believe in yourself you know that you can do what you need to do and what you want to do.”

Vernon has helped organized the "Money Talks" series happening February 27, 2023 at the Cedar Hill High School library. Topics include learning how to manage money and a bank account.

Click here to register for the event.

Promotional posters for two informational sessions hosted by Bezos Scholar Chandler Vernon and the Cedar Hill Money Talks series happening Feb. 27, 2023 at the Cedar Hill High School library. (Spectrum News 1/Lupe Zapata)

“I believe that knowledge is power,” said Vernon. “It creates growth opportunities that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.”

If you have an interesting story or an issue you’d like to see covered, let us know about it.

Share your ideas with DFW human interest reporter Lupe Zapata by e-mailing him at Lupe.Zapata@Charter.com

CEDAR HILL, Texas — A group of students in Cedar Hill are creating a community in their school district and they’re using the art of step dancing to do it.

What started as a small after-school program for a dozen elementary boys in 2022 has more than tripled over the last year.

The group led by Cedar Hill Independent School District’s Behavior Specialist William R. Holmes includes girls and boys from elementary to high school.

With percussive stomps and claps accompanied by high-energy moves, the students turn their bodies into instruments.

“I feel like it’s given me more discipline,” said senior step student Armihja Abubakar. “Step is [a] very tedious and precise sport, because I have to make sure everything is on point. You have to make sure you’re doing exactly what you need to do, to be in sync with everyone else.”

Abubakar makes stepping look easy, but she’s new to this style of dance and so are most of these kids that’s show up to the after-school practices.

“I feel like it’s a natural thing for me,” she said. “Because I like to move, dance, stomp, shake. Being able to do it with other people it’s like a sisterhood, I like making new friends. I love that I get to express myself in a way. It’s like my escape from everything else. That’s what draws me to do this.”

Stepping has been described as “one of the most exciting dance forms created in the 21st century,” according to Holmes.

“This is more than just an after-school activity. I’m creating a community,” he said.

As a stepper himself who had award-winning student step teams prior to CHISD, he knew what it takes to coach a group of eager beginners.

“I think I’m passionate about it because I get to see kids do something they love,” said Holmes. “When I see a kid come from the first day of trying to learn step, then three weeks down the road they’re winning competitions and I see the excitement on their faces. I believe in them and if they believe in themselves, anything can be accomplished, and I love to see that.”

Coach Holmes has been coaching step for 26 years and is happy to see this group in Cedar Hill grow with the help of his volunteer assistant Quintavious Griffin, or as the students call him “Coach Q,” who’s coached step for 11 years.

Griffin said he’s seen the sport spread across North Texas since he graduated high school more than a decade ago.

“Back then in Dallas you probably had a couple of schools that had as step team,” said Griffin. “Now seeing teams like at almost every high school and every district, that’s letting us know that it’s actually growing, it’s growing pretty fast.”

The coaches hope more kids will show an interest and with devoted dancers like Abubakar, they plan to keep winning competitions and making a name for their budding program.

“It is cool seeing all of the younger girls get passionate about it,” said Abubakar. “Watching them gives us older dancers motivation to do better and make sure that we’re doing what we’re supposed to do, because I know they’re looking at us.”

Coach Holmes and the students have named themselves, “The hard stepping brothers and sisters of Boyz N The Hill & Hill Side Divaz.”

The group is hosting an inaugural event titled the “Hillside Step Explosion.”

The event held Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023 at the district’s performing arts center will support local step teams from around DFW as they showcase their skills on stage for scholarship prizes.

Presale tickets are being sold for $10 and $15 at the door, children 3 years old and under get in free.

For more information on the event, contact Coach Holmes at 214-837-5347.

If you have an interesting story or an issue you’d like to see covered, let us know about it.

Share your ideas with DFW human interest reporter Lupe Zapata by emailing him at Lupe.Zapata@Charter.com?

For Jonathan Majors, it’s been a long journey from performing in Cedar Hill High School’s production of Arsenic and Old Lace in 2007.

