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9 11 23Dirty duty of CHS custodiansSee You at the Pole New quarterback propels success

VOLUME 24ISSUE 1OCTOBER 2012 sidekick

COPPELL HIGH SCHOOL � 185 W PARKWAY BLVD � COPPELL, TEXAS 75019WWW.COPPELLSTUDENTMEDIA.COM

Rakestraw inspires support in battle against cancer

Jasso ‘all in’ for second year

SAMMY ROBBENSports Editor

Boys soccer coach Chad Rakestraw kisses his 18-month-old daughter. She has made a steady recovery so far by walking and playing with sister Madison.

Photo by Rowan Khazendar

Principal Mike Jasso cheers for the Cowboys during the game against Allen on Sept. 28. He plans to implement a new vision at CHS this year.

Photo by Rinu Daniel

see Second on pg. 2

THOMAS HAIROpinions Editor

Now in his second year as Coppell High School’s principal, Mike Jasso has ended his transition period and he is ready to implement his own vision for CHS.

A!er serving as an as-sistant principal in Coppell from 2000 to 2005, Jasso de-parted to become the princi-pal of Haltom High School before returning home, so to speak, last year. Jasso’s "rst year back wearing red and black was largely a process of becoming reacquainted with the inner workings of CHS and the parents and community.

“We were able to tran-sition from a hugely popular and hugely successful prin-cipal in Mr. Hunt to a new guy in town without the school falling apart,” Jasso said. “We’ve got a lot of data

to point to that shows that we did that successfully, that we are still a strong school and hopefully getting stronger.”

Since last spring, Jasso has repeatedly stressed to his sta# to prepare for the trans-

formations that will begin this year. $e second-year princi-pal expects every teacher on campus to “transform” the way they teach – to employ

oppell athletes are used to playing to win, but now they are playing for some-

thing di#erent. $ey are playing for Kamryn Rakestraw.

Last May, Kamryn, the 18-month-old daughter of Cop-pell boys soccer coach Chad Rakestraw, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. $e cancerous tumor located on her aorta artery was too big for doctors to remove upon initial discovery.

A!er three months of che-motherapy, doctors successfully removed 100 percent of the tumor on Sept. 10.

“At the moment, we feel like we are drowning in mercy and grace because of the miracle removal of the tumor,” coach Rakestraw said. “$ey were 100 percent sure they would have to leave some of the tumor in her body because of where it was lo-cated. We are so thankful and know that the Lord has been mer-ciful on Kamryn and us through this whole journey. Now as we go forward we pray for the chemo le! in her body to destroy any microscopic cancerous cells that might remain, and we are praying that the chemo has not damaged any other part of her body.”

C

$rough the process, the Rakestraws have experienced ups and downs but have been able to maintain a strong faith through it all. $eir motto dur-ing this experience has been

“keeping the faith” and with the help of those around them, they have been able to do just that.

“Since May it has been a rollercoaster of emotions,” coach Rakestraw said. “$ere have been

times of celebration for good news, almost always followed by something that grounded us and caused worry. But through the whole journey it has been amaz-ing to see God’s divine interven-

tion in so many circumstances.”A!er Kamryn was diag-

see Coppell on pg. 22

To see more go to Coppellstudentmedia.com

Two members of the tech-nical crew stand at attention on either side of the stage, armed with confetti cannons. $ey are ready to show the crowd what Coppell ISD is all about.

CISD Superintendent Je# Turner has a lot on his plate this year. A!er being a member of the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) for 23

TASA honors TurnerMICHELLE PITCHEREditor-in-Chief

years and serving on various leadership committees, Turner has been elected president of the group, which holds an annual joint conference in Austin with the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB).

TASA is composed of su-perintendents, assistant super-intendents and curriculum of-"cials from over 1,000 school districts in the state of Texas, totaling around 3,000 members.

see Performance on pg. 2

Photo by Rowan Khazendar

Coppell ISD Superintendent Je! Turner thanks TASA for the honor of being elected president of the group.

2 news OCTOBER 2012

Second year vision in!uences modernized teaching

CHS Principal Mike Jasso asks junior Nick Hruby how he likes the new Virtual Design lab.

continued from pg.1

continued from pg.1

new and innovative ways of in-structing students.

“He [Jasso] is very interest-ed in leading the way in trans-forming education,” English teacher Samantha Neal said. “His aim is not to follow the way that education is changing, but for us to really be the ones leading those changes.”

Jasso’s emphasis on rein-venting education and develop-ing 21st century learning styles is already evident on campus. !is year, CHS has added several new blended learning and virtual classes.

In these new virtual classes (o"ered only for government and economics this year), the text-book and the vast majority of the coursework is completed online on a program called GradPoint. Students are only required to meet

in the classroom with the teacher one or two times per week. !is allows students much more free-dom, but they must attend reme-diation if they do not keep up.

!ese new virtual classes #t into Jasso’s goal of making CHS a place that prepares students for the real world, where technology is paramount and teachers are not constantly reminding you of as-signments.

“I would bet that 100 per-cent of students who go to college for four years will take at least one online class,” virtual government teacher Brian Johnson said. “Next year, when these kids are in college they’ll need to understand time management and working at your own pace.”

A new, state-of-the-art com-puter lab, dubbed the “Virtual Blended Learning Lab,” is now available to all students enrolled in Virtual Classes. Located in up-

stairs C Hall, the cutting edge lab includes sofas, couches, collabora-tion stations and spaces designed for students to use their laptops and wireless devices.

Another way Coppell teach-ers are pushing the boundaries of innovative teaching styles is with the new FLIPPED method, currently being tested by certain math classes. In FLIPPED class-es, students watch their teacher’s lecture online at home and then do the “homework” at school the next day, where a teacher can help them.

CHS is even revamping the way that students and their par-ents receive school news. Instead of the traditional newsletter, cam-pus news will now be delivered primarily through Facebook. Jasso recently launched an o$cial Cop-pell High School Facebook page on which he will regularly post valuable news and information.

“I’ve talked about how I expect teachers to learn how to do things di"erently,” Jasso said. “Well, that relates to us [admin-istrators] as well with trying to maintain updated information with students.”

So far, the response to the Facebook page, already with hun-dreds of likes, has been quite pos-itive.

As Jasso goes about trying to make CHS a local leader in mod-ern education techniques, he ex-pects teachers to be “all in” with the changes. As a result, “all in” has become the year’s theme for the sta". Jasso gave some teachers a poker chip to go all-in with to help illustrate the theme.

!ere has been some slight apprehension about the chang-es from some teachers who have been at Coppell for many years and believe in more traditional teaching meth-ods.

Jasso un-derstands that change can be di$cult, but has made it very clear that every em-ployee on campus is expected to be “all in” with the transformations.

“I told them, if you can’t look me in the eye and say ‘I’m all in’ or ‘I’m go-ing to try these things that you want me to do’ and be sincere about it, then I encouraged them to do some soul searching,” Jasso said. “To do the type of work that I expect and the type of work that [CISD Superintendent Dr. Je" Turner] expects, we’ve got to have people who are on board.”

As returning sta" members adjust to the evolving instruction techniques and other changes that come with new adminis-trative policies, dozens of other teachers are still trying to #gure out how to get to D Hall from B Hall.

Coppell High School hired 48 new sta" members for the new school year. !irty-six of these are new teachers, while the remaining 12 are #lling roles such as secretaries and aides. En-glish IV teacher Samantha Neal is one such new hire.

“It’s crazy to think almost 50 new people came in,” Neal said. “I know we have more kids here than ever before. Students from all over the world are mov-ing to Coppell. !at’s very telling of what kind of district this is.”

New teachers and CHS vet-erans alike will be “all in,” work-ing together to make Jasso’s vi-sion for Coppell reality. !ough the sta" and their leader are doing as much as they can to make CHS a bastion for innovation and real world preparation, it is up to the stu-dents to take advantage of the

improvements Jasso is making. “I hope that you help your

teachers as they go about trying new things,” Jasso said. “I hope that you guys are “all in” as well and that you do your part as far as trying the new things that your teachers are trying to do because, in all actuality, we’re trying to make school better for you.”

“It’s crazy to think almost 50 new peo-ple came in. I know we have more kids here than ever before. Stu-dents from all over the world are moving to Coppell. That’s very telling of what kind of district this is.”

-Samantha Neal, English teacher

Turner rose to the top of this organization through network-ing, years of leadership experi-ence and with the help of Cop-pell’s status.

“Coppell has such a great reputation,” Turner said. “What we’ve been able to do in Coppell in terms of pushing the envelope of what it means to be educated in the 21st century [as well as] the kind of success we have with our students, we start to get a lot of recognition about that.”

It is customary for the pres-idents of TASA and TASB to pre-pare short presentations about their districts to show to all at-tendees of the conference. At this year’s conference in Austin, which was held the weekend of Sept. 28, Dr. Turner and 89 students from across CISD gave the approxi-mately 6,000 guests a taste of what it is like to be a learner in CISD.

A&er reviewing presen-tations from past conferences, Turner decided he wanted to do something di"erent. He noted how segmented all of the shows seemed – band in one corner and choir in another while the drill team does high kicks center stage. He wanted to create something

that would showcase Coppell’s unique talent and cohesiveness.

!eater department head Lisa Tabor was put in charge of the script last February, and with the help of several other teachers and administrators, she came up with the idea for this year’s show. !e show begins with a traditional black and white video playing on the large screens. A spin on the sit-com Leave it to Beaver, “Leave it to Coppell” tells the story of a young boy, Pete (named a&er former CHS theater teacher and graduate Pete “Wheelice” Wilson), living in the 1950s who is reluctant to begin his #rst day of kindergarten.

Pete, in an odd twist of fate and extreme technical malfunc-tion, is sucked into the TV, straight into 21st  century CISD. Here, he is shown around by a Red Jacket, played by senior Alex Smith, and led through several musical numbers featuring members of Vi-vace!, theater, Lariettes, Air Crew and cheerleading, as well as middle and elementary school students.

“It’s so wonderful to see all of the #ne arts come together,” Tabor said. “One of the bad things about all of our departments being so good is that we don’t get to work together. !is has just been so amazing.”

Tabor worked closely with fellow CHS theater teacher Bruce Hermans, who was in charge of all things technical; Cottonwood Creek music teacher and CHS graduate Sarah Meador, who was in charge of all things mu-sical; CMS North theater teach-er Brittany Reese, who served as assistant director; Hayley Ho"-man and Julie Stralow worked with the drill team; and varsity cheer coach Ti"any Ganss was in charge of the cheerleaders in the show.

While the teachers have spent numerous hours planning, writing, choreographing and del-egating, the kids have been work-ing just as hard to bring their ideas to life.

“I can’t even venture a guess as to how many hours these kids have put into this show,” Tabor said.

Last year, several KCBY members, including seniors Eric Park, Mason Adams and Adam Borel, were enlisted in the proj-ect to help create the video com-ponents of the show. !ey began #lming in April, traveling around the district to collect footage of real students and their everyday lives.

“During the song ‘Fly,’ a video plays that highlights ev-erything that’s going on in our district,” Meador said. “It shows the parts of Coppell we cannot bring to the stage; the technolo-gy shows the football team, the elementary classrooms, the huge band – all the di"erent aspects we have in Coppell that make us great.”

!e students, both work-ers and performers, have put in countless hours of rehearsal to reach the standard they wish to achieve. !is is no small under-taking, either, especially for the younger cast members.

As choreographer Whit-ney Hennen shouts, “Little ones, you’re about to run onstage,” the concentration and determination in the room is palpable. !e ele-mentary kids come into the light to do their part, and it is evident how much work they have put into this show.

“It’s nice working with the younger kids, giving them insight into what this district is about,” said junior Jack Robertson, who plays Pete’s father in the video. “A lot of the younger kids are getting a head start on being involved in making CISD better.”

!e quality of the show seems to suggest a high production value. !e school district provided a budget for this rare opportunity to showcase itself in front of some of the most distinguished admin-istrators in Texas. However, all possible cost-reduction measures were taken to ensure the show not cost the district too many resourc-es.

“We solicited some dona-tions from some of our local busi-nesses, and that’s one of the rea-sons we wanted to put this show on – to try to raise some funds,” as-sistant superintendent Brad Hunt said. “All the money from the show goes to o"set the cost of getting the kids down to Austin. We did a lot in house; the kids pretty much did everything. We did get help with choreography; we utilized existing sta" members.”

In all, Turner is pleased with how Coppell was represented in the state capital.

“It’s a really exciting oppor-tunity for these folks to see the great things that are going on in Coppell ISD,” Turner said. “It’s not just the musical performances we have going on here with our kids, but also the things we’re doing in our schools academically.”

Perfomance showcases Coppell excellence at TASA

Photo by Rowan Khazendar

Photo by Eric Park

3newsOCTOBER 2012

Students cross exam relevance, role of religionBEN COWLISHAWSta! Writer

Photo by Regan SullivanIllustration by Rinu Daniel

142 Total Replies44 Freshmen

36 Sophomores37 Juniors25 Seniors

This anonymous poll was passed out by !ve select teachers: Matt Bowden, Barbara Cross, Ian VanderSchee, Bill Montana and Grant Garner. Judaism was given as an option but was never chosen.

Graphic by Julianne Cauley

“The reason people don’t claim to be religious anymore is partly because of social status, and partly because they don’t want to make a time commitment. They don’t want to walk around boast-ing their beliefs in fear that they will be judged, and they don’t

want to wake up early on Sunday mornings to sit in a church.”

“With new advancement and discovery in science, and as we venture further and further beyond our own existence, I think more and more people are

searching for more concrete answers.”

“People may still be walking the walk and talking the talk, but are more reluctant to call themselves religious than before because they are afraid of

being labeled or judged,”

“Another person’s beliefs are so readily

accessible. Belief is not as important as

tolerance to some people.”

- Rich Rousch, youth pastor

“People are not being as vocal or necessarily living out their faith as

much.”- Joey Scancella,

coordinator

Religion has undoubtedly played a huge role in the forma-tion of our country, even the de-velopment of civilization around the world. However, as a growing number view religion as out of date and out of touch with a mod-ern society, the role of religion is changing as quickly as water turns to wine.

On a nation-al and worldwide scale, the number of people who are seemingly aban-doning their faith or beginning to doubt religion’s necessity and rel-evance is on a steady increase. WIN-Gallup International con-ducted a survey with thousands of participants from 57 countries in 2005 and again in 2012 called “!e Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism.”

In America, the number of citizens who identify themselves as “religious” declined from 73 percent in 2005 to 60 percent. !ose who identify themselves as atheists rose from one to "ve per-cent.

In another poll, the 2008 American Religious Identi"ca-tion Survey, found 15 percent of Americans say they have no reli-gion at all, up from eight percent in 1990.

Valley Ranch Baptist Church youth pastor Rich Roush thinks the numbers represent more than just a drop in religiosity; in his view, people are not truly aban-doning their religion, as much as just abandoning the title of being religious.

Roush believes, to some, being religious has become syn-onymous with intolerance and being closed minded, and that has driven many to abandon labeling themselves as religious, despite still staying faithful.

“People may still be walking the walk and talking the talk, but are more reluctant to call them-selves religious than before be-cause they are afraid of being la-beled or judged,” Roush said.

Joey Scancella, high school outreach coordinator at St. Ann Catholic Parish, also believes that the change does not have as much to do with people becoming less religious; the religious are just not being as open about their faith.

“People are not being as vo-cal or necessarily living out their faith as much,” Scancella said. “!ey are confused between call-ing themselves religious and prac-ticing their faith.”

Roush does not believe the drop has come solely from this re-de"nition of the word “religious,” and does attribute some of the de-

cline to

people walking away from their religion.

!e Sidekick conducted a survey of 142 students from all four grade levels to investi-gate trends among Coppell High School’s own student population.

Out of those surveyed, 28 percent said they sometimes doubt the existence of a god or gods; 14 percent said they out-right doubt the existence.

Students were also asked to assign their parents a rank on a

“religiousness” scale, and then themselves. !e students’ rank-ings of them-selves had a sharp skew towards less religious-ness, with a large gap between the number of par-

ents and the numbers of students who ranked themselves in the most “religious” level.

Overall, the religiosity of students followed a similar trend to that of their parents, estab-lishing the trend that a student is much more likely to be religious if their parents are.

“If parents are healthy in their faith and they practice what they preach there’s a pretty good chance that the kid will go the same way,” Roush said.

For students, Roush believes that the common trend of an ap-parent decrease in religiosity is for a similar reason as to the global trend-the number of faithful isn’t decreasing as much as the number who are afraid to give themselves the title of being faithful.

“We live in an age of tol-erance, right or wrong, where students are more connected than ever,” Roush said. “Another person’s beliefs are so readily ac-cessible. Belief is not as important as tolerance to some people.”

To Scancella, it’s the incon-sistencies between religion and society that cause confusion in religiosity.

At CHS speci"cally, accord-ing to Roush, the trend also can be attributed to the immense diversi-ty found in the student body.

“I wouldn’t think that a lot of the parents in Coppell went to a high school as diverse as Coppell, where [students are] surrounded by people who believe something totally di#erent,” Roush said.

AP World History teach-er Brian Rohlo# believes that, with the inevita-ble growth of scienti"c thought, for many, religion has become too outdated.

“With new

advancement and discovery in science, and as we venture fur-ther and further beyond our own existence, I think more and more people are searching for more concrete answers,” Rohlo# said. “I view religious texts as literature. !ey are artifacts.”

