In Depth, pg. 12-13

New driving laws enforced

Gaby MoranSta! Writer

!ree things consid-ered essential by teenagers are a car, a late curfew and a cell phone with unlimited text messaging. Many think they can rule the world with just these, but when the three are combined, the situation can get deadly.

According to Ed-gar Snyder & Associates, law "rm in Pennsylvania, statistics show using a cell phone or text messaging while driving contributes to 21 percent of fatal car crashes each year involving teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19. !is result is estimated to grow as much as four percent every year. Even with the knowledge that cell usage and driving is a bad combination, teen-agers still do it.

“What kids do not realize is that their actions impact others,” dean of in-struction Gina Peddy said. “I believe that if they watch this video, they will have a better understanding of that.”

In the small town of Gwent, England, the local police department devel-oped a new public service announcement video to show teenagers the e#ects of texting and driving. !e video is very graphic, but it shows a negative example of what can happen when using technology while on the road.

“I think that not just kids, but all drivers need to see it and realize that it is reality and it can happen to anyone,” assistant principal Sean Bagley said.

!e video starts with three girls in a car with the driver texting and not paying atten-tion to the road. Her car crashes head on into another car and causes a fatal accident. It shows a very horri"c scene with the teens being tossed around the car with glass and blood $ying every-where.

After the crash is over, it shows what hap-pens to all the characters. !e driver’s friends die next to her while a child in the car she crashed into cannot get either of her parents to wake up and in a third car a#ected by the crash, a baby dies with its eyes still open.

!e British govern-ment made this video a requirement for teenage drivers or about to be driving in the country. As of now, the video has not yet been aired on U.S. television but it can be viewed on YouTube.

“!is video can change the way people drive for the better and I believe that the new laws will help enforce it too,” assistant principal Steve Glover said.

Knowing the risks involved with tex-ting while driving, the Texas driving laws have changed.

“I think that these new laws are going to help keep a lot more kids my age safe,” sophomore Colin Ruska said. “While a lot of people hate them now, I think they will un-derstand their good im-pact on us later.”

New law on pg. 4

The air is warm and sweet with the scent of foreign spices, and a rich medley of English and Pak­istani words plays as the soundtrack to the gathering. !"#$% &#'$()*% +",-% ."% ./$%home, ready to celebrate a feast during Ramadan.

Ramadan is an Is­lamic religious ritual last­ing a month in which the participants awaken before the sunrise to eat, and then do not eat or drink again until after the sun has set, over 12 hours later. Fami­lies come together at night to pray and break their fast in a traditional meal called iftari, and then rise early the next morning to begin the cycle again.

“A lot of people think it’s just not eating or drink­ing,” senior Reihaneh Ha­jibeigi said. “It’s a test of your devotion to belief and God and religion. You have to live your life; you can’t just curl up and sleep.”

Of course, not every­one fasts during Ramadan. Children are exempt until they reach a certain age which varies from family to family, as are the old and sick, but all are obligated to participate by preforming

community service or mak­ing up days they missed later.

For some students, Ramadan presents addi­tional challenges. In her freshmen year, senior Sar­ah Omar passed out dur­ing marching band prac­tice under the desiccating August sun. Hajibeigi also collapsed during a soccer game under similar condi­tions.

Freshman Moshera Elmougy refuses to march during band practice while

fasting, and she is not alone; senior Hiba Ibad also gives up physical ac­tivity to observe Ramadan.

01/'*% '*% ./$% 2#*.%year I’m fasting the whole month,” Hiba Ibad said. “Since freshman year, I’ve only fasted on the week­ends. I’m part of the ten­nis team, and I just told my coach I’m not playing for the next month.”

Although the inten­sity of the hunger fades af­ter a few days, the thirst is always there. Fasting takes

Ramadan holiday marks new season of self re!ection, fasting

Ellen CameronSta! Writer

a heavy toll on the body as the metabolic rates slows to a standstill, and nearly ev­erything consumed is con­verted to fat for the body to burn for fuel.

But the suffering is not arbitrary, nor is it gra­tuitous.

The emphasis is on purity, willpower, devotion and, to some extent, em­pathy to those are starving in the world as a matter of circumstance rather than choice.

28 Days on pg. 11

Photo by Henna KhanA family celebrates the end of the holy month of Ramadan by attending the morning prayer at the Dallas Convention Center on Sept. 20.

RenovSenior Jinny Kim pursues

future in gol!ng pastime

Sports, pg. 21

ationsCoppell High School

undergoes makeover with new programs, cosmetic updates

Rehydratation key to beat heat

Nathan ReckAssistant Sports Editor

Waking up at 6:15 am and rolling into the parking lot for a run at 6:30 a.m. doesn’t sound very ap-

pealing to most students, but that is the routine of the cross country team.

Day after day the team shows up early to go running, but it isn’t because they don’t like to sleep. In-stead it is all done to beat

the heat.With stories of play-

ers collapsing on the foot-ball "eld during two-a-day practices and athletes hav-ing to deal with dehydra-tion during summer prac-tices, coaches are always trying to "nd ways to increase the level of prac-tices while at the same time maintaining a safe environ-ment for athletes.

“!e cross coun-try team runs early in the morning to avoid the hot-test part of the day,” cross country coach Roxanne Farris said. “As a coaching sta# we want to have dif-"cult workouts, but at the same time we want to make sure that no one gets hurt.”

In order to avoid de-hydration the coaches also stress the importance of drinking water continually.

“!e coaches are al-ways telling us to stay hy-drated by drinking water both during practice and

throughout the day,” senior runner Ashley Johnson said.

Junior runner Ryan Meade agrees.

“[!e coaches] al-ways have water out before, during and after our runs,” Meade said.

!e football program faces the same issue with daytime practices in the summer and early in the season. !e only di#erence is it has to deal with the heat while in pads. With-out morning practices, the football teams are forced to endure the hottest part of the day. Coach Joe Mc-Bride and his sta# take the issue very seriously in order to avoid any possible inju-ries.

“We have an open water policy during prac-tice, meaning that the play-ers are free to get water whenever,” McBride said.

Coaches on pg. 20

Photo by Frances RuizJunior running back Cam McDaniel takes a sip of water to keep hydrated in the heat during football practice.

All vehicle occupants must be strapped in with a seat belt.

No one younger than 18 can use a hand-held cell phone while driving.

No one of any age can use a hand-held cell phone in a school zone unless it’s to make an emergency call or the vehicle is stopped.

A driving skills test will become mandatory to get a license.

The 18 hour in-car instruction needed before receiving a license has been raised to 32 hours.

The prohibitions against driving from midnight to 5 a.m. or driving with more than one non-family member are extended from six months to one year after obtaining a license.

The Law

page 2 September 2009news

On Sept. 12, Cop-pell citizens had the op-portunity to explore the world without leaving the suburbs. !e Festival of Nations took place at Cop-pell’s Town Center Plaza.

!is year’s Festival of Nations event marks the second celebration of cul-ture in Coppell. Last year, Coppell librarian Amy Pit-tman-Hassatt founded the event as a way to highlight and appreciate the diversity in the community.

“People come to the library and have very culturally diverse back-grounds,” Pittam-Hassat said. “We want to celebrate the fact that we are all here and give everyone an op-portunity to meet their neighbors.”

While last year’s Fes-tival of Nations was consid-ered a success, it left room for improvement. !is year, public service librar-ian Jennifer Perryman was in charge of putting on the a"air and wanted things to be bigger and better.

Having the event at the Town Center Plaza gave the library a chance to expand the festival because more people could be #t in

an outdoor venue. Other changes in-

clude wider community participation, more cultures involved and a children’s naturalization ceremony. With the help of the Mu-seum of Culture and other small groups, countries such as China, India, Ghana and Kenya were represented along with other nations at this year’s celebration.

Before the celebra-tion, at 10 a.m., a children’s naturalization ceremony took place. Homeland Security approached the festival last year asking if they could put on the event before the festival. Mayor Jayne Peters and council-woman Brianna Hinojosa-$ores attended to welcome the new citizens. Children said the pledge and sang the national anthem.

!ere was plenty to do for both adults and children. Booths with ac-tivities like origami, paint-ing and henna tattoos were all available. Festival goers were also treated to a play performed by children that included songs and stories about their culture. Other festivities included a lion dance, a fashion show, kung fu, and a Chinese yoyo demonstration. Local busi-

nesses also played their parts by pro-viding food. Fat Daddy’s Burger House, Healthy Me Foods and Kaurina’s Bubble Tea all supplied some of the cul-tural delicacies.

Coppell High School stu-dents also got in-volved. !e Junior World A"airs Council ( JWAC) worked booths with brochures and informed community mem-bers about di"er-ent cultures.

“!e Festival of Nations pro-motes awareness,” JWAC sponsor Rita Bauer said. “It is about celebrat-ing our di"erences and seeing how meaningful they are. We all have things we value and cher-ish that we need to share and appreciate about each other.”

Despite heavy rain, the festival was a beauti-ful spectrum of colors with people dressed in vivid out#ts traditional to their

Festival displays multitude of cultures in Coppell

Melissa BriscoSta! Writer

Allie PerisonEditor-In-Chief

homelands. Booths dis-played jewelry, sculptures, clothing and instruments, all original to the nation’s culture.

“My family and I put on the Chinese booth,” Coppell resident Johnny Sun said. “We like to show-case our culture because

it’s our opportunity to be involved in the world. As foreigners we don’t always have that chance.”

Coppell residents came out to enjoy all the sights and sounds the fair had to o"er.

“!is festival is a great way to share in the commu-

nity and expose my son to stu" he doesn’t see every-day,” Coppell father Mark Stand#ll said. “It’s a way for us to look at the way the world is changing.”

Despite ending early because of rain, the Festival of Nations is considered a success by participants.

Evening science classes reduce scheduling con!icts

Photo by Melissa BriscoJodie Deinhammer teaches her evening research and design classes about the importance of nu-trion. The agenda followed in this class, not an option during the day, is similar to the classes o!ered at New Tech High.

Photo by Katie QuillDi!erent booths at the Festival of Nations on Sept. 12 featured individual trinkets from the di!erent cultures represented in Coppell. Shown above are the elephant carvings, made in the Indian culture.

Seven periods a day seems far too long while students are enduring them, but when trying to squeeze in required classes along with electives, seven periods doesn’t seem like quite as much. !is year CHS implemented a new program in hopes of help-ing with that.

Having a fourth year of science created a sched-uling con$ict for many students, so this year the sta" is o"ering an alterna-tive: evening science classes. Students were able to sign up for one of two available science classes that take place Monday nights from 5-8 p.m.

For current seniors, having a fourth year of sci-ence is not required; how-ever, having a full senior schedule looks better to colleges and can also o"er the opportunity of being in another AP class.

For freshmen, soph-omores and juniors, four years of science is required, as a pillar of the state’s four by four plan.

“If I had known about the evening science classes I would’ve signed up for them because I actually intended to take a science class my senior year, but it wouldn’t #t into my sched-ule,” senior Michael Tap-scott said. “I wanted to take a science course because it looks good to colleges to have taken four years of sci-

ence.”Although the physi-

cal class will be only three hours, with the remain-ing two hours completed online, the class will end up being the same amount time as an ordinary class taken during the school day.

Some students just decided to take the classes for something new and dif-ferent.

“!e class just sound-ed fun and interesting,” se-nior Shaylee Zuagg said.

!rough the online

portion, students are given their assignments which will be due by the next class through Blackboard.

Due to the fact that this was the #rst year to try out the program, only two classes were o"ered: pre-AP chemistry and research and design (a nutrition based class) taught by Jeb Puryear and Jodie Dein-hammer respectively.

“!ey are o"ering night classes this year so fourth year science is an option, students can take

more classes, students have an option of taking a $ex period and it could help solve overcrowding,” Dein-hammer said.

One road block that evening classes are dealing with already is commu-nication between the stu-dents and teachers. Having the student e-mail current-ly down ihas been a huge obstacle.

!e classes will count as a pre-AP credit, and will be taught in a di"erent way. !e classes will be less of

the teacher standing at the front of the class and more based on service learning.

“!ey [the classes] will be di"erent because there will be less direct teaching and more problem solving,” Deinhammer said. “!e students will be #gur-ing out things themselves with projects. It will be more project based learn-ing.”

Students in the new classes are not #nding the online portion too di%cult.

“!e online work is alright,” senior Kelly Lim said. “We have to do dis-cussion boards where we talk about stu" from class and we have online quiz-zes.”

New Tech High@Coppell students were also given the opportunity to be a part of the classes. One such student who has em-braced this opportunity is Junior Scott Dance.

“I am taking the night science classes so that I don’t have to take a science class next year,” Dance said. “!ere are nine or 10 other New Tech students kids. !e classes are pretty simi-lar [to the ones o"ered at New Tech], but the nature of the course is di"erent. !e classes are basically the same. I think it’s a good op-portunity.”

!e classes so far have proved to be a success. Both are already full with a wait-ing list for next year.

Also, for the #rst time this year, some science classes that begand dur-

ing the school year to meet during the day have now switched to be meeting during the evenings, as well.

IB standard level Physics teacher Bill Mon-tana’s second period class was too large to #t, so he decided to o"er the option for students to have a free second period study hall in the library and instead come from 5:15 to 7:30 PM on Monday and !urs-day evenings.

“My class was ex-tremely large, I had 28 stu-dents originally,” Montana said. “I just asked for vol-unteers to come for evening classes because I thought it would be better for both classes to provide for a smaller and more intimate learning environment, and seven students signed up.”

Junior Priyanka Krishnamurthy is one of the students in Montana’s class who decided to take the class evening class.

“I decided to take the it because I thought it would take less time,” Krishnamurthy said. “I wouldn’t say that the classes are more di%cult, I actually think that they are easier. During second period we just go to the library. so that we can get ahead on our other work and so far, things are going #ne.”

With this new devel-opment in the CHS sci-ence program, a variety of bene#ts are anticipated to come forth to help better #r student schedules.

September 2009 page 3news

As most seniors with Facebooks already know, there has been a shift in the senior class o!cers. Due to “unusual circumstances,” involv-ing a Facebook com-ment, formerly elected president An Nguyen was replaced by former vice president, Mac Vu.

"ough this change took place un-expectedly over the summer, Vu expects a smooth transition and no apparent change for 2010 seniors.

“I know An was go-ing to do a great job, and I want to continue what he started,” Vu said.

Both Vu and Princi-pal Brad Hunt expect the year to carry on normally with plenty of fundraisers and preparation for prom and graduation on the to-do list.

“We want to make this as seamless and pro-fessional as possible,” Hunt said.

"ough Nguyen is understandably disap-pointed with the change, he realizes that the class o!cers do not ultimate-

lydo the decision making for the school—though it helps with proposing vari-ous fundraisers and activi-ties—and that, as president, he would not have had an extreme amount of power.

“I would want to be president again if I had the chance,” Nguyen said. “But, the only in#uence I would have would be to present ideas, and with what’s hap-pened, I wouldn’t be taken seriously.”

Nguyen said that the allotted two fundraisers for prom have already been es-tablished: class t-shirts and

All the president’s men: a shift in powerRebecca FowlerSta! Writer

the talent show, leaving the president with few other responsibilities.

“One of the main reasons I ran for president was to be able to speak at graduation,” Nguyen said. “And if there was any way I still could, I would do it in a heartbeat.”

"e basis for the is-sue began on Facebook and ended with the involve-ment of parents and the administration. However, Nguyen claims that people have come to take social networks too seriously and that they should be used

MAP trying to chart course through student skepticismDaphne ChenEditor-In-Chief

Photo by Frances RuizFreshmen Alyssa Ringhausen and Bethany LaPrade check the schedules in the hallways to !gure out which classroom they are in for their mentoring (MAP) classes.

Naviance helps seniors decide on careers, majors

Mary Whit!llSta! Writer

CHS’ new Fam-ily Connections by Na-viance program has been installed to ease student’s troubled minds and help them make necessary choices about college and careers. A link to the Na-viance web site is avail-able on the CHS homep-age under the counseling, college preparation tab.

“"e program helps people discover their col-lege of preference, major, and available scholar-ships,” counselor John Crook said.

A personality test provided by Human eS-ources helps students decide what majors and careers best $t their per-sonality type. Once a student has decided on a major, a list of around 500 colleges is provided for them to do further re-search and choose.

After a college has been added to the stu-dent’s prospective list, information such as ap-plication deadlines, con-tact information and web sites are automatically provided for them to do more research.

“I have seen how useful it is to students and their parents in other districts,” counselor Deb-bie Fruithandler said.

"e goal of Family Connections by Naviance

is to help juniors research colleges, $nd an appro-priate major and compile a list of choice colleges by fall of their senior year. "e program allows counselors to be involved with the student’s choices and decisions without having to meet directly with them.

“Counselors can add scholarships to lists and make recommenda-tions,” Crook said.

CHS has been looking into getting this program for three years. Last spring, the coun-selors began to register 2010 sophomores, juniors and seniors using names, birthdays and IDs. "e program allows juniors and seniors to check their GPA and class rank. Naviance can also predict how likely a student is to get into the college of their choice. "e program will look at the extracurricular ac-tivities, grades and stan-dardized testing and will show how many students with the same general ap-plication were accepted.

Because the pro-gram is new, many stu-dents don’t know what it is, or even that it is an available resource. Juniors will be getting an intro-ductory course through the computer lab while seniors have been intro-duced to the program in their English classes.

for fun. Hunt, on the oth-er hand, expects the class president to be a respon-sible leader both in and out of school.

"ough there will not be a vice president, senior class operations will con-tinue as planned, and the rest of the class represen-tatives will keep their for-mer positions, with Caitlin Matheny as secretary, Andy Tabor as treasurer and Em-ily Mankin as historian.

“I don’t want any spite towards this or anger from the administration,” Vu said. “An has been one of my friends since the sixth grade, and I hate to see him leave.”

"e senior class o!-cers have a long road ahead of them, with a prom fund currently totalling $2,500 for a dance that will likely cost $55,000.

Photo by Frances RuizSenior Mac Vu (left), former vice president of the senior class, replaced senior An Nguyen after administration and parents saw an inappropriate comment by Nguyen on Facebook.

$55,000 The cost of prom last year$2,500 The amount of money the senior class has raised thus far

Graphic by Daphne Chen

On Sept. 3 and Sept. 17, CHS students took 30 minutes out of their school day to talk about gossip and bullying with what was likely to be a classroom of unfamiliar students. MAP (My Advisory Program), pioneered by assistant prin-cipal Laura Stout, is sign of the new determination of school o!cials to bring the 2,800 students of the high school together.

