It’s never to early to start thinking about your kid’s college education or future career, for that matter. Dallas ISD eighth-graders have a fab opportunity to explore their options at South Oak Cliff High School (3601 S. Marsalis Ave.) at the High School Academy/Pathway Showcase tomorrow (Jan. 21) from 9 a.m. to noon.

The showcase will provide students and their ‘rents the opp to explore a plethora of career academies and pathways offered at DISD high schools for students currently in eighth grade, including arts, audio visual technology, communications, law, business, finance, health and human services, hospitality and tourism, engineering, and science. The event will also provide info about special programs offered through the district’s three early-college high schools.

The application period for career academics and pathways started Jan. 18 and will run through Feb. 17. Applications are available at the high schools and at the showcase. For more info click here or call 214-932-5179.

The district is deciding between two versions of the 2012-2013 school calendar, and it wants your help in choosing the best one. The original survey deadline didn’t yield as many responses as hoped, so you now have until 4 p.m. to weigh in on this change. In a Mission-Impossible-esque-twist, the link will self-destruct at 4:01 p.m. You have been warned.

After you’ve reviewed the differences between the two options (outlined in the above link), vote here.

Michael Jones is the fifth student from the left.

Michael Jones, a student at Oak Cliff’s Louise Wolff Kahn Elementary, is one of eight finalists in the 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Oratory Competition. The winner, who will be selected Jan. 13 at the Majestic Theatre, will receive a scholarship and opportunities to speak and recite his or her speech before various audiences.

A capacity crowd packed the auditorium of the Dallas ISD Administration Building on Tuesday for the semifinals, which showcased the winners of 19 in-school competitions. Students were challenged to write essays on the topic of what they thought King’s message of hope would be for the world today. Participants were required to research King’s life and speeches, write original essays, memorize them, and present them before a panel of judges.

The other finalists are Kofi Forson, William L. Cabell Elementary; Breyelle Gooden, Robert L. Thornton Elementary; Harper Jones, Charles Rice Learning Center; Tawfiq Mohammad, William Lipscomb Elementary; George Rivera, Urban Park Elementary; Marcel Williams, Ronald E. McNair Elementary; and Jacob Wizeman, H.C. Withers Elementary.

“Lest We Forget” — With our busy lives, we sometimes stop to smell those proverbial roses. But 9/11 is a day, we should all stop, reflect upon, and examine the changes our country has gone through in the last decade.

While there will, of course, be memorial events all over Dallas, Oak Cliffers can attend “Lest We Forget” tomorrow at the Southwest Center Mall (West Camp Wisdom Road) from 7 to 10 a.m.

Deputy Mayor Pro-Tem Tennell Atkins will be in attendance, along with SWC mall owners and national, state, and locally-elected officials. All 2,875 names of those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001 will be announced, and Southwest Center is asking for volunteers to help read the names.

Carla Ranger

DISD Trustee Carla Ranger posted on her blog that she is resigning from the school board, “effective on the earliest date of Board acceptance.”

Ranger further said in her post, “It is my hope that the board will appoint a replacement until the next regularly scheduled election date. Immediate acceptance and appointment of a new trustee prior to the September board briefing would be appreciated.”

On Thursday night, Ranger lost a decision on redistricting. The board approved to move four precincts out of her district into board president Lew Blackburn’s district, in an 8 – 1 vote. Ranger abstained from voting.

The precincts are in the Wilmer-Hutchins area, and one is home to Wilmer-Hutchins High School and Elementary School.

Scott Griggs and Eric Cowan welcome students at Quintanilla Middle School.

Councilman Scott Griggs and DISD Trustee Eric Cowan got up bright and early this morning to help Oak Cliff kids kick off the new school year. I caught up with Griggs and Cowan at Stevens Park Elementary School at 7:45 a.m. (and I am undoubtedly the worst morning person — ever) where they welcomed new and returning students, and chatted it up with new Stevens Park principal Susan Walker.

By 8:15 a.m., the guys made their way over to Quintanilla Middle School to welcome seventh and eighth graders on their first day — and helped remind students to tuck their shirts in before heading to class.

Don’t forget! This Sunday at 4 p.m., Eno’s Pizza Tavern is holding a fundraiser for iBike Rosemont — Bike Friendly Oak Cliff’s partnership with Rosemont Elementary School to encourage kiddos to ride their bikes to school, instead of taking the carpool lane.

The initiative aims to create safe bike routes to the campus and teach students that it’s fun and “cool” to cruise to school.

Zac Lytle, president of BFOC, said their goal is to raise $5,000. “We’re accepting private and community donations,” Lytle said. “No matter how much we raise, this will be a very hands-on effort.”

So grab a slice at Eno’s on Sunday afternoon, and help those kids get ridin’!