Sophomore Jack Meyer thinks the drop he sees in the re-ligiosity of students has both the rede"nition of what it means to be religious and a change in students’ behavior to blame.

“!e reason people don’t claim to be religious anymore is partly because of social status, and partly because they don’t want to make a time commitment,” Mey-er said. “!ey don’t want to walk around boasting their beliefs in fear that they will be judged, and they don’t want to wake up early on Sunday mornings to sit in a church.”

To remain relevant, accord-ing to Meyer, religion must "nd a way to modernize to "t society’s needs.

“!e easiest way for religion to stay alive today is to let their believers have whatever lifestyle they want, and still let them be accepted,” Meyer said. “Nobody lives the same lives, but they could still at least have a similar mindset about things.”

Scancella believes religion just is not as important to stu-dents as it was and should be.

“To students, religion isn’t as important. !ey don’t understand the question of why we need reli-gion,” Scancella said. “It will be an interesting next few years to see if

teens start to re-own their faith.”

A c c o r d -ing to Merri-am-Webster, to be religious is to be “relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowl-

edged ultimate reality or deity.” Whether that de"nition itself is changing, or the implications it brings in a modernized society, is up for debate.

To stay true to itself, reli-gious scriptures and the teachings of religion may not have much room to adjust to a changing world. But to stay relevant at all, religion may have to "nd ways to appear more approachable and cooperative with a changing land-scape of science, belief and poli-tics.

“Society tends to say do what you want and what makes you happy, so obviously society and religion are giving con!icting messages. To students, reli-gion isn’t as important. They don’t understand the

question of why we need religion.”

-Brian Rohlo!, history teacher

-Joey Scanella, coordinator

- Jack Meyer, sophomore

-Rich Rousch, youth pastor

4 news OCTOBER 2012

CHS undergoes technology changes for new yearNATALIE GILBERTSta! Writer

Historical Coppell barbershop stands test of timeNIKKI DABNEYSta! Writer

A red and white helical striped pole is the iconic sym-bol of a barbershop. Everyone in Coppell has seen this pole beside the quaint white shop on the cor-ner of South Coppell Road and Bethel Road, but few know the man behind the shears.

Joe Shirley has been owner of the Bethel Road Barber Shop shop since 1997, when he pur-chased it from the family of the original owner, Floyd Harwell, af-ter Harwell’s widow passed away. Harwell resided in the building that is now the Home Décor store next door to the shop. He ran a barbering business out of his home until he decided to have the current building moved in a!er WWII.

One would not expect to "nd Shirley working at a barber-shop; as a physicist and engineer, he is clearly overquali"ed. Shirley was always interested in haircuts, but it was not until the mobile oil company he was working for geared up for a big lay o# that he reevaluated his career direction. A!er chatting about the lay o#, Shirley’s barber at the time ad-vised him to get his barbering li-cense. In 1992, he volunteered for his company’s lay o# and attended

barber school on Saturdays. “I know he has been here a

long time. I have been here since 1990,” Coppell Deli owner Jay Khorromi said. “I know he has a good reputation.”

A!er owning the shop for 15 years, one would expect Shirley to renovate and expand, but he has worked to keep it as close to the original as possible and does not plan to change it. In fact, the shop still has the same cabinets and the same mirror as it did in the 1950s.

“It is historic and it works "ne just the way it is,” Shirley said. “It is functional for what I need. Two chairs are perfect.”

Shirley seems unfazed by

the current construction of Old Town Coppell. Although it has caused some drivers to take a dif-ferent route and, therefore, slowed down business, Shirley remains optimistic.

“I think they have done a nice job on the road and at keep-ing tra$c moving,” Shirley said. “It will be better in the long run.”

%e barber’s pole draws in a hodge-podge of customers. Shir-ley has regular customers, but he has a lot of walk-ins. %e shop’s website and out-of-towners’ GPS lands people at Shirley’s steps.

“I was house sitting in Cop-pell and the shop was down the street. I decided to stop by and

have been coming o# and on since,” customer Nick McMack-an said. “He is usually not jam packed so I can get in right a!er work and he gave me his cell-phone number in case I need him to stay late.”

%e walk-ins only policy contributes to the shop’s mom-and-pop feel. %ere is a notebook paper pinned to the wall where customers can sign up on the waitlist. %at way they can leave and come back if there is a wait.

“I do not like feeling pres-sure to rush and people can go mow their lawn and come back if they need to,” Shirley said.

Shirley works to o#er high

quality service and make his cus-tomers look and feel good. He enjoys visiting with people and giving them tips and suggestions.

“I keep coming back be-cause he has not screwed up. And he is the only barber I know who uses a straight blade, which keeps the hair o# my neck longer,” Mc-Mackan said.

The Bethel Road barber-shop has been around for a long time and Shirley will continue to add his flavor, seeing as he does not plan to retire. This building is proof that history to be trea-sured is right around the corner- literally. They just have to look for it.

Barber shop owner Joe Shirley gives Coppell resident Mike Ford a haircut in his quaint barbershop in Old Town Coppell.

With a heavy workload assigned to students in and out of class, access to school "les at home is vital. To meet this de-mand, the district has switched from Fileway to VM Ware View Client.

According to Coppell ISD technician James Journey, File-way will be eliminated in the du-ration of this school year.

However, the removal of Fileway will not bring chaos to Coppell High School. In fact, the e$ciency of those working on assignments and projects at home should now increase tre-mendously.

Technology Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) Shalone Willms said Fileway is a good resource but has its faults. Technology is improving with virtual computer desktop called

VM Ware View client. %is ele-ment is essentially a way access school "les from home while actually being connected to the school system. When one logs in to the virtual desktop, it is as one is using a school computer.

Access to virtual com-puter is available on any type of computer no matter how old or new. Mac, PC and iPad so!ware is downloadable on view.cop-pellisd.com. Although Mac and iPad are available to access the virtual desktop, it is not Apple so!ware. When logged on, one is using Windows 7 so!ware be-cause it is linked to the school’s system, not the users’.

By utilizing the virtual computer, the need to convert "les from one version of an ap-pliance to another is eliminated because work is on the same ver-sion of an application. Whether at school or at home, one uses the school’s version of Micro-so!, Adobe, Audacity, Flash and

all other applications the school o#ers.

“If a computer can access the Internet, it can run and it can run as fast as a new comput-er,” Willms said. “It is not using the resources on the computer itself, it is using the resources on the server.”

%is provides students with opportunities to work on classwork at their convenience at home and still be able to turn "les into the assigned folders or save it to continue to work at school. Every "le is backed up through the school technolo-gy system and can be placed in H drives, S share folders and T share folders for sta#.

Virtual Computer is avail-able for students and sta# to download, however, the VM Ware has not been implemented into all computers at CHS. Since the VM Ware allows older com-puters to run as fast as the server with Adobe CS6, older comput-

ers at CHS have been put in the library and a few labs around campus with virtual computer implemented.

Technology is rolling the new element out in a test phase. %ey are putting it in three labs and library at CHS and imple-menting it at a few other CISD schools in order to get the glitch-es noticed and removed.

As of now, there are minor glitches such as having to plug in a headset before logging in if wanting to use a headset, only being allowed to log in on one computer and not having a ge-neric user.

%rough the test phases, technology is noti"ed of any glitches or concerns, and since the computers are all connected at one place, the glitch can be "xed on one server instead of go-ing to every computer and "xing each problem.

Implementing the Virtual computer at school gives reason

for students to bring their own device. It allows easy access to personal "les already converted to school so!ware and they can continue on the same device at home.

Students who have used Fileway throughout their atten-dance in CISD and have begun to use VM Ware notice increased productivity.

“Fileway would be down or would have complications when I needed to use it for classes, but the new so!ware works on my Mac and I easily access and work on "les at my convenience,” sophomore Madi Badura said.

Bene"ts to sta# and stu-dents have already come into play when the decision of ap-proval comes along.

“At "rst I was a skeptic. %e idea of connecting to the server made me nervous, but with one use I found the many bene"ts we receive through the use of new so!ware,” Willms said.

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH VM WARE VIEW CLIENT?

The Bethel Road Barbershop located in Old Town Coppell stands open to customers on a sunny afternoon.

YOU CAN... Access the s-share, your h-drive and everything from the school’s desktop on your home computer.

YOU CAN... Have access to all the software owned by the school such

as Adobe Photoshop.

Photo by Mia Ford

Photo by Mia Ford

Graphic by Rinu Daniel

It is essential that the citi-zens’ right to bear arms is not infringed upon. If someone in the Aurora movie theater or Sikh Temple had a gun on them for defense, the loss of life could have been greatly reduced.

A survey determined that 40 percent of convicted felons had at one time decided to not commit a violent crime because they suspected that the victim possessed a gun. Seventy percent of felons reported that either they or a peer had at one point been deterred from committing a violent crime by a citizen who shot at them or wounded them.

Heightened gun control would prevent citizens from tak-ing such actions – actions to de-fend themselves. Don’t just take the criminals’ word for it. Gun control has been proven to back-!re and result in an increase in crime.

In 1976, Washington D.C. passed a law prohibiting its citi-zens from possessing handguns. While this law was in e"ect, the city’s murder rate averaged 73 percent higher than it did before – despite the national average decreasing by 11 percent dur-ing this time. Similar situations in Chicago and other cities have proven that gun control laws have catastrophic and unintend-ed consequences.

#e 1976 Gun Control Law in Washington D.C. was struck down as unconstitutional in 2008. Denying citizens the right to own a gun is paramount to ty-rannical. It goes directly against the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the people’s right “to keep and bear arms”.

#at is not the only lesson history can teach us about the negative consequences of a gun ban.

If a law were passed in 2012 that restricted the pur-chase of guns, it would follow a very similar path to the govern-ment’s attempt to prohibit alco-hol in the 1920s. It would lead to a sprawling black market to sup-port the undiminished demand for guns – people will still feel the need for weapons to defend themself.

And just like with alcohol in the 1920s, this black market will lead to a huge spike in orga-nized crime, and – you guessed it – more risk of homicide.

Terrible people used guns to do terrible things this summer. #ough I understand the need to act now to prevent future atroci-ties, more gun control is not the solution. We need to address the roots of the problems that cause

homicides to occur, not the tool used to commit them.

Elec-tion cam-

paigning in America and

the Olympic Games in

L o n d o n made the months o" of school memora-

b l e ones, but ultimately, the summer of 2012 was marred by something far more sinister.

Twelve were killed and 58 more were injured when a shoot-er turned his weapons toward the audience at a premier of !e Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colo on July 20. Only a few days later, 10 people were shot at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and seven more in the shooting at Texas A&M. #e bloody summer was capped o" by a school shooting on the !rst day of classes in Ohio.

#is recent onslaught of !rearm violence has given pro-ponents of increased gun control the ammunition to push their cause back to the forefront of na-tional attention.

While each of these inci-dents was tragic and devastating, tightening the regulation of guns or banning their sale altogether would be an overreaction of cos-mic proportions.

Cars and tobacco are re-sponsible for more deaths each year than guns. Should the sale of cars and cigarettes be restrict-ed by the government? If a man falls down the stairs and dies, should we ban stairs?

#e guns are not respon-sible for homicide. People are re-sponsible for homicide. We need to address the roots of the prob-lems that cause these crimes, not the tool used to commit them.

Aurora was the result of police failing to act on numerous red $ags about the killer’s mental health in the weeks leading up to the shooting. #e Sikh temple shooting was the result of racial intolerance and blind ignorance. #ese are the sorts of issues that must be improved upon to pre-vent future homicides in our communities, not banning or re-stricting the sale of guns.

Do you want to know what bene!t enhanced gun regulation would have? Absolutely none. In fact, it would actually make the job easier for potential murder-ers. Criminals will get their hands on a gun one way or another. If criminals cannot buy guns legally, they will get them illegally.

Here is the crux of the mat-ter: the only thing ramping up gun control would do is take guns out of the hands of the vic-tims and ensure that criminals are the only ones with guns.

5opinionsOCTOBER 2012

#is summer, several gun-related catastrophes le% many Americans horri!ed at how little impact the presiding gun control laws have had on the country. With the presidential election nearing, it is time to truly ask our candidates, who are ever so eager for “change,” how they plan to reduce deaths as-sociated with the gun market.

On July 20 James Holmes walked into a Century 16 theater in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 people and injuring 58. #is number of casualties accounts for the larg-est mass shooting in United States history. Roughly two weeks a%er this incident, Wade Michael Page walked into Sunday service at the Oak Creek Sikh temple and shot six dead, injured four. #ree weeks later, a student opened !re without a target on the !rst day of classes in Maryland, critically injuring on-estudent.

Still there is not a sign of new gun control laws in the works—and these are only recent events. More than 200 people are shot daily, 87 of which die, 33 of those were mur-dered, according to the CDC Na-tional Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

In response to the Aurora shooting in July, the presidential candidates cowered on gun con-trol but o"ered statements to con-cerned citizens. While Republican nominee Mitt Romney believed “changing the heart of the Ameri-can people may well be what’s es-sential” he did not provide any in-formation on how he planned to do that—maybe an intervention with America? He also seemed to be confused on Colorado gun laws, for he said the shooter “shouldn’t have had any kind of weapons.” #at is kind of funny considering that all of the shooter’s purchases, includ-ing the assault ri$e were legal in the state as reported by !e New York Times.

On the other hand, President Barack Obama’s solution to the problem consists of summer jobs for young people and crime reduc-tion programs in cities—all ideas that could help round up American citizens, none of which can stop ur-ban bloodshed. According to #e New York Times, he also discussed “enhanced background checks to weed out criminals and the mental-ly ill”, but did not discuss anything regarding the closing of the “gun-show loophole or ease in which the mentally ill can get their guns restored”—a position that the pres-ident could easily argue without signi!cant opposition against #e National Ri$e Association, which insisted on making the reposses-sion easy (!e New York Times).

According to studies of fed-eral data, states that have stricter gun-control laws have a signi!cant amount of fewer !rearms deaths. #e study reports that policies such as banning assault weapons and re-quiring trigger locks and safe stor-age actually work. However, few politicians will advocate these measures.

Change is indeed p o s s i b l e , take Califor-nia for exam-ple, before 1997 its mortal- ity rate was consistently higher than the rest of the na-tion. When its newly established gun laws later took e"ect, the states mortality was cut by 53 percent, to a low of 8.1 per 100,000 people. Compare that with the decline of only 30 percent for the rest of the nation where !rearm mortality rate is 10.2. #ese statistics are in accor-dance to the CDC’s latest 2009 data.

While many factors may con-tribute to mortality rates, California has passed more than 40 laws since 1989 a%er the mass shooting in a Stockton schoolyard that led the state’s assault weapons ban a ten round limit on ammunition maga-zine capacity, according to Gri&n Dix, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence California chapter.

Some of the most signi!cant gun laws that Nix recognizes in an article for the Brady Center are Cali-fornia’s laws restricting “illegal gun tra&cking by requiring background checks on all gun sales or transfers (including at gun shows) and limit-ing handgun purchases to one per month, prohibiting gun purchases by persons guilty of certain vio-lent misdemeanors and facilitating crime gun tracing and recovery of illegally owned weapons.”

An additional law that has had a signi!cant impact on Califor-nia’s gun market is its requirement for licensed gun dealers—handgun buyers must pass a written safety test and hands-on demonstration. #is law, along with the others that encourage safe gun storage, help re-duce gun suicide, one of the biggest components of !rearm mortality As a procedure new hand gun models being sold in California must also meet the state’s safety standards (facts provided by the Brady Cam-paign).

California’s gun laws should be taken by America as an example of a system that does not con$ict with the rights of its citizens and would help reduce the mortality rate sig-ni!cantly. It is understood that guns will always be an issue, but with new laws we can set forth some e"ort to help keep our citizens protected and pre- vent future massacres. At

the worst, we tried. But we cannot sit on our behinds until the next carnage occurs.

Should gun controllaws be stricter?

Graphic by Rinu Daniel and Haley Madigan

Recently, uncommon amounts of public shootings have terrorized the nation. Should America tighten its

laws on gun control?

WHAT DO

YOUTHINK?

Eric ParkSenior

Seshu BrahmaFreshman

"I say [gun control laws need to be] more strict. First of all, people seem to use handguns as destructive. People conform to society and will do more destructive things; guns are detrimental to society."

Sean BagleyAssistant Principal

"[Gun control] is necessary with all of the unstable people in society. We need a good system of checks and balances to address the problem. I think where we are now is a good place with the law because at some point, it's not going to matter. If someone really wants to get ahold of a gun, they will get ahold of it."

"[Gun control] should be more strict so psychologically disturbed people can't get their hands on guns."

Morgan KorandaSenior

Joe CarrollSophomore

"Gun control laws are !ne as they are. They don't need to get stricter; we have the right to bear arms. I don't think the freedom should be taken away. I don't think stricter laws will stop people from getting guns; people should be able to defend themselves."

"Not much can really be done about [gun control]. Maybe the hidden gun law should be stricter with a background check. People should still have the right to hold guns; it's America."Kimberly Del Angel

Entertainment Editor!omas HairOpinions Editor

6 opinions OCTOBER 2012

Every country has its faults, but the United States is truly the land of the free, the land of op-portunity. People can always !nd something to complain about, but if it came down to it, most every-one in America would prefer to have things stay exactly the same over living in another nation.

