It was chilly, damp, a bit muddy and certainly early. Especially for a Saturday. But there were representatives of Pope Elementary, wielding paintbrushes and rollers. And not just helping to paint some interior walls. They were covering the exterior of an entire house. Pope heeded the call from Cowtown Brush Up, the nonprofit neighborhood revitalization program for volunteers wanting to help homeowners. This year Cowtown Brush Up partnered with Trinity Habitat for Humanity and the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project to complete more than 40 homes. Each year since 1984, former President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, give a week of their time to help Habitat for Humanity build or improve homes. | Parents, teachers and staff from Pope Elementary joined principal Celina Kilgore in this year's Cowtown Brush Up event.

The NFL Play 60 campaign is known for tackling childhood obesity by encouraging young students to have a healthy eating lifestyle while getting them active with 60 minutes of physical activity per day through in-school, after-school and team-based programs. Each year, the kickoff for this school-year program lands at a different school, and each one has a unique way of packaging the information and presenting it all to their students. This year was Young Junior High's turn, and their idea was quite, well, novel. | Dallas Cowboys rookies Devin Street, Chris Whaley and Anthony Hitchens pose with Young Junior High students during their NFL Play 60 visit to the school.