“Administrators, teachers, parents all said that this is one thing we needed at school,” Stout said. “School is not just about learning and academ-ics, it’s about forming and creating character, about the person as a whole.”

"e $rst two ses-sions will be followed by 10 more in the future on topics such as ethics (two weeks), citizenship (two weeks), cliques and leadership.

“"ey should be ice-breakers and start conver-sations, because they’re teen-related issues,” Stout said. “"ese issues aren’t things that we usually just sit around and talk about.”

However, many stu-dent expectations going into the $rst MAP meeting were cynical.

“I think it’s more or less a waste of time, but if it makes class shorter, it’s worth it,” junior Shannon Conrad said. “It’s a little cliché and it’s probably go-ing to die down pretty fast.”

Ultimately, the stated purpose of the MAP pro-gram is “to help students make connections with students of other grade levels, mainly freshmen connecting with seniors to have someone to go to for answers.”

So did it happen?“We sat silently for

half an hour and let the teacher talk, and when she didn’t talk, nobody did,” se-nior Kyle Wilkinson said. “"ey played [the game] ‘I Never’ in here.”

Meanwhile, sopho-more Ryan Boger was the one wishing for games.

“It was kind of bor-ing,” Boger said. “You wish you would have done activ-ities, because sitting there was really boring. "e same people would be the only ones answering.”

Perhaps it did not go as well as hoped for by school administration.

However, Stout and other school o!cials are aware of this and taking note to make future men-toring sessions a better ex-perience.

“It might just require a change in perspective,” Stout said. “We’ve talked to teachers about ways to conduct their classes bet-ter, about how we have to sit with the kids instead of standing at the front of the room lecturing, and make it a more intimate environ-ment. It’s a process.”

English teacher Na-nette McMurtry agrees.

“It takes buy-in,” Mc-Murtry said. “I think that’s where it faltered today. It’s for a short time, it’s not of-

ten, and there’s not really a chance to build that con-nection in a way that fosters community.

After hearing seniors discussing the $rst MAP session on gossip in her AP English Literature class, McMurtry stood up to en-courage the seniors to speak up if they had opinions.

“You know you have the ear of Mr. Hunt and Mrs. Peddy,” McMurtry told the class. “Tell them what happened, tell them what you think. "ey value

your input, especially be-cause you are seniors now.”

MAP is part of the $ve-year strategic plan, and the school tested a pilot twice-a-week mentoring program last school year. Students for the program were chosen randomly, much like they were as-signed random classes this year for MAP.

“We wanted kids with di%erent back-grounds, di%erent talents, di%erent interests, because that’s the way it is here,”

Stout said. She pointed to the

example of James Madison Memorial High School in Madison, Wis., which di-vided its student body into four “neighborhoods”, and within that even smaller units called “backyards”. Within these cross-grade level groups, teachers and students meet every week to foster communication and connections.

“It’s more to $t our school, but this isn’t just something we dreamt up last night,” Stout said. “It’s been in the works for three years.”

Contrary to rumors being circulated, Stout warns that teachers are counting absences. Unless students have legitimate reasons for leaving, such as Dual Credit, underclass-men and upperclassmen alike are required to be in the classroom.

“I don’t want kids to look at it as a waste of time, especially seniors,” Stout said. “"ey might feel like they don’t need it, but it’s about them helping and contributing to younger students. "ey have a lot to say about what to do di%er-ently, what you be involved in, what didn’t you know that you wish you did. I can’t share that.”

page 4 September 2009newsNew charter school o!ers di!ering opportunities for students, causes controversies among Coppell citizens

TRAFFIC ISSUES

Manara Academy, a new charter school in Coppell, faced a great deal of opposition while being approved by the Coppell City Council, and one of the most pressing of those was the tra!c issue.

"e City Council meetings, normally fair-ly banal, reached a boiling point this summer with the introduction of a proposal to open the Manara Academy. People from across Coppell came forth with concerns about the new school.

“Most people on Heartz were concerned about tra!c issues,” City Planner Clay Phillips said. “"ey were worried about parents using the residential streets to drop-o# [of students.]”

However, the area had already been zoned for a school, as the building has previously been used for the Christ Our Savior Lutheran school. "is made the transition to a new school easier, though concerns were still held since some stu-dents would be coming from outside of Coppell city limits.

"ese students would have to be bussed into the school, and could potentially clog traf-$c in the area. To alleviate the matter, the Plan-ning and Zoning Committee of Coppell asked the school to increase the size of drop-o# lanes so they could double as bus loops. "is lowered the tra!c in the area considerably.

“Enrollment was not as high as the school predicted, so there isn’t much back-up in the lanes,” homeowner Linda Mays said. “We are worried however, about people parking in no-parking zones.”

To make sure parents do not park illegal-ly, sta# members will be monitoring the lanes outside the school on both London Way and Heartz.

In terms of other security, some residents worried about the increase of noise, and the safety of children walking to school. "e Cop-pell Police Department went through their reg-ular process to ensure the safety of the neigh-borhood.

“We introduced ourselves to the faculty, and explained the process to them,” Deputy Police Chief Steve "omas said. “We treated the opening of this school just as we would any other school in the district.”

Satvika AnanthSta! Writer

New law puts brakes on phones, teen drivers

A new addition has been added to the realm of Coppell education: Manara Academy. As the second charter school in Coppell, Manara’s opening on Aug. 24 marked a milestone in local education.

Manara, which opened in the former Christ Our Savior Lu-theran church on Heartz Road, has open-enrollment for all students in elemen-tary grade levels. However, the environment at Manara di#ers greatly from that of Coppell ISD schools, as its program focuses itself on Expeditionary Learning (ELS).

“We are the only school in Coppell that uses the Expedition method of teaching,” Manara French teacher Sophia Alami said. “Students learn hands-on by doing instead of listen-ing to teachers stand in front of a room saying one plus one equals two.”

In addition to Manara’s interactive teach-ing philosophy, the school also o#ers an array of spe-cialized language classes, such as those in both Ara-bic and French. Further-more, as of later this year ,Manara will be o#ering gender separate classes as well.

As a charter school, Manara prides itself on having the independence of a private school with the responsibility of a pub-lic school. Seemingly, the school is funded by the State Board of Education, which chose Manara as one out of the 215 schools to grant an open-enrollment

charter. In turn, Manara is

given greater liberty to ex-pand beyond the school’s boundaries and further implement the ELS teach-ing style.

“We have about 12 $eld trips a year and work what we did on the $eld trips into the curriculum,” Alami said.

Many Coppell resi-dents, however, initially aimed at the school’s Hertz

Angela AlmediaOpinions Editor

Rd. location confronted the opening of Manara with tra!c complaints. After agreeing to a re-zoning re-quest, which includes a 10-foot “no-play bu#er zone” and bus loop construction, Manara was approved to open as scheduled.

“Everything is run-ning smoothly,” Coppell Mayor Jayne Peters said. “"e school is even o#er-ing meetings, which is an excellent opportunity to

interact with neighbors and deal with their concerns.”

Later this month, Manara is projected to schedule another meeting. Despite the apparent con-cerns, however, the school has brought diversity to Coppell.

“It (Manara) brings a di#erent type of education-al model, from the stand-point that not all the kids learn the same way,” Peters said.

Controversy surrounding the issue of Coppell’s new Manara school continues to exist. Many nearby residents disagree with the school’s location and are still loudly protesting, despite the fact that the school has already opened on Heartz Road.

Photo by Henna Khan

"ese new laws state while riding in a car, no matter where you are sit-ting or your age, every oc-cupant must wear a seatbelt or the driver can receive a $ne up to $200. No one younger than 18 can use a hand held cell phone while driving and no one of any age can use a hand held cel-lular device in school zones unless car is stopped.

“I agree that the new law will make the roads safer, but it is an inconve-nience to many drivers,” senior Morgan Peccarelli said. “I won’t be 18 until April and it’s going to be hard to realize I cannot call people even though I have been doing it for a year and a half now without having to worry about getting a ticket.”

Some new rules of the road are that drivers under the age of 18 cannot be on the road between midnight and 5 a.m. In addition, the rule that allowed only one

other person besides fam-ily members in the car for beginner drivers for six months has now been raised to one year.

“It is really dumb be-cause kids could be stuck in a bad situation, but they cannot leave because they don’t want to risk getting an

[after hours] ticket,” sopho-more Mattie Daily said.

Other rules regarding teenagers who are taking driver’s ed must do in-car instruction for 32 hours, 18 more hours than before, and must now pass the manda-tory on-the-road test.

“I do not see the point

of adding more hours when all the other age groups ahead of us only had to do 14 hours and are $ne driv-ers,” freshman Joon Im said. “It is like they are doubling the homework when it is not needed.”

All laws went into ef-fect on Sept. 1.

Graphic by Scott BennettThis British video was created to warn teenager drivers about the dangers of texting while driving. In the U.K., the showing of this video is mandatory for teen drivers.

continued from pg. 1

page 5September 2009 opinionsTwilight takedown: Is the series a worthy read?

I would just like to preface this column with a very simple state-ment: I have read all of the Twilight series. Ev-ery single book, as soon as they came out. My opinion and any preju-dice that I have is not contingent upon what I have heard about the series but purely o! of what I have read.

With that be-ing said, I think fans and critics of the series can both agree that the Twilight series is not a great work of literature. "e plot is unoriginal, the dialogue is laugh-able and the prose is unprofessional. OK, maybe fans wouldn’t agree with that last part, but it is certainly safe to say that Twilight is nev-er going to appear in any other section other than “Teen Fiction”.

"is is not to say that it doesn’t make an enjoyable read – its popularity among women and men of all ages is a testament to its likeability as well as the movies that have re-cently generated a new

wave of “Twi-Hards.”In fact, the most re-

cent installment of the #lm interpretation of the series is due for release Nov. 20. And if last year’s results are any indicator of the poten-tial prosperity of its succes-sor, then we should be due for another sweep at the box o$ces as well as at the MTV Movie Awards and Teen Choice Awards.

But lots of movies and books are popular. For example, well-known ro-mance novelist Danielle Steele has several books on !e New York Times Best Seller list. However, ro-mance novels typically don’t appear in the literature sec-tion of most bookstores. It doesn’t mean they’re not entertaining books – it just means that any English teacher or professor will be more than happy to explain to you the term “literary merit” and how Twilight is completely lacking in that de#nition.

But never fear. "ere is a solution to end

this madness – because, yes, it is madness. "ere is a very serious problem when young women profess to be in love with mythical creep-ers of “I like watching you sleep” fame. Ladies, there is nothing wrong with a little bit of light romantic read-ing- I do it too- but there is a key to reading romance and not getting made fun of for it. Make sure it comes from the literature section.

Sounds simple, right? "at’s because it is. If you think Edward Cullen is hot stu!, wait ‘till you read about Mr. Darcy. Because believe it or not – Edward Cullen is essentially an up-dated typical literary gen-tleman with vampire fangs.

But seriously, I en-courage you – no, I’m beg-ging you - please give your next choice of novel some thought before checking it out or buying it. You’d be surprised to #nd out the amount of good reading that’s outside of the Teen Fiction section.

"e problem with the Twilight series is that it fails to ful#ll the purpose of reading, which is ulti-mately and has always been to expand a reader’s mind while providing entertain-ment. While Twilight is almost super%uous in the entertainment area, it lacks entirely any kind of literary consequence.

One only needs to glance at the back cover of Twilight to understand what I mean – “About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him – I didn’t know how dominant that part might be – that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”

…I know right? I mean honestly, are

there any lessons to be learned from Twilight? Don’t date vampires?

TwilightTidbits

What’s your take on the Twilight trend?

"e Twilight phe-nomenon is in full-swing, with fan conventions springing up like weeds, a million-dollar movie fran-chise in the works and thousands of fansites pop-ping up on browsers. It has, with good reason, been compared to the success of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Pot-ter franchise and made the relatively unknown actor Robert Pattinson a celeb-rity icon.

Love it or hate it, Twilight is the biggest part of our pop culture today.

I remember when I #rst read Twilight in sev-enth grade. I thought the cover was cool, but I ended up losing it under my bed until, a year later, I found it.

I picked up the book and started reading. And reading. And reading.

Despite the teas-ing and questionable looks I received for reading a “vampire love story”, I had comfort in the fact that the book was my discovery, something pure and fantas-tic for me to help me escape the daily trials of being a middle schooler. I found pieces of myself in Bella’s character and daydreamed about sparkling vampires. I was hooked.

When freshman year rolled around, I noticed something: suddenly, ev-eryone was reading it, even the people who had rolled their eyes at me for doing so years earlier. But af-ter awhile, I began to hear complaints I hadn’t pre-pared myself for.

“"e writing is aw-ful.” “"e story is dreadful.” “"is book is an insult to my intelligence.”

What? Were they reading the same story I had? I began to wonder…do these people really hate the book itself, or its instant popularity?

I will admit the writ-ing is not top notch. But even though it isn’t the work of Shakespeare, it doesn’t make it any less credible as a book, because it was writ-ten for entertainment and entertainment only. For all you English teachers out there: you should be kiss-ing the ground Stephenie Meyer walks upon. She made you a book that gets

your students reading – not only reading, but enjoying reading.

Twilight has also created a community that extends past lo-cal boundaries. Bella’s character is an “every-girl”, someone all girls can see themselves as in some way or anoth-er, which is one of the many appeals of the series. "is connection with Bella leads to uni-versal connection be-tween readers, creating a common ground for fans to communicate and relate on. A fan could move to a dif-ferent state, mention Twilight and instantly gain a pack of friends.

(Contrary to popular belief, the Twi-light community is not exclusive to women. I save a special place in my heart for the brave boys who dare to pick up the book – and usu-ally end up liking it.)

"ere are a lot of cynics out there, however, who just downright despise the book who haven’t read the book. Excuse me? How can you judge a book you haven’t even read?

"e only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that people hate it because it became incred-ibly popular so fast (or they saw the movie, to which I say: never judge a book by its lousy movie. Ever.) "e story itself is a fresh fantasy escape from our ordinary lives – and that’s all. It was not designed to become a required school reading or literary classic. Most people have issues respecting the fact that, sometimes, we all need a healthy, entertaining indulgence.

I don’t mind if you don’t like the series. Not everyone can love the book, and that’s just the way of life and human opinion. I just wish less people would bad-mouth it before actu-ally giving it a chance.

“I read the !rst three and I thought

that the !rst was the best. I stopped

three-fourths of the ways through the fourth book because it was boring and lost my attention.”

Catherine Esquivel, senior

“The weak and frag-ile female character does a disservice to every female writer who has attempted

for years to !ght stereotypical gen-

der roles.”

Michael Vergien, English teacher

“It’s a good book, I read the whole

series.”

Derek Crocker, sophomore

Statistics gathered from The Los Angeles Times, The Age, BoxO!ceMojo.com and The New York Times.

70 number of copies of the series sold worldwide, in millions

$383,489,834amount the Twilight !lm grossed at the box o"ce

8,0001 number of times Stephen King called

Stephanie Meyer “not very good” at writing

AshleighHeaton

annual number of tourists who visit Forks, WA., the

setting of the novels

Maddie Walters

Graphic by Yogesh Patel

page 6 September 2009opinions

New teen cell phone laws a !ght between habit and safety

Editorial

“!e recession”. It seems like such a

hackneyed term now, the cliché spin that people like to put on every news story these days. “How to stay cool – in a reces-sion!” “People opting for ‘staycations’ – in a reces-sion!’”. “Daphne Chen’s family has been a"ected – by the recession!”

Wait, what?I never thought the

recession would a"ect me.

Never, ever. But it seems like it

has, and unfortunately, it hit me like a ton of bricks in the face as I kept re-fusing to notice the signs. My family doesn’t talk much out of habit, be-cause I know they don’t want to worry me. !ey want me to focus on school, to focus on col-lege applications and to not worry about the money I’m paying just to get rejected in my #nal year of high school (a $90

application fee, Stanford? Really?).

But some things I should have noticed.

Such as: my father, who quit his job my sopho-more year to venture out as the CEO of his own in-ternet company, talking in a serious whisper with my mother in his o$ce when they don’t know I can hear them.

Such as: my mom starting to stay home more and more often from work, claiming she needs the rest.

Such as: my mom starting to regularly stay home on Fridays, claiming she needs the rest.

And then on Mon-days.

And then on Tues-days.

And then on Wednes-days.

And then #nally tell-ing me that the company she works for is in debt to the landlord of their o$ce building, so he changed all the locks on the doors to

prevent them from getting to their jobs.

!ey still don’t tell me how bad it is, except to say that my dad is now work-ing without an income. We have “savings”. But in the course of a year, which is so often more like the blink of an eye, we went from comfortably middle-class to uncomfortably unsure of where our future lies. And to be honest with you, I’m scared, because I know there’s not a lot for me to do.

But I try. In fact, I can’t help but try. As puny and pathetic as my e"orts are, it still makes my heart ache when I see my parents working so hard in order to be able to tell me that I can go to any college I want. !is recession, like almost nothing before it, #nally let me know how impor-tant this family is to me, and how important I am to them.

So I do the little things I can that every-body can do. I tell my mom I don’t need new back to school clothes – and I don’t, not really. We don’t go out to eat anymore because they say I don’t need a su-shi #x every month –and I don’t, not really. I tell myself that I do not want nor do I need money to be happy or to be a family – and we don’t, not at all.

Never have, and hopefully, never will.

Graphic by Jonathan Burks

Chen feeling e"ects of recession

DaphneChen

Of the slew of new driving laws that went into e"ect on Sept. 1, one of the most grumbled-about was the “no cell phone” rule for drivers under 18. While this law was made with good intentions, will it re-ally be e"ective in changing teens’ habits?

We can see why state lawmakers have pushed for this kind of legislation. A recent study at the Uni-versity of Utah, featured in a New York Times article, found that college students using a sophisticated driv-ing simulator showed an eight times greater crash

risk when texting. An eight-fold risk? !at’s huge. So why are we saying that these laws aren’t working?

“Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today” – James Dean still embodies the quintes-sential, reckless, seize-the-day (or your cell phone) teen. To be perfectly honest with you, we found out that even your Sidekick editorial sta" is not any di"erent.

If this law is to be ef-fective in preventing the number of teen cell phone-related crashes, it needs to be enforced strictly – almost brutally – to ensure that

2009 - 2010 Sta!

teens even deign to look up from their touch screens in order to receive their #ne. Old habits, of which mul-titasking in the car is one, die hard. As far as we can see it, high school students haven’t yet felt pressured to give the law much respect or consideration.