Most people - especially the youth - take this freedom for granted. "ey forget that other nations are nothing like the Unit-ed States. Although the economy is in a recession, Americans still have the privilege of entrepre-neurship and the opportunity to change their circumstances. Some

people may not agree with our leaders, but at least they have the ability to elect them.

"e youth of America seem to think that their vote will not be pivotal.

Democracy will always exist in America. Minorities will always be minorities. !e economy will never be severe enough to place the population in poverty. A presi-dent’s decisions will not a"ect my life that much.

"ese are the lies we tell ourselves to rationalize why we do not need to pay too much at-tention to politics or e#ectively participate in voting. "e truth is

to the contrary: democracy will always exist in America if we !ght to keep it that way.

In a dystopian society, we turn our eyes away from the gov-ernment, approve new fancy tech-nology laws, like VeriSign, and end up not being able to buy or sell goods. "at is an extreme sce-nario, but anything can happen when people are not watching.

Young people, who tend to lean towards the liberal side, generally have low political par-ticipation. "at means that con-servatives are o$en over-repre-sented and control policies. "is is not an issue because they’re

conservative policies- the case would be the same if it were the other way around - it is because the population is not represented accurately. If seniors become the majority of voters, we could end up with an increased Social Se-curity cut coming out of our pay-check and funds toward school-ing slashed.

It is important for young people to participate in our po-litical system and vote because we are the future. More o$en than not, policy changes take time to reap consequences, positive or negative. "e youth is the group that should be thinking long term

because it is our future it will af-fect. Graying congressmen are not too concerned with how their de-cisions end up thirty years down the road. We should be.

"e presidential election is next month and many of Coppell High School’s seniors will be eligi-ble to vote. It is time we pay a little more attention in Government class, keep up with current events and prepare ourselves to hit the voting booths come November. "e United States gives its citizens an avenue to make a change: vot-ing. We could be the generation to change the world, and all we have to do is vote.

The Sidekick is the o!cial student newspaper for Coppell High School. Its purpose is to inform, entertain and provide an educational resource for its readers. This newspaper is a public forum for student expres-sion and thus student editors make all content decisions.

The Sidekick is a member of ILPC, NSPA and JEA. The Sidekick was the NSPA Pacemaker "nalist in 2002, Online Pacemaker "nal-ist in 2012, The Dallas Morning News best newspaper honorable mention in 2006, Best Newspa-per in 2011 and 2012 and Best Website in 2009 and 2011. It also received the Award of Distin-guished Merit in 2003 and 2008 and is Bronze Star recipient for 2009 from ILPC. The editorials

and columns presented in this paper re#ect the views of their writers.

Advertisements are sold as full, 1/2 page, 1/4 page and 1/8 page sizes in black and white or color.

For more information you may reach the adviser in his classroom (D115) or by phone at (214) 496-6239.

To read more stories by The Sidekick sta$ members, and also to "nd videos and photos, you can visit coppellstudentmedia.com.

The Sidekick welcomes all letters to the editor, but letters must be signed before consid-eration for publication. Send letters to cwo$ord@coppellisd.com or bring them by D115.

"is city is breeding teenage criminals.

Coppell is not a seedy place. If you’re in a “bad part of town,” that simply means that there are no ice cream places within a one mile radius. Crime rates are low, but “criminal” activity among teens is not.

"e city shuts down early. "e parks close at sunset, the bakeries at 7 p.m., the restaurants at 10 p.m.; curfew is 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on the weekends, leaving an entire gen-eration of young people shut in for the night or seeking refuge at the only 24-hour establishment in the city.

If you think the majority of teens are sitting in their friends’ living rooms playing Canasta and watching ABC Family movies while their parents sip tea in the other room, stop reading. I would hate to ruin that for you.

On the other hand, though, it’s not as if teens are out in the woods at midnight practicing sa-tanic rituals, but from the way the city restricts us, you would think that was what we are all doing.

Anyone who goes on a walk past curfew is at risk of getting

stopped by a police o%cer. Any-one who sits in the parking lot of a closed business, thinking of what to do next, can be questioned for suspicious behavior. By these standards, almost every student at CHS has been a “criminal” at one point in his or her life.

I know these kids. I’m friends with these kids. "ese kids are intelligent, fun and sociable. And they are just as bored living this routine as I am watching it.

It’s always the same with me and my friends. We’ll meet up for dinner, someplace like Corner Bakery if we’re feeling fancy (but we’re usually not feeling fancy), then we play the ever-so-enjoy-able game of “Now what?”

"e answer is nothing. "ere is absolutely nothing legal for us to do a$er dark, aside from staying in and watching Mary Kate and Ashley specials on VHS. I !nd this to be rather disconcert-ing.

In short, I live in a town where the police force’s primary job is keeping teenagers in check.

But why do we pose such a threat? Personally, I don’t see the harm in my sitting at Andy Brown West at 9 p.m. Chances

are, teens who are out in public are far less likely to be doing il-legal things than those who keep to the indoors. Why criminalize activities that are a safer alterna-tive to many options people turn to with the current restrictions?

If all the city wants is to keep us out of trouble, then it needs to give us somewhere to go. Make the parks a destination for things to do a$er 6 p.m. Make them safe, well-lit and easily monitored. Or perhaps encourage activity-based businesses to take up residence in our little town, rather than at-tracting more members of the food service industry (please, no more yogurt shops).

It is up to city o%cials to see to it that well-meaning kids are not tempted to turn to question-able activities. "ese people – not the parents and not the kids – have the ability to change the cul-ture of our town, turning it away

from this path it’s headed down.

Give us some options, Coppell. We’re good kids.

COMMENTSfrom the

WEB

EditorialStudents take political freedom, voting for granted

Teens need break from the law

Coppell gets bitten by West Nile virus

The cross-country team practices almost every day; these students have taken some precautions to ensure safety from West Nile virus. -Daisey Grisham

Coppell starts season with big bang against Longview

Go Cowboys! O$ense and Defense looked phenomenal. Looking forward to this season! -CC

21 National Merit Semi!nalists set Coppell record

Congratulations to all the winners. What was the cuto$ score?

-Phillip

Michelle PitcherEditor-in-Chief

Graphic by Lauren Ussery

7opinionsOCTOBER 2012

It is not an unusual sight. When the results of a tryout or audition are posted on the door of a gym or auditorium, students are divided in emotion. Some rejoice, o!er hugs and shriek while others slip away in tears. On a campus as large as Cop-pell High School, or any school for that matter, there are not always enough spots to accommodate ev-ery student who tries out for a po-sition. "ere can only be one lead role in a play and only six starting varsity volley-ball players. Not everyone can make everything they try out for. And thus, a problem is creat-ed. What is the best way for a coach or teacher to break the bad news to students? Is there a best way? It is no secret that coaches are busy people. Being respectful and encouraging to players who were not lucky enough to secure a spot may not be very high on their priority list. "at is the problem. When a student tries out for something, they should be guaranteed two things: a fair and full evaluation of their ability and the right to not be humiliated if there is not a position for them. Some of the methods coaches and sponsors use to

break the bad news are down-right hurtful and embarrassing. I will never forget a club vol-leyball tryout I attended during my eighth grade year. "irteen years old, I was shaky and ner-vous. I knew that this club was one of the more prestigious in the area, and I was willing to #ght for a spot. At the end of the tryout, the

coaches sat the group of sweaty girls down on the gym $oor and called each person who made the team, name by name. A%er the 24 girls who were o!ered a spot walked in front of the group to get

their envelopes, the rest of us sat and watched as the girls celebrated. I understand that the “sit-the-g r o u p - d o w n -method” proves quick and straightforward, but no one with-out a congratula-tory envelope de-served that kind of embarrassment.   We watched our friends and schoolmates celebrate, wait-ing with anticipation for

an envelope that never came. In a school like Coppell with many organizations, try-outs and applications are ongoing throughout the school year. Any involved student has become ac-customed to the di!erent ways results are delivered to them. Many coaches post lists of selected players on gym doors, or with a 21st Century twist, on their team website. While I have found t h i s method to be m o s t c o m -m o n f o r s p o r t s a n d

theatre activities, it o%en leaves players hanging. O%entimes, re-jected students walk away from the lists with lingering ques-tions. Why didn’t I make the cut? What can I do better next year? "is method lacks closure. But sometimes students do not want closure. If they make it, they make it. If there is not a spot for them, they do not want to drag out the rejection. Some sponsors lean towards a more personal approach. Gen-erally, this involves a face-to-face confrontation or e-mail, an ex-planation or justi#cation and the cliché “"anks for your interest.” "is shows the students that they were appropriately considered,

but also causes the student to feel supremely uncom-

fortable. Sometimes, all the student wants

is a “yes” or “no.” While many

coaches have become cre-ative with their

methods of re-jecting students, I have yet to dis-cover a meth-od that works universa l ly. Coaches need to consider the nature of

their activity and use the most respectful method to let their stu-dents know the results. "ere is no easy way to let a student know they will not be admitted, cast or recruited. How-ever, coaches should be discreet, honest and cordial about the way they break the negative news. In many Coppell sports programs, including vol-leyball and soccer, coaches will approach those who do not have the skill set to play on the team as soon as they real-ize this. Tryouts are excruci-ating, and the coaches should not put players through the strenuous conditioning if they know they are not interested. Too o%en, coaches seem to forget how hurtful rejection can be. Anyone who has been cut from a team or not been accepted into a club can sympathize with the embarrassment and shame. If coaches can make rejection easier for students, ideally, they will not let fear stop them from trying new things. When “I don’t know if I have

what it takes” becomes the mentality, so many op-portunities are missed. Rejection hap-pens, but it does not have to be made any more embarrass-ing or demeaning

than it already is.

Shepard says time to teach coaches gentle rejection

When a student tries out for something, they

should be guaranteed two things:

a fair and full evaluation of their ability and the

right to not be humiliated if there is not

a position for them.

R I G H T N O W, 5 5 . 5 % OF HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES PLAY A SPORT ON A SCHOOL TEAMPARTICIPATION IN SPORTS C A N C O M B AT R A C I S M ,

L O W S E L F - I M A G E A N D H I G H S C H O O L D R O P O U T R AT E SABOUT 90% OF INVOLVED STUDENTS A R E L E S S L I K E L Y T O E X P E R I M E N T W I T H D R U G SCOAC H E S C H O O S E AT H L E T E S W H O A R E

P H Y S I C A L LY M AT U R EC U T T I N G T H O S E S T U D E N T S W H O A R E N OT Y E T M AT U R E P R O H I B I T S T H E M FROM MATURING IN THE FUTURE

Information courtesy of usnews.com and cwu.edu

Kristen Shepard Sta! Writer

Dads deserve more recognition, McCaskey says

Sometimes, just three words can permanently change your outlook. Even three words read on a tiny cell phone screen during a monotonous bus ride.

It was a particularly bumpy bus ride. I was sitting there tex-ting a friend of mine, unsuccess-fully attempting to block out the screeching chatter of the fresh-man girls behind me. Admittedly, my friend and I were gossiping about another student, a black student named John*, whom neither of us really like.

We were exchanging ru-mors that John could soon be facing suspension. Speculating about a kid we !nd annoying being suspended was all fun and games until I heard the famil-iar ding of my cell phone and read the !rst three words of my friend’s newest text.

Just three words. I do not want to repeat the words because I do not want anyone else to be o"ended by them in the way I was. #e words blatantly equated African Americans with animals.

I didn’t read the rest of the text. I just froze, struck by the malice of those !rst three words. Regardless of my lack of fondness for him, John is not an animal. He is a perfectly normal human being.

In today’s society, it is near-ly impossible not to be racist. I’m not saying we all have a buried desire to run o" and join the KKK, but we all commit minor forms of racism on a daily basis. We do. No matter how princi-pled you are, you sometimes ex-pect people to act, behave, dress or think a certain way or like cer-

tain things because of their race.Lightheartedly joking

about the cliché stereotypes as-sociated with various races can be funny to some, but there is a line we must not cross. We must not let these false stereo-types seep into our brain and change the way we view people. We must not typecast our peers, whether they are black, white, Asian or Hispanic.

It has been a few weeks since I !rst read that text, but those three words of blatant rac-ism have stuck in my brain. #e more I think about them, the more disgusting they become.

I wish I had confronted my friend about the text to let him know how wrong he was, that I don’t tolerate that sort of bigotry.

My friend nonchalantly equating people of African de-scent with dumb animals is one of the worst forms of bigotry I have experienced !rsthand. Just those three words can be far more hurtful than any physical pain. It can make an individu-al feel subhuman and belittled. It can make an entire family, an entire race, feel subhuman and belittled, like apes on display at the zoo for their amusing prim-itivity.

Incidents like these remind me how recently it was that Af-rican Americans and other mi-norities su"ered terrible dis-crimination in this country. As recently as 50 years ago, blacks were cast o" in sub-par schools and bathrooms. For some of us, that is during our parents’ lifetimes.

Slavery and segre-

gation are enormous black eyes on the face of America that still have not completely faded away. #ough no one sells slaves at the Town Square anymore as they once did in centuries past, traces of it remain today in the form of silent racism. Is discreetly belit-tling African Americans really any better than doing it brazen-ly?

All types of people are hu-man beings, and deserve to be treated as such. Skin color has absolutely no impact on some-one’s personality, intelligence or behavior. We all experience the same emotions and feelings. Why is it so hard for humans of every culture to realize this fact and be more sympathetic with others?

My friend despicably la-beling John as subhuman has opened my eyes to how much racism still exists, even at Cop-pell High School. #is even in-cludes subconscious racism, such as labeling that Asian you’ve never met as a quiet nerd. Every person of every race has more to them than a stereotype.

We all must start doing our part to make the world, or at least these halls, a better place by treating people of all races with the respect and dignity they de-serve.

*Real name re-placed.

Racism still a problem at CHS

I was watching the Olym-pics with my dad - a great fellow, a man I hope to be like in the future - when he made quite the inter-esting observation. A Proctor & Gambel commercial came on and announced how moms are the best and should be awarded for their e"orts of raising such great athletes.

“Hey!” my dad said. “What about me?”

Yes, Dad. What about you? What makes moms so special? Why do they personally deserve their own ad campaign through-out the largest sporting event of the summer? What about you?

#e only logical answer I could !nd is that P&G is simply against dads, and that was that. As my dad said, “#ey just hate dads and it’s not fair.” Not so fast. It does not end there, people. It does not end there.

While watching gymnastics, I noticed that they kept showing people’s reaction to the events. And what pattern did I notice? #ey almost always showed only the mom’s reaction. Rarely, if ever, did they show how one of the dads reacted.

#ere comes a time every year, about a month a$er Moth-er’s Day, when fathers across the world stop and think, “Hey! What about me!” Father’s Day is supposedly a day of appreciation for the people in our lives who are supposed to be just as important as our mothers.

#ink about Mother’s Day for a minute with me. We go out of our way to make our mothers feel special. #ey get %owers, ex-travagant and thoughtful gi$s and hand-made presents that their children took the time out of the school day to create.

Now think about Father’s

Day for a minute. #e only Fa-ther’s Day present I can remem-ber giving my dad was a cray-on-colored paper tie I spent two minutes on at school. A paper tie. Why don’t we care about Father’s Day? Why are dads seemingly unimportant in today’s society? I began a mental investigation to !nd out.

A$er I blew the cover o" the mainstream media’s anti-fa-ther regimen, I turned toward everyday life. What things do I do on a day-to-day basis that give moms all the credit without any mention of the dads? It hit me recently while I was sitting in a restaurant.

I was out celebrating my grandfather’s birthday with my parents and grandparents, and at the end something happened that changed me forever. #e manager of the restaurant came by and asked a simple question.

“How many ladies do we have at this table tonight?”

I thought to my-self, “Why would this be signi!cant?

Why would this matter?” It turns out that the women who dine at this particular restaurant get free chocolate, while the men get to pick up the check. I do not wish to reveal the identity of this restaurant, but you know who you are, and you should feel bad.

#e chocolate was a wake-up call. No one cares about dads anymore. Dads are just there. #ey are just in the way of mom sweeping in and being the ulti-mate parent. It takes a village to raise a child, and when you can’t get a village you might as well use your dad.

Dads are underappreciated in today’s society. Why? I can’t really tell you. All I know is that I love my dad. Without him, many of the things I do wouldn’t be pos-sible. So give your dad some cred-

it. Go get him a real present for Father’s Day, not just a colored-in paper tie. Go show your dad that even though the rest of the world has given up on

him, you still haven’t.

Graphic by Haley Madigan

PHOTOSof the

DAY

Photo by Jessica Rivera

Photo by Rinu Daniel

Photo by Rinu Daniel

Sept. 10, A delegation of eight journalists from Africa come to CHS to see the high school's journalism program EMAC along with student coverage electives like newspaper and KCBY.

Sept. 28, Passionate Coppell fans throw up baby powder at the beginning of the game to show their spirit, leaving a smokey e!ect.

Sept. 18, STEM Academy senior Ryan Maloney works on his Arduino engi-neering project in class.

8 opinions OCTOBER 2012

!omas HairOpinions Editor

Graphic by Sophie Nauyokas

Lance McCaskey Co-Webmaster

Students cashing in on new economics club9featuresOCTOBER 2012

Christianson, Cacheria organize school wide day of prayer

As the business world con-tinues to evolve, students are looking into learning about busi-ness and entrepreneurship in preparation for their future ca-reers.

Seniors Archie Agarwal and Kash Basavaraju founded the Economics Club at Coppell High School this year. !eir goal for the club is to teach students about the art of economics.  !is includes marketing, #nance, accounting and entrepreneur-ship.   !ey plan on providing a better understanding of these concepts through creating and managing an actual business.  

