First band in North Texas school's over 20-year history

DALLAS — As the school year wraps up this week for many North Texas school districts, one Dallas campus is celebrating a major musical milestone.

Learning how to play an instrument can be a challenge at any age, but one group of Kipp Truth Academy students is bringing a new beat to their school for the first time.

It has been a year of adjusting for Ka’ron Hollinger and his bandmates. When he started the school year last fall at Kipp Truth, he thought navigating eighth grade would be his only hurdle.

“I just got put in here randomly. But I ain’t know I was gonna like it until I started, started playing,” said Hollinger, a bass drum player at Kipp Truth.

He didn’t know he and his fellow middle schoolers would be blazing the trail on campus with horns, sticks and cymbals to start the school’s first ever band since it opened its doors over two decades ago.

“I told them that no one is doing what they’re doing as a middle school or even a first-year band; nobody is doing what they’re doing,” said Cassandra Smith, the school’s band teacher.