For teens, we often #ght a daily battle between convenience and safety – and the choice between cell phone usage and driving safely is often one of them. How many of us will really choose personal safety over habits and convenience?

Comments from the Web

Editors-In-Chiefa!aDaphne Chena!aAllie Perison

News Editora!aDivya Kumar

Opinions Editora!aAngela Almeida

Features Editora!aChris Nguyen

Centerspread Editora!aNatalie Hill

Entertainment Editora!aAshleigh Heaton

Sports Editora!aBlake Seitz

Assistant Sports Editora!aNathan Reck

Photo Editora!aKatie Quill

Business Managera!aRenee Rohani

Webmastera!aTyler Morris

Video Mediaa!aBayley Zarrehparvar

Sta! Writersa!aHubert Adjei-Kontoha!aSatvika Anantha!aAshley Attanuccia!aErin Blatneya!aTravis Bremnera!aMelissa Briscoa!aEllen Camerona!aCaitlin Connera!aWren Culpa!aRebecca Fowlera!aLoren Hughesa!aHenna Khana!aJulia Kima!aLuciana Mendesa!aGaby Morana!aRebecca Neumanna!aMike Pankoniena!aAmanda Pecka!aPeter Sblendorioa!aAndy Tabora!aMaddie Waltersa!aMary Whit!lla!aPaige Wilsona!aPeyton Wood

Photographersa!aKelly Emersona!aFrances Ruiza!aAditi Shrikant !aViviana Trevino

Graphic Designersa!aScott Bennetta!aYogesh Patel

Advisera!aChase Wo"ord

The Sidekick is the o#cial student newspaper of Cop-pell High School. Its pur-pose is to inform, entertain and serve as a resource for its readers. It is a public fo-rum for student expression and thus student editors make all content decisions. The editorials and columns presented re$ect the view of their writers.

The Sidekick is a mem-ber of ILPC, NSPA JEA and CSPA. The Sidekick recieved honorable mention for Best Newspaper from The Dallas Morning News in 2006, ILPC Award of Distinguished Merit in 2003 and 2008 and was a ILPC Bronze Star recipent for 2009. It was awarded Best Web Site by The Dallas Morning News in 2009.

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

For more informa-tion you may reach the adviser in his classroom (D115) or by phone at (214) 496-6239. The Sidekick welcomes all letters to the editor for consideration. Send letters to cwo"ord@coppellisd.com or bring them by D115.

Photo by Katie Quill

“There’s no amount of apolo-gizing Kanye could do here

that would be e"ective. There’s nothing to excuse act-ing like he did. No matter if an angelic Freddie Mercury could have descended from heaven and interrupted Taylor Swift, it still would have been a jerk

move.”

- username: Zack Zoda

“Oh man, that’s gnarly. Did you cook it afterwards?”

- username: Dennis Ochei

Photo Gallery: Anatomy class pig disssection

“As a member of Vivace, Coppell’s Show Choir, I

have been so pumped to watch a new show that

represents this high school experience as opposed to

the cliche. Even though I agree that it was a little

risque and raunchy, I don’t think it was anymore so than Gossip Girl before

that.” - username:

Erica Provost

“This blog made me totally excited about the game! The Beatles really bring the gen-

erations together.” - username: Margaret

Blackmon

How the VMAs kinda got its groove back

From hippies to hipsters, The Beatles rock every generation

Glee’s second episode may be too racy

Visit www.coppellstudentmedia.com to read articles, comment on blogs, browse through photo galleries and more!

page 7September 2009 opinions

On Sept. 8, the Presi-dent of the United States wanted to talk to the children of the country, and people everywhere started throwing !ts.

Parents called school districts to demand the live televised version of the speech, being made from a school in Arlington, Vg. not be shown to their children. "ey went on the Internet, television and radio and insisted that their kids should not be required to watch the speech.

School districts reacted

by doing two things. "ey recorded the speech for later viewing, and gave students the ability to opt out of viewing it.

What is wrong with this picture?

To preface this, I must make it clear that perhaps President Obama giving this speech during the school day wasn’t the greatest idea ever. Perhaps he ought to have waited until the Tuesday eve-ning to talk to students, who would then be with their par-ents. But regardless, the re-actions and actions taken by

people were absolutely stun-ning.

To begin with, it says something about the state of American political factions when people react so violently to this speech. While I’m not saying that all conservatives did this, or that only conser-vatives were doing this, media attention was indeed focused on the right-winged response.

Even in Coppell, many parents were extremely an-gry about speech. What were they afraid of? Obama leak-ing dreadful values into their children’s mind through sub-versive messaging? A sublimi-nal message from the leftists about healthcare reform?

"ey seemed to have forgotten that regardless of our president’s political views, he was overwhelmingly elect-ed to be president because the majority of America decided he would be the best next step for our country. And as has already put a great deal of emphasis on the value of education during his cam-paign, his inauguration and several other occasions, mak-ing a speech on the !rst day of school would be the logical next step in his plan to simply encourage students in Ameri-ca to keep up the good work.

Because that’s exactly what his message was: keep it up, kids. I am thrilled that the president of my country !nds my education impor-tant enough to take time out

of his day to encourage me in my senior year. "ough I did not hear the speech at all dur-ing my school day, and instead read it online, his words re-minded me that I’m not going though the back-to-school blues alone, and that I’m not the only one trying to do something with my life.

Should this message, re-leased to the public before the airing of the speech, be denied to students? More important-ly, should students be able to opt out of this? Such a policy is devastating in multiple ways.

By allowing kids to not watch the speech because of personal opinions, or opin-ions held by their parents, schools are giving students a green light to opt out of fu-ture events. "is is a precedent that can be used for kids to opt out of science dissections because it makes them queasy, analytical essays because they disagree with the assigned book’s content and group dis-cussions in history class.

If we get upset every time our president wants to send us a message, particularly one that is in no way political-ly charged, we’ve got a ways to go before we actually under-stand that freedom of speech goes both ways.

Freedom of speech should go both ways

Ending my sum-mer as most students do, I found myself basking the pleasant air conditioning of my house to avoid the scalding Texas sun. I was completely overwhelmed with boredom.

In hopes of entertain-ing myself, I began to go through the boxes of things my mother had accumulat-ed through her high school and college years.

I came across a doodle she had drawn, looking as if it had been traced and re-traced in a math class of some sort. Embedded into the pen-ciled miniature #owers, I found the words “It’s the end of the strain, it’s the joy in your heart.”

Curious of the mean-ing of these words, and knowing that my mother and I share a similarity in our artistry and commonly sketch lyrics, I googled the phrase and came across ‘60s sensation Art Garfunkel’s “Water of March”. After buying the aged song on iTunes, I fell in love with the simplicity of what Gar-funkel had to say.

Garfunkel, in a

monotonic and rhythmic sound, lists the simple things in life that make us feel. Whether its joy, fear, sorrow, peacefulness or the randomness we all come across, Garfunkel tells us everything will come to-gether and ultimately give us joy in our heart.

I re#ected on this. I looked over at the past year and what will change with the coming year, con-

sidering college is ap-

Doodles hit close to home

Illustration by Natalie Hill

First last impressions at CHS

Monday, Aug. 24 was a hard day for my mother. She drove her only son to his !rst before- school football practice, dropped o$ her youngest daughter at the doors of CMS East for her !rst day of middle school and watched her oldest daughter drive to her last !rst day of high school.

It was, needless to say, a tear-jerker.

As for myself, the knowledge that I was walking down the main corridor en route to my locker for the last !rst time was exhilarating - until I was unexpectedly hit with the fact that. in a year, I would not be here.

I would not wake up at 7 a.m. to get ready for another day at Coppell High School; I would not enter into my !rst day of a high school class at 8:20

a.m., nor would I hear the bell ring 52 minutes af-terward to signify its end. I would be starting new somewhere else.

And with this realiza-tion came a new perspec-tive – this year will be my last “!rst time”.

It is strange how sometimes the simplest concepts change the way you look at things. Now, I’m not saying that I’m seeing CHS through rose-colored glasses, but things do certainly look less bleak when you realize how close you are to moving on.

All this is not to say that the concept of going somewhere else, meeting new people and experienc-ing new things is an incred-ibly appealing one. It just has a feeling of sadness at-tached to it. "ere is com-fort in our everyday regime and having to start anew is

Photo by Divya Kumar

proaching and I will have to leave behind the life I know. Both good and bad things have de!ned my life and sculpted my relation-ships and after the deep therapy session with my-self, I have come to con-clude that I love the life I live.

“It’s the little things in life that matter most,” my mother had said when I asked her about the tat-tered drawing from her teenage days, a life so long ago. She told me how she

remembered singing along to “Waters of March” with her best friends as they prepped themselves for their very own homecom-ing parade. I imagined her, big blonde hair, dancing along to Garfunkel with her friend Marilee, just as I do, singing along to "e Format, and attempting to harmonize with my own best friends.

And then it hit me. "e generational mu-sic gap is nothing more

than changes in beats and

words used as expres-

sion. Art Gar-

fun-kel list-

ed the

happy things in

life and so does Owl City, "e For-mat, "e Rocket Summer and Rooney. I hope that in 30 years, my daughter will come across my old CDs, notes and doodles and !nd the bliss in my taste of mu-sic.

For now, though, I’ll make memories with my friends in hopes that that day will come.

never easy. But on the other

hand, there is enjoyment to be found in meeting new teachers for the !rst time. Although we have been taught all our lives to never judge by a book by its cover, it’s always fun to compare impressions of teachers with friends over lunch and discuss our expectations of our new courses.

And while I’ve been at this high school for four years, this year I get to ex-perience a variety of last !rst time privileges which come with the honor of be-ing a senior. For example, in the last few minutes before class started on the !rst day of school I was able to gaze down upon the pass-ing crowds from the choice location of the senior bridge. On Friday of the !rst week of school, I was able to show o$ hours of hard work and creativity in my senior overalls. And on Sept. 25, I’ll !nally be able to wear a white mum as op-posed to red and black.

All in all, senior year has the potential to be the best year of anyone’s high school career, but with its “extra features” comes the knowledge of serious change - a bittersweet end-ing to a fruitful four years.

NatalieHill

Maddie Walters

SatvikaAnanth

Sidekick members Loren Hughes, Maddie Walters and Melissa Brisco pose in senior attire for one of their !rst last days at CHS.

Pool photo by Jason Reed/Reuters/MCTPresident Barack Obama addresses a joint session of Congress on health care reform on Wednesday, September 9, 2009, in Washington, DC.

page 8 September 2009opinions

I’ve never been able to drink a can of Dr Pepper without !rst snapping o" the pop tab and dropping it in my pocket. At this point, I usually receive rather bi-zarre looks from those around me. To the question of my somewhat abnormal practice of collecting tiny pieces of aluminum, I have one answer: pop tabs save lives.

When I was in !fth grade, my teacher told our class about the Ronald McDonald House of Dal-las, which provides housing to the families of children who are seriously injured and are being treated at a nearby Dallas hospital.

#e Ronald McDon-ald House has an ongoing fundraiser in which they collect pop tabs to fund housing operations. Pop tabs contain more alumi-num than an entire can of soda, and when recycled, can be exchanged for mon-ey for the organization. Be-cause of pop tab donations, most families who stay at

Ronald McDonald House pay about $10 a night. My teacher urged each of us to start collecting pop tabs of our own, because not only was it easy to do, but we also had the chance to help other kids our age and their families.

Being so young at the time, I didn’t really under-stand what kind of e"ects my contribution could have. I began collecting pop tabs in an old shoebox I found, but to be honest, the most exciting part of the fundraiser for me was get-ting to snap the tabs o" the soda cans. Nevertheless, the idea stuck with me and I remembered the organiza-tion and its fundraiser for many years.

Today, my mom and I have taken on the project of collecting and donating pop tabs together. #is summer, we accumulated all the pop tabs we have collected over the past years and lugged them into my mother’s car to complete our donation.

Nothing could have

You can if soda canful!lled that feeling of ser-vice for me more than hav-ing the chance of seeing for my own eyes what our pop tabs are going towards. #e Ronald McDonald House was clearly a place of solace for people facing di$cult times in their life. It has a comfortable living environment, an encourag-ing and charming group of volunteers and many lov-ing families,who greeted us with grateful expressions.

#e sta" estimated we had donated about 100,000 pop tabs, which would provide the money for three families’ stay at their facilities. Getting to be a part of something like that made me feel more sel%ess than anything else in my life has thus far. It is incredible to me that with such a small gesture—a simple, trivial snap of a pop tab—I had actually made a di"erence in people’s lives.

Everyone deserves the opportunity to feel helpful and caring. As I learned, it doesn’t take much to make someone smile when they really need it, so why is it that we hesitate at an opportunity to reach out to others?

Or maybe you will step out of your comfort zone to pull up a seat next to the girl who sits by her-self at lunch and ask her what she thought of last period’s math quiz. Per-haps you could even !nd time to volunteer at a lo-cal charity. Whatever your method may be, the motive should be the same: lend help to others when they are in need of it, because everyone can make a dif-ference.

Even a little !fth grader with an old shoebox.

It is funny to me the way we justify things to ourselves. I had a bad day, so I deserve this piece of chocolate. I got no sleep (consensually) so chemistry seems like the perfect place.

My favorite, how-ever, the coveted excuse we rarely speak of: John or Jane Doe accepted me on Facebook, so that in turn gives me uninhibited lib-erty to stalk every facet of their page.

I had a friend, let’s call her A, who once mentioned an upcoming concert. My other friend, B, responded coyly with how she had just recently “heard” about it. Subse-quently, friends C and D chimed in with other co-incidental news that they two had “heard” about the concert. Go to the core of this interaction and you will !nd one connecting tie. We all saw a status.

#e worst, though, is the call. You know, the “oh my god, get online now” plea that sends you running to the computer to see an explosive wall to wall. Or the not-yet

untagged picture, des-

tined to fall into the archives of photos we ac-cumulate. Maybe even the newly-changed relation-ship status.

#en disaster usually hits. #e pro!le, one heralding uncensored bliss, withholds something from us. For this pro!le, that taunts you solely with a name and face, is private. Now, my friends, to add or not to add, that is the question.

Don’t be deceived, the Facebook phenom-enon does not end here. In fact, it thickens rather greatly to an interac-tive source: Facechat. It is deafening the ringing sound that resonates when that special someone instant messages you. Right about this time, the witty banter should commence. One can’t hesitate though, for the ambiguous person on the other end will see. #e typing back and forth, sec-ond-guessing backspace key that leaves you cling-ing for more. #at tip of the very steep and poten-tially hit-or-miss cli" you suspend yourself on think-ing, “what are they going

to say back?”

#e down-side of Facechat, how-ever, can be far worse. #e moment in which that devilish green dot by their name signals that they indeed are on. So, you sit there wondering why you submit yourself to this blatant display of indi"erence. In essence, it is everyone’s double-edged guilty pleasure.

Keep in mind, this rather long generaliza-tion does not apply to all. I’m sure someone somewhere out there is leading a stimulat-ing life enough to repel this emotionally volatile trend. Simply speaking, one logs on, comments ever so sweetly on the page of another, and commences throughout their day without an-other thought. Applause may now sound for your stability.

I, on the other hand, know all too well this trend (hence the column), and seek out to those su"ering from the same over-analysis of Facebook. Tell me wise sen-se, how can those of us guilty of the fol-lowing resist the urge to explore this Internet sensation. To break the monotony of my life in Coppell I fear would not be enough.

One day, we will not be able to rely on technology to quench our seemingly “Faces-talker” thirsts. #at day, unfortunately, is not to-day.

Facebook Confessionals:The essence of the exposed

Ronald McDonald House volunteer Kevin Kendrick helps pour the collected soda cans in donation to the charity.

Photo by Renee Rohani

ReneeRohani

Angela Almeida

Graphic by Natalie Hill

page 9September 2009 featuresPark it where it’s hot

Senior Janelle Jex gained inspiration for her parking spot all the way from Spain. !en, she spent the night at CHS putting this vision onto the pavement where she’ll park her silver Honda Accord each morning for the next nine months.

Jex has a Hollywood theme with her parking spot, which includes the silhouette of fashion model Twiggy. It also includes a quote by Hepburn lining the side of the silhouette.

“I went to Spain over spring break and found a shirt with her face on it and I bought it,” Jex said. “I went home and started drawing it on paper and realized it would be a great idea to paint on a parking spot.”

Jex spent over 20 hours working on her parking spot, including one stretch when she painted from 1 a.m. to 12 p.m.

From staying the night at the high school to spending days crafting together the most creative design, the class of 2010 is taking the tradition of painting parking spots to a whole new level.

Even before many students knew of the con-test, which rewards the winners with free prom tickets, they were still out in numbers painting their spots. !e contest wasn’t a motive for most of the stu-dents; just the tradition of

painting a unique spot was enough.

“I wanted to paint a spot because I wanted to leave my mark here at Cop-pell,” senior Taylor Vowell said. “I’ve never done any-thing like that before, and I thought it would just be fun overall.”

All in all, it took Vowell and her friends, Steven Smith and junior Bryce Heatherly, a week to "nd the materials for her spot and then three to four nights to actually paint the spot. Her Hollywood-inspired design consists of a portrait of Marilyn Monroe in the upper left, with Au-drey Hepburn in the lower left.

“I was sitting in the living room trying to brain-storm ideas, and then, I thought about movie stars,” Vowell said. “I knew I wanted something about Hollywood because it’s what I like.”

Aside from the Hol-lywood theme, numerous students picked other in-spirations relating to their life in some way, whether it was sports, music or just a creative way to spell out their name. Senior Kimber-ly Phillips created a parking spot with the Dallas Stars logo and the names of her favorite players, including Trevor Daley, Steve Ott, Mike Ribeiro and Loui Er-iksson.

“I wanted to paint the Dallas Stars symbol because I wanted to show passion for my favorite team and to just show my

personality,” Phillips said. “Plus, I thought it was a good idea to put money to-wards our [senior] prom.”

Students interested in painting a spot had to create their design on pa-per and get it approved be-fore painting. If the park-ing spot they received had been painted previously, the cost was $25, and $30 if it was blank. To date, the senior class has raised roughly $1,125 from selling the rights to paint parking spots to go towards this year’s senior prom.

!ere will be "ve win-ners under the categories of Most Spirited, Best Sup-port of a Club or Group, Principal’s Choice, Most Creative and Best Use of Color. !e judges will be Principal Brad Hunt, senior class sponsor Shelly Red-ding and any other teacher opting to volunteer during after school hours. !e date for when the winners are to be announced is yet to be decided.