Last year, they were inspired to create this club a$er establish-ing a business in economics class to donate to Kiva, a company do-nating to working entrepreneurs around the world.   While they are setting the busi-ness up to learn more about economics like their previous expe-rience, the money is going to a di%erent cause.

“I was inspired by the business we started in our eco-nomics class and I wanted to in-volve more kids in it on a greater basis, where our focus would not be giving money to a Kiva web-

site, but instead, making it and giving it to a good cause,” Agar-wal said. 

While the distribution of funds is a large aspect of the club, the club is mainly focusing on organizing themselves in order to have a hands-on experience that teaches important economic concepts as well as tu-toring AP economics students.

“[Archie and I] both love economics, just the logic and ratio-nale behind it, how peo-ple interact with each oth-er, how society works, at least how it should work,” Basavaraju said.   “!is in-spired us to take initiative, get people to know about economics a little more and to start up our own business.”

But before they could start thinking about pro#t and learning, they had to #rst think about the actual product

for the busi-ness.  Since it is the begin-ning of foot-ball season, they decided to aim their product at football fans to make an

easy pro#t.  Although the club is still very new, they have made a considerable amount of head-way, already thinking up some

product ideas such as clappers, T-shirts and more.   While they have not #nalized a product just yet, they still have plenty of time and many ideas to choose from.

“For the #rst semester, our main focus is the football games; we

are de#-nitely going to want

something that will be desired by the fans of the Coppell student section,” Agarwal said. “But our second semester, we are going to try to focus on other activi-ties around school or maybe just something the seniors will be in-terested in taking as a souvenir from their high school.”

While the club seems di&-cult enough with the goal of cre-ating a business, the club itself was di&cult to create.

“We #rst had to set some guidelines and create certain objectives and goals. Once we had that sort of laid out, in some

shape or form, we were able to start publicizing it,” Basavaraju said. “!at is why we started the Facebook group and add-ed 50 people,

and we actu- a l ly got some pretty good feedback.”

But a CHS club is not com-plete without #tting into the school’s guidelines for clubs, which includes having a teach-er sponsor. For the econom-ics club, chemistry teacher Bob White decided to help support the club and guide the students. White chose to sponsor the club a$er Agarwal, a former student of White, asked him to sponcer the club.

“Archie made two or three attempts to talk me into being the sponsor; economics is not my thing, and I wondered what I could really add to their activ-ities and their projects,” White said.

Even though White has a limited economics background, h e decided to spon-

sor the club a$er seeing Agarw-al’s persistence and dedication to getting it started. Now, as the spon-sor, White is already i mp r e s s e d with how the club is going and where it is headed.

“ T h e y have just start-

ed, but they seem to be enthusiastic. !ey seem to be committed,” White said. “And I think, based on what I have seen so far, that they will learn some important lessons about being entrepreneurs and having, at least, a small-scale business to initiate and manage.”

With a full year ahead of them, the economics club has a lot to do and a lot to learn, but with their dedication and drive, the pro#t is promising.

“My goal is to make this a big enough club to where peo-ple are interested in joining it for next year because it is not only a good thing to put on an applica-tion, but it is also just a fun thing to do,” Agarwal said.

JORDAN BICKHAMSta! Writer

On the fourth Wednesday of September, millions of Chris-tian students gather around their school flagpole to lift up their friends, families, admin-istrators, school and nation to God for the upcoming school year.

See You at the Pole is an annual day of student prayer. This nationwide connection of prayer stemmed from a group of teens attending the DiscipleNow weekend in 1990. This act of faith is led, organized, initiated and attended by students.

At Coppell High School, See You at the Pole began with a small group of students a couple years ago, but the small gather-ing has developed into a pop-ular community-wide prayer group.

For the most part, indi-viduals at CHS find their niche in the system, or find specific friend groups divid-ing students by similar beliefs.

Likewise, denominations of re-ligion tend to stick with each other in church groups or Bible studies outside of school.

Christianson and Cache-ria serve as the See You at the Pole leaders. They sought out to bring a diverse crowd together through the love of a Savior.

“When I would walk in the

hallways, people who attended See You at the Pole and I would make eye contact and have an unspoken bond,” junior Court-ney Quirk said.

“I not only get to help bring the community togeth-er,” Christianson said. “I get to bring it together through some-thing greater than us.”

With over 50 stu-dents attending last

year from simple Facebook and

Twitter invites, Cacheria and Christianson hope for an i m p r o v e d t u r n o u t through the ability to promote the

event during school an-

nouncements and posters

hung throughout the hallways in ad-

dition to their original

social media posts.Promotions through the

school for See you at the Pole are allowed because the event is taking place on the nation-al event day. Both leaders now recognize the importance of doing something for a bigger purpose and have stepped out of their shell to make a differ-ence in the lives of students at CHS.

“You do not realize how much you can touch someone’s life through a few encouraging words,” Cacheria said.

The event last year con-sisted of prayer, song, scripture and individual speakers. The coverage of temptation and stress, which is highly relatable to a teenager, started off the school year strong, but Cache-ria and Christianson have been planning and preparing to fur-ther the spiritual experience of the attendees.

According to Quirk, those who attend See You at the Pole gain an experience that has changed lives through individ-ual prayer and passionate wor-ship.

This year, on Sept. 26 at 7 a.m., the leaders hoped to ad-dress more about intimate top-ics to truly involve the students, as well as touch on how to man-age time and stress as they did during last year’s meeting.

Cacheria and Christianson have created a comfort zone for students from diverse groups who have all been through dis-tinctive and painful experiences in the duration of their lifetime. Now all CHS students of the Christian religion have some-thing to look forward to each year and have people to look to when in a difficult situation.

NATALIE GILBERTSta! Writer

“My goal is to make this a big enough club to

where people are interested in joining it

for next year,”-Archie Agarwal, senior

“You do not realize how much you can

touch someone’s life through a few

encouraging words,”-Zoe Cacheria, senior

On Sept. 26 at 7 a.m., students gathered at the Coppell High School !agpole to participate in the global event “See you at the Pole,” where they prayed together and re!ected to the groups on their inner struggles.

Graphic by Sophie Nauyokas

Photos by Rowan Khazendar

10 features SEPTEMBER 2012

Students work at covering expenses, balancing school

!e four years students spend at high school are their last hurrah before being thrown into the world on their own. Howev-er, some students stand up to the responsibility of their near adult-hood and do something crazy - get a job.

Senior Ally Rood seems to have found a pretty good balance between work and school. She has been employed at Market Street for a year and a half and works al-most 40 hours per week.

While upperclassmen at Coppell High School spend the majority of their time studying for their classes and living it up, some students choose to manage their time in a di"erent fashion.

“!e experience of high school students working a job is great,” counselor Debbie Fruithandler said. “Students work outside their home and get re-warded for doing something on their own. !at is not only a good self-esteem builder, but it is also good for a student to see what it is like in the workplace.”

!e transition between be-ing underclassmen and upper-classmen seems to come with a load of responsibilities. During that transition, most students are maturing into a working age. As an unspoken rule of society, most students apply for their #rst job the summer before their junior year, thus cre-ating a boom of 16-year-old workers at local companies.

Market Street, a local gro-cery store, is a popular place to apply for a job among local stu-dents. Market Street Manager Darren McDonald states that around 40 of their 350 employ-ees are under the age of 18. !e company functions well for the students by working around the availability of the teenage employ-ees $exibly by tending to over hire and rely on di"erent employees at di"erent times. !ey take into ac-count the busy schedules of high school students and create a com-fortable working environment for those who work there.

It is one thing to be em-ployed during the summer months, but keeping a job into the

school year can be work in and of itself. Between extracurricular ac-tivities, overbearing work loads and trying to #nd some time to relax, #nding extra time for a job can be di%cult for some students.

However, other students remain determined to juggle the balance between personal work and school-work. !ese work-ing students tend to have di"erent strategies and mo-tivations behind them.

Junior Connor Savard has been employed at American Eagle Out#tters for about four months now. A&er earning a fair amount in summer wages, and in order to focus on his academics, Savard has been working approximately 10 hours per week since school started.

“I decided to get a job so I could pay for gas, my phone bill, and also just to have some extra spending money,” Savard said. “I balance school and work by only working on weekends. It would be too stressful to work during the school week with the amount of homework I get.”

Savard takes both AP class-es and dual credit courses at

North Lake College. He keeps up with his schoolwork during the week and personal work over the weekend to reinforce his belief that school comes #rst. It is easy enough for him to maintain the strategy of working just enough to pay for his personal expenses and keep up with his schoolwork e%ciently.

Junior Kaylan Smith has also worked at American Eagle Out#tters for a little over three months. Smith works on average 10 to 16 hours a week working to pay for specif-ic things.

“I got this job be-cause I have to pay for certain things that my mom can not and will not pay for such as dance classes, a new phone and a camera for my digi-tal photography class at school,” Smith said. “It is hard to manage my time between work, school and Lariettes.”

Smith gets the motivation to put more time and e"ort than most students into her person-al work due to the expenses she has to pay for her own. Although

stressful at times, Smith #nds it possible to manage her school-work and keep up with her hours at American Eagle.

Some students take the chal-lenge of #nding a balance between work and school farther than oth-ers. Rood works more hours at Market Street per week than most students work per month.

“I got a job so I could start saving for a car, and so I would have money to go and do things. I have to pay for my braces, my phone, rent, my gas and any-

thing I do with my friends,” Rood said. “!ere are de#-nite bene#ts from working, especially as many hours as I do. I learn how to manage time and still perform my best even when I am tired or run down. I think this will help me in the long run because

it gives me work experience that will also help me in the job mar-ket.”

Rood’s personal work schedule falls into a category that adds up to more than the average student’s. As a reason-able and responsible student, Rood finds it easy to manage

her time between long hours at work and four AP classes at school, still getting everything done by putting in a little extra effort.

While many students try, maintaining a job is clearly not for every teenager. Accomplish-ing everything necessary for the advanced classes that upper-classmen tend to take consumes an incredible amount of time, making it hard to judge whether or not they have enough time to work outside of school.

“You have to take each in-dividual on their own and know what is going on with them,” Fruithandler said. “Sometimes you have individuals who are struggling with other issues, and if you add work into the mix, it might send them over the edge.”

Stressful as work and school may be, working on time manage-ment can actually prove to help bene#t students in their futures. Having a job allows students to work on time management by adding another time factor to their busy schedules. A little work can go a long way.

“Sometimes, if you do have a struggling student, a small lit-tle job helps them be more orga-nized, do a little better at school and also feel like they are valued,” Fruithandler said.

CHRISTINA BURKEFeatures Editor

I think this will help me in the long run

because it gives me work experience that

will also help me in the job market.

-Ally Rood, senior

“I think it’s important because

it allows you to save money for the future and teaches

you to be responsible.”

- Sarah Ritchie, senior

“i don’t have a job, but it will probably

teach you time management,

respect for authori-ty and cooperation

with your co-workers.

- Alisha Kalangara,sophomore

“Having a job teaches students

how to be responsible. Work-

ing for your own money teaches you

how to budget.- Alyssa Frost,

junior

[Having a job] is not only a good self-

esteem builder, but it is also good for a stu-dent to see what it is like in the workplace.- Debbie Fruithandler,

CHS guidance counselor

11featuresOCTOBER 2012

Rohde explores job, challenges of a high school custodian

Custodian Margie DeLe-on arrives at 6 a.m. and turns on the lights. She then cleans the office areas, checks the re-stroom toilet dispensers, puts up the flags outside and then moves on to clean breakfast tables. Cleaning around the tables, she watches a group of students leave out bundles of empty trays and wrappers. She does not al-ways expect stu-dents to take the r e s p o n s i b i l i t y ; this is a normal routine.

S t u d e n t s hardly know the name of this woman who cleans their mess-es, or the impact she makes on CHS and its in-habitants in a sin-gle day. She is one of the few who work hard for a good cause to clean a building to fit hundreds.

“Trying to keep the school clean is a chal-lenge,” DeLeon said. “Sometimes I do not even take a break. Sometimes I will be working through my break. I try to get stuff done. I like to work because if I stop I feel lazy. I really love it though.”

The jobs that the custo-dians complete help teachers and faculty a great deal with cleanliness in the classrooms and other areas around the school. AP Jeremy Varnell knows the effort custodians put into their work.

“They always go above and beyond,” Varnell said. “Some of the stuff that they have to clean up at this high school that is supposed to be of refined young people is quite unbelievable. They do thankless work.”

Putting in a 40-hour week, in and out of a school day, in large and small groups custodians unite for a cause putting in the sweat and grit to benefit the student-learn-ing environment.

For some, even their shifts are not enough. Many of the custodians leave their job at CHS to go to a second job they have.

“At home, I was not thinking about relaxing; I was thinking about a part time job,” DeLeon said. “When I get home I do not stop; I clean or babysit my grandson. I would take a double shift here, but I would not have enough time.”

Several shifts take place for custodians. DeLeon’s shift goes from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Angel Gamez then carries on for her from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. After both shifts, an entire new set of custodi-ans comes in for after school clean up.

Although the shifts are spread out throughout the day, one shift in particular

“Some students could at least throw their stuff in the trash; if they see something could they pick it up,” De-Leon said. “Sometimes they just kick around the bottles of bags or sometimes when they are talking to each oth-er they will use a bad word, and I would just like to be re-spected when I am cleaning around them. I just get away when I can.”

Through DeLeon’s years of working as a custodian

through elementary, middle, and high school’s, she has dis-covered a startling fact.

“Elementary schoolers are cleaner,” DeLeon said. “It is because there are a smaller amount of students and be-cause there are more teach-ers who monitor the students very well. I do think there should be more teachers monitoring here at CHS.”

To Gamez, DeLeon has the relatively clean part of the job. One area that can be quite scary is the destruction in school bathrooms and the vandalizing of furniture.

Due to the typical con-ditions of the high school bathrooms and the amount of work necessary to proper-ly clean them, Gamez would like for students to take their part in keeping the bath-rooms neat.

“Angel comes and stall doors are completely off or people will throw stuff in the toilets that are not sup-posed to be there, and he has to clean it up,” DeLeon said. “That is his worst job.”

Some custodians have additional tasks added to their everyday jobs. For ex-ample, Gamez also takes work orders. This means the orga-nizing of classroom desks on testing dates in every room.

“It is the hardest part because of the heavy things we push around,” Angel said. “I find furniture destroyed while I do my job. Please do not destroy stuff.”

Angel and the other cus-todians work hard all day to provide a clean and healthy environment for CHS stu-dents and faculty. Their hard work amazes many people, including AP Kayla Brown.

“All that they do is just incredible,” Brown said. “They know where to put the

t a b l e s , how to c l e a n off the t a b l e s , how to set up for different events. The custodi-ans here, much dif-ferent from the other schools that I have been at, they do a lot of the moving. That is something that I feel is above

and beyond in comparison to other districts.”

T h e custodian staff needs students to respect and care for school property and to keep areas clean to respect other students, teachers and staff. Their diligence and commitment to keeping the school clean should be met with e q u a l r e s p e c t from the students.

“We want to keep it clean

where students will not come in and

say ‘gross, look’, or students will come in and say ‘that is dirty’; I will try to get there and clean it before they get there,” DeLeon said.

Despite custodians’ view about student cleanli-ness, they take happiness in their job and care for the individual student the best that they can.

“We say hi to [the students],” Deleon said. “ S o m e - times they do not say hi but I say it any-way. If they lose something, or if I see the student drops something I will try to help with it. If they need help, I will help them.”

carries into the late night.“My shift goes until 2

a.m.,” Custodian Blanca E. Alfaro said. “It is my last turn to make sure the school is clean and secure so the cor-respondent areas are clean in the morning.”

Cleaning the hallways, classrooms and cafeteria of CHS is not the only task cus-todians complete, however. Their work extends to the field house, tennis center and football stadium as well. Al-

faro has the big responsibility of cleaning the sports area.

“I am always in the gym during my shift,” Alfaro said. “It is a pretty hard job, but I love my job and I love my responsibility. I like knowing that all of [the students] are happy and at a clean school, so they can be more orga-nized and more together. --I also just want the students to be gracious and say thank-you for keeping it clean.”

Even though they put in an enormous amount of work into keeping the school a nice place to be, their work often goes unnoticed by students. Senior Betsy Dean admitted an every day reality.

“In general they are un-derappreciated,” Dean said. “People take it for granted that people are going to take care of things. Obviously the school couldn’t function without them. Especially with a school this size, they have a really big job to do.”

Outward gratitude from students would be appreci-ated by each of the custodi-ans, but there are acts that work just as well as a heart-felt thank you. Doing things as easy as simply cleaning up after yourself when you leave an area of the school would be extremely helpful.

“Try to keep your area clean where you are sitting to eat lunch,” DeLeon said. Try to be cleaner in gener-al. Sometimes [students] see me working next to them and afterword when they get up they just leave their trash there.”

DeLeon also knows that respect would make a big im-pact on her and the rest of the custodians. Just like oth-er people, the custodians are grateful of positive feedback and responses.

