Nearly four years after opening, the first graduating class of the Dallas Independent School District's Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy is working on a plan to convince the school's namesake to be the commencement speaker -- if not in person, at least in a video message.
"We would love to have President Obama here for our first graduating class," said BOMLA Principal Nakia Douglas. "I sent several e-mails, and the young men are actually drafting letters themselves."
If you visit the academy, your first interaction will likely be with a student. They often lead tours and walk right up to visitors -- introducing themselves and explaining what they learned that day.
It's the first all-boys school in the Dallas ISD and the first school in Texas named for the current President of the United States. It opened in the fall of 2011 with 169 students in grades six through nine. Four years later, there are now nearly 400 students from all over Dallas and even some suburbs. The first senior class graduates May 30.
Douglas said the school's 12 seniors are all being recruited by colleges such as Georgetown University, Williams College, Stanford University, Occidental College and others. There's even a wall devoted to college acceptance letters and scholarship offers.
"We're building strong men every day," said Douglas. "The proud moment is whenever a mother or father comes in and says, 'Thank you for what you're doing.'"
Before opening the school, Douglas visited specialized schools all over Dallas, Chicago, Baltimore and China. He figured out a system where young men are made stronger every day to eventually become thinkers and leaders of their communities.
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"There was an unknown as we opened the campus and there were a lot of families that believed in us early on, that saw a vision, a mission, a passion of what we were about to do for our young men," Douglas said. "Not only redefining their academic careers, but redefining how society looks at them."
The result is a public school with some private school traditions, including uniforms with navy blue-colored blazers. Students are grouped into houses where good grades and other healthy behaviors earn points for the group. Parents are very involved.
"I think this is transformative," said senior Timothy McCall. "This is revolutionary what we're doing right now."
"I look forward to getting accepted into all the colleges that I've applied for," said senior Bryce Samuel said.
However, before moving on to the next step there's the business of getting recognition from the school's namesake.
"Over the past year, we've created a plan so we can get him here and get to hopefully speak at our graduation," McCall said.
Senior Miguel Dominguez said he already knows what he wants to say to the president.
"I would explain to him my experiences at this school," Dominguez said. "And, how his leadership roles have affected the school."
Whether Obama makes it to Dallas for graduation or not, these seniors believe they are making history.
"I think that in 10 years or 20 years down the road we can come back to this school and say, 'I was the first'," McCall said. "And we can have our names on plaques -- so yes, I think that will be nice."