Since few seniors painted their spots this year for the sole luxury of free prom tickets, the class of 2010 is all about carrying on the tradition and letting its creative juices #ow, no matter the reward.

“Once I found out about the contest, it wasn’t even on my mind to be honest,” Jex said. “I just wanted to do something artistic.”

Winning parking spots will be posted once they’re announced at www.coppellstudentmedia.com.

Loren HughesSta! Writer

“Painting a spot was something I could do for the last time with

my best friend who gradated last year. I thought painting a

spot would be fun overall, and it ended up being fun.”

-Taylor Vowell

“It took me about a week and a half to paint my spot. The Dallas Stars is

my favorite hockey team and paiting this spot gave me the chance to show

people who may know not know that I love hockey that I do.”

-Kimberly Phillips

Photo by Viviana Trevino

Photo by Loren Hughes

Photo by Loren Hughes

Photo by Viviana Trevino

Photo by Viviana Trevino

“I chose to paint a sheep with purple Converse because I knew that no one

in the whole school would ever do such a thing. I didn’t want to be like everyone else that puts up quotes

about best friends and stu! like that. Plus, sheep and purple Converse are

some of my favorite things.”-Lauren Johnson

“After coincidentally getting spots across from [my twin brother, Zachary], we

thought that the Dallas Cowboys football "eld would be a great "t. We also thought it was going to be easy, but after three days in the heat, we found out we were wrong. But

we are huge Dallas Cowboys fans.”-Cameron Slater

“It was challanging to make Twiggy’s face look proportional because I would

analyze every angle of her face and I feared it was going to look crooked. I literally never knew how di#cult and time consuming painting a parking

spot would be.”-Janelle Jex

Senior Parking Spots

page 10 September 2009features

Last December, Cop-pell High School’s former associate principal P.J. Gia-manco turned in his red and black for Southlake green. !is year, the school’s new associate principal Le-anne Dorhout has done the complete opposite, trans-forming from a Dragon to a Cowboy.

Before coming to CHS, Dorhout’s school days were full of adventure, something not many high school students can say for themselves. Raised in Iowa, Dorhout spent the better part of her junior year of high school studying over-seas in Norway. She also studied in Wales during her college years, before gradu-ating from Central College in Iowa with a degree in

English. “I loved high school,”

Dorhout said. “My high school in Iowa wanted me to come home from Wales for my senior year and graduation, and that’s un-derstandable, but I had so much fun there.”

Dorhout became an English teacher at Col-leyville Heritage High School upon moving to Texas almost 10 years ago. She then became the assis-tant principal at Southlake Carroll High School for four years prior to accept-ing Coppell’s associate principal position.

“I was very familiar with Coppell, and I recog-nized it as a welcoming and friendly place,” Dorhout said. “I was elated when I found out I got the position because you can tell there is a lot of pride and excite-ment in being here.”

Dorhout is currently a student at Tarleton State University in Stephenville,

working on her doctorate in educational leadership. To add to her full schedule, Dorhout has put forth an e"ort to try and build new relationships with numer-ous students.

“She has just jumped right in and done phenom-enal so far,” Principal Brad Hunt said. “She even went on the Student Leadership Retreat and got to know the students there.”

Even though the school year is just getting started, Dorhout has al-ready seemed to have ad-justed to her new role with comfort and ease.

“When I #rst saw her, she looked genuinely excit-ed to be a part of Coppell High School,” senior Janny Lim said. “She seemed so approachable and is always laughing.”

Dorhout has also al-ready made it a mission to become as involved as pos-sible in various extracur-ricular activities. Dorhout

can be seen at the football games and is also excited to attend other events, such as theater productions and musicals.

“She’s already a Cow-girl,” assistant principal Laura Stout said. “At the pep rally, she had her gun in the air for the alma mater

Loren HughesSta! Writer

right away, and it took her no time to do it.”

Dorhout also hopes to try and instill in students the importance of enjoying the school they attend and forming relationships with their teachers.

“Sometimes teach-ers and administrators are

viewed as individuals who ful#ll a job whereas a lot of the faculty members here desire to make a dif-ference in their students’ lives,” Dorhout said. “!ese are important years in the students’ lives, and it is a privilege to be here during them.”

Photo by Aditi Shrikant

Chinese teacher ‘wu’s students with unique curriculum

Dorhout sheds dragon skin to become proud Cowgirl

Angelina Wu had one goal when she came to America from Taiwan 13 years ago.

“I wanted to be the greatest singer in the world,” Wu said.

But now, as an Alge-bra I teacher at New Tech High @ Coppell and Man-darin I and II instructor at Coppell High School and New Tech, Wu has found even greater ful#llment as a teacher.

After graduating from Chinese Culture Uni-versity with a major in voice and being a part of the Tai-pei Philharmonic Chorus, she became a piano teacher, setting the foundation for her love of teaching before

making the leap to Amer-ica.

“It was very tough in the beginning,” Wu said. “My #rst 10 years I was busy catching up [with] the language and culture. It was a very big culture shock, and then, trying to make some friends [on top of that.]”

She resided in Hous-ton during her #rst years in America, continuing her education at the University of Houston and then join-ing the Houston Grand Opera. She taught choir in various school districts throughout the state for a couple of years before set-tling upon teaching Chi-nese.

“I gave up singing, my background, to teach-ing Chinese,” Wu said. “It

is my native tongue, so I am excited to share my knowl-edge and my passion with everybody here.”

Her class and person-ality have brought new light to both Coppell schools.

“It is great that she teaches the class,” New Tech director Tabitha Bra-num said. “She has lived there and experienced the culture. She brings an au-thenticity and real enthu-siasm.”

Wu takes her classes beyond merely worksheets. Last year, she introduced a bi-weekly Chinese Club at New Tech, which she hopes to bring to CHS, in addi-

tion to keeping Mandarin fresh in her students’ mind this past summer with extra lessons. Furthermore, for the #rst part of this year, students worked on pre-sentations as a part of the Festival of Nations to teach about the Chinese culture.

“She’s been doing great,” foreign language department head Holly Whiting said. “She and I went to a meeting with Ro-setta Stone about deliver-ing languages in a new type of way, and she has been open to it all.”

Now, as she begins teaching one of the harder languages to bridge into,

she can fully relate. “I am a foreigner,” Wu

said. “I didn’t know Eng-lish well. I know how hard it is to learn a language. I still have an accent and my spelling really stinks. So I understand, and I break it down and give them more time to absorb it, especially the Chinese tonal language. It takes time to get used to the sound and writing.”

Although she always has been been moving from one thing to another throughout her life, Wu has #nally found what she truly is excited to do.

“I hope in my class everybody knows that this

is a family they can fall back onto, whether it is about Chinese or something else” Wu said. “I want them to know that I am here for them.”

Already, students have connected with the ecstatic quality she has in her class

“She’s crazy fun,” freshman Alex Riggs said. “She’s fun and organized, but she brings a crazy vibe to [Chinese class].”

Fittingly enough, Wu’s favorite Chinese character is love, featuring within it the character for heart. With teaching, she has taken what she loves and put her heart into it.

Chris NguyenFeatures Editor

Photo by Aditi ShrikantChinese teacher Angelina Wu immigrated from Taiwan to be-come a singer before deciding to teach.

New assistant principal Leanne Dorhout mingles with seniors Sarah Thomas and Grace Kennedy (left to right), before school.

New associate principal traveled world before

heading to Coppell

page 11September 2009 features

Do homework

5:00 a.m.

5:30 a.m.

5:45 a.m.

5:47 a.m.

7:00 a.m.

7:20 a.m.

8:30 a.m.-3:50 p.m.

4:30 p.m.

4:50 p.m

7:00 p.m.

7:50 p.m.

8:15 p.m.

8:20 p.m.

8:55 p.m.

9:00 p.m.

Wake up to eat break-fast. Make sure drink lots of water and eat lots of carbohydrates.

Imsaak: Stop eating; Read Quaran for !fteen minutes.

Call for Fajr Namaz (prayer)

Go back to sleep.

Wake up. Get ready for school.

Catch the bus

School

Pray Zuhr and Asr Namaz (prayer)

Go to sleep or do homework.

Help family make food: samosas, pakoras, fruit chat, lassi

Eat together as a family.

Pray Magrib Namaz

Homework

Pray Ishaa Namaz

Additionally, fasting is not considered “complete” unless the person refrains from inappropriate be­haviors, such as lying and stealing, which enforces the pious life during Rama­dan.

“It’s a time for me to *$3&4#$+$,.56%789':$';'%*8')<%0=.>*%8%.'?$%."%2()%.'?$%&"#%God. It’s a time to take re­ligions seriously and learn more about my religion and myself. If you need to make changes in your life, it’s a good place to start.”

After a month of this intense self­actualization, Ramadan ends. Eid, the

last night of Ramadan, is a cause for much celebration and further serves to bring &8?'3'$*%.";$./$#<%7"@$A$#5%perhaps the most important part of Ramadan is Laylat al­Qadr, “the night of pow­er,” which occurs on an odd day less than 10 days be­fore the end of Ramadan. It is considered to be the anniversary of the night the Qur’an was revealed to the Muhammad and is the pin­nacle of the intensely reli­gious month.

0=>A$% )$2('.$3B% :$­come more in tune with my religion,” Ibad said. “At the mosque during Ramadan, they

have a prayer ses­sion at nine and we pray for an hour and say the differ­ent verses. Being with the commu­nity reinforces my faith in the reli­gion.”

Unlike many Western re­ligious practices that waxed and waned in popu­larity as cultures changed, the tradition is a Pil­lar of Islam and has remained untouched

by time, being practiced virtu­ally the same way for hundreds of years. The same prayers are re­cited in the same language with the same movements; the same foods are eaten; the same lu­nar calendar is ob­

Fast times at Coppell High

When I started my story on Ramadan, I de-cided to experience part of the culture for my-self. While Ramadan is from Aug. 21 – Sept. 20, I fasted from Aug. 31 - Sept. 6, and !nished my week by attending an Is-lamic feast with a friend.

I journaled about how it so I could re-member the exact details of my experience. While refraining from eating is not the emphasis of the religious experience, it does have the most physical manifestations.

Day OneIt actually feels

good to fast. I’m thirsty and hungry, but I feel kind of light and tall,

and when I !nally do eat, it feels gratifying. Somehow, I feel physically cleaner and more spiritual. I’ve fasted for Good Friday before, so I am already a bit used to fasting for one day.

Day TwoI remember why I

usually avoid big break-fast, when all the food and water I consumed before sunrise cramps violently in my stomach. "e rest of the day is OK. I skip a lunch of watching other people eat in favor of working on !e Sidekick stories.

Day !reeI can tell Ramadan is

a#ecting me when I have to take a nap at 5 p.m. be-cause I can’t concentrate on

my homework at all. When my mom forces me to break my fast and eat dinner with my family, I’m a tiny bit relieved, because it saves me the embarrassment of breaking down myself.

Day Four“Are you hungry?”

My dad asks when he calls me on his way home from work. “Yes,” I tell him, not bothering to remind him that of course I’m hungry because I haven’t eaten since six in the morning. I manage to stay awake, but I don’t think it’s just my imagination that I lose my balance a lot more than usual.

Day FiveI skip the football

game in favor of eating. I realize that even though I don’t get as hungry dur-ing the day, I’m still just as thirsty. I’ve gained back the

two pounds I initially lost. Also, I discover that eat-ing gives me a sudden en-ergy burst after spending the day feeling rather tired from lack of sleep and food.

Day Six

I wake up at !ve, be-cause, technically, I was supposed to be !nished eat-ing by 5:30 every morning, and then promptly go back

to sleep af-ter eating half a ba-gel. I leave my friend’s boyfriend’s Amtgard tournament early and go home to

break my fast that night. I down a bowl of my sister’s leftover mac-and-cheese in record time. By the time my friend and her boy-friend leave my house after a marathon of movies and Mythbusters at one in the morning, I’m still eating.

Day Seven

I wake up early to eat

served. Like the Christian

holiday Easter, Ramadan is based on cycles of the moon. The holiday scoots forward by about 10 days every year, and repeats every 30 years. Ramadan itself also bears a striking resemblance to some Chris­tian practices.

“Lent and Ramadan are very similar,” senior Sarah Omar said. “It used to be that during Lent, Christians couldn’t eat dur­ing the day, and in the Cath­olic church, they still can’t eat meat on Fridays. Islam is more intense, because during Lent and Rama­dan, you’re not supposed to curse, but for Ramadan, you’re not supposed to think impure thoughts or talk back or lie. It’s a re­

ally humbling experience. I connect that to Lent a lot.”

Christianity has Ten Commandments; Islam, Five Pillars of Faith. Chris­tianity has Lent; Islam, Ra­madan. The details of Ra­madan may be unknown, but the undertones of faith and purity has such a deep­ly inherent connection to other religions that it may be understood after all.

The gathering of fam­ilies to celebrate and feast is certainly a concept familiar to all religions; while the words, foods and clothes change, the undertone of faith, and happiness, and 9"B%#$?8'(*%./$%*8?$<%

again, and go back to sleep until I have to go to a Girl Scout meeting. When I get back, I socialize while everyone else eats at my dad’s Labor Day barbecue. I give up staying awake and take a nap before go-ing to fellow Sidekick sta# member Henna Khan’s house for a traditional Ramadan feast. I eat tra-ditional foods and listen to the foreign prayers, and wish very vehemently that I had one of those beauti-ful traditional out!ts.

Afterwards, I go to an impromptu Girl Scout sleepover, and go crazy on brownies and chips. I know that after fasting, my metabolism is dead, buried and eulogized, and that everything I eat is taking the fast track to my thighs, but after abstaining for so long, I can’t !nd the self-control any-more.

Sta" writer Ellen Cameron fasted one week, in observance of Ramadan

Day in the life of...

Ellen Cameron

continued from pg. 1

“While refraining from eating is not the emphasis of religious experience, it

does have the most physi-cal manifestations.”

Visit www.coppellstudentmedia.com

to see video and more.

Senior Hiba Ibad logged what she did for one day during Ramadan

THIRTY YEARS

(From top to bottom) Women pray towards Mecca to atone. Standing in line for dinner, the women stand and chat. They gather around the tasty dishes, including choley and samosas, to celebrate breaking their fast on Sept. 6. Throughout the night, the women socialize with one another.

ONENIGHT28 DAYS

Photo

s by V

ivian

a Trev

ino

page 13in depth in depth

As students entered on the !rst day of school, they noticed more than just new clothes, books and shoes – CHS has been given a physical and policy makeover.

One of the most noticeable changes to the school is the auditorium entrance. "e entry area has been expanded to make foot tra#c $ow more smoothly. New doors that don’t stick have also been installed, in hopes the area will be less noisy.

“"e new doors look really nice and it’s great to not hear the squeaks anymore,” senior Drew Hasson said.

Students may have noticed the water fountains are a little harder to reach now – all the fountains have been replaced and lowered, in order to be compliant with the American Dis-ability Association standards.

"e recarpeting which began in summer 2008 was !nished this year, making the $oors a subtle navy blue. Additionally, several parts of the school have been repainted to add some bright-ness to the walls.

“"is campus is over 20 years old so the water fountains were not as e#cient and we were wasting energy,” Principal Brad Hunt said. “"ese changes are helping to improve the over-all safety and beauty of the building.”

Hunt is also happy that the school is moving into the 21st century, with a virtual lab, more lenient cell phone policy and an updated PA system.

"e virtual lab, located in C101, is an online learning center in which students can take classes which are otherwise not o%ered at CHS in order to ful!ll their requirements. Several lan-guages classes, ranging from German to Latin, are available through the popular Rosetta Stone computer program.

“"is program is a great way for stu-dents to learn outside of the classroom, but out-side of the school,” Social Studies department chair Valerie Garnier said. “"ey are self-paced with recommended guides to help them keep on track.”

"e PA system, which used to be un-reliable and di#cult to hear, has been replaced with a newer model. Administrators hope the new system produces better sound quality, mak-

ing the announcements less of a guessing game for students. Additionally, the system includes an iPod docking station, which gives faculty the opportunity to play a larger variety of music during passing peri-ods.

“"e music is better, because at the end of last year they weren’t even playing any. I like to lis-ten to it to get pumped up for class,” senior Elisa Farrell said. “"e bell system is not as [easy to hear] as the previous bell, though.”

"e administration is still working out the kinks in the new bell system, hoping the sound will be louder and lower pitched.

"e most exciting change for many stu-dents is the new cell phone policy. Students are now allowed to use cell phones inside the building dur-ing passing periods and at lunch. "ey are also al-lowed to use texting for assignments and listen to iPods during class at the teachers’ digression.

“We are giving this new thing to students, giving them more options, and if they are abused, we will pull them back,” Hunt said.

Students are generally excited about this new policy, but there are some mixed feelings.

“People are taking advantage of being able to use [cell phones] in the hallways, but many still use them in class,” Farrell said. “I’m worried that it will be more dangerous with people walking and texting.”

In the auditorium and lecture hall, new seats have been installed, and several broken lights have been replaced. "e stairwells have been re-placed with new rungs which will not chip.

When using laptops, students and teachers will have an easier time getting online with the new wireless connections that have been installed. "e spaceship-esque modules on the ceilings of several halls are responsible for the increased connectivity at CHS.

Most of the money for these numerous changes came from either the previous bond ap-proved by the community, or the new bond ap-proved recently, which allocates the money very speci!cally for certain changes.

“No money had to be re-allocated from sports or other groups at the school to make room for the changes,” Hunt said. “"is is one of our steps into the 21st century, and hopefully we will see more changes soon.”

CHS makes changes for the

In the recent months, Coppell High School has gone through a number of changes. With school now in session and students still adapting to these modi!cations, it is hard to imagine what the future holds for the freshly modernized school.

Twenty !rst century learning describes how schools are starting to rethink the old style of learn-ing. "is new approach prepares students for fu-tures careers that may not even currently exist yet.

With this new learning method, students are expected to bene!t not only now, but in years to come. As this philosophy grows, the typical teaching scenario is anticipated to change. Now, teachers have all the knowledge, but with 21st century learning students are supposed to begin using them more as resources. "is means stu-dents have more control over how they learn and what mediums they use to get their education.

“I think this new style is cool because we are experiencing new things our parents never got to learn,” sophomore Shermin Punjwani said. “"is will help me because as society gets more modern more things are based o% of tech-nology. It is preparing me for my future job.”

CHS is working to make its class-es more $uid. Instead of every class hav-ing a completely unique curriculum, cours-es will start moving in a direction where they have some sort of tie to each other.