ERICA ROHDESta! Writer

12 in-depth 13in-depth

EconomyWhether it be Social Security or taxes, the economy is likely the most critical election issue as the nation is still recovering from recession. Both candidates have di!erent ideas about how to strengthen America’s economy. A"er a term marked by high unemployment, Obama wants to reform Social Security by increasing tax on those making more than $250K to make up for the budget shortfall. Mean-while, he plans to extend George Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts only for those who earn less than $250K. Obama still backs his 2009 stimulus plan and his opposition to raising the minimum wage. Under Obama, the federal government would subsidize farmers.Romney wants to reform Social Security by raising the re-tirement age to account for people living longer and extend President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. He is adamantly against Obama’s 2009 stimulus plan and raising the debt ceil-ing. Under Romney, adults who receive government bene#ts would be required to work.

49% would vote for Obama

45% would vote for Romney

6% would be undecided

If America were polled right now...*

Barack Obama Mitt RomneyWillard Mitt Romney is a 64 year-old Republican from Detroit. He has a strong family history of success and prominence. His father, George Romney, rose from hum-ble beginnings to become Governor of Michigan. Romney is married to his wife, Ann, with whom he has #ve sons. $e Romney family, including Mitt, has historically been a member of the Mormon Church. Mitt quickly established himself by graduating from Brigham Young University as valedictorian of his class. A"er a Mormon mission trip to France, Romney attended and graduated with Master’s degrees from both the Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School in 1975. Shortly therea"er, Romney co-founded the successful Boston-based investment #rm, Bain Capital. In 1994, Romney unsuccessfully ran for Massachusetts senate. In 2002, he took over the Salt Lake Olympic Games Orga-nizing Committee, which was struggling due to internal con%icts. Romney almost single-handedly turned things around and made the 2002 games into a huge success story for Salt Lake City. Using this momentum, Romney was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2003 and held o&ce until 2007. Romney was popular during his term in Massachusetts, reduc-ing the $3 billion de#cit and passing a bill that provided universal healthcare to state residents. Since then he has sought Presidential o&ce, #nally obtaining the Republican nomination in 2012 a"er being defeated by John McCain in 2008. In August, Romney announced his running-mate to be Paul Ryan, solidifying the support of conservative vot-ers. His platforms for this election include lowering taxes, strengthening the military, ending Obamacare, promoting free enterprise and privatizing healthcare.

Chris Ware color caricature of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. MCT 2007

Barack H. Obama is currently serving as the 44th President of the United States. Born in Hawaii in 1961 to a Kenyan father and Kansas-native mother, Obama was brought up in a hard-working middle-class family and eventually moved to Chicago and graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude in 1991. He worked as a civil rights lawyer for much of the 1990s until winning a spot as a Democrat in the Illinois State Senate in 1996. As a member of the senate Obama worked on social issues and man-aged to pass legislation that expanded health care services and early childhood education programs for the poor. In 2004 Obama won a seat in the U.S. senate. In 2007 Obama announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, eventually defeating Hilary Clinton for the nomination. On Nov. 4, 2008, Obama defeated Republican presi-dential nominee John McCain for the position of U.S. president.During the #rst 100 days of Obama’s presidency, he managed to pass a $787 billion stimulus bill as an attempt to promote economic growth during a period of recession. Additionally, he cut taxes for middle-class families, small businesses and #rst-time home buyers. He also sought to reform Amer-ica’s foreign policy and set a date for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.$e passage of the A!ordable Health Care Act, the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, and the capture of the al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden are all con-sidered to be amongst Obama’s biggest successes during his #rst term as president.

Obama or Romney?

What are important qualities in a president?

Which issue is most important?

Why is it important to vote?

I feel like Mitt Romney has a good ground and I think he would make a good president.

I think they have to be able to listen to the voice of the people, but also have a good head on their shoulders and be open to other people and also have their own opinion.

I think that gun control is a big issue just because the United States has the right to bare arms, and I think that if we take away that amendment that’d be a really serious issue.

I think it’s important to vote just because people risk their lives for our ability to vote, and a lot of people fought for it and strived to give us the opportunity.

I’m going to vote for Mitt Romney because his experience in business may give America hope to get itself out of poverty.

I think it’s important to be fair and thinking of his people.

I don’t know which issue is the most important, because they’re all really important.

I think it’s important to vote because even if you don’t know who to vote for or not, you still have to vote.

Obama because I do not like Romney’s policies and Obama’s been doing well recently.

Just the ability to get something done when they say they’re going to.

Probably social security because the federal budget is running out of social security money and it will be gone soon.

America’s voting percentage is terrible and it’s the only country in the world that has as bad of numbers as we do.

UnemploymentAs job growth has slowed down over the past few months leav-ing unemployment rates around 8.2%, many Americans are looking for a new job plan that will help the nation’s economy fully recover.One of Obama’s major goals during his #rst term was to help turn the economy around by creating jobs. Although the na-tion has seen 21 consecutive months of positive job growth, the slow growth rate has many concerned about the e!ectiveness of Obama’s job initiatives. As the election nears, Obama continues to actively push for new job policies that will keep jobs from being outsourced, which were central to his 2012 State of the Union Address. If elected president, Romney would take an entirely di!erent approach in combatting unemployment. $e current corporate tax rates of 35% would drop to 25% in an e!ort to strengthen private corporations that would, in turn, have the ability to hire more employees. $e nation’s wealthiest Americans would also see signi#cant tax cuts.

AbortionWhether or not to ban abortion, the act of terminating the unborn child in a pregnancy, has been one of the central social issues of the 2012 Presi-dential Election. $ere is perhaps no other issue where the American populace is so clearly divided into two opposing sides: Pro-Choice and Pro-Life. Pro-Choice. Abortion should be universally allowed. Life begins at birth, not conception, according to Obama. Women should have the right to make decisions concerning their own bodies. Pregnancy is a family mat-ter, and Obama argues that the government should not involve itself in the business of the family. Obama does, however, want to limit the need for abortions by funding programs that promote abstinence, adoptions and contraception methods.Pro-Life. $e Republican Party’s platform calls for an absolute ban on abortions. Romney agrees that life begins at conception and that abor-tions should be outlawed, but is in favor of allowing abortion in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother’s health. Despite his more lenient approach, it is not clear whether or not Romney would oppose Congress if it attempted to put an outright ban on abortions. Romney’s voting re-cord shows that he started out as pro-choice and has %ip-%opped on the issue several times in his career. Like Obama, Romney would fund pro-grams that promote abstinence, adoptions and contraception methods.

EducationBoth Obama and Romney recognize that the future of our nation rests on the capability of the educations system to prepare students for the 21st century world. However, their ideas of how exactly to do this starkly contrast.Obama plans to get rid of most aspects of Bush’s No Child Le" Be-hind law. $e President believes the federal government should be involved in education and has rewarded states with huge sums of money for best following his education policies. Obama believes that the key to America’s future is to provide every student with the op-portunity to pursue a college education through Pell Grants and in-creased funding to Universities. He also plans to increase the funding of K-12 education by 2.5 percent in 2013. Obama funded a $1 billion plan to commence a program that stresses specialization in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in public schools.Romney supports Bush’s No Child Le" Behind law. Romney per-sists that the federal government should be less involved with ed-ucation and spend less on K-12 education. Romney opposes Pell Grants and “giving blank checks to Universities” and says we should instead support institutions that are innovating ways to lower costs. Romney is strongly in favor of privatizing the education system and reducing public education.

Health CareAs Americans continue to recover from the 2008 economic downturn and unemploy-ment rates remain high, citizens who are struggling to #nd jobs are also le" with the challenge of #nding a!ordable health care plans, making the issue central to the current presidential election.O"en considered Obama’s biggest accomplishment during his #rst term, the A!ordable Health Care Act was passed in March 2010 making it easier for citizens to become in-sured despite factors such as pre-existing conditions. Although the act originally gener-ated concerns over its constitutionality, the Supreme Court ruled that it is constitutional as long as the health care is funded by taxes.Like other members of the Republican party, Romney’s goal is to repeal the A!ordable Health Care Act, which he refers to as “Obamacare.” While Romney criticizes the large tax increase required by the act, he supports mandated health care plans regulated by individual states.

Immigration $e issue of immigration reform gained attention this summer as two important decisions were made regarding the path to gaining citizenship and securing the Mexican border. As the is-sue continues to gain prominence in this election, both presi-dential candidates are striving to solidify their reform plans.A"er failing to pass legislation on immigration issues during the #rst half of his term, Obama recently passed a Department of Homeland Security objective which halts the deportation of illegal immigrants under the age of 30 who have obtained a high school diploma or GED or have served in the military. Although Obama continues to enforce immigration laws, he is in favor of making immigration policies more fair by focusing attention on removing immigrants who pose a national security risk.Romney is a strong supporter of strengthening the Mexican border, which would involve lining it with a fence. His immi-gration policy would also include a path to citizenship for im-migrants who have served in the United States military.

Gay Marriage$e last time gay marriage was talked about as an election issue, in 2004, a strong majority of Americans were against gay marriage. However, things have changed. Recent polls have found that roughly 50 percent of Americans are in favor of legalizing gay marriage. Both candidates have been very sensitive about what they say on the issue.In early 2012, Obama stated that he was “evolving” on the issue. But in May, he became the #rst President in American history to publicly endorse gay marriage. Obama is in favor of giving gays and lesbians equal rights to marriage. $is is a bold step in civil rights that sup-porters applaud as being on par with the Nineteenth Amendment and Emancipation Proc-lamation. However, it may cost him votes in swing states that are opposed to gay marriage, such as North Carolina.Romney is in support of a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality. $e candi-date maintains that homosexuals should be able to “pursue a relationship of love and respect and raise a family as they choose”, but that the term ‘marriage’ should be de#ned as being between a man and a woman only.

Student’s Guide to Presidential Race

Chris Ware caricature of Republican presidential candi-date Mitt Romney. MCT 2012

illustration of U.S. political bunting. Lexington Herald-Leader 1995

Drake LoveladySenior

Shannon Von StroheSenior

Justin DomingoSenior

CAMPAIGN-BATTLEGROUNDS, McClatchy Washington Bureau by David Lightman. MCT 2012*Information as of Oct. 1, gallup.com

Photo by Haley Madigan

By $omas Hair and Lauren Ussery

Photos by Jessica Rivera

14 features OCTOBER 2012

Foreign exchange students learn American culture

!e "rst day of school is an intimidating experience for any student, especially if you are new to the United States.

Two new faces at CHS in-clude foreign exchange students Mercedes Rodriguez of Spain and Carolina “Carol” Salviato of Brazil. !e two have recently begun an exchange program for

their junior year in high school. Rodriguez will be in the program for 10 months, and Salviato will be in it for six months.

“I come from a group of 73 students in Spain that are all foreign exchange students.” Ro-driguez said. “We are staying in di#erent parts of the United States. In Texas, there are about "ve students.”

Rodriguez, who has partic-ipated in other foreign exchange programs before, has attended school in Germany, France and England, but for a shorter period of time. !is is her "rst time in the United States. Rodriguez says that she has enjoyed her experi-ence so far, and that being a for-eign exchange student has taught her independence.

“I came here alone with no family or friends, since they are all in Spain,” Rodriguez said. “You become independent and you grow up fast since you are in a new place. !e host families are very welcoming and have made it easier. Everyone in Coppell has been very friendly to me too.”

C o p p e l l residents Kel-ly and !om Hulme, who is also a Coppell ISD trustee, are serving as Rodri-guez’s host family. !e Hulmes have served as a host family for the past. Last year, the family hosted Uxia Fernandez Bustillo, who is also originally from Spain.

“A$er be-ing a foreign ex-change student in college, I knew that I would want to host other stu-dents since I had

a good experience,” Kelly said. “!rough this, I think that we have become a better family, and it has helped us become more patient with each other. We help the girls in any way that we can and show them our culture. We have taken Mercedes to a theater in Dallas and spent some time in Austin and San Antonio.”

Sophomore Marin Hulme, Kelly and !om Hulme’s daugh-ter, also enjoys the experience of getting to host a foreign ex-

change student and appreciates the special relationship formed.

“I met Mercedes this sum-mer before she came to America, so I knew a little bit about her be-fore she o%cially came to Amer-ica,” Marin Hulme said. “I helped her get to know the school and Coppell. I also help her with her language if she wants me to cor-rect homework, or if she mispro-nounces something. It is also fun for me because it is basically like having a sister.”

Like Rodriguez, Salviato had to complete an extensive process to come to the United States.

“We "rst had to go to an agency and talk to them about why we wanted to come (to America),” Salviato said. “We had to take a lot of tests to test our English language. I have been to the United States before, but this is my "rst time for the foreign exchange program.”

As a foreign exchange stu-dent, Salviato is required to take the same classes as any other student at the high school. From

biology to pre-calculus, Salviato must take on a complete course load even as she adjusts to the culture and language.

“I have liked my class-es, but the first day was hard since the school was so big and crowded,” Salviato said. “I have gotten to take some fun classes too like photography and dance. My host family helps me when-ever I have a question.”

Joe and Marilyn Barnett, Salviato’s host family, have been

long time residents of Coppell, whose children were in the school sys-tem during the late 1990s. Though the two have hosted a foreign exchange student in the past, they say that Salviato has ad-justed to life in America better than expected, and her positive attitude is making the process easy.

“She is just so easy to host,” Joe Barnett said. “She is willing to try dif-ferent things and has a great amount of courage. We took her to a Rangers game the second day she was here, and have been to

a Cowboys’ preseason game with her, as well as the high school’s two [football] games. [Baseball and football] are two sports that they do not have in Brazil, but she is so excited to see what they are about.”

Although deciding wheth-er to host an exchange student is a lengthy and sometimes dif-ficult process, the Barnetts feel that by simply opening their home to a student, they can greatly change and help their life.

“We felt that if a student has the courage to come to a completely different country to learn our language among other things, we would enjoy being a part of the experience,” Marilyn said. “It would give us a chance to help them through a difficult and scary experience.”

Rodriguez and Salviato have only completed the "rst few weeks of their year in America; both are optimistic about their time here and know that their host families will make the pro-cess easier.

Meet CAROLINE CARTER Sta! Writer

Mercedes Rodriguez

Carolina Salviato

Pia Buschhuter

“The school here is big. Everything is bigger. We don’t have lockers in Germany, and we don’t have heavy books like here.”

“For me, [this experience] seems like a movie, with the lockers. We don’t have lockers in Spain, and the schools are small-er, we don’t have music between classes in Spain, and we don’t have a homecoming dance.”

“The people here are so friendly, and I came here because I want to improve my English and become more indepen-dent.”

The Students

Photo by Mia Ford

Photo by Regan Sullivan

Junior Carolina Salviato sits with host parents, Joe and Marilyn Barnett, happy to be experiencing life in America.

Foreign exchange students Mercedes Rodriguez and Carolina Salviato both came to CHS from Spanish-speaking countries (Spain and Brazil).

GermanyJunior

SpainJunior

Photo by Caroline Carter

Photo by Rachel Bush

BrazilJunior

Photo by Caroline Carter

!e Academies at CHS re-ceived an unexpected new leader for the 2012-13 school year. Deb-ra Johnson became the Public Service Academy (PSA) lead a"er the former lead, Brenda Brink-man, le" Coppell High School to become the assistant director for New Tech High at Coppell.

“I learned about the Public Service Academy this past sum-mer while looking at the Coppell website,” Johnson said. “I was intrigued by the concept of the Academies.”

Prior to leading PSA, John-son has had experiences working in both medical and educational #elds. Her background in critical care nursing gave her a job in the intensive care unit at Baylor Med-ical Center. While working there, she was o$ered a job to open a specialty school and work in the health science technology depart-ment.

“I took that job to try some-thing di$erent,” Johnson said. “I quickly discovered how reward-ing it was to prepare high school students for careers in health care.”

To prepare herself to teach high school students, Johnson has been attending graduate school for nursing education. Research for these classes has provided her e$ective teaching and learning strategies she hopes to implement in the classroom.

“I hope to bring opportuni-ties to my students that are more

15featuresOCTOBER 2012

PSA looks toward future changes with new instructorELIZABETH SIMSSta! Writer

relevant and meaningful to their interests,” Johnson said. “I believe when students have ownership in the curriculum, they are more motivated to work hard and mas-ter the skills needed to reach their goals.”

Johnson’s experiences in nursing and educating gave her the quali#cations to take on the PSA lead position.

“!e certi#cation for teach-ing the health science technology class is very limited,” CHS associ-ate principal Michelle Kellen said. “!e teacher must have experi-ence in nursing or training, and [Johnson] had a nursing certi#ca-tion as well as experience teach-ing health science technology in Irving.”

!ough the students in PSA miss Brinkman, they are happy to have an academy lead to guide them through the year.

“Ms. Johnson will be a good leader,” junior Kevin Songco said. “She looks out for us, and I am glad she was able to step up.”

Brinkman still has high hopes for the future of PSA though she is no longer its leader.

“My hope for PSA is that it would constantly change to meet the needs of the students while emphasizing service,” Brinkman said. “Who better to do that than someone with a career based on service?”

A"er witnessing Johnson’s excitement about PSA at the new teacher breakfast over the sum-mer, Brinkman is eager to see the opportunities that will be set in place for her former students.

“[Johnson] will be able to

create opportunities that we had talked about for the academy,” Brinkman said. “She can emphasize to the students that it is not just a career path but giving back to the com-munity.”

With big shoes to #ll, Johnson’s singu-lar focus is the success of her students. She is excited to be a part of Coppell High School and leading PSA.

“It is an honor and privilege to work with the CHS team,” Johnson said. “I look forward to a great year.”

Juniors Hira Raza and Hannah Clark practice giving CPR and oxygen to the practice dummy.

New Public Services Academy lead Debra Johnson is teaching students valuable lessons about health to take with them into their future careers.

Photo by Rinu Daniel

Photo by Mia Ford

16 entertainment OCTOBER 2012

McIntyre sets the stage for performing arts futureCAROLINE CARTERSta! Writer

At a young age, there was no doubt that Emily McIntyre’s future would involve the per-forming arts. Little did she know, she would one day become a rising star among high school actors and actresses nationwide. Having landed the lead role in last year’s Coppell High School theater production of “Beau-ty and the Beast,” McIntyre and the rest of the cast have won numerous awards for their ac-complishments. In-dividually, McIntyre won “Best Actress in a Leading Role” for her portrayal of Belle at the Schmidt and Jones Awards, the re-gional high school musical awards. “I was lucky enough to win the recognition of ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’, which also included a $500 scholarship,” McIntyre said. “It was a huge accomplishment because I was also able to come to New York to compete against the best ac-tors and actresses in the country.” In addition to McIntyre’s win, other cast and production members also took home several awards including Austin Huens, Sarah Bauer and Jackie Malish. “Basically the Tony Awards for high school theatre, the Schmidt and Jones Awards even-

many great people through it, and they were basically like my second family when I was there.” Just being able to attend the competition was a huge accomplishment; McIntyre was awarded the “Rising Ju-nior Star Award” at the end of the week. With this, she was given a $7,500 schol-arship to attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pitts-burgh for a summer intensive program. “Everything that Emily has earned, she has worked extreme-ly hard for, and I am very proud of all that she has done,” Em-ily’s dad Da-vid McIntyre said. “With her audition for Belle, she proba-bly watched Beauty and the Beast at least 50 times so she could nail her voice and m a n n e r -isms. She al-ways puts in so much e!ort to study her characters so they come to life when she performs.” David says that

Emily always showed an inter-est in the performing arts. At a

young age, McIntyre enjoyed watching musicals and big production mov-ies, Phantom of the Opera be-ing her favorite. “Emily had tried a few dif-ferent activities

before she found her love for drama,” D a v i d s a i d . “We al-l o w e d her to c h o o s e her own p a t h and did not force her into a certain sport or l i fe s t y l e . She was in cross coun-try for a while, but when she arrived in m i d d l e s c h o o l , s h e

had caught the theatre bug.” At CMS North, theatre teach-er Brittany Reese

helped McIntyre develop into the actress she is today. "rough the drama classes provided at the middle schools, her love for performing truly #ourished. “Emily really blossomed in seventh grade,” Reese said. “It was the $rst time that she had to do a distinct character voice, and for this particular play, it was a Russian accent. When she did it, she was just spot on and fab-ulous. Emily has a great under-standing of how to use her voice as a tool, and she has a good feel on how to interpret scripts.” McIntyre will continue to impress audiences this fall with the Coppell High School "e-atre’s production of !e Drowsy Chaperone. "e production fol-lows a musical loving man who puts on his favorite record, “"e Drowsy Chaperone.” whenever he is feeling down, and the mu-sical comes to life in his apart-ment. McIntyre was cast as Kitty. “My character is the ex-tremely ditzy blonde, which is the exact opposite role I played last year,” McIntyre said. “She is the typical obnoxious girl, but I am actually really enjoying this role. I have had so much fun playing ‘dumb’, and it will be a surprise to the audience to see me play such di!erent roles.” "ough the role of Kitty is a very di!erent character than Belle, there is no question that McIntyre will continue to shine in the theatre world in Coppell and rise up among young per-formers nationwide.

tually lead to the Jimmy Awards,” Director and CHS theatre teach-er Lisa Tabor said. “"e cast won a total of $ve individual awards, with Emily winning ‘Best Ac-tress’. One of the reasons Emily had success is that she does what-ever is asked of her. She really studied her character and took all the advice we had given her.” A%er winning the title of “Best Actress” at the regional awards, McIntyre was able to travel to New York City and com-pete in the Jimmy Awards. She

and the oth-er 60 high school stu-dents se-lected to attend were featured on a television show, which premiere d Sep. 9. T h e

three part TV series features the 30 actors and 30 actress-es chosen to travel to Broad-way for a week of $erce com-petition, long rehearsals and valuable mentoring. "e week ended with the Jimmy Awards. “Broadway or Bust is this series that gives you a behind the scenes look at what happened to the competitors in New York,” McIntyre said. “"e $rst episode shows the process of us getting to New York. "e second part is showing our ‘boot camp’ in New York, and the third episode is the day of the show. I met so

Teachers, students consider The Shallows’ ideasJULIE NAKUMARASta! Writer

in using a calculator in solving a problem,” chemistry teacher Bob White said. “But they don’t necessarily have a grasp on the concept or theory; some of that mental acuity has been stolen away by the advent of calcu-lators and electronic devices. "ey are perceived to be a bother or a source of distraction in the education of students. Stu-dents seem to now have a hard time refraining from checking their phone or opening a new tab for social media and the like when working on online assignments. Technology has been portrayed as an evil, a

cheat source, a short cut

and

otherwise not have even known. Whatever di!erences there are throughout the opinions, there is one thing both sides can agree on; these advanc-es in technology are going to continue despite the thoughts of others. Increases in techno-logical development and use of it in many venues is inevitable. “Technology is here to stay,” Seifert said. “We have to learn how to use it.” So has the technology cre-ated !e Shallows? All that can

be determined is that for bet-ter or for worse, internet and technology will continue to influence who we are, where we will go and who we will become. It is the job of the student to adjust to the ev-er-developing technology ep-idemic and keep themselves from developing the shallow mindset described in the book. “As technology moves along, you have to move along with it,” White said. “Or you’ll be on the outside looking in.”

"e extent of recent tech-nology on Coppell High School is unparalleled; students depend on it, using it as a stress reliever, a communication device and for its vast database of information. !e Shallows, a non$ction novel by Nicholas Carr, argues that technology and internet are changing people’s minds, a!ect-ing how they think without them even noticing. It proposes that the short bursts of informa-tion people have become accustomed to are shaping their once stream-l i n e d thought p r o -cess, re-placing it with a more shi%ing, shallow concentration that absorbs less infor-mation while cov-ering more topics. With the accumu-lating amount of technology, the concern of it and its e!ects on both adults and teens has not been well received by the entire p o p u l a t i o n . "e develop-ment of the internet, cal-culators and smart phones are some of which many voice their concerns about. “Students are more rote

an easy answer in an overcom-plicated logical process. However, not all see this shi% from a negative aspect; in fact, several people em-brace this, due to their experi-ences and positive outcomes. “Last year I spent a lot of time redirecting kids. Now, kids are more and more in charge of taking on their learn-ing,” librarian Lex Anne Seifert said. “"ey are on task and are taking care of their business.” "e CHS library is plan-ning to change its title to the Learning Commons, since the librarians have already man-

aged the space to be mo-bile and easily acces-

sible for both virtual and

t e x t u a l l e a r n e r s alike.

“ W e are adapting

and changing to how our stu-

dents learn,” Seif-ert said.

For others, this tech-nology, though it has pro-

duced several changes in the student population, has

a!ected them for the better, creating more

dedicated and sharp minds. "is can be seen with the up-dated classrooms making their way into current

schools. It is a tool in which people can ex-

pand their knowledge on several di!erent topics that they would

She does whatever is asked of her. She really studied her character

and took all the advice we had given her.”

- Lisa Tabor,CHS theatre teacher

17entertainmentOCTOBER 2012

Coppell introduced to a taste of Zenzero BakeryTOLU SALAKOSta! Writer

Walking into Zenzero Bak-ery is almost  like stepping  into a time machine and being magi-cally transported into the 1960s. Classic  music,  such as Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong, plays in the background, a perfect med-ley that  immediately  allows  you feel at home. 

  With a rather home-like and comfortable feel to the bak-ery, the sta"  treats customers like family.  #e sta" tries to sat-isfy customers’ sweet tooth, help them get familiar with the menu and help them make delicious de-cisions.  

 I ordered a slice of chocolate cake, expecting a normal “Hap-py Birthday”  slice. Instead I re-ceived a generous  portion,  three times the size of a standard piece

of cake. My mother on the other hand ordered quiche and a loaf of banana bread to-go, all for a rea-sonable price of $15.  On top of all of this, the Zenzero sta" gave us even a complimentary fruit tart because of our rather large order.  

  Zenzero fortunately does not only sell mu$ns, quiche and cake; its menu is quite large,  in-cluding cinnamon buns, pumpkin bread, cupcakes, cake balls, cook-ies, pies and much more. With all of these choices, there is bound to be at least one treat that someone can enjoy. 

  What I really liked about Zenzero Bakery was the oppor-tunity to order pastries in ad-vance  and for pick-up, which is very e$cient for customers. Peo-ple can also order wedding cakes and loaves of di"erent kinds of bread in advance. 

 As I was devouring my huge slice of chocolate cake with vanil-

la icing, I noticed how customers felt at home once they  walked through the door. #e sta" was eager to help customers have a great experience and even in-formed them  on the  di"erent deals available. Every customer who leaves Zenzero always has a smile on their faceand a delicious pastry in their hands. 

  With free Wi-Fi available and a light hearted atmosphere, Zenzero is a  great place to get work done in a nice and mellow environment and share a tasty treat with friends and family.

Zenzero is very close to Coppell High School and can be a new option for  stu-dents to spend their Renaissance lunch-es.  It is conveniently located close to pop-ular restaurants such as Palio’s, Quiznos,

Sonic and Zena’s sushi. Zenzero is de%nitely a place

that I will surely visit again. Open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday  and  7  a.m.  to 3 p.m. on Saturdays, Z e n z e r o i s a great place for a ful%lling breakfast or lunch. 

To %nd out more about Zen-zero visit their bakery on Denton Tap, next to Palio’s, or visit them online at http://zenzerobakery.com.

Fort Worth band releases worthy debut albumare asking for forgiveness for something not revealed to the listener.

While one of Mon Julien’s main members, guitarist and vocalist Cory Watson, moved to New York City, the group is still making music despite the massive separation between Fort Worth and the Big Apple. #e band is working on anoth-er album due out at the end of the year, and according to an interview with Pegasus News, Mon Julien may still not have quite found its sound.

“So far, the songs that we have are a little more pop, a little more electronic, maybe a little less guitar-heavy,” Wat-son told Pegasus News.

For a taste of Mon Ju-lien, listen to “#e Inventor,”

“Boring Place” and “Wilderness” o" of the self-titled album, and the single “Abandoned House,” all of which are available on iTunes, and can also be heard on live radio stations, such as KDGE 102.1 FM.

through, it breaks open with a blindingly angry-but-not-angry, poignant coda, and ends with an antithetical chord of heav-en-reaching optimism.

“Dreams” is a %tting title for the upward looking and innocent feel to the last song on the album. #e lyrics re&ect vulnerability and

clearly de%ned what exactly it is. #e band continues to show that it either could not decide on, or tried their best to not have, just one sound.

“Wilderness” has an almost grunge-rock sound with a low, heavy guitar rhythm that sounds like a tribute to Nirvana. Halfway

main beat of the song.With the next song, “Dark-

est Hour,” the band quickly establishes that it has sever-al di"erent brands of song in its catalog with a very natural sounding acoustic guitar that foreshadows a later song on the album, “Boring Place.”

“#e Inventor” is a high-light of the album, with an ev-er-prominent guitar that sud-denly switches gears and nods towards #e Kaiser Chiefs with clear, undistorted vocals.

A slow-down from the song before it, “Roll the Dice,” sounds borrowed from instru-mental alternative band Explo-sions In #e Sky in its calming rhythmic guitar.

#e aforementioned “Boring Place” may be the best song on the entire record. Avoiding over-cluttering by us-ing an untouched acoustic guitar rhythm, the band leaves room for a layered vocal chorus that grows larger and more complex as the song progresses.

Nearly at the end of the album, Mon Julien has not yet

I rarely listen to the radio anymore because so rarely do I ever %nd something new and exciting. Local station KDGE 102.1 FM proved me wrong when it featured a local alterna-tive-indie rock band with a short history and a big future: Mon Ju-lien.

A'er listening to a rogue single titled “Abandoned House,” I immediately searched for information on the band.

Out of Fort Worth, Mon Julien was formed from the remnants of another local – and now defunct - band, Black Tie Dynasty. Its music encompass-es shades of #e Killers, Muse and Radiohead, with a distinc-tive blend of alternative rock and dance-pop to form a fairly unique sound.

“Punchline,” the opening track to Mon Julien’s self-titled debut album, begins with a calm mix of ethereal tones and arpeg-gios that slowly dissolve into the

BEN COWLISHAWSta! Writer

Gyllenhaal, Peña impress viewers in End of Watch ing the sense of realism, but you will occasionally wonder where the camera is or why a camera is there in the %rst place. #e plot is exciting enough for us to overlook the errors, and there is never a moment where you feel the movie is going too slow. #e only unrealistic aspect of this movie, outside of the conveniently placed camer-as, is the ridiculous number of dangerous calls the o$cers take. #ere is never a slow day, and there is always a risk. Every sin-gle action scene is one that most police o$cers would describe as their most terrifying moment. #e %lm is carried by the strong characters and the intense action sequences. #e story itself may take place over the course of a few months, but it has the “one day in the life” vibe. #e ac-tors make you worry about them during the movie and even a'er it ends. Performances like this are potentially “Oscar” worthy. End of Watch reminds us that there are real people risking

show signs of a real relationship where they would do anything for each other while still bust-ing chops in every conversation. Writer and director Da-vid Ayer did a fantastic job over-coming the ordinary clichés of a police drama using total momen-tum to grasp the viewers’ interest within the %rst %'een minutes of the movie. He then slows it down to show us the chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Peña through their “ride-along” conversations, which are sure to keep you entertained. It is not all police work. Relationships are formed, fam-ily is brought together and the partners continually mock each other. While you will experience a lot of violence and vulgar con-versation, you will still see the e"ects of being a police o$cer in a dangerous area like south cen-tral Los Angeles. #e %lm serves as a “ride-along” with police under extreme circumstances. #ere are a few holes in the “found-footage” aspect of the story. It still succeeds in giv-

their own lives every day for all of us. I highly recommend it to anyone who can handle large amounts of strong lan-guage, intense vi-olence, drug use and disturbing images.

Rating:

A-

End of Watch is a “found-footage,” buddy cop movie about two young south central Los Angeles police of-%cers who become targeted by a cartel a'er making a huge bust at a routine tra$c stop. A'er following up on their incredible weapons bust, the partners make a discovery that connects the man they ar-rested to one of the most dan-gerous cartels in the country. #ey eventually learn the cartel has targeted them. #is is a sim-ple plot, but it de%nitely works in the way this movie was made. Jake Gyllenhaal and Mi-chael Peña star as O$cers Brian Taylor and Mike Zavala. #e two actors have amazing chemistry, and are totally believable as part-ners. O$cer Taylor is taking a %lm class, which allows him to carry a camera around with him every-where he goes. #e characters both

WILL THOMASSta! Writer

18 entertainment OCTOBER 2012

It is a prominent Christian belief that the everlasting love and grace of the Lord gives people the power to do incredible things. For three spiritual rappers, faith has led them on the journey to a career topped with passion, devotion and love. Together they have crossed barriers that aspiring artists only wish to accomplish.

Irving MacArthur senior Marco Garcia-Blizzard (MGBlizz), Carrollton Christian senior Josh Angrisano (AugustFlow), 2012 Lake Dallas graduate Quentin Guillory (QuentinX) and members of St. Ann Catholic Parish in Coppell have all merged through both their love for Christ and fervor for rap music to form the group, One Love R e v o l u t i o n , their way of s p r e a d i n g God’s love and wisdom with the world.

“!is all started when I "rst met Quentin at Stephenville, a Catholic retreat; we both started rapping, and everyone knew we loved to rap, but we never really met until the retreat,” Garcia-Blizzard said. “!en we came up with a name and ideas and the next night we had a rapping session where we would beat box and trade o#.”

Later, the pair was introduced to Angrisano, son of Christian artist Steve Angrisano.

“I’ve always grown up loving music, and my dad has been a Christian artist, so I got to see that life where he gets to go perform and travel all around the United States, and sometimes out of the country in front of thousands of people,” Angrisano said. “I grew up loving rap, and then I heard these guys and I was like that’s so cool, but I could never do that. So

we present our music,” Guillory said. “We talk about what we know, and God is something we know—but I necessarily do not like to be labeled as a ‘Christian artist’, because people should be able to hear my Christian aspects through my lyrics without saying de"ning me as a Christian artist.”

On Oct. 12, One Love Revolution will be featured in an album release party with another Christian rapper in the Dallas area, D-Ray, who has helped mentor the boys through the beginning of their career in the music industry. !ey will be featured in a song, “Wildin,” and will perform a song, which has yet to be decided, from their mix tape at the end of the concert. !e concert will be held in Ft. Worth at Greenway Church at 7 p.m.

!e group understands that there is a long road ahead for them, but they are ready to accept the challenge and show people what they are made of.

“People are always going to say ‘you are not going to make it,’ and that ‘you don’t have a chance,’ but that gives us a better strive to do better, and if anyone wants to tell us ‘you are not going to make it,’ we won’t just back at [their comments] we will just show them,” Marco said. “Keep it moving, and no matter what anyone says, let the results show.”

On Oct. 1, the group launched their website. You can now visit them at oneloverev.com for more information.

I learned how to beat box, so that I could hang out with people that rapped, and I got really good.”

As soon as the group began to “vibe” together, the magic sparked instantaneously, and although their "rst song, “How We Roll,” did not see the light, their second song “Blind Man” took o# during a mission trip in Laredo and aired on HOT 106.1 FM, a branch of a well-known radio network popular for its rap music.

“I was doing my thing during the mission trip, helping churches out there, and there was this DJ, from the hottest radio station, basically 106.1 [KISS FM], but Laredo’s Hot 106.1—and Kurt [our youth minister] talked to DJ Sammy, and showed him one of our hits, and he liked it, and said ‘Hey for my morning show, how

about I play a snippet of it and give them an introduction?” Garcia-Blizzard said.

!is helped push the group to the next level and gave them the drive to create a mix tape, G.I.F.T.E.D. (an acronym for God Is First and Everything D i s a p p e a r s )

over the summer. !rough the church, the boys had support and a medium of circulation. Recently they performed at the annual St. Ann Catholic Parish Carnival where they put on a show for over 300 people and were able to distribute 300 CDs.

!eir mix tape on hotewhiphop.com has received over 1,000 views and over 110 downloads. !ey estimate they will have over 500 new views at the end of each coming week.

“!e di#erence with our music is that it is real. Rappers nowadays just talk about girls and money, and it is not even about that,” Guillory said. “We’re not just trying to appeal to the Christian crowd, we are trying to appeal to everybody, so I like to think about

it, as a Christian point of view on all aspects of life—you hear a lot of stu# on the radio about how you should go live your life this way, but it is a lie. We put out positive music.”

Students and fellow church members have also noticed the group and the positive output of their music; they feel that this sets them aside from popular artists.

“Regardless of the fact that they are young and inexperienced rappers they rap about things that I relate to, and struggles that are present in young people’s lives that I like to hear about and that bring me up, rather than other rap artists that are out there,” senior and St. Ann member Clare Ruedi said.

Because rapping is known for its vulgar and vile nature, some of the boys did have trouble integrating into their home.

“As a little kid, rap music was always a cool thing for me, and my mom would always yell at me and tell me not listen to it, so I would have a radio that I took from my sister and I would secretly just listen to it in fourth grade in my bed,” Garcia-Blizzard said. “!at is when I began to appreciate rap.”

As they got older and their talents began to shine through, their parents seemed to grow more understanding and supportive of their sons’ aspirations.

“!e "rst time that he used rap in a competition was in a science competition—they had to do a weather report, and he used rap and won second place,” Garcia-Blizzard’s mother Cecilia said. “!at was the "rst time I was like ‘hmm, maybe he is using his talents,’ and then he started using his abilities to write lyrics to express some of his feelings; I was very impressed.”

!e relationship that the group has established with their faith is an enormous and part of their wholeness, and if fame accompanies their success it is their priority that their views and beliefs stay evident through their music.

“If we ever had the chance to go ‘big time’, we would never change our views and the way

Aspiring rappers prove One Love to be everlasting

QuentinX

August!ow

MGBlizz

Graphics by Kimberly Del Angel

“The di!erence with our music is that it is real. Rappers nowadays just talk about girls and money and it’s not even about that.”-Quentin Guillory, rapper

KIMBERLY DEL ANGELEntertainment Editor

(Left to right) Josh Angrinsano, Quentin Guillory and Marco Garcia-Blizzard stand together in the Mary Garden at St. Ann Catholic Parish in Coppell, TX. The group aspires to spread the word of God through their rap music. Photos by Lauren Ussery.

19entertainmentOCTOBER 2012

Intensity of Coppell dance rivals television show !e competitive side of

dance has been glori"ed through the channel Lifetime’s show “Dance Moms,” and the notori-ous teaching of Abby Lee Miller, the owner of Abby Lee Dance Company. !e show consists of screaming dance moms, the ev-er-competitive Miller and talent-ed young dancers under pressure.

Despite being all the way in Philadelphia, the competitive-ness of the dance community is right here in north Texas, but not to that extreme.

“!e show is not far fetched, but it is not reality,” Dance Machines Dance Studio co-owner and teacher Sandi Park-er said. “We do not have parents that are cutthroat like the moms

on the show. !is will be our 30th year as a business, and all we have had was a small group of show moms that wanted to know what to do to get their kids up front and center. We do not have any "ght-ing between the moms. We are like a family.”

!ere is no doubt that the drama on the show is captivat-ing, but sometimes you just want to get in the middle of the "ghts and scream ‘enough is enough.’

“!ose moms are totally over the top. !e environment at Dance Machines is much more family oriented than the studio on the show,” Irving resident and dance mom Valerie Kaatz said.

Kaatz’s daughter Kyla, a seventh grader at the Zavala Middle School in Irving, is on the school volleyball team, cheer squad, in National Junior Honor Society and also makes time for

dance. “!e dance

teachers [at Dance Machines] have kids too; they understand the pressure and stress the dancers get from school,” Kaatz said. “!ey would not have a screaming "t if my daughter had to skip dance for something school related.”

Parental and authority pressure is tough enough, but all that topped with schoolwork is a whole other load of stress that everyone can relate too. Coppell Middle School North seventh grader Bri Margolis and Cop-pell High School soph-omore Kenna Broom"eld juggle

busy schedules with homework and other outside activities, but still seem to have the spirit needed to be part of an award winning dance team.

“I have a lot of homework, but the teachers sometimes let us do our homework in our technique class, so it all equals out,” Mar-golis said. “All they do on the show is dance. !ey seem to be drilled to do dance, but we dance with heart. We are

like a family.” Margolis has

STEPHANIE ALEXANDERSta! Writer

a full on babysitting job, hectic homework schedule to be topped o# with three hours of dance three times a week.

“Dance takes up my time, but it does not consume me. I love it and it is a big part of my life. Our teachers are much more encouraging then Abby—the pressure given by our dance teachers is like positive pressure for us to do the best we can,” Broom"eld said.

Kenna’s mom, Mary Lynne Broom"eld, is also a car-ing dance mom that watches the show “Dance Moms,” and thinks the show can be a bit overboard

“!ey all [the moms] accept whatever the teachers say. We never argue or "ght, I would consider most of us friends,” Broom"eld said. “!ey are happy

when their daughters do well, and of course and they want them to always do their best, but they do not push them.”

Broom"eld furthermore discusses that Dance Machines is a more calm and comforting envi-ronment than at Abby Lee Dance Company.

“Everyone at our studio pretty much dances for fun, not a career. Some of the older girls have gotten dance scholarships, but I have never seen any of the moms in our group put any pres-sure on their daughters,” Broom-"eld said.

As far as reality TV goes, the majority of the drama on “Dance Moms” is probably for viewers and ratings. Dance Moms is going through its second season right now.

Business proves Cox to not be short on creativity ALLISON ARNOLDSta! Writer

If asked, anyone who knows sophomore Lovell Cox would say the one word that describes her best is “creative.” Cox recently put this creativity to use by selling her own line of hand designed shorts.

In mid-August, Cox began making and selling high waisted shorts she crafted her-self by using bleach, lace, fabric and even sharpie markers. Her popular shorts can be found on etsy.com under her website name “artisticstormm”.

Cox has always been interested in fashion, art and creating something amazing and unexpected. She wanted to do something different that no one in Coppell would ever think of doing by using the materials and clothes she had at home. Cox put her creativ-ity to good use when making her first pair of bleached shorts she intended for only her to wear.

“I received a few compliments from my friends on the first pair that I made,” Cox said. “At the time,

I did not really think much of it. I had no idea I would soon be selling them.”

Not long after creating her first pair, Cox received her driver’s license and gas began to burn a hole in her pocket at a rapid pace. Cox needed to fig-ure out a way to earn money for gas and other teenage luxuries.

“I had just got done dropping my mom off at the airport when I found a good-will on the side of the road,” Cox said. “I found a lot of high waisted shorts, and I figured I c o u l d turn them into

something r e a l l y cool that o t h e r

g i r l s my age would e n -

joy.”

A f -ter ripping, bleaching and sewing sever-al more pairs, Cox was ready to put her de-signs out there for the world to see and pur-chase.

“I found out that I could create a website on etsy.com and sell a few pairs of the shorts I make to peo-ple across the country,” Cox said. “So far I’ve sold them for anywhere from 20 to 40 dol-lars depending on how much work is put into them.”

The reactions towards the shorts from people

not only in Coppell, but other states as well has

been astounding.

“As soon as I saw all of

L o v e l l ’s s h o r t s

she made, I was blown

away,” sopho-more Kimberly

Anderson said. “I had never seen any-

thing like them and I knew right away that her

business would be successful.”

Cox’s mother, Ginger Cox, being artistic and cre-ative herself, has transformed the whole upper level of their house into a studio where Lovell works on the shorts for artisticstormm, as well as for other projects.

“I definitely get my more creative side from my mom,” Cox said. “We both share a love for art and design.”

Cox’s mother majored in home economics and mi-nored in costume design. How-ever, Ginger wanted Lovell to take a more musical route in-stead of an artistic one.

“Ever since I was a lit-tle girl and I got my first sew-ing machine I have loved de-signing and being creative, but I also played the saxophone as

a young girl too,” said Ginger Cox. “I feel like reading music and knowing how to play an in-strument is always a great thing to be able to do, but Lovell wanted to take art classes more than anything, so I had to let her do what she wanted to do.”

Lovell Cox knew right from the start what she was in-terested in and decided very early to take her talents and do something amazing with them.

“I am always trying to find more fun and creative things to do and make because doing things like this is some-thing I want to do my whole life,” Lovell Cox said.

With her new online business taking off and a bright future ahead, there’s no telling what Cox will do next.

Photos by Mia Ford

Sophomore Lovell Cox’s fun and fashionable shorts that she has made lay in a row on her !oor, as she preps them to be sold on www.etsy.com.

Photo by Rowan Khazendar

Coppell Middle School North student Bri Margolis practices for her upcoming dance performance at the Dance Machines Dance Studio.

Photo by Rowan Khazendar

Gardner, Elliott fast pitch to collegiate baseballJULIANNE CAULEY News Editor

7-5A. He credits much of his suc-cess to the motivation from his mom Kathryn.

“My mom has really pushed me and inspired my road to play-ing college baseball,” Elliott said. “She has always pushed me to be the best that I could be. Even when I didn’t want to go get bet-ter, my mom made me go. She would even videotape me pitch-ing in games so that we could re-view what I did well and poorly.”

!is past summer, Elliott adjusted to new conditions for his upcoming year and collegiate baseball a"er being invited to play at the Connie Mack World Series by the host team, the Strike Zone Cardinal.

“!is summer really pre-pared me for what is ahead of me,” Elliott said. “I learned how to con-trol my nerves in front of a huge crowd because before [playing at] Farmington, I had maybe pitched in front of 500 people max. !ere, I was put on the mound in front of 8,000 plus people. It was the single greatest experience of my

and focuses on his job.”Gardner’s future plans in-

clude a career in the business and marketing #eld. If he gets the chance to play professionally, he said he would be honored and has the hopes of doing so.

Elliott, a starting pitcher for the Cowboys since freshman year, is the #rst of his immediate family to play collegiate baseball. He chose the Sooners this August a"er pitching at the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, N.M.

A"er receiving o$ers from Texas, Baylor and Arkansas, El-liott selected Oklahoma due to its historic tradition of baseball ex-cellence and college town feel.

“I wanted more of a college town feel when I went to play col-lege ball and OU really captured that more than the rest,” Elliott said. “I picked OU because I just felt right when I went for the vis-it. I really like the coaching sta$. !ey feel more like a friend rather than a coach.”

Last year, Elliott was named co-pitcher of the year for District

played at that level.“My dad has been a big fac-

tor in me wanting me to continue on with baseball in college,” Aus-tin said. “He is the one who taught me how to play baseball, and he pitched at the collegiate level and professionally for the Astros and Padres. I look up to him and all he has accomplished and for ad-vice because he has been in all the tough game situations before that I have been in and will be in at the next level.”

Gardner’s control in these tough game situations is what has gained him much attention from college scouts.

“[He does] his best each moment in the game trying to make the pitch even if the wheels have come o$ the wagon and the game has gotten stuck in a ditch,” Coppell coach Kendall Clark said. “Even when momentum has swung he is spot on with his pitches which is another reason why he is where he is, commit-ting to play Division I baseball in college as he blocks all factors out

life thus far because of all the po-lice escorts, the parade of all the teams through the city, staying with a host family and just how much the city embraces that tour-nament.”

With one more season ahead of them before they trav-el to school, Elliott and Gardner have high hopes for the team to win the district title and ultimate-ly go to state.

“!ese boys are competitors and they have the ability to throw the other pitch, the pitch you ar-en’t looking for, and throw it for a strike,” Clark said. “!ey have an arsenal to pick from where some guys only have the fastball, which we can #gure out. !ey simply have that #re to just win and win again which is just as important as talent.  If boys want to play col-lege baseball they de#nitely have to want to win.  !ese college coaches were looking for boys that aren’t worried so much about their form being right, but the fact that they want of win the game for themselves and their team.”

A"er four years of playing baseball for Coppell High School, senior pitchers Austin Gardner and Jake Elliott have verbally committed to Wichita State and University of Oklahoma, respec-tively.  

For Gardner, the decision to play for Wichita State was in-spired partly by his older brother Kris Gardner.

“My brother Kris is a senior up at Wichita State in Kansas so that’s where my #rst interest came from,” Gardner said. “Once I vis-ited and looked more into the program, the more I liked and appreciated the baseball tradition there.  !ey don’t have a football team at that school so all the at-tention is put into baseball unlike it is at some other big [Division I] schools.”

College baseball had always been Gardner’s goal a"er both his brother his dad Scott and brother

Red, White make perfect playing partnershipTANNER MCCORD Sports Writer

As one grows, the need to #nd a comfortable place where they can #t in grows with them. !ere are several opportunities to recreate who you are as you transition between elementary to middle school and middle school to high school.

For some, #nding this niche is a lot more di&cult than for oth-ers and outside factors can largely a$ect where you think you may #t.

For senior Abby White, #nding her place was a process, but since the day she picked up a tennis racket, she knew tennis was where she could shine, and shine she has. As a freshman in high school, White began her four year time on the Coppell varsity tennis team and just the next year was playing in the number one spot, and has held that spot for the last three years.

White began her athletic career at age #ve as a gymnast, which is as good a sport as any to start out with. !rough gymnas-tics, she was able to develop as an athlete and her time as a gymnast has actually helped her greatly to-day; however a"er six years, she decided it was time to move on.

“I quit [gymnastics] so I needed to #nd a new sport,”

White said. “I just started getting [tennis] and was learning how to play and really liked it.”

Although she did not play for her middle school, White’s tennis career started in sixth grade when her dad, Rex White, decided to sign her up for a ten-nis clinic at Brookhaven Country Club.

“She did that for three and a half years to build up her tech-nique and skills,” Mr. White said. “She worked her way up in Texas and she’s been a super champ for the past four years.”

In Texas, most young tennis players earn their stripes through playing ZAT (Zonal Advance-ment Tournaments). !rough ZAT tournaments, players are able to earn points and move up to the championship level. It takes 65 points to move up and winning a ZAT tournament will get you 65 points, second earns 32, semi-#nalists earn 16, and any other match win is worth four points.

Contestants can only enter one ZAT per month.

A"er moving to the cham-pionship level, the point process starts over, and a total of 80 points are needed to get into super championship level tournaments, where a victory earns you the title of super champ.

Abby actually came into her freshman year as a super champ before even experiencing high school tennis, her work ethic and yearning for improvement being a key part of her success in tennis.

“She’s got this desire in-side that you can’t teach - it just happens to be there,” CHS tennis coach Jane Jackson said. “!at is the part that makes her so suc-cessful.”

Due to her consistent su-per champ status, work ethic and overall love for the game of ten-nis, Abby has attracted the atten-tion of several colleges including division two schools like Nebras-ka Omaha. !e o$ers are there, it really just comes down to scholar-ship money and personal prefer-ence for Abby.

“I’m still looking, I haven’t found the right one yet,” Abby said.

However, she is sure that tennis is something that she wants to continue through college, and perhaps even as a career path as a coach.

Senior pitcher Jake Elliott pitches at the Connie Mack World Series in August. After this series Elliott committed to play baseball for the University of Oklahoma.

Senior pitcher Austin Gardner pitches for the Coppell Cowboys in the 2012 season . Gardner has committed to play baseball for Witchita State Universty.

20 sports OCTOBER 2012

What is your favorite tennis memory? “My favorite moment in tennis would probably be after I won my champ tournament to qualify as a super. This was important just because I got to com-pete with a whole new level of competitors.” What makes you laugh?“My family makes me laugh. We always makes jokes, and I love spending time together with them.”

Abby White

Photo Courtesy Jake Elliot Photo Courtesy Austin Gardner

Abby White plays a match against another Varsity player after school, to practice for their upcoming tournament.

Photo by Mia Ford“She’s got this desire inside that you can’t teach, it just happens to be there. That is part of what makes her suc-cessful.”

-Jane Jackson, coach Q&Awith

21sportsOCTOBER 2012

Coppell looks to state titles depsite various changes

staying the same in !e Sidekick sports section. Our emphasis is changing to make sure that every sport from football to golf has its place in our paper.

We have daily notebooks that give an idea of what is going on with that sport that week, and even give notice to the less talk-ed about JV sports teams here at CHS. In other years we have been quick to push aside sports like golf and tennis to do multiple stories on the star football player and volleyball player, but not this year. Every sport will be repre-sented in some way in the paper.

Our last big e"ort to im-prove the section and make sure that all sports is getting covered better than ever comes with the people writing about them. !is year, instead of having sta" writ-ers that happen to occasional-ly write sports stories, we have sports writers. !eir only dead-lines revolve around their par-ticular sport, and making sure it gets covered.

For many sports, the changes that came with a new year have only made them better. !e Coppell Cowboys football team came into this season with something to prove a#er a faulty 2011 season in which they didn’t even make the postseason play-o"s. !e Cowboys replaced their passing o"ense and o"ensive co-ordinator with a running o"ense and new o"ensive coordinator Michael Odle.

Along with their change in o"ense, the Cowboys also gained senior Colby Mahon from Bridgeport to lead the Cowboys as starting quarterback. Coming up from a Class 3A school, Ma-hon was new to the pace of 5A, but has proven he can keep up it all. Extenuating circumstance also took two players o" the team this year, but the Cowboys have also proven they can adjust to changes in their line up.

!e Cowboys proved that they could rise above these changes when they beat Allen 26-24 in overtime. Coppell was predicted to lose this big match-up, but a strong defense helped them pull out a win. With this, the Cowboys moved up to be-come the second ranked team in the state and fourteenth in the nation.

Despite all the changes, the Cowboys are currently 5-0 in their season beating teams like Longview, who was ranked eighth in the state, and Allen, who was ranked second.

!e Coppell Cowgirls vol-leyball team also has something to prove this year as it no lon-ger just another Class 5A team. !ey are the state champions. !e Cowgirls lost nearly half of their state team when they grad-uated four seniors and lost two juniors, but have shown in their preseason that even the six new members have what it takes to do it again.

!e Cowgirls last presea-son game was against McKinney Boyd, who the Cowgirls played in the state $nals last November. !e Cowgirls defeated the Lady Broncos even fast than before in a 3-0 match, and even did it without senior captain Cassidy Pickrell who twisted her ankle

on the third ball. !is game was crucial to the Cowgirls season as it gave them the con$dence to strive for state again.

One thing the Cowgirls are keeping the same is their two time state winning coach Julie Green. Green came to the Cow-girls last year a#er leading Lake Travis to a state win in 2010. Green was the $rst coach to win to two state titles at two di"erent schools in two years. !e Cow-girls hope that with Green lead-ing them again this year they will be able to do it again.

!ough things will continue to change throughout the season and the year here at CHS, these changes have brought fresh faces, big plans and new atmosphere to the school. You can read about these changes through !e Side-kick and coppellstu-dentme- dia.com.

You could basically use any cliché phrase to describe this upcoming year at Coppell High School. We are starting fresh. We are are turning over a new leaf. We are changing for the better. Whichever you chose to say the meaning is the same, from the newsroom to the football $eld, things are changing at CHS.

I’ll start with !e Sidekick. !is will be my second year to serve as sports editor, and though my previous year was $lled with the ups and downs of being a $rst year editor, I am back. Besides that, there is not much that is

Katemeni hopes to lead CHS golf team to state

Golf is a sport of concen-tration and skill. Many suc-cessful golfers start young in the game, but for CHS sopho-more varsity player Chaithra Katemneni this skill has come quickly and since beginning 5 years ago she has even gone as far as half way around the world to play in tournaments.

Katamneni’s love for the sport began when she was just 10 years old. At that time, her father enrolled her in a summer camp and she immediately be-came interested in the sport.

“Golf is something that became a part of my everyday life,” Katemneni said. “I began to love it more and more from the tournaments I played, as well as the people I met.”

After getting a feel for the game, Katemneni began partic-ipating in many well-known re-gional, state, national and even international tournaments.

In November of 2010, Katemneni traveled to India to play in a weeklong internation-al tournament where she had the opportunity to meet and discuss the game with PGA pros from countries such as Switzer-land, Italy and South Africa.

“I asked them what I could do to eventually become a pro and they all told me to keep with it, practice extremely hard, and just have fun with this sport,” Katemneni said. “I took that advice and it helped teach me more about myself and the game.”

One of the most import-ant and most remembered tournaments for Katemneni was the Starburst Junior Classic in Waco, Texas. Players from all over the southern United States and some parts of Mex-ico showed up to play in this tournament. Thirteen year old Katemneni took her age division by storm and ended up winning first place overall, which was yet another success

to add to the many that she had previously achieved.

Once high school rolled around, Katemneni went out for the Coppell High School golf team. She made the varsi-ty team her freshman year. She had a great first year and went as far as the last round of re-gionals.

Katamneni, who is a scratch golfer, shot a 69 last year during the last round of the Class 5A Region I tourna-

STEPHANIE GROSS Sports Writer

SAMMY ROBBEN Sports Editor

“I asked them what I could do to eventually become a pro and they all told me to keep with it, practice extremely hard, and just have fun with this sport

-Chaithra Katmeni, sophomore

Photos by Rinu Daniel

Sophomore Chaithra Katemeni practices driving at after school golf practice at Riverchase Golf Club during the fall season.

ment and tied for first alternate for state.

“As far as being on the CHS golf team goes, the atmosphere is great,” Katamneni said. “I love all of the people; they re-ally know how to make you feel like you are home. Since golf is such an individual sport, play-ing for Coppell really gives you that sense of family and for me personally, I like that alot.”

Incoming freshmen mem-bers of the team look up to experienced golfers such as Katemini to mentor them and make them feel part of the team.

“Chaithra is really friend-ly with the freshmen and makes them feel comfortable about being on the team,” sophomore golfer Sol Lee said. “They look up to her and learn from her as well.”

As far as playing in college goes, Katamneni aspires to play at Alabama or UCLA. She for sure wants a career in golf down the road ahead and college golf would be the next step.

With years of golfing ex-perience, Katemneni hopes to continue to take her golfing career to the highest level and strives to constantly improve, working hard and giving ad-vice to aspiring incoming CHS golfers and just young golfers in general.

“Just have as much fun with the game as you can. Don’t pressure yourself too much, just relax and do your best,” Katemneni said. “Always love the sport no matter what and no matter how hard you try, you cannot fail. All you can do is just keep improving.”

Graphic by Sophie Nauyokas

22 sports OCTOBER 2012

nosed in May, the Coppell Cowgirls volleyball team de-cided to give half of the pro-ceeds from its annual beach volleyball tournament to the Rakestraw family. It was these same girls that decided to give to the family once more with the Cowgirls and Cowboys for Kamryn fundraiser.

“We just kept thinking ‘what more can we do?’” senior outside hitter Cassidy Pickrell said. “We designed the shirts, but everyone came together to support them. They get all the money we make, and just from the T-shirts it is almost $15,000.”

When they created the idea, the Cowgirls hoped to provide more than just !nan-cial support for the Rakestraws. "ey wanted to provide strong support system of friends, teachers and students through-out the community.

“The shirt is a quiet show of support,” volleyball coach Julie Green said. “I hope that in some way it is comforting and feels supportive to coach Rakestraw to go through the halls or go around town and see those shirts and know that ev-eryone did that for him and to help in some small way.”

This experience has taught the Rakestraws more than just about others willingness to help, but the importance of helping others if you can. Along with their feeling of gratitude there are feelings of humility and re-spect for all the people who have shared their experience with them.

“It makes you feel guilty for feeling like you have not done enough for other people before this,” coach Rakestraw said. “It is hard to receive that much and not give so that has been a hard deal. We have just been receiving, and it has really opened my eyes to just be will-

ing to help others quickly and with any need that they might come to.”

Coach Rakestraw shares these feelings with his athletes, who have been with him through the experience. Knowing what their coach has been going through has been a motivating factor for the team this year.

“It humbles you because it makes you realize how fortunate you are,” senior soccer captain Nick Hazlerigg said. “It gives us something to play for. A lot of us went to visit her in the hos-pital last year when she was first diagnosed, and that made us want to do anything we could for coach Rakestraw.”

The volleyball team de-signed shirts reading “FAITH, COURAGE, FIGHT” and sold them to students at CHS. After one week of selling shirts, they had been sold to every sports team at CHS and most of the campuses in Coppell ISD. Both the volleyball team and the

continued from pg. 1 Coppell Cowboys football team joined together and honored Kamryn and her family by dedi-cating one of their home games to her.

“It is personal,” Green said. “The kids become invested, and they wanted to do more. Our booster president designed the T-shirts and it has really just taken off. Every sports team and campus has joined in, and it has been incredible to see how the community has jumped it.”

Many of the students that have been supporting the Rakestraws this year have not ever met them. They do not play soccer, they are not required to help, but they still do. For these students, it does not matter who it is.

“Even though I don’t know coach Rakestraw I wanted to by a shirt because I knew how much having this extra money could help him,” track senior Leah Yates said. “I think it is re-ally important to help others if

you have the chance to, and this was a great way for the school to come together to do that.”

For Coach Rakestraw and his family, the generos-ity of the students and faculty at CHS and around Coppell is overwhelming. The white and pink shirts can be seen throughout the halls and even the stadium stands as nearly every group or organization at CHS came together to support Kamryn.

“It is pretty amazing,” coach Rakestraw said. “We always talk about being a fam-ily here at Coppell whether it is through athletics or just the entire school, and this is a prime example of that playing out and being real. It’s a hum-bling experience for us to be on that side of it as receiving, receiving, receiving. We are very thankful for the support and the prayers just everything that everyone has done.”

Photos by Rowan Khazendar

Coppell keeps faith strong for Rakestraw familyKathy Krug, softball coach, sells T-shirts to students during lunch to support the Rakestraw family.

The girls track team proudly wears the Rakestraw shirts. Many ath-letic teams joined to support Kamryn by purchasing the shirts.

Photo courtesy Megan Luttmer

Photo by Rinu Daniel

Photos by Rowan Khazendar

23sportsOCTOBER 2012

Hernandez carries tune on cross country trail

A!er the Coppell Cowboys had a di"cult 2011 season #lled with injuries, internal problems, and a collapse at the end of the season, the Cowboys needed some good news. $e arrival of senior quarterback Colby Ma-hon has been the answer to their prayers.

Mahon did not grow up going to games at Buddy Echols Field or dream about playing for the Cowboys one day. He trans-ferred from Class 3A Bridgeport High School, located west of Denton, a!er the #rst semester of the 2011-12 school year. But his football career did not start from there.

His story starts much ear-lier. Mahon could be considered a late bloomer by football stan-dards by not playing it at the pee-wee level and starting in middle school.

“My dad would not let us [younger brother Blake, CHS ju-nior tight end] play because it was seventh grade and you really could not start li!ing weights un-til seventh grade, so it was a good decision to wait,” Mahon said.

A!er only playing three years of football, he was already ready for varsity. He played varsi-ty football starting his sophomore year but did not see much playing time, and then things changed.

His junior year at Bridge-port, Mahon led the Bulls to a 7-4 record and became an All-State quarterback, eclipsing the 3,000 yard pass mark and throwing for a whopping 34 touchdowns.

$en his dad decided to move the Mahon family to Cop-pell, a!er much thought and reli-gious conviction.

“$e Lord was really speak-ing to my dad on a daily basis about how it was our time to be here and this is where He wanted us, so a!er a week or two with spending time with the Lord, my dad told us this is where we need-ed to be,” Mahon said.

Mahon did not know why his family had been called to Cop-pell, but thought it could possibly be due to the fact that the Mahons have ties to families in Coppell. $ey are members of a church started by junior running back Gavin McDaniel’s dad, Danny McDaniel.

$e new quarterback, re-gardless of why he came, has been

the spark the Coppell needs to have a great year.

With past success of Cop-pell quarterbacks, Mahon has pressure to produce. $e coaches have already seen that he is ready to make the jump from 3A to 5A, as Mahon has led the Cowboys to a 4-0 start.

“He has a lot of experience. He is used to playing on Friday nights,” coach Joe McBride said. “He is like [2011 graduate and former Cowboys quarterback] Joe Minden, from a size stand-point, arm strength and some other things.”

To Mahon though, the feel-ing is di%erent.

“It is a lot more intense, and the speed of the game has changed dramatically,” Mahon said.

It also does not hurt when you resemble a former player that the coaches can work with.

$e new quarterback is the perfect #t for Coppell’s o%ense. He is strong, accurate, has intan-gibles that only make quarter-backs great, and he picked up on the new o%ense quickly.

Coming from a school where the primary focus of the of-fense was centered on you, things can get a bit crazy when you are not the star anymore. Mahon came from an o%ense that utilized his strengths as a pocket-passer to create an “Air Raid” o%ense that uses #ve receivers, whereas Cop-pell uses the I-formation and runs the ball.

But this is no trouble for the All-State quarterback. Ma-hon came in and adapted quickly almost to the point where peo-ple thought he was there all last year.

“He is the type of per-son that, even if new to a school or team, will walk in and do his job like he has been with the team for a long time,” senior wide receiver Cameron Smith said.

Mahon is very dedicated to making sure that he will do everything in his power to make sure that Coppell is ready for their next opponent. $is is the type of leadership Coppell needs.

“I am in the #lm room every morning, every day I go to practice and in my free time I take care of my school work so I can play on Friday nights and spend my time watching #lm,” Mahon said.

It has already start-

ed to pay o%. Mahon already has proven his ability this season, leading the Cowboys to a 4-0 re-cord and in impressive form too. Across three games Mahon’s stats rank in the top-15 quarterbacks in the area. More important than this though, is that he has solidi-#ed his spot as a leader on the team.

“He (Mahon) is a great lead-er, a high character guy that the coaches can trust,” McBride said.

Even his teammates rave about him.

“Colby provides the leader-ship that is needed for an o%ense to be successful, not only during the football games, but also in practice. He consistently encour-ages the o%ense throughout the week,” Smith said. “He knows when to have a good time and when to get focused. His desire to excel has helped him to develop into a great quarterback. He is a key to our success now and in the future.”

Mahon’s future is bright and he is ready for the next level, wanting to play college football at the Oklahoma State Univer-sity, but his goals right now hit close to home. Before he goes out Mahon wants to make sure Cop-pell wins a state title, does well in district and goes undefeated

this year.$ese are

high hopes, but with him at the helm anything is possible for

the Cowboys.

ALEX NICOLLSports Writer

Cross country senior cap-tain Jenna Hernandez demands everyone’s attention with her astonishing speed and agility on any course she takes on, but her ability to run isn’t the only thing that makes her shine.

“Running” and “Hernan-dez” are more than likely always said in the same sentence. With a personal best mile time of 5:18, everyone knows what she is capable of on any day on any course when it comes to running, but very few know that Hernan-dez also plays an important role in the Madrigal choir at Coppell High School.

“ T h e Madrigal choir is the chamber choir at the high school. We sing mostly R e n a i s s a n c e music which is some of the oldest music of all time,” Her-nandez said. “I love it so much; it’s a blast.”

When hearing about the Madrigal choir for the first time, most are shocked and rather intrigued by the idea of a group of young high school students singing music from so long ago.

“In the Madrigal choir, we have a feast every year and we even make our own clothes for our performances,” Hernandez said. “It’s cool because when you’re in the Madrigal choir it’s actually like living in the Re-naissance ages.”

Hernandez began sing-ing the same way most Coppell singers get started.

“I took choir as an elective in the sixth grade,” said Hernan-dez. “I liked singing so when I heard about the Madrigal choir when I got to the high school and it sounded fun so I figured it would be a great fit.”

As a senior captain of var-sity cross country and a member

of CHS’ impressive chamber choir, anybody would be im-pressed with how much Her-nandez is capable of. However, Hernandez doesn’t feel that way at all.

“I wouldn’t say I’m some fantastic singer,” Hernandez said. “I can hit the notes and I’ve been told that I’m good, but I don’t consider my singing abilities anything out of the or-dinary.”

However, senior Zeb White and fellow Madrigal member doesn’t think Hernandez should be so modest.

“Jenna is an amazing sing-er,” White said. “She is a great leader in the choir and was the only sophomore girl to make the

Madrigal choir two years ago, which is very im-pressive.”

With both cross country and choir, there is no doubt that any normal high school student would get over-whelmed, but Hernandez man-

ages to do both with a smile.“With running and sing-

ing and school work on top of all of that, anyone would think she’d be going crazy pulling her hair out from all the stress, but she’s very calm all the time and welcomes any and all challenges that come her way,” White said.

Madrigal choir director Josh Brown admires Hernan-dez’s perseverance through managing her tough cross coun-try and choir schedule.

“She’s in cross country as well as choir which is crazy and so awesome because the time put into both of those activi-ties is astonishing,” Brown said. “Even with so much going on she remains prepared and con-sistent.”

There is no doubt with as much as Hernandez has accom-plished so far at CHS that she will finish out her running and singing career strong in high school.

ALLISON ARNOLDSports Writer

Personal RECORD

Jenna Hernandez, senior, divides her time between running for the cross country team and singing on the Madrigal choir.

Photo by Jessica Rivera, Illustration by Haley Madigan

New quarterback leads Cowboys

“She’s in cross country as well as choir which is crazy and so awesome because the time put into both of those activities is astonishing.”-Josh Brown, Madrigal

choir director

Coppell Cowboys quarterback Colby Mahon helped lead the team to victory against the Allen High School Eagles on Sept. 28.

Photos by Rinu Daniel

24 the sidekick OCTOBER 2012