East End Stories

YES Prep is a free, open-enrollment, public school system serving students in grade levels 6-12. YES Prep was one of the first public school systems in the nation to make college acceptance a high school graduation requirement. To apply, create an account and submit an application at yesprep.schoomint.net. There are no admission requirements to attend YES Prep; students are selected through a random lottery. Those who are not selected are placed on a waiting list. The deadline to apply for the 2017-2018 lottery is February 10, 2017.

As a kid in the 1980s, Bolivar Fraga remembers the Waco Street bridge across Interstate 10 as a dividing line. Latinos lived to the south, in the Second Ward. Blacks lived to the north, in the Fifth Ward. Fraga lived in Second Ward. If you rode your bike across the bridge, he said, “you were taking a risk.”