Since the new “four by four” science and math plan is in e%ect, more course options are going to be available for next year’s students. Classes like humanity and astronomy will soon be added along with other new course op-tions. With these programs, students will be able choose from a more diverse set of cours-es that they may hope to pursue as a career.

“We don’t want to prevent learning from hap-pening,” Principal Brad Hunt said. “Technology is now a key part of learning, so we have to adapt.”

With the ever changing business world, students need to be prepared to use all dif-ferent technological resources. Technology is an important factor in 21st century learning.

“I think the new learning style is vi-tal to the future success of students,” Eng-lish teacher Nannette McMurtry said. “Al-though, I think we have to understand that no matter how tech savvy we think the stu-dents are, they still need help. We just to !g-ure out how to make it all work for education.”

Virtual classrooms are a new type of tech-nology at CHS. Students learn from a com-puter program instead of a teacher in the clas-sic school scenario. Although this is the !rst year Coppell has used the program, the district foresees using it more and more in the future.

“"e virtual classroom is very important because it is a class and online practice,” Virtual classroom and biology teacher Laronna Doggett said. “It is shaped more like a college class so it is great practice. "is way, students can get the most out of it [their college experience] in the future.”

Teachers also bene!t from these technolog-ical advancements. "e addition of Smart Boards and Net Books in selected classrooms have been added this year. CHS is hoping to expand the use of these instruments in upcoming years.

In an e%ort to assure that students can take all the courses they are interested in, CHS is o%ering more zero hour and eighth pe-riod classes. "e classes are more like college in the fact that they only meet once a week.

Every adjustment made at CHS is in the distinct e%ort to better the stu-dents. With the world constantly progress-ing, schools have to be up to date in order to prepare students for what is to come.

“I am excited about the possibilities the future holds for Coppell High School,” Hunt said. “I am eager to see where this new style of learning can take us. It is the best way to prepare for a future we can’t foresee.”

New policies form a new school

BETTER

by ALLIE PERISON

by SATVIKA ANANTH

Graphics by Yogesh PatelPhotos by Aditi Shrikant

page 12

to see their [Texas Tech’s] campus but it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be. It has great academics for what I want to do later in life, but the tour didn’t hold up. ”

For Faragher, OSU wasn’t right either.

“I didn’t enjoy the tour at all,” Faragher said. “It’s not that it’s too big. I

didn’t like how spread out all of the buildings were. And the tour guides weren’t really enthusiastic and they had trouble answering my questions. !at didn’t give me con"dence in the school.”

UNT, she says, is where she can really see herself.

“I loved it. Not all of the student population was there when I visited, but the ones who were seemed pretty friendly and diverse,” Faragher said. “!ey also went in-depth about aca-demics in the tour and an-swered all of my questions.”

She also has some re-quirements when it comes to the school she picks.

“I’m looking for a spe-ci"c kind of relaxed atmo-

sphere,” Faragher said. “To me, that’s more

important than the academic achievements of the school. Four years of my life are going to be spent some-where, and I want to en-

joy them.”Accord-

ing to Fara-gher, when visit-

ing a college, it is a must to plan ahead

and contact the colleges before traveling. Tours of-ten "ll up weeks ahead and making a reservation will ensure a spot.

Although she feels optimistic about being ac-cepted into her favorite colleges, Faragher still has some anxiety.

“My mom keeps tell-ing me ‘Of course you’ll get in!’ But I feel like she’s jinx-

page 14 September 2009features

Visiting colleges o!ers seniors perspective for future

For most seniors, the last year of high school is de"ned by FLEX periods, college applications and upperclassmen status. For senior Sayem Huq, how-ever, senior year means most of this, along with wrapping up the "nishing touches on the process of creating his "rst novel.

Huq’s book, Bladin: Edge of Blade, follows the story line of Ryuu Kodachi, a ninja, and Gemori Bat-tousai, a samurai. !ese two men are the last hopes for peace in their state, Bladin, and must prepare them-selves to "ght in war in order to ensure this, regardless of the cost. !e book follows the adventures of these characters and their ul-timate outcome.

“I used to be in martial arts classes,” Huq said. “!at’s where I got some of the basics of my book from and what I used for the formation of my characters.”

After two years of writing, Huq completed the novel his sophomore year. !e next step in the process, claimed to be the most di#cult one, was "nding someone to publish it. Before publishing, Huq was to "nd a literary agent, or a mentor, to help him go over his book one last time before sending it out.

At Scholastic Publishing Company, edi-tor Adam Rev read Bladin and gave it a good review—a very high feat for a "rst-time teenage novel writer. In the end, however, Huq decided on Xlibris, a self publishing company to use for his novel.

Bladin after pub-lished was distributed to a variety of Barnes & Noble stores where it can current-ly be found. !e option of

POD, or print on demand, can also be used on Huq’s book in the case where Bladin cannot be found in the stores, a customer has the ability to ask the front desk to order in a copy for them to read. Bladin can be found on Amazon as well.

Huq began research-ing the process of a book tour slightly after this development. It was not deemed an o#cial tour for he personally called up speci"c Barnes & Noble

stores to hold him, however at each store Huq had the ability to publicize his book and answer any questions surrounding it.

!e knowledge of Huq’s book spread beyond just his tours, however. !e topic of Bladin has been featured in two articles—one serving as a review on his life and the other a personal inspirational letter from Huq.

“!e main reason I wrote the book was because

Senior proves pen is mightier than Samurai sword

Rebecca NeumannSta! Writer

I was having trouble "nding things to read,” Huq said. “I wrote something that I know I’d want to read.”

!ough this is only his second year at Coppell High School, having re-cently moved from Florida, his natural writing skill is evident to those who inter-act with him.

“Sayem is one of the most determined students I have ever met,” creative writing teacher Matthew Bowden said. “!is is my

sixth year of teaching this and I have never met any-one with the drive to go through the entire editing process, that too at such a young age.”

Bowden also plans to have Huq teach part of his creative writing classes when they begin their unit on novel publishing. Huq’s clear passion for writing and his experience of the process are a good source for other young, aspiring writers.

Huq plans on a fu-ture in writing, and is in the process of creating a sequel to Bladin.

“If I could go back, I’d want to go "x all the gram-matical errors that I found in the book,” Huq said. “I can work towards "xing these and honing my skills for the future.”

Currently Huq is in the negotiations with a publishing company to sign a deal, requiring him to publish a book every so often.

“I can already tell that a future in writing is easily possible for him,” Bowden said. “If a company is al-ready ready to bet that he’ll be able to throw out a good book every few months at such a young age, then I can’t begin to imagine how much better his skills will be later in life.”

To receive more in-formation about Huq’s book, visit his website at www.edgeofblade.com.

Do’sTake the o"cial tour.Plan ahead and make appointments to see ad

-missions counselors.Talk to current students about their school.Sit in on a class.Make sure to see the dorm rooms.Wear walking shoes. Sometimes the tours take

you across the campus.Look at the extracurricular activities the school

o!ers.Keep an open mind.Ask questions.Dress nicely, but be comfortable.

Don’tsDon’t have a bad attitude.Don’t procrastinate on planning your college

visits.Don’t be quiet during the tour. If you have a

question, speak up.Don’t judge a school before you see it. Hearsay

is not always reliable.Don’t wear a T-shirt from a di!erent college. Don’t laugh at the crazy traditions. Don’t bring distractions. You want to focus in or

-der to fully experience the college.

Tips for College Visits

Although the year has just begun, many Cop-pell High School students are already looking towards college. Some people are enjoying and learning from their trips while others are disappointed by what they "nd.

Senior Ashley Fara-gher is in the process of deciding where to apply for colleges, and her "nal decision will depend heavily on the visits she takes.

“A cam-pus tour is extremely important to me,” Fara-gher said. “On the tours, they would talk about which of the majors they specialized in; that was interesting. In a way, the tour was a great source of information.”

In August, Faragher visited Oklahoma State University, the University of North Texas and Texas Tech University and is planning on taking a tour of University of Oklahoma sometime this year, but she was disappointed in most of the colleges she visited.

“I was really excited

ing it,” she said. “I’ll prob-ably blame her if I don’t get accepted.”

School policy allows juniors to receive one day per semester to visit the colleges of their choice, while seniors get two. CHS guidance counselor Mindy McMinn recommends that students begin going on college visits at the begin-ning of their junior year.

Some students may have di#culties "nding time to see all of the col-leges they want to, but Mc-Minn said that even visit-ing nearby colleges can be bene"cial.

“Every student should "nd a college to visit,” she said. “You can always "nd a school nearby that can give you an idea of the kind of environment and size you want in a college.”

A&M admissions counselor Luis Rodriguez agrees.

“It de"nitely helps to see the school,” he said. “It would be horrible to have never seen a college and then realize as a freshman that you’ve made a huge mistake.”

Rodriguez also o$ers an answer for those stu-dents that cannot take o$ from school in the middle of the week.

“At A&M, we o$er one day visits to come and see a general overview of

the college, but we also have Aggieland Saturday, which is like an open house. All of the departments open their doors and talk to prospec-tive students about curricu-lum and "nancial aid.”

!e next Aggieland Saturday will be held on Feb. 21.

McMinn also gave some overall advice for stu-dents struggling to choose

which college to attend. “Atmosphere and

academics are most im-portant,” McMinn said. “When you visit, try and talk to other students and an administration counsel-or. But the most important thing to remember is to be true to yourself. No one else is going to be going down this path except for you.”

Graphic by Scott Bennett

Sayem Hue’s (left) novel Bladin: Edge of Blade details the story of a ninja and a samurai who must !ght in war to survive. Hue was inspired by martial arts classes he used to take.

Photo by Tyler Morris

Divya KumarNews Editor

page 15September 2009 featuresMeet the Presidents

T-A-Y-L-O-R, let’s hear it for new cheerleading coach After Ti!any Ganss

decided to pass on her pom-poms, the Coppell High School administra-tion had a hard time "ll-ing her spot as head varsity cheer coach. With only a couple months to decide on a candidate, CHS hit the jackpot when it came across Brynlea Taylor.

Coming from coach-ing cheerleading and teaching English at Cop-pell Middle School West, Taylor is now a freshman and sophomore English teacher as well as the var-sity cheer coach.

“West was the rea-son why I felt so con"-dent transitioning to the high school,” Taylor said. “I loved my colleagues and the Wrangler spirit, which was so infectious. I adored coaching the Spirit Spurs cheer squad; it was the cherry on top.”

Being new anywhere

is hard, but Taylor has al-ready made an impression with her cheer squad and students.

“I like Coach Taylor,” captain Katie Stanford said. “She has a good attitude and many new ideas for pep rallies, practices, and games. Ganss [was] a hard act to follow, but Coach Taylor is doing a wonderful job. My favorite thing about her is her positive attitude and excitement for coaching our team.”

#e pep rallies and cheerleaders’ routines prove that Taylor is working hard. One thing Taylor has made sure of is that each pep rally revolves around a theme in-cluding a "re and a camou-$ogue theme, which have added a little bit of pizzaz to the pep rallies.

“My favorite thing that has changed since Coach Taylor has come is probably the fact that ev-ery one of our pep rallies is themed,” junior Courtney Warren said. “I loved the

fact that everybody dresses and dances according to the theme. It makes things more exciting, for sure.”

Taylor is de"nitely not new when it comes to cheerleading. She is experi-enced and has always had a love for it.

“I cheered in high school and pretty much all of my life” Taylro said. “I didn’t cheer on a team when I went to Texas Tech in order to focus on other things, but I still loved keeping up with it.”

Not only has Tay-lor made a good impres-sion, but she loves CHS. To transfer from a middle school to a high school is di%cult, but Taylor is han-dling it with ease.

“I remember tell-ing Principal Vern Edin at West, in 2006, that I saw myself in exactly this posi-tion within "ve years, and I can’t believe I am actually already here,” Taylor said. “My squad is amazing and the girls, well, I couldn’t ask

for a "ner group of young, talented, spirited ladies.”

It a blessing for Tay-lor to be here, and the rest of CHS is happy to have her here as well. Given such a short amount of time to choose a new coach, Taylor was the perfect candidate according to assistant prin-cipal Tyler Bagley.

“Brynlea Taylor is do-ing a great job,” Bagley said. “She is very energetic and has many new ideas.”

While the admin-istration appreciates Tay-lor’s great success, she is enjoying being at the high school.

“I absolutely love CHS,” Taylor said. “I do feel like a "rst year teacher again, which is no fun, but it has been such a blessing and an honor to teach high school English and be the Varsity cheer coach. I love Friday night football, planning the pep rallies, and watching the school go Cowboy crazy.”

Amanda PeckSta! Writer

!ey campaigned, made speeches and even gave away some buttons to earn their spots as their class’ leaders. Here are Coppell High School ’s 2009-10 class presidents. Story and photos by Peyton Wood

Peter Sblendorio Junior Class

Other organizations you’re in-volved in: Track, newspaper and National Hon-or Society Why did you run for president? I wanted to be able to leave a mark on this school. What was the hardest part about running? It was hard to give a speech that wouldn’t make me look like a fool. What are your goals for this year? To keep everyone happy. Make sure everyone’s ideas can be heard and to raise money for the class. What’s the funniest thing that has happened to you in high school? Last year, I fell down the stairs so hard that my shoe fell o!.

Mac Vu Senior Class

Other organizations you’re in-volved in: National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society and Student Leadership Team What do you think about the change from Vice President to President? It was unexpected but at the same time, I feel like I can make a change myself with the help of my peers. What’s your favorite part about be-ing president? Getting to work with the other o%-cers and getting to know students I haven’t met before this year. How does it feel to be a senior? It feels good to be at the top of the chain, but it’s going to be sad to say goodbye at the end of the year. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I would make myself all knowing so I could get awesome grades and get into any college I want.

Other organizations you are in-volved in: Coppell lacrosse and intramurals Why did you run for president? I wanted to be a leader, and I wanted our class to be fun and to succeed and be leaders for other classes to come. What is the best part about being president? People know me as a leader among our classmates and I get to be inter-viewed by newspaper. What is your favorite part of high school? Doing crazy things like dressing up for theme days and just socializing with my friends in class. Who do you have a man crush on? Conner Yingling. He’s super attrac-tive.

Chase Porter Sophomore Class

Other organizations you’re in-volved in: Football and track Why did you run for president? I like helping my class and others, and I wanted to get involved and meet new people. How did it feel when you won? I was very, very excited because I put a lot of hard work into the elections and I care a lot about the school. What are your goals for the class? For school to get out earlier, to have Hawaiian Punch in the water foun-tains and to have a four day school week Who is your inspiration? Brad Hunt. He’s the image of a hero. What song gets you pumped up? “Party in the USA.” It makes me want to party all the time.

Coleman Armes Freshmen Class

Photo by Katie QuillNew cheer coach Brynlea Taylor previously worked at Coppell Middle School West and has been cheering since high school.

September 2009page 16 entertainment

“Do not watch TV,” they tell you. “TV will rot your brain,” they tell you. Well, I beg to di!er.

Sure, anything in ex-cess is bad, and watching 15 hours of cartoons is not exactly a productive use of time. On the "ip side, watching TV is not the end of the world. In fact, it can even be—dare I say it—ed-ucational.

And I do not just mean that watching the History and Discovery Channels is educational, because, well, duh. If they are not educational, they might as well not even exist. But when stu! is entertain-ing and educational—well, that is just the icing on the cake.

If you watch care-fully, even your favorite TV shows can be educational in some way. I acquired some of most interesting facts from TV. For example, from Disney Channel’s “Phineas and Ferb”, I learned that the hard tip of a shoelace is called an aglet.

Equally interesting

(and probably more prac-tical) is the information I learned from “Gilmore Girls” my freshmen year. In the episode “#e Deer Hunters”, Rory studies for a Saturday test at Chilton but gets hit by a deer on her way to school. #at’s the entertaining part; the intellectual part is the actual studying, where Rory and Lorelei discussed Shake-spearian sonnets.

Need-less to say, when we started our Shakespeare unit later that year, I was quite the know-it-all. I al-ready knew the gist of sonnets, but more impor-tantly, I knew the exceptions to the general sonnet rules (99, 126 and 145).

#ank you, “Gilmore Girls”.

And then there is the practical information you can learn from TV. Beyond slightly dubious life les-sons, such as every crime is

solvable and every woman has on make-up when she wakes up in the morning, are actual and sensible les-sons. For one, from “De-grassi” I learned that you

can replace a fan belt with a good pair of leggings and it will last you just long enough to get to a real me-chanic. I don’t know what a fanbelt is, but knowing this makes me feel accom-plished anyway.

And really, it is im-probable that TV is ever “just stupid”. It is in the na-ture of the thing; TV shows are written by people with some amount of intellect

TV can be educational with open minds

Does adding to classic literature taint it or improve it? #at is the question some are asking now that parodies are being made of beloved Jane Austen novels.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came out last spring to critical acclaim, and shot up the New York Times Best Seller list, for its humorous ninja $ght-scenes and zombie am-bushes. #e story contains mostly original text from the novel, with particular plot changes throughout to add entertainment. It even cites Jane Austen as its co-author.

Now Quirk Publish-ing, who produced the book, is coming out with a new Austen arrangement. #is time it is Sense and Sensibility that is host to a plague. Unlike its counter-part, however, sea monsters are the creatures attacking.

Quirk is unique in that it publishes st commis-sioned novels. #is means that the publishers give the writer the idea and then pay them to write the book for them. #e author then uses the original novel to rework their own.

Junior Hannah Burns has a con"icting view on the books.

“I liked Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” Burns said. “It was enter-

taining, but I am also a fan of the real Pride and Prejudice. Sometimes while I would read it I would think, ‘I wonder what Jane Austen would think of this.’ It makes me wonder if it’s right for them to rewrite her words.”

She’s not the only

one who feels this way. Many true ‘Jane Austen-ites’ rebuke anything but the original. Hundreds of books have been written as extensions to Austen books already, but these are some of the most popular spoofs.

Junior Lara Heerse-ma is one Pride and Preju-dice fan that has disdain for any such spin-o!.

“In my opinion, it’s a bad idea for anyone to

change the book,” she said. “I mean, it’s classic. It’s his-tory.”

Heersema is senti-mental when it comes to Pride and Prejudice.

“It took me an entire summer to read it when I was in third grade,” she said. “It has a lot of mean-ing for me and it is upset-ting when people just de-cide to change it.”

But Heersema does acknowledge one good as-pect of the parody.

“At least more people are more likely to read some Jane Austen now, even if it is a lot di!erent,” she said.

