towhere look

the

A&M Consolidated High School Friday, Sept. 27, 2013 Vol. 19 No. 11801 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy. S., College Station, Texas 77840

Roar

thisnssue

NewsViewpointsSnapshotsStudent Life

pages 2-4pages 5-6

page 7pages 8-9

PeopleSportsEntertainment/Etc.

pages 10, 13page 11-12

pages 14-16

Junior Heba Farag discusses her experiences with protest on PAGE 4.

Meet varsity football's start-

ing players.PAGE 11-12.

Check out photos from the first home game of the season on page 7.

Dipping tobacco use taken lightly by students in spite of health detriments

shilpa saravanan and channing young opinions editor and sports editor

the skinny on

A trail of smoke evocatively escaping someone's mouth, the slim silhouette of a cigarette between some-one's fingers...a bottle of spit in someone's car?

Although the most popular form of tobacco is in cigarettes, dipping tobacco claims a smaller but still significant portion of users.

DIP continued on page 3

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DANA BRANHAM

friday, sept. 27, 20132 | news | the roar

Science Bowl provides opportunity for competition, challenge

While most people go home on Mon-days after school to do homework, watch television, sleep or generally try to get over the intensity of a full day of education, a few do the opposite. At 4 pm each Monday, a group meets and prepares for this year’s upcoming Science Bowl.

“Science Bowl is a vocal competi-tion, kind of like Quiz Bowl, but only for science questions,” the new leader of this year’s team, senior Emily Miaou, said. “Each round, you have two teams of four members who will go against each other. A prompter will read the question, and who-ever buzzes in first gets to answer.”

At the end of the round, the points are calculated, and one team moves up to com-pete against a different school.

The questions asked by the prompter are not regular run-of-the-mill science questions either. The students going to the Science Bowl are quizzed on various branches of science, ranging from math and physics to energy, earth and space.

The advantage clearly falls to upper-classmen who have studied more of the material in school, but the group does have a way to divide up the workload.

“Each student, since it’s such a team sport, focuses on one section,” junior Patric

Bettati said. “One guy is the biology guy, one guy is the chemistry guy, and it kind of evens it out. If you have a freshman, they’re going to study bio.”

Last year, both the Science Bowl A-team and B-team went to regionals, with the A-team finishing in third place overall.

In preparation for this year’s Science Bowl, the members of the club meet in sponsor John Tollett’s room and answer sample questions. Simulating the rules of the tournament, the students must “buzz in” (by tapping on a buzzer) and wait for whoever is reading to clearly recognize them and then answer.

Junior Shreya Shankar, an A-team hopeful for this year, reflects on her previ-ous years of Science Bowl.

“I joined Science Bowl as a freshman because I had older friends who participat-ed in the science bowl and went to nation-als,” Shankar said. “I’ve always liked math and science.”

The actual Science Bowl was a little more intense.

“The Science Bowl was both fun and stressful. My team argued, but in the end it worked out okay. I really learned a lot,” Shankar said.

As the first meeting of the year at-tracted several new members, the AMCHS Science Bowl team is looking forward to a great year of learning.

aaron ross | assistant editor

Junior James Wu and freshmen Sujay Shankar, Benjamin Lamb and Brandon Zhao discuss science and math questions as they prepare for this year’s Science Bowl. Official teams will be selected in October. PHOTO BY AARON ROSS

are YOU up for the challenge?

Science Bowl will begin choosing teams around mid-October, and everyone is encouraged to come and practice, especially underclass-men who wish to practice for next year. Take this mini Science Bowl quiz to see how sharp your science skills are.

Answers: 1. Y 2. Bromine 3. W 4. Z

1. When we add a displacement vector to another displacement vector the result is… W) Velocity X) Acceleration Y) Another displacement Z) Scalar

2. Which of the halogens is a liquid at room temperature?

3. Which of the following is commonly accepted as the engine that most directly drives plate tectonic motion: W) mantle convection X) volcanic off-gassing Y) a molten iron core Z) gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun

4. About how many calories per gram will it take to sublimate water at standard pressure? W) 180 X) 360 Y) 540 Z) 720

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Senior Hunter Hays’s first ex-

perience with dip came at the be-ginning of his sophomore year.

“I was fifteen, [but] I was one of the few kids that was kind of adult enough,” Hays said. “Like, I could buy it.”

Hays took his first dip shortly after purchasing a can of dip for a good friend. He describes it as “terrible” and “disgusting” and mentions that it made him start to hiccup ferociously, but he con-tinues to dip regardless. Hays cites peer pressure as one among several reasons he continued-the major-ity of his friends also dipped at the time-but he also grew to enjoy dip after a “really good” second experi-ence with it.

“It relaxes you and kind of mellows you out,” Hays said. “When you get done with school

or leave a workout, you can just go home and put a big lip in and chill.”

Senior Terrence Redford*’s first experience also came about in his sophomore year. A friend of-fered him dip, asked him to try it, and eventually, dip grew on Red-ford, too.

“At first I got a buzz, but now it just relaxes me,” he said. “It’s just something to do.”

WHAT IS DIP?Dipping tobacco or snuff-

commonly referred to as “dