Twenty Bishop Dunne students travelled to American Power Yoga located off Mockingbird Lane to experience a Yoga class in a professional studio on April 10.
The students, all members of teacher Robbie Zeske’s Yoga class at Bishop Dunne, took a one hour class from instructor Karine Carter.
Senior Monique McCullum said, “It was great! I feel so much better now after an hour of stretching and relaxing.” Monique enjoyed Zeske’s semester-long Yoga class so much last year that she took it again this year.
Ms. Zeske, a certified Yoga instructor, has been teaching Yoga at Bishop Dunne for eight semesters, in addition to teaching Art classes and working as Varsity coach of the Swim team.
After the Yoga class, the students went to Cosmic Café on Oak Lawn to learn about active meditation, and then practice it for an hour. Caleb Evans, a transfer student from Mansfield High, said the experience was awesome. “We never took field trips at Mansfield High, maybe because the school was too big? But this has been great!”
In addition to the two hours of Yoga and meditation, the students got to experience a vegan lunch at the Cosmic Café, dubbed “One of the healthiest restaurants in America” by The New York Times.
It's also considered “The best vegan restaurant in the Dallas/Fort Worth area,” by D Magazine. The teens tried the restaurant’s signature dishes: Portabella Trance, Pizza Mystica, The No Bull Burger, Veggie Quesadillas and hummus. All the dishes were enjoyed by the hungry students and sophomore David Derdeyn couldn’t believe his pizza had no meat. “I thought this was sausage on here. Anyway, it tastes great!”
A customer walking by noticed the two dozen teens and commented that they were lucky to have a class in Yoga at their high school and to be learning about healthy eating habits by visiting the café’. “I wish someone had taught me all that when I was your age,” said the forty-something guest.
All but one of the Bishop Dunne students had never been to the café before, and that one repeat customer admitted, “I came here last year with Ms. Zeske!”
In eight semesters of teaching Yoga, Zeske has taken her students on six field trips, “and one year Kurt Johnsen, the owner of the American Power Yoga studio, came to Bishop Dunne to teach a class.”
Zeske has been teaching in Catholic school for over two decades, and the youngest of her children, Nina, graduated from Bishop Dunne last year and earned a full scholarship to Texas A&M University, where she is now attending. 100% of Bishop Dunne graduates are accepted into college and more than half receive multiple scholarship offers.
Bishop Dunne Catholic School in Oak Cliff encourages hands-on learning and frequent field trips. Nine students attended the annual Oak Cliff Lions Club “Humanitarian of the Year” luncheon Wednesday and over Spring Break two trips were taken out of state: the drill team went to Hawaii to compete in a dance competition and Spanish class students took a trip to Spain.
Anyone interested in the school can attend the spring Open House “All-Star Sunday,” on April 27 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 3900 Rugged Drive in Oak Cliff. Contact Charleen Doan for more information: cdoan@bdhs.org
Information provided by Judy Porter.