Junior Hailey Arm-strong has never read any Austen novels, but she says she would be more likely to if there were action scenes involved.

“I would de$nitely rather read Sense and Sen-sibility and Sea Monsters rather than the original,” she said. “It would probably liven up a typically boring story.”

When asked if she was still going to buy Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, despite her comments, Burns said she would.

“I read everything Jane Austen related so I’ll still read it,” Burns said. “I just think that the story is being corrupted.”

Sense and Sensibil-ity and Sea Monsters can be found at Barnes & Nobles and most other bookstores.

Quirk Publishing puts a dark spin on classic Austen literature

Rebecca Neumann Sta! Writer

Many people rage on about the latest bands of today. It could be Coldplay, U2, Lady Gaga or anything popular. But one band is making its music known one more time.

#e Beatles have been considered one of the great-est bands to ever rock the world. #eir music was adored by many fans, and now those fans have a chance to relive the great band of the ‘60’s. With the release of #e Beatles box set on Sep.9, which contains all the re-mastered albums, fans were able to relive the good old days of "ower power, peace signs and Ringo.

Fans had been waiting 22 years for this day.

“Personally, I like the idea of getting an up-to-date sound and generate more appeal to a younger audience,” CHS li-brarian Michael Cook said. “All you need is love, baby.”

Many fans that were young or born in the ‘60s or prior were very excited.

“I like #e Beatles, so I do like that they are com-ing out with it,” data entry specialist for the district Sherry Brown said. Not only are the original followers excited, but this release is also bringing on a new generation of listen-ers. More and more youth

have been turned on to the music since the re-mastered version was released.

“I love their music,” said retired teacher Glo-ria Perry. “#eir music has a timeless message that I hope reaches out to a younger audience. I think it’s great how they are pushing 70 years old and

Another major Bea-

tles event also happened on Sept. 9. #e Beatles “Rock Band” set was released, the third installment in the “Rock Band” series. Also, Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow, and Paul McCart-ney gave the green light to put #e Beatles’ back cata-log on iTunes. It is the $rst two of four votes to come in; the other two votes come from Ringo Starr and Olivia Harrison, George

Harrison’s widow, have not been released yet.

“I am super excited to get my hands on this new chapter of #e Beatles his-tory,” Texas A&M sopho-more Michael Sobolik said.

#e Beatles now have new versions of Trivial Pur-suit, Beatles Monopoly and a “White Album” jigsaw puzzle. Also in the works

is a linen-covered box to house Beatles CDs which contains three previously unavailable books about the iconic band.

According to Best Buy in Lewis-ville’s sales manager Dan Morris, “#e box set has been selling like it’s nobody’s busi-ness.

People that grew up during the time of "ower power came in and wanted T-shirts hats and even little buttons. We sold out that day.”

According to Best Buy’s records, the box set has sold 37 copies al-ready. #ey have sold 18 copies of the “Rock Band” game, and 7 copies of the deluxe Rock Band set.

“#ey have all been bought from people that you can tell were loaded on "ower power already, and wanted some more,” Mor-ris said.

With the Beatles box set coming out one last time, all the original fans will get to live in the ‘60’s once again.

The Beatles’ glorious returnWren CulpSta! Writer

and to write a TV show with absolutely no reference to the outside world would be di%cult. Granted, maybe in an excessively silly show like “#e Hills,” it is pos-sible that outside knowl-edge would not be brought

Graphic by Wren Culp

in, but really, how many of those shows are there?

Even children’s tele-vision shows, while not al-ways educational, can con-tain intelligent references.

I remember being proud of myself once for knowing who Wil-liam of Or-ange was when Cindy made a snide remark to a fake-sun-tanned-or-ange Jimmy in “Jimmy Neutron”.

More-over, “Sea-same Street” is famous for including witty jokes which go above chil-

dren’s heads but target their

(hopefully more intel-ligent) parents. It is al-most as if writers have to convince themselves that working on a

kid’s show has not dimin-ished the scope of what they know and the viewer reaps the bene$ts.

And while passing references in shows may not be entirely educational, the matter remains that they introduce the viewer to a new concept which lingers in the mind or re-minds the viewer of some-thing they already knew. #e viewer may pick up on it and Google it if they are interested or may wallow in their own ignorance. #e more times a speci$c show is watched, the more likely the factoid will stick.

So do not completely write o! television. You could end up laughing about nerdy jokes that no one else understands and then remember whatever fact it was that made you feel so good forever, or you could end up learning something completely new.

#at said, I still do not think my mom will

view it as a suitable replacement for do-ing my homework.

Maybe some day.

Graphic by Scott Bennett

Sta!Writer

Ellen Cameron

Sense and Sensibilty and Sea Monsters is available inbookstores today.

Learning and television can go hand-in-hand

Some televison shows can gleam day-to-day knowledge to its viewers.

The Beatles are back with a new box set.

Graphic by Scott Bennett

September 2009 page 17entertainmentFormer graduate returns to bring rock n’ roll to Vivace!

Kanye West turns things south after Swift diss at VMAsAfter several years of

pain in Miami and Los An-geles, last night’s VMAs on MTV rebooted itself back in New York City. MTV kept the stage big, the ce-lebrities camptastic and the performances coming. Here’s a recap of the amaz-ingly awesome, the bad and the excruciatingly painful:

THE GOODJackson tribute

Madonna opened up the show with a simple and !tting remembrance of pop icon Michael Jackson. She recounted a date with Jack-son and kept the focus on his impact as a human, not a pop star. It was nice and all, but for a man who made others speechless with his voice and moves, words were super"uous to the ac-tual performance that came after.

Janet Jackson made her entrance, performing her only duet with Mi-chael, “Scream.” Fierce and strong, all she had to do was hit those moves for us to know she will always re-member him.Lady Gaga’s “death”

Oh, Lady Gaga. How empty the pop world would be without you! Taking the stage for her “Paparazzi” video, she hit those notes with sass and owned that crutch. But, of course, that’s all in the video already. What she decided she re-ally needed to do to make her mark was to !rst pound

the piano for a minute, then have blood splashed all over her, before she was !nally taken into heaven. #is, my friends, is a performance for the books.

Beyonce#e baddest diva

made “Single Ladies” sound as fresh and cool as it did nearly a year ago with a per-formance that brought in a lot of single ladies. Beyonce owned and copyrighted those now-infamous moves and kept the audience en-gaged.

But what made her really stand out that night was her graciousness after winning Video of the Year. She said a few words before handing the mike back to Taylor Swift to let her !-

nally say her acceptance speech. All the more for me to love Beyonce.

THE BADEminem’s win I’ve got nothing

against Eminem, but for him to win Best Hip-Hop Video for “We Made You” is just in bad taste. #e song was atrocious enough if not for the terrible, tired pop culture-laced video. It’s not 1999 anymore, Em.Muse’s performance

Maybe I’m just a Muse hater, which I fully am, but the band’s perfor-

mance felt "at. It was sur-prising, given the theatrics Muse brought to their new song “Uprising.”

“Empire” invaded All was well for Jay-

Z’s performance until the end when Lil Mama came out of nowhere to jump onto the stage. Jay-Z tried to play it o$ and act cool, but his look of annoyance was front and center. May-be Lil Mama doesn’t know the rules of the game, so let me recount them for her. One: you do not join Jay-Z and Alicia Keys on stage unless you’re the awesome Beyonce. Two: you don’t that especially if you’re name is Lil Mama.

The lack of bad #is year’s ceremony

"ew by pretty breezily in a scant two and a half hours, which is a great accom-plishment. But the VMAs are notorious for the awk-ward, embarrassing and the just plain bad. Only Kanye West was brave enough - or stupid enough - to bring it to the show. Now that the VMAs have some momen-tum going, here’s hoping for some scandal next year.

THE UGLYKanye West Kanye West is no

stranger to speaking his

mind. But to take the mike from newly minted “Best Female Video” winner Tay-lor Swift to announce that Beyonce’s was better? #at’s just wrong. After West jumped o$ stage, Swift was left to stand there looking like Bambi witnessing her mother die.

Rumor has it that he and his date were escorted out shortly after.

Still, even West’ apol-ogy felt disingenuous, like a child’s excuse. Someone needs a time out!

ChrisNguyen

Photo by Tyler MorrisCHS 2008 graduate Ti!any Cassius teaches Vivace!choreography to “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat” from the hit Broadway smash Guys and Dolls.

Daphne Chen Editor-In-ChiefWhen 2008 graduate

Tiffany Cassius left high school after four years in the choir program, she nev­er thought she would end up at CHS again less than a year later.

However, when di­rector Jeff Schultz called Cassius last year and asked if she would like to help as a choreographer for Vi­vace, she couldn’t turn him down.

0=% @8*% .$##'2$)% "C.%"&%?B%?'()%./$%2#*.%B$8#56%Cassius said, now 19. “The whole time I was like, ‘What’re they thinking? They probably think I’m an ')'".><6

Now in her second year on the job, Cassius is taking the chance to in­stitute some changes she would have liked to see as a student, such as including members in the brainstorm­ing process.

“When I was in Vi­vace, I used to get kind of irritated about always being ."3)% @/8.% ."% )"56% D8**'C*%said. “These singers have stepped up their A­game

because they’re coming up with their own song ideas, ,"*.C?$%')$8*5%./$?$*<6

The choir program has been rocky for the past few years, having gone through three different di­rectors in four years and four cho­reogra­phers in the same time.

“Tif­fany’s the only one that’s re­ally stuck through­out the time that I’ve been E'A8,$56% *$('"#% FA$#B%Szalkowski said. “It’s better that she was in Vi­vace and now she’s cho­reographing, because she knows exactly what our style is and what Vivace means as a group. We’ve had choreographers come in before and try to make us into a ballet troupe or something, and that’s just (".%C*<6

Because of this con­($,.'"(5% *.C)$(.*% 2()% '.%easy to befriend Cassius.

“She talks really fast and she says things that

)"(>.%?8-$% *$(*$56%E'A8,$%captain and senior Libby Ainsworth said. “When she’s trying to tell us how to do moves, she’ll be like ‘Make your hands really :';% 8()% +8G% ./$?% 8#"C()5%3'-$%8%+8?'(;"%)8(,'(;%"(%

a frog!’, or some­thing like that. It makes you laugh and it lightens the mood, and she keeps a

straight face the entire .'?$<6

However, this experi­ence has forced Cassius to learn how to handle an age gap that sometimes put her in the awkward position of teaching former classmates and friends.

0=.% @8*% )'&2,C3.<<<% ."%keep it processional and remember that this is her 9":%8()%./8.%./'*%'*%?B%9":56%Ainsworth said. “But once you get that down, she’s an awesome person to work @'./<6

Cassius is currently assembling songs for Vi­

vace’s November show, planning to add a bit ?"#$%0#",-%(>%#"336%."%./$%repertoire to spice up the usual hip hop and jazz routines. For example, one of the songs she has chosen is the Fall Out Boy remix of Michael H8,-*"(>*%0I$8.%=.<6%

“Inspiration for me can come from any form "&% $(.$#.8'(?$(.56% D8*­sius said. “It is the most erratic thing. Like I was watching Law and Order one time, and suddenly I got this idea for a detec­.'A$%)8(,$<6

She does have a soft spot for theatrics, choreographing per­formances that require props, costumes and 0,#8JB%*.C(.*6<

0=% 3"A$% '.56%D8**'C*%said. “I mean, who ex­pects a high school choir to come up with this kind "&%,#8JB%*.C&&K6

Now, all of Coppell will for Vivace’s Nov. 20 ­ 21 show. And although Cassius does not see her­self still working at CHS after graduation, many hope that she doesn’t 0I$8.%=.6%8(B.'?$%*""(<

“I love it. I mean, who expects a high

school choir to come up this kind of

crazy stu!?”- Ti!any Cassius

Photos courtesy Picture Group/MTVBeyonce hands the mike back to Taylor Swift to let her "nish her acceptance speech, which was interrupted by Kanye West (left). Lady Gaga appears in one of three out"ts she wore at the VMAs (right).

September 2009page 18 entertainment

Walking through the school halls usually doesn’t give you time to notice what people are doing or even wearing. But this year, it is surpris-ingly easy to notice the many students wear-ing plaid and denim.

Denim has al-ways been worn by Coppell High School students, especially jeans. However, de-spite its ubiquity, stu-dents have developed new ways to make the classic denim look good.

“I see under class-men and upper classmen in my classes and it seems like denim has always been popular with them, espe-cially jeans,” biology and anatomy teacher Jodie Deinhammer said.

Rolling up the end of the pant legs creates a shorter version of jeans without making students look like pirates. Also, den-im shorts have been more visible. It is interesting to think about how denim was

once just used as a replace-ment for the thin material that people once worked in, and now it’s being worn simply to look good.

Denim has been around since the late 18th century when labor work-ers wore it for its durability. !roughout the years, the use of denim has expanded from cowboys wearing it in

western "lms to teenagers sporting denim clothing in the 1950s.

Today, denim has in-creased greatly in popular-ity and also in the di#erent styles it is seen in. !e once popular bell bottoms and high-waist jeans have slow-ly decreased in popularity and have given way to new styles such as skinny, ripped and colored jeans. Longer denim shorts and denim skirts only add to the grow-ing popularity and diversity of denim.

Possibly seen more

than denim is the ever growing plaid pattern. From shirts to bags to backpacks, plaid is seen ev-erywhere. Now, plaid isn’t just for kilts and loggers anymore, but for the stu-dents at CHS as well.

Similar to when a band makes it big and their name is everywhere, the same goes for the check-ered attire that is seen

throughout the school. What is it about this item that makes students only want more?

“Plaid’s just com-fortable to wear and a classic look,” junior Sha-ron Chen said. “It’s a pattern that looks good on anybody.”

Luckily, plaid and denim have boys and girls to thank for their popularity and have pro-

gressed greatly in style as well as celebrity endorse-ment, since they "rst ap-peared on the scene.

“When something that is ‘big’ is open to both genders, that certain thing is de"nitely more popular,” junior Kevin Bonnot said. “It is not constricted that way, and it is not bound to a speci"c gender. With plaid and denim, both guys and girls are wearing it. It is more popular than other styles due to its unisexual quality.”

Your fall fashion dress code

Erin Blatney Sta! Writer

From plaid to jeans, CHS

students know how to rock hallways with style

“Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relation-ship.”

!ere it is: the point of William Paul Young’s as-tonishing and controversial novel, !e Shack. Revolving around love, relationships and trust, !e Shack is a powerful story that forces its readers to expand their perception of the God they know - or wish to know.

Published in 2007, !e Shack instantly soared to the top of the bestseller lists, and there are now over seven million copies in print. According to www.theshackbook.com, it “will soon be appearing in more than 30 languages around the world and in audio ver-sions in many countries as well.”

!ough !e Shack has received much publicity and praise, not all of its readers are pleased or comfort-able with Young’s di#erent and debatable view of the Christian Trinity and other aspects of God and heav-en. God appearing as an African-American woman who listens to secular mu-sic and eats vegetables and rice is just one of the ways Young strays from the aver-age Christian’s visual image of their Creator.

!ese distinctions, however, are purposefully incorporated to prove his strong point that our lim-ited imaginations cannot fully grasp the uniqueness

of God. Even the protago-nist, Mack, claims that “all his visuals for God were very white and very male.”

!e Shack’s main

theme is cliché yet pure, that God is love and life is all about relationships. Young takes the reader as well as Mack through a roller coaster ride of emo-tions. From sadness at the beginning with the death of Mack’s daughter, to hap-piness with the funny and peculiar Father, Son and Holy Spirit and joy when Mack "nally comes to em-brace his God and family, !e Shack embarks on an amazing journey about a transformed life.

Although the book ends well and o#ers a new, optimis-

tic outlook on life, it is not altogether correct. Upon digging deeper, it is evi-dent that !e Shack is not theologically $awless, even if it does tie a nice bow on Christianity.

For example, at one point God, “Papa,” says, “I have been trying to make head or tail out of it, but sorry, he’s [ Jesus] got me lost.” !is blatantly contra-dicts the God of the Bible, Whose all-knowing nature is shown in Romans 11:33: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowl-edge of God! How un-searchable his judgments and his paths beyond trac-ing out!”

!e Shack also claims that God is not a Christian. !ough people can defend or challenge this statement with di#erent points, it is a de"nite theological con-cern.

!ere is no denying that Young’s !e Shack is a matchless work of litera-ture, mainly for its forceful opinions, unique perspec-tive and overwhelming message of love. And even though the details are not theologically and realisti-

cally sound, the book is an excellent source of reassurance for the confused and hope for the lost.

Taking a visit to The Shack

Sta! WriterRebecca Fowler

“It is not bound to a speci!c

gender. With plaid and denim, both

guys and girls are wearing it.”

- junior Kevin Bonnot

Photos by Aditi Shrikant

The Shack digs deep into the in-ner workings of Christianity.

September 2009 page 19entertainment

Attention: the following program has been canceled

Melissa BriscoSta! Writer

!e fall line-upNew TV schedule o!ers a little something for everyone

Network con!icts, bad scheduling or failure to obtain an audience are the main reasons that TV shows are canceled; unfortunately, great programs have been canceled for these vary same reasons. However, with the advent of the DVD player and a robust home video market, it is now

easier than ever to watch these canceled shows."erefore, I have created a list of the best canceled TV shows that I think are worthy of your attention.

!is show usually tops the lists, and it is easy to see why. Airing on NBC from 1999-2000, this teenage drama/comedy avoided the common clichés befalling the genre, and entertained with characters di"erent in their attitudes and way of dress but universal enough to con-nect with.

It is a show mainly about an over-achiev-er named Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardenelli) who decides to hang out with the “Freaks”, made up of Ken (Seth Rogen), Daniel Desario ( James Franco), Nick ( Jason Segel) and Kim (Busy Phillips), who are seen as the outcasts of the school. However, Lind-say’s brother, Sam ( John Francis Daley), is a link to the world of the “Geeks”,

who are Bill Haverchuck (Martin Starr) and Neal Schweiber (Samm Levine).

It deals with the trials of teenage life with surpris-ing tenderness and humor. In an early episode, an ex-hausted Lindsay crashes on her bed after throwing a party, scared because her

house is be-ing de-stroyed. Neal, who has a crush on

Lindsay, holds her and calls the police pretending to be an old man awakened by the noise of the party. Moments like this de#ne the show as one which does not keep the characters at arm’s length to act as punch lines. Rather, it was a show that cared about its charac-ters maturing but was able to show the humor of the process.

Why, why, why was this show canceled? Bril-liant cast. Hilarious writ-ing. Top-notch guest stars. It literally boggles the mind that FOX decided to pull the plug on this show.

With a cast consisting of Jason Bateman, David Cross, Will Arnett and Mi-chael Cera, “Ar-rested Devel-opment” is a comedy about a dysfunctional family (!e Bluths), which owns a huge real estate development #rm. Bateman (Michael Bluth) deals hilariously with the struggles of both family and busi-ness. Even though it seems like a cliché, the show was handled origi-

nally; for example, during one episode George Bluth (Arnett), Michael Bluth’s younger brother, gains con-trol of the company. He does this through a board meeting were he surprises the board by changing $100 into 100 pennies.

!e epi-sode has Mi-chael try-ing to keep his

brother from destroying the company while simul-taneously trying to leave his family forever. Unfor-tunately for him, he cannot

leave them; fortunately for viewers, the hijinks

continue to be as hi-larious as the afore-

mentioned example.

Graphic by Yogesh Patel

Each year, a plethora of new shows are released in hopes of getting enough viewers to keep the pro-gram on for more than three weeks, and, at best, return for a second season.

Each network pro-duces numerous shows that not only compete with other new ones but also with much loved returning programs.

!is year, many of the shows are targeted to teen audiences and some have roots in the past. One pro-gram is a revival of a much loved 90s show, while an-other is the sister show to an already popular program. !e array of new shows is extremely diverse and many are promising.

One new show which has been receiving much buzz is the resurrection of the popular ‘90s show, “Melrose Place.” !e show originally ran from July 1992 until May 1998 and was the second show in the “Beverly Hills, 90210” series. !e new “Melrose Place” is the #fth series in the “Beverly Hills, 90210” franchise. It is not an en-tirely di"erent show but merely an updated version.

“I watched the #rst episode [of ‘Melrose Place’] and I’m going to watch the rest of this season,” senior Precious Femi-Ogunyemi said. “!e #rst episode wasn’t very good, it seems as though they just started #lming randomly in the

middle of a story line. In other shows, they build relationships between the characters, but in this one they were already estab-lished. I’m going to keep watching though be-cause it seems like it is going to get better.”

!e show is about a small apart-ment com-plex located in West Hollywood and the plot revolves around its residents. !e majority of the actors are young, fresh faces in Hollywood, but a few members of the original cast will be on the new show while others will have guest spots. Two of the young actors will be playing the children of characters from the original show.

Regardless of how good the show is or how true to its predecessor it seems, one thing is sure: it will be #lled with drama. !e #rst episode alone fea-tured a murder mystery. !e show premiered on the CW on Sept. 8. To catch up on the drama, view-ers can check out the epi-sodes they’ve missed at the CW.com.

Another show creat-

ing buzz is the highly an-ticipated “Glee.” !e pilot episode aired last spring following the “American Idol” season #nale and was very well received. !e

show is about a high school show choir that was once amazing and even national champions but now is a place for mis#ts and dorks. A teacher who was in the Glee club when he was in high school decides he wants to be in charge of the club and hopefully return them to their former glory.

!e show promises to be funny and charming with delightful newcomers such as Lea Michele (Ra-chel Berry) and Cory Mon-teith (football player Finn Hudson) as well as veteran Jane Lynch (the captain of

the school’s cheerleading squad, Sue Sylvester). !e show premiered Sept 9. To catch up on the fun, view-ers can check out FOX.com for previous episodes.

“I plan on watching “Glee” because it looks like a show that features music that #ts into my tastes as well as being a comedy,” senior Scott Bower said. “Also, as a member of Vi-vacé, I feel obligated to see how the show choirs com-pare.”

CW has another new show appealing to teens. “!e Vampire Diaries” which is oddly reminis-cent of the hit book and movie series Twilight is based on the book series by L.J. Smith. !e show is about Elena Gilbert, a high

school girl who is the object of a"ection of two vampire brothers - one good and one evil. All of the actors are relatively unknown. !e show seems a bit corny,

but many fans of the Twilight franchise an-ticipated the show’s premiere which aired on Sept. 10 on the CW. To see the epi-sodes, go to CW.com. Fervid Twilight fan and sophomore Sarah Hillier does not plan on watching the show.

“‘Vampire Dia­ries seems to just be following the trending vampire fad among teenage girls,” Hillier said. “!ey seem to think that, because Twilight and “True Blood” have been successful, they can pick up on that suc-cess. My guess is that, like most other fads, this too will pass, and

the show won’t last more than a couple seasons at

most.”Also premiering this

fall is the comedy “Com-munity” staring much loved TV host Joel McHale from his show “!e Soup” and veteran comedic actor Chevy Chase. It is a show about a group of quirky students from all paths of life who attend the lo-cal community college set in Greendale, Colorado. and form a study group. !rough the study group, the characters inevitably end up learning more about themselves than the cur-riculum. !e show premiere

aired on Sept. 17 and the episodes can be viewed on NBC.com.

“I am going to watch “Community” because I am a fan of Joel McHale,” senior Aleya Noor said. “I think he is really funny and I already watch his show ‘!e Soup.’ I’m really ex-cited [for ‘Community’].”

Starting also this fall is “NCIS: Los Angeles” a spino" of the already popu-lar “NCIS.” !e new show will still be about the Naval Criminal Investigative Ser-vices, but will focus around the O$ce of Special Proj-ects. !e group of investi-gators will go undercover and try to uncover and catch criminals and divert crimes that pose a threat to America’s National Secu-rity. A few of the characters from the original “NCIS” will guest star on “NCIS: Los Angeles”, however, the regulars of the show are all new. !e show premiered on Sept. 22nd on CBS. !ose wanting to catch up on the show can go to CBS.com to watch the episodes they missed.

“I do not plan on watching ‘NCIS: Los An-geles’ because I really like all of the characters from the original ‘NCIS’ and I do not want to start watch-ing another show,” origi-nal “NCIS” fan and senior Alaina Wolf said.

!is new, diverse ar-ray of fall shows appeals to all di"erent audiences, and while some are more prom-ising than others, one thing is sure: this fall: viewers will be very entertained.

From an objective standpoint, it is hard to see how “Fire%y” was even pro-duced. What network exec-utive saw the script of this western space opera and thought, “!is will work”? However, it did, and excep-tionally well.

“Fire%y” is about the adeventures of crew of the ship Se-renity. !e lead charac-ter Mal-colm Reyn-olds (Nathan Fillion) is a hardened ship captain after losing a #ght in the war against the Alliance, the central government con-trolling the system.

He buys Serenity to live outside Alliance con-trol and is helped by crew members Zoe Washburne (Gina Torres,) his #rst mate who fought on the same side during the war, Hoban “Wash” Washburne (Alan Tudyk,) her husband, Dr.

Sta!Writer

Hubert Adjei-Kontoh

New TV shows are invading viewers with many great options.

Simon (Sean Maher,) the ship’s doctor, Simon’s sister River Tam (Summer Glau,) who was smuggled on the ship by her brother.

!ese characters help make it such a great show. However, the treatment of “Fire%y” by FOX should be an example in ethics textbooks at any television

network, because FOX basi-cally killed the show from the beginning.

From showing episodes out of order to changing the time the episodes would air without any prior notice and leaving the show to die on the Friday night death slot, FOX didn’t give it the chance it deserved.

!ough what hap-pened to “Fire%y” was trag-ic, the DVDS are out there, waiting to be watched by anyone who values a great show.

FREAKS AND GEEKS

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENTFIREFLY

page 20 September 2009sports

Falling leaf from golden tree,your descent signals the beginningof something bigger.Soon, the clash of pads will !ll the airmixed with muted grunt, elated cheerand, perhaps, the isolated sob of a Lions fan. Every point and play from scrimmage is a cog,a cog in the machine; Football Nation is that machine.Every quick-handed interception and artful dodge,every pick six and !nesse-inspired jukeis just one more for the Highlight Reel in the Sky."ere’s the Ickey Shu#e and the Dirty Bird,the antics of the Fun Bunch and the Lambeau Leap,but in the end there’s no trumping the roar of the crowd.Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday,four days of football,that’s three days too few.So despair not, falling leaf,as you spiral slowly to the ground,for your sacri!ce is our gain in this coin toss called life.

Of course, there’s a simpler translation for all of that. One word:

football. Fans will tell you that’s all the de!nition you need.

Graphic by Amy Piper

Seitz channels artistic in ballad

A crisp drum roll and the bass of a tuba break the silence. "eir simple mel-ody is alone for a moment but joined by a company of brass—blaring trumpets and bellowing horns—sec-onds later.

"e smallest of chills runs down my spine as the commercial ends. It’s foot-ball season once again.

Yes, football season, and a glorious one at that: the Big 12 South may be the conference to beat in college ball (despite a luckless Oklahoma loss to Brigham Young), with Tex-as at No. 2, Oklahoma State close behind, a strong Texas Tech program and a Bay-lor team that looks like it might—just might—make a bowl for the !rst time in 15 years.

In the NFL, the last few weeks have witnessed the unveiling of Jerry

World in Arlington, the 1.2 billion dollar construct that hopefully ushers in a new era of Cowboys football—a prospect made considerably more likely upon removal of the team’s problem chil-dren, Terrell Owens, Adam “Pacman” Jones and Tank Johnson.

"e other Cowboys are looking strong as well, as new coach Joe McBride has revitalized a previ-ously anemic defense while maintaining the e#ective-ness of the team’s pass-heavy spread. Standout junior running back Cam McDaniel, meanwhile, keeps defenses honest on the ground.

Fans across nation, regardless of team a$lia-tion—from the cheeseh-eads in the inhospitable north to our own rowdy footballers in Big D—can attest to that magical feel-ing, the one that can is usu-ally con!ned to the open-ing weeks of August, where a snatch of dramatic or-chestral music or the clash-ing of helmets can trigger a full-out burst of giddiness.

A giddiness that makes you want to channel the inner bard and com-pose; to bring something forward to place before the feet of the gridiron gods.

Below is such a com-position, titled simply An Ode to Football. Enjoy.

"e training sta# at the high school is also instrumental in avoiding heat issues throughout fall sports.

“Along with an un-limited water policy across the entire athletic depart-ment our trainers do a great job of monitoring practice conditions,” Crawford said. “"ey check the humidity and temperature everyday and alert the coaches of dangerous conditions.”

"e University Inter-scholastic League (UIL) provides an index online that relates temperature to humidity and describes the risk levels associated with each combination.

While the football team takes up the stadium, !eldhouse and practice !elds after school, the band takes their places in the parking lot behind the sta-dium. As the band settles in for a long afternoon prac-tice they face the same heat

issues. “Everyone brings wa-

ter to practice in order to deal with the heat,” sopho-more Weston Sandfort said.

Along with current policies the administra-tion is always looking for ways to improve practice environments and increase safety.

“"ere have been talks of putting air conditioning units in the weight room and the turf room,” Craw-ford said. “["e district]

actually set aside money for an air conditioning unit for the weight room in the last bond, but not for the turf room.”

So as stories of stu-dent athletes having heat stroke during two a days are broadcast across lo-cal news stations Coppell’s coaches and training sta# have taken action by imple-menting water policies to help prevent dehydration and working practice times around the heat.

Caitlin ConnerSta! Writer

Photo by Frances Ruiz

Soccer campout tradition continuesEvery Friday morning

as students walk across the parking lot, they can’t help but notice the large tent sitting to the right of the main entrance along with a group of fatigued, scraggly boys sitting in lawn chairs. "ese students are carrying out what has been known for years as the senior soc-cer camping tradition.

“Every home game, all the senior soccer guys get together and camp out at the school for fun,” se-nior team captain Jordan Elgin says. “It’s mostly just to hang out but it is also to support the football team.”

"is tradition started with the class of 2006, when former soccer coach Mike Ridley’s son Je# cre-ated it for hanging out and team bonding. "ough the school has never given di-rect permission for the campout, the administra-tion allows it.

“We have allowed them to continue the tradi-tion as long as they follow certain rules and stipula-tions we’ve put in place, such as no open %ames,” assistant principal Sean Bagley said.

"ursday night every senior on the boys varsity soccer team meets at the school around 8PM. First they set up their camp, this

year consisting of three tents, an assortment of lawn chairs and one over-sized husky dog stu#ed animal named Balto.

Once everyone is sit-uated, the boys make a late night trip to Taco Bell for food. From there, they boys spend the rest of the night hanging out and talking. Most of them stay on cam-pus the rest of the night, with some going straight from their sleeping bags to their classes. As far as

“It is fun sitting out early in the morning and watching everyone walk in to school,” Elgin said. “You see tons of people that you know and some even bring us food. [Senior] Kristen Carter brought us donuts before Lariette practice the !rst campout.”

Senior team captain Joey McKillop and Jaxon Williams agree that their favorite part is playing Mi-ley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA” and watching every-one walk in.

Each year, the seniors vote on one special junior they will allow to attend the campouts in order to prop-erly carry on the tradition the following year. "ough the decision has been made, the boys are keeping it a

mystery for now. “We all just agree on

whomever we think would be most fun to hang out with and who would carry on the tradition best once we’re gone,” Williams said.

"ough the boys aren’t exactly roughing it out in the wilderness, there is nothing comfortable about the way they camp. Every campout so far has been interrupted either by rain, tornado sirens or even friendly visits from the Coppell police. During bad weather, the boys regroup at a teammate’s house and then return to their tents once the weather dies down.

“Last campout a cop came and asked what we were doing so we explained it to him,” McKillop said. “He was pretty cool about it. He just told us to make good decisions and then spent an hour with us talk-ing about college and our future plans.”

For these seniors, each campout is an adven-ture as well as the perfect opportunity to spend time with each other. As they continue to camp through-out football season, they grow closer as a team.

continued from pg. 1

The senior soccer team prepares to camp out before the football game against the Highland Park Scots.

Coaches act out against heat

Marvin Parker and Cody Bonner (left and right foreground) take advantage of a water break during a JV football practice. The football program has an open water policy to prevent dehydration and strokes.

Photo by Tyler Morris

Sports EditorBlake Seitz

Photo by Tyler Morris

September 2009 page 21sports

!e school year is back in full swing at Cop-pell, meaning that the highly anticipated team tennis season is underway. Along with the excitement a new season brings come high expectations.

Despite a di"cult preseason which saw Cop-pell post a 1-7 record, the Cowboys start the year ranked No. 12 overall in the preseason state polls and for good reason. !e Cow-boys have a tradition of excellence in team tennis, as they have reached the regional tournament for 11 consecutive years. !e goal remains the same this year.

“Right now our goal is to win district and then move to regionals,” senior Shruthi Rajashekar said. “We won six straight dis-trict titles before Southlake beat us last year.”

!e players certain-ly like there chances to achieve this goal. Despite watching several senior

players graduate last year, a plethora of talented un-derclassmen are looking to team up with the seniors andmake their mark. Play-ers are beaming about the depth across the board on varsity among both the boys and girls on the team.

“We de#nately have a good team,” senior Jacob Rao said. “We have six lines of singles [on the team] and we are all pretty even. It is rare to #nd a team that is as deep as we are.”

!e team has been inspired by the leader-ship, as well. !ree of the top four boys on last year’s team, Blake Taylor, Chase Ross and Rao, return for their senior season this year, providing veteran leader-ship for the underclassmen to learn from as they strive to win the district tital and advance to regionals.

To qualify for the re-gional tournament, Cop-pell is required to be one of the top two schools in their district. !ey are one step closer to achieving this after kicking o$ the season

with an inspiring 10-9 win against the reigning district champion Southlake Car-roll Dragons on Sept. 8.

“We expect to be competitive and hope that we can advance [to region-als] like we have in the past,” coach Jane Jackson said. “I feel like four of the teams in our district will have extremely strong teams, including us. Mar-cus, Flower Mound, and Southlake are the teams to beat.”

Marcus once again has a very deep team, es-pecially on the girl’s side. Southlake Carroll also sports a lineup that is #lled with depth, but they saw several solid players gradu-ate last school year and may still be searching for their identity.

Nonetheless, Cop-pell was satis#ed with their victory, which they believe started them o$ on the right foot to begin the year.

!e tennis players have a strong sense of unity. !ey have shared countless hours of practice together

and support each other, and this should be key in the success of the tennis team over the course of the year.

“We are really close,” junior Sam Wade said. “We hang out [after] school and in tennis. I think everyone cheers well and it really brings up our morale.”

Peter SplendorioSta! Writer

Senior captain Jacob Rao practices his kick serve during practice. Photo by Katie Quill

Deep tennis team hopes to lead district pack

Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan and Michelle Wie are just a few of the golf legends that de-#ne the sport today. With a personal best of 71, could senior Jinny Kim be anoth-er name to add to the list?

Kim has been gol#ng for four years and played for the Coppell girls golf team since her freshman year.

“Overall, Jinny has improved in every aspect of the game from o$ the tee and her short game,” girls golf coach Kirk Richardson said. “She has a tremendous work ethic. She works hard and practices all the time.”

Kim picked up golf-ing because of her father’s love for the sport. He has been playing for over 30 years in his spare time and strongly encouraged Kim to play. Due to her father’s expertise in the sport, he has been able to guide Kim and help her improve.

“He tries to help me by coming to watch me at practices and he tells me what I’m doing wrong so I can #x it,” Kim said. “He keeps me going and tells me to never give up.”

One of Kim’s favor-ite parts about golf is that she can share her pas-sion with her dad and that brings them together and strengthens their relation-ship. Another aspect Kim loves is the feeling you get when you’re playing and hitting the ball well and the adrenaline that instills.

Kim has put a great

deal of time and e$ort into golf. On average, Kim practices at least 30 hours a week and feels as though Riverchase Golf Club is her second home. Her nor-mal routine consists of two hours of putting, an hour of hitting and #nishing up by playing nine holes.

As if playing a varsity sport wasn’t enough, Kim competes competitively as well.

!e American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) is a nonpro#t organization which holds tournaments for independent golfers to compete and have the op-portunity to be scouted by college coaches. !ere are more than 5,000 golfers in the AJGA across the coun-

try. Kim has been a mem-

ber of the AJGA for two years and has competed in seven tournaments already this year, placing in the top #ve in #ve of the seven tournaments.

“!e AJGA is one of the highest ranked junior tours and is where you get exposed to a lot of good colleges and universities,” Kim said.

Kim’s eighth and #-nal tournament, the AJGA Girls Championship, was Sept. 4-7 in Greenville, S.C. at the Furman Uni-versity Golf Course. !ere were 78 girls in the tourna-ment and Kim tied for 59 with a #nal score of 250.

In order to prepare for

the tournament, Kim went about her regular schedule of gol#ng, but added in some extra workouts. Kim lifted weights and ran with a trainer to get herself pre-pared for the tough compe-tition by building muscle mass and gaining %exibility and resistance.

Along with training, Kim had strategies that she hoped would get her through the weekend.

“I’m going to try to hit as main fairways and greens as I can and focus on my game and not my op-ponents,” Kim said. “I really need to work on my men-tal game and being able to recover from a bad shot instead of going down hill from there.”

Golf is a sport requir-ing mental preparation and stability. CHS graduate Whitney Novack worked closely with Kim while they were teammates on the golf team and knows her strengths.

“Her strong suit is de#nitely her short game, that girl can get up and down, and save par,“ No-vack said. “She’s pretty solid, it just depends if she has a good or bad day. It’s competitive but Jinny al-ways seems to pull through. She doesn’t get scared, she plays her game.”

Although she did not place as high as she was hoping in the tournament, Kim came out better than she went in.

“It felt like a college atmosphere and gave me a preview of how college golf will be next year,” Kim said.

Richardson agrees that Kim should not be dis-couraged.

“It was a tough course, but Jinny was one of few from the state to go and I know she would have liked to do better and place high-er, but it’s an honor to have even been able to compete,” Richardson said.

Kim is planning on attending the University of Arkansas at Little Rock next year to play on the Tro-jans’ womens golf team. She has been in contact with the coaches about scholarships and even though nothing is set in stone, Kim is looking forward to further pursuing her career as a golfer.

“It’s my passion and it’s been my goal since I started gol#ng to play in

college,” Kim said. “I’m lucky enough to have the chance to be part of such a great program.”

But after college, Kim still isn’t going to stop. She is going to try to make it to the LPGA by the time she is 30. In order to do so, Kim will be independently practicing and entering tournaments to see if she can qualify for the LPGA. !is will also help her build up her resume so she will hopefully get the opportu-nity to coach a college golf team.

What started out as a high school pastime for Kim has turned into a life-long dream and something that has and will continue to shape her bright future.

Peyton WoodSta! Writer

Parent Q&A with Ray KimQ: How do you try to help Jinny? A: When she started I tried to teach her the basics of the swing and I try to remind her of the things she needs to correct.

Q: Has gol!ng with Jinny strengthened your relationship?A: We get to golf together a lot and we travel together a lot and sometimes it’s good, some-times it’s bad but it’s di!erent than staying at home and talking. It’s a di!erent kind of fun and a di!erent relationship.

Q: What are do you want for Jinny and how do you hope she furthers her golf career?A: Most parents want what’s best for their chil-dren and there’s no exception for us. I just want her to see di!erent things, to go di!erent places and to get memories and a good experience out of it.

Coppell is back on top after summer play, early wins against Southlake Carroll, Hebron

Senior Jinny Kim, a member of the American Junior Golf Associa-tion (AJGA), will play in college at Arkansas-Little Rock.

Photo by Peyton Wood

Pastime becomes larger aspiration for Kim

District Matches

Hebron (8/15)Site: CHSGirls Doubles: 4-1Boys Doubles: 3-2Mixed 2-0Girls Singles: 5-1Boys Singles: 2-4Result: COP 12-7

SL Carroll (9/19)Site: SLCGirls Doubles: 3-0Boys Doubles: 3-0Mixed: 0-1Girls Singles: 2-4Boys Singles: 2-4Result: COP 10-9

page 22 September 2009sports

!e Coppell rugby team has started the year with "erce determination to rebuild the team to its former standards. Hav-ing ended the season with roughly 40 players, the team is down to 15 people.

!e majority of the players are now juniors, and although most of them are relative newcomers to the team, there still remain a few veterans.

“It’s all rebuilding; no structure, no spots; were just focusing on playing,” junior Zach Getson said.

!e team is now led by three junior captains; Zack Korman, Philip Han-son, and Zach Getson. All three played on the team the last year. Not only did the team gain new captains, but also new coaches.

“Our original coach moved to McKinney, so he found us two replacement coaches,” Korman said. “Both are semi-pro rugby players.”

!e new coaches, George Mundstedt and Tom McCormack, are ex-perienced semi-pro rugby coaches from the Dallas Harlequin Rugby Club. Having played the sport since college, they’ve both coached nine high school teams that have reached the national championships.

“It’s a great group of kids; they’re athletic, they’re focused, they’re in-

terested,” Coach Mundst-edt said. “We de"nitely will be working on "tness por-tion of the game. !at, plus just "nding out who’s going to play what position are the most important things right now.”

Last year’s team set the bar high for the new players; the team was most-ly made up of seniors who had played together since they were sophomores. Af-ter playing a solid winning season last year, the team

“We were good last year, I mean really good. But now that most of the old players have gone o# to college, were hardly the same team anymore, “Phil-ip Hanson said. “Most of the people know how to play. We’re a little short handed right now but once football’s over we’ll get some more players. All we need right now is lots of hard practice.”

Because the rugby season doesn’t start un-til January, the team has plenty of time to work on it’s game. !e team warms up by "rst running drills and then moving on to handling the ball. After learning and practicing easy tactics and plays, the team wraps up by dividing up for a quick scrimmage.

“!e coaches are run-ning us pretty hard right now, but frankly we need to run hard,” Getson said. “We’ve got a long road ahead of us if we want to live up to what the team

!e Cowgirls volley-ball team is predicted to be a contender this season for a Class 5A state champion-ship. Joining the Cowgirls team this year are two pros-pects making major im-pacts. Both are freshman, and both are 6’1”.

Freshmen Cassidy Pickrell and Erica Bohan-non will play big roles on the varsity squad. !is is the "rst time in Coppell history that two freshman have been on the varsity squad. Coach Sherri Han-kins has been patiently waiting for this extremely talented freshman class to arrive at CHS and contrib-ute to the team.

“I have really looked forward to this freshman class,” Hankins said. “I have been watching them play since the seventh grade and am excited to see them play for us.”

!e two found out they would be playing on varsity at the All-American camp at the high school be-fore the season began.

“At "rst we started out playing with the freshmen,” Bohannon said. “!en later

in the camp we were pulled into the varsity huddle and told ‘this is where we would be’.”

Both girls were ec-static to hear the news.

“It was shocking and surprising to hear we both made varsity,” Pickrell said. “It was an exciting feel-ing because two freshman making varsity doesn’t hap-pen often.”

Sophomore Bear Bass was the "rst freshman in 19 years to play on varsity when she was called up midway through last season. Bass now has a prominent role on the varsity team as a setter and is thankful for the opportunity to play on the team last year.

“A big obstacle I had to overcome was being the youngest player on the team,” Bass said. “It de"-nitely made me more men-tally tough.

In matches, Bohan-non starts at middle block-er, while Pickrell is the "rst backup for outside hitter, giving her many opportuni-ties for playing time. Gell-ing with the seniors before the district opener Sept. 25 against Southlake, and then playo#s, will be paramount to the team’s success this

season.“At "rst there was

some pressure to prove our-selves to the older players,” Bohannon said. “Now after playing well in matches, we are a lot more comfortable with our roles on the team.”

Surprisingly, neither girl felt any pressure to "t in with the older seniors throughout practice before school.

“All of the seniors re-ally welcomed us with open arms and never thought we shouldn’t be on varsity,” Pickrell said. “From then our relationships with the seniors have only grown stronger.”

Seniors have noticed the skill levels displayed by the freshmen and are ex-cited for them to keep on competing at a high level.

“Cassidy and Erica are both really hard work-ers,” senior captain Deirdre Pajares said. “Both have improved their skill while being good team players.”

Outside of high school, the girls surprised many with their appearanc-es in the volleyball nationals in Miami. Pickrell’s team, Texas Advantage (TAV), came away with "rst place in the tournament while

Record two freshman on volleyball squad

Big shoes to !ll for young rugby team

Bohannon at Skyline took "fth place. !is tourna-ment "elds the best teams from all over the United States to compete, and for both Pickrell and Bohan-non to "nish in the top "ve is a great accomplishment.

“I don’t think people understand how incredible that is in select volleyball,” manager Kirby Preston said. “Both of their teams "nishing in the top "ve of nationals is awesome.”

Being on successful club volleyball teams has helped the girls in school volleyball.

“Playing at high lev-els during nationals really showed us what to expect from Cowgirl volleyball,” Pickrell said. “It prepared us mentally and physically for the start of the school season.”

Everyone on the team has embraced freshman, helping them and making sure they are an integral part of the team on and o# the court. With dis-trict just around the corner, the Cowgirls can count on these two phenomenal freshmen to perform at the highest level.

Event ScheduleFootball:

Sept. 25 – against Mans!eld SummitOct. 9 - @ SouthlakeOct. 16 – against HebronOct. 23 - @ MarcusOct. 30 – against Lewisville

Volleyball:

Sept. 25 – 5:00 against SouthlakeSept. 29 – 6:00 @ HebronOct. 2 – 6:00 against MarcusOct. 6 – 6:00 against Lewisville (Dig for the Cure)Oct. 9 – 6:00 @ Flower MoundOct. 13 – 6:00 @ Southlake Oct. 16 – 6:00 against HebronOct. 20 – 6:00 @ MarcusOct. 23 – 6:00 @ Lewisville Oct. 27 – 6:00 against Flower Mound

Cross Country:

Oct. 9 – Coppell Cowboy Round-Up (Andy Brown)

Tennis:

Sept. 29 – against LewisvilleOct. 6 - @ Flower MoundOct. 13, 16-17 – District Playo"s (location TBA)Oct. 21 – Coppell JV TournamentOct. 30 - Regionals

last year accomplished.”Coppell rugby prac-

tices behind the "eldhouse on Tuesdays and !ursdays at 4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. New players are always welcome.

“We need players. If

someone can’t make a prac-tice every now and then, we aren’t going to totally bench them. People got things to do and places to be and we understand that,” said Coach Mundstedt.

Andy TaborSta" Writer

Mike PankonienSta" Writer

Junior captain Zack Korman chases down coach George Munst-edt, formerly of the Dallas Harlequins.

Freshman Cassidy Pickrell leaps to spike the ball. Pickrell is one of two freshman players, along with Erica Bohannon.

Photo by Viviana Trevino

Photo by Katie Quill

game because that is what champions do,” head coach Joe McBride said.

September 2009 page 23sports

!e running back, quarterback and even the wide receivers get credit when an o"ense is click-ing, but when an o"ense stumbles it always seems to fall on the o"ensive line’s shoulders.

Whether it is fair or not for them to take the fall is up for debate, but for an o"ense to be clicking on all cylinders requires a solid line all the way from center to guard to tackle. !ey all need to play as one, open-ing holes and giving the quarterback time.

When a running back makes a big cut and breaks into the open, there are a group of linemen doing the dirty work and open-ing up holes. When a quar-terback is able to step into his throw and connect for a deep touchdown it is the linemen who have given him the time and protec-tion.#

At all levels of foot-ball, and at the high school level in particular, the suc-cess of an o"ensive line can often be attributed to the experience of the line-men and the time they have spent playing together, rather than the talent level

of each linemen.“Experience is the

key,” Coppell head coach Joe McBride said.# “Kids that return and have played at the varsity speed gain a huge mental edge on kids who have not.”

Coppell’s varsity team has faced major setbacks on the o"ensive line already this season, as three of their returning senior linemen are dealing with injuries that will keep them out for an unknown number of games. Both Tyler Ro-hde and Taylor Townley are dealing with injures, and Brandon Norton hobbled o" the $eld during the Je-suit game.#

“In order to remain competitive and on track for district we are going to need everyone else on the o"ense to pick up the slack,” McBride said. “!ere is go-ing to be a learning curve with sophomore o"ensive linemen as they make the jump from freshman com-petition to the varsity level.”

With sophomores Jake Williams and Sam Rice seeing playing time al-ready this year and juniors Oni Omoile and# Sterling Luckey# also seeing the $eld, the o"ensive line has faced a steep learning curve in terms of adjusting to the

Solid start for McBride, 4-0 Cowboys

Blake SeitzSports Editor

Nathan ReckAssistant Sports Editor

Andy TaborSta! Writer

Nathan ReckSta! Writer

For young line, every game a learning experience

The three-headed monster

Blake SeitzSports Editor

Nathan ReckAsst. Sports

Editor

Andy TaborSta! Writer

“It’s an exciting start to a new season. I

see another 57-53 in our future.”

- Brad Hunt

45-0 win over South Garland

In its debut game of the 2009 season, Cowboys football epitomized the axiom ‘Out with the old, in with the new.’ With new head coach Joe McBride at the helm, newly-starting senior quarterback Hayden Hawk under center and newly-starting junior run-ning back Cam McDan-iel close behind, they led the team to a 45-0 rout of South Garland.

McDaniel was the o"ensive workhorse of the night, putting points on the board four separate times. Hawk, meanwhile, posted big numbers despite an often nonexistent pocket, with 184 yards in the air and a touchdown.

!e defensive squad can be commended on the other side of the ball. !e defensive line combined for four sacks, with senior Nav-eed Amirhermat bagging a pair himself. !e second-ary had two interceptions on the night, one by junior cornerback Bennet Okot-cha and another—run back 57 yards for a touchdown—by senior safety Kevin Rut-ledge.

Principal Brad Hunt lauded the $rst game un-der McBride and even foreshadowed a repeat of last season’s game against Southlake Carroll.

“It’s an exciting start

to a new season,” Hunt said. “I see another 57-53 in our future.”

38-7 victory over Jesuit

!e Cowboys gave their fans something to cheer about once again with a 38-17 victory over the Jesuit Rangers.

!e defense contin-ued to shine after posting a shutout against South Gar-land a week prior—they held Jesuit scoreless for most of the $rst half before giving up 10 points late in the second quarter. !ey held the Rangers to 20 rushing yards on 11 attempts. !ey were not perfect, though, giving up 354 yards passing and surrendering 17 points total.

On the other side of the ball the o"ense rolled, posting 38 points to fol-low up its 45-point e"ort against South Garland. Se-nior quarterback Hayden Hawk connected on 15 of 29 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns. Hawk also had an eight-yard run for a touchdown.

“We love to win, but obviously [the game] wasn’t mistake free and we need to strive to have a perfect

41-20 win over Highland Park

!e Cowboys were big winners Friday night against Highland Park. Coppell ended up winning the game 41-20, shocking the favored Scots.

Rain poured down on the players throughout the night, making routine plays

such as the center to quar-terback exchange a major ordeal. Highland Park had

$ve fumbles during the wet game, resulting in two turnovers.

Senior captain Je" Johnson had a career day with 7 catches for 187 yards and one touchdown. On the other side of the $eld, senior receiver Taylor Goe-bel caught two touchdowns on $ve receptions for 64 yards.

Along with home $eld advantage, the rain helped the Cowboys con-tain the high-octane Scots o"ense to only 20 points. Senior free safety Nic John-ston had a huge game with countless big hits and two interceptions.

“We played really well

tonight and are glad to get the win,” Johnston said. “We have a lot to work on with coverage in the sec-ondary but we will be ready for next game.”

42-0 win over Weatherford

Each six weeks, the three-headed sports monster of Blake Seitz, Andy Tabor and Nathan Reck comes out to pass judgement on the latest in sports. This week’s topic...football.

Versus South Garland

Tabor welcomes Cowboys fans to the "rst game of the season against R.L. Tur—South Garland.

At Jesuit

Reck thinks the best defense is...Jesuit’s running game (-20 yards).

Versus Highland Park

Seitz thinks Cam McDaniel should tape a ‘slippery when wet’ sign to his back.

Tabor says rainy games aren’t nearly so bad in the press box with a plate of Hard Eight BBQ.

At Weatherford

Seitz says Weatherford completed one pass all night. Too bad that pass was to Nic Johnston.

Reck says the intimidation factor was there—big screen, nice "eld, two-story press box…the result: a Coppell shutout?

Blake SeitzSports Editor

On homecoming, 2008, the Cowboys de-feated Weatherford 49-6. !is year’s game on the Kangaroo’s turf held less importance than last year’s, without the garish display of mums and garters, but yielded a similar result: the Cowboys won, 42-0.

Senior quarterback Hayden Hawk, usually le-thal from range, proved di-verse against the Roos. His balls were mainly screens and short patterns across the middle, and the major-ity were on target: Hawk completed 29 of 36 passes (80%) for 364 yards.

Coppell’s defensive unit was without exception, forcing Weatherford into a one-dimensional o"ense—the Roos accumulated 139 yards of o"ense, none from the sky. !eir quarterback, junior Mitchael Rucker, threw six times and was o" the mark all six.

Coach Joe McBride explained the shutout in terms of the high expecta-tions he has for his defense.

“!at’s our standard,” McBride said. “We tell them we expect no points.”

speed and size of the varsity players.

“As an o"ense we had to adjust,” senior quarter-back Hayden Hawk said. “!e $rst couple of games [the o"ensive line] was just getting nervous, but with more playing time they have started to gain more con$dence.”

# Junior running back Cam McDaniel agrees that persistence will be needed.

“!e lack of experi-ence just means that we have to be patient with our running game,” McDaniel said.

Having made the jump from the freshman team to the varsity level himself, McDaniel knows how di%cult it is to adjust to the increased level of play.

“Making the move from freshman competition to varsity takes a few weeks to adjust. You have to adjust to the speed of the game, bigger hits and the overall increase of maturity,” Mc-Daniel said.

With the young of-fensive line still catching up to speed of varsity defend-ers, the Cowboys have put up 124 points through the $rst three weeks of play. Behind this inexperienced line Hawk has accumulated

759 passing yards and Mc-Daniel has rushed for 254 yards.

As the team prepares for district play, though, they know that the line and team as a whole need to continue to improve. !rough three weeks of the season District 6-5A has a 14-2 record (including Coppell’s three wins) with Lewisville and Hebron picking up the two district losses.

!e Cowboys are hoping to have their seniors back on the o"ensive line by the time district begins, which would be a welcome improvement.

“Right now they are all just being treated as day to day,” McBride said. “We are expecting to have them back by district, but as of now our young players are gaining valuable experi-ence for the next couple of years.”

So as the Cowboys prepare for their upcom-ing games both in and out of district they are relying heavily on a pair of sopho-mores who are making ma-jor contributions. As dis-trict grows nearer so does the return of the experience of the senior linemen.

Coppell’s o!ensive line was key in a 42-0 win at Weatherford on Sept. 18.

Photo by Tyler Morris

Sophomores on the o-line

Sam RiceJake Williams

September 2009page 24 the sidekick