The final bell rings, marking the end of the school day. As most students head to the bus circle or pick-up line, a few others make their way to the cafeteria. When they walk in, they immediately go through a line to get their meal. Once they have it, they sit down to start eating. It may be the end of the school day, but it’s the beginning of the daily ACE program.

ACE is a grant-funded after-school program that started because of House Bill 4545 requirements. Students meet after school every day in the THS cafeteria to eat, get tutoring and participate in fun activities.

“[Without the program] they go home and they just go to bed, or they hang out playing video games,” sponsor Katie Williams said. “They don’t do that here. They actually get their homework done, they get their grades up and they have the one-on-one support of the teachers to do that.”

House Bill 4545 required students who didn’t pass the STAAR test to receive accelerated instruction. Although the program is required for some, any student seeking help is welcome. 

“What I like about the program [is that] you get to experience yourself,” sophomore Nyjia Stokes said. “If you’ve got work that needs to be done, they’ve got teachers that can help you.”

Many teachers volunteer to help the students. Some students even get to work with their own teacher on that teacher’s homework. 

“So, imagine, like doing your homework with the person that assigns you the homework,” history teacher Lance Kyles said. “Obviously, that’s gonna help your grades and help your understanding. So, I think, academically, this program’s a great benefit for these students that choose to come up here.”

While students get help with their grades, that’s not all that they do. They get to do fun activities such as flying drones, culinary, sewing and more. 

“It’s nice to just kind of chill,” junior ZiYana Johnson said. “Then we have a free day on Fridays. We do fun stuff, like last Friday we drew on concrete, some messages and stuff.” 

A program like this has existed at the elementary level for many years. This is the first year it has ever existed at the high school level in TISD.

“They need help with their grades, they need help with study habits and study skills,” Williams said. “Quite frankly, they need a safe place to go after school to just learn and have a group of people that they’re comfortable with, a family, if you will.”