Right now, Majors, 33, seems to be hitting a sweet spot in his career. This year alone, he is playing memorable characters in Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Creed III.

The two movies follow his role as Navy airman Jesse Brown in Devotion, which earned him a nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture in the NAACP Image Awards. The ceremony takes place Saturday.

Last year, he won the same NAACP award for his role in The Harder They Fall (2021). That year, he received his first Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for portraying Atticus “Tic” Freeman in Lovecraft Country.

Related:Hooked on show business at UNT, director Trey Haley is up for an NAACP Image Award

In January, Majors was selected for the Rising Star award at the Texas Film Awards, which take place next Friday. On the same day Creed III comes out in theaters, he’ll receive the Rising Star award at the Texas Film Awards in Luck, Texas, the town best known as home to Willie Nelson ranch.

Here’s what we know about Majors and his advancing career:

He’ll soon play Dennis Rodman

Majors is set to play former NBA player Dennis Rodman in 48 Hours in Vegas, a Lionsgate production that follows the former South Oak Cliff High School legend on his infamous adventure in Las Vegas. Rodman, who won NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, also played for the Dallas Mavericks.

“He’s eclectic. He’s an open mind. He’s an open heart,” Majors told Variety. “And, selfishly, you want to play a role like that, because it’s gonna push you to that place.”

He grew up in the Dallas area

Majors was born in Lompoc, Calif., but has significant ties to the Dallas area. He lived as a young boy at the Little Creek Apartments in Cedar Hill. He attended Cedar Hill High where he participated in theater. He also attended Duncanville High School in 2008.

Majors talked about his boyhood during his Saturday Night Live monologue in 2021.

“Growing up, I’m a military brat. My father was in the Air Force, my mother’s a pastor, so hallelujah, and I moved around a lot,” he said. “I like to say I was born in California, raised in Texas, educated in North Carolina, roughed up in New York City, and then re-educated in New Haven, Conn. — which, I guess, is my roundabout way of saying, ‘Yeah, I went to Yale.’”

Majors said when he was 17, he was homeless, living in his car and working at both Red Lobster and Olive Garden.

“That experience taught me a lot — to work hard and if you trust the plan, great things can happen,” he said.

He has fond memories of Cedar Hill

Majors told Texas Monthly in 2020 that Apartment E8 was “the best place.

“There was a creek that ran behind the apartment. I spent so much time in that creek,” he said. “When I was a boy, it felt like the creek would take you to the other side of the world. It was probably two miles in either direction.”

Majors was kicked out of high school in Cedar Hill after a fight, he told Texas Monthly. Later, he re-enrolled and a teacher introduced him to acting, which he went on to study in college.

“The one thing that was consistent from the age of 14 to that time was that I was in the theater,” Majors told The Hollywood Reporter. “I just wanted to be in the world and be a part of it. Institutions are tough for me. Hollywood is tough for me.”

He knows how to tell if a role is right for him

Majors told Texas Monthly that he considers what responsibility the character has in telling the story at hand.

“If you remove the role from the story, can you still tell the story properly? And if the answer is no, then I’m interested. From there, I look to see what the human characteristic of it is. What is the thing that everybody from every culture can connect to?” he said.

He carries his own coffee mug wherever he goes

Majors is always seen with a mug. He has four and brings one along when he’s on a talk show. Stephen Colbert finally asked him: What’s with the cup?

He said his mother feared for his safety in show business and told him: “Baby, just make sure you watch your cup.

“Now it means mind your cup — you’re a vessel,” he told Colbert. “Nobody can fill you up. Nobody can pour you out. You do that yourself,” he said. “Holding on to this is a reminder that even in this craziness that is happening, my self-esteem is my self-esteem. Nobody can big me up, as it were, or tear me down.”

He was inspired by Heath Ledger’s Joker

Majors penned an essay in Variety about how Heath Ledger’s character brought complexity to The Dark Knight.

The film asks what it is to be human, what it is to be alive and to participate fully in one’s own living, he wrote. “The Dark Knight etches so vividly the agnostic morality of survival and the discipline of goodness.”