Travis Early College High School seniors dressed in red caps and gowns fiddled with their tassels and stoles as they got off the bus and walked into Dawson Elementary on Tuesday. They were there for their senior walk — a last chance to retrace the halls of the elementary school where their education journey began.
Once inside Dawson, they peeked into the library, walked past the counselor and nurse’s offices, and into the cafeteria that smelled the same as they remembered. Kindergarten, first and second graders were having lunch. Dawson’s assistant principal announced the soon-to-be graduates and the younger students cheered and clapped for the seniors.
The class of 2026 will be the last senior walk at the South Austin school. Dawson is one of 10 schools set to close before next school year— a decision from the district after facing budget deficits multiple years.
Michael Minasi
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KUT News
Sixty high school seniors walked the halls of Dawson Elementary this week. They had a chance to reminisce about their grade school years and the teachers that made an impact on them at a young age.
During senior walks, graduating 12th graders get to retrace their steps through the halls of their elementary schools as they prepare for their next steps. It’s an opportunity to reconnect with former classmates and teachers who had a big impact on them, while also inspiring younger students.
Emmanuel Ocampo was the only senior wearing a black cap and gown, since he is graduating from Johnson High School in Hays CISD. Ocampo and his family drove from Buda so he could do his senior walk at Dawson.
“I felt like the school shrunk. I swear the gymnasium was humongous, but it’s tiny. And same with the library,” he said. “It was just really interesting seeing how small the school is. I thought it was huge when I was little.”
Michael Minasi
/
KUT News
Emmanuel Ocampo said he remembers the classroom at Dawson Elementary where he learned to draw stars. He also remembers walking into his kindergarten classroom with a new haircut — a star buzzed on the side of his head — and his teacher celebrating it.
Ocampo’s grandmother and great aunts also attended Dawson. His mom, Beverly Acosta said Dawson provided a safe space for her son during a time of a lot of changes in their family. Acosta said she still sees him as a kindergartner walking the hallways, even though that was more than a decade ago.
“It puts in perspective how much he’s grown, not just physically, and that the space around him now just seems so much smaller,” Acosta said. “But to know how much he’s grown as an individual and a young man. It’s pretty special to walk through here and put all that together.”
Growing together
One after another, seniors walked down a hallway decorated with student art that resembled what they made years ago. They walked past a mural of flowers that read “growing together.” Once in the courtyard, they took a last look at a big oak tree casting shadows over picnic tables. As they walked through the school, younger students stood outside their classrooms, giving high-fives.
Michael Minasi
/
KUT News
Travis Early College High School graduates paused by a pond during their senior walk through Dawson Elementary School. The hallways and green spaces that once seemed immense, took new dimensions as they came back to the school as young adults. [DID THEY SAY THIS?]
Teachers smiled and greeted the seniors. Some seniors stepped out of the line to hug the teachers that marked their grade school years, including Susana Torres.
“This was their foundation, here at Dawson,” Torres said.”We hope that we provided them with a solid foundation when we sent them off to middle school and into high school. But seeing them come back here and walk our halls, that’s just so rewarding for us as teachers.”
Eight out of 10 students at Dawson are economically disadvantaged, and almost 70% are considered at risk of not graduating from high school. Two out of 10 graduates from Travis ECHS — a high school Dawson feeds into — don’t graduate on time.
Torres said senior walks are an opportunity for elementary students to feel inspired and know they can also walk in a cap and gown one day.
“I do think it’s very much needed and especially [in] the school that we work in and the population that we mostly serve here,” she said. “I just think that it’s something that they can aspire to. I feel like then they’ll say ‘That’s what I wanna do.’”
The last class of seniors
During his senior walk, Ocampo remembered his first days at Dawson, when he learned there was no nap time in kindergarten. He also remembered the sticker vending machine that used to be outside the principal’s office and the classroom where he learned how to draw a star. He thought about the importance the school had in his life.
“This is when our brains are more malleable. Our brains are [the] most mushy, most impressionable,” Ocampo said. “Any environment where a little kid is brought up is important for who they become in the future.”
Acosta said it’s sad to know her daughter, Ocampo’s sister who also attended Dawson, won’t be able to come back and have a “full-circle kind of closure moment” like her brother did. But Acosta said she is also happy that she got to do it with one of her kids.
“To have my son be one of, or be part of the last senior class out of here is pretty special,” she said. “We hate to see it go.”