🎉 Ysleta ISD Team Earns Prestigious National Honor
A student‑teacher duo from Ysleta ISD has been selected as one of only 15 teams nationwide to join the prestigious 2026 Albert H. Small Normandy Institute at George Washington University. Eastwood High School sophomore Danity Martinez and Eastwood Knolls International social studies teacher Paula Perales will also represent Texas and the entire southwestern United States.
Over the next semester, they’ll take part in an intensive study of the 1944 Normandy Campaign, combining college‑level research with expert lectures. Their work leads to summer travel to Washington, D.C., where they’ll conduct research at the U.S. National Archives, and to Normandy, France, where each team honors a fallen U.S. service member buried at the Normandy American Cemetery.
Danity and Ms. Perales will analyze archival documents—census records, draft cards, letters, and yearbooks—to reconstruct their chosen soldier’s life, culminating in Danity’s presentation at the cemetery. While in France, they’ll also visit Omaha and Utah Beach, explore historic fortifications, and tour key museums and battle sites.
The Institute covers nearly all expenses, including course materials, lodging, transportation, airfare to France, most meals, and up to $300 in travel reimbursement for the Washington, D.C. portion.
👏 Congratulations to Danity and Ms. Perales for representing Eastwood, Ysleta ISD, and El Paso with pride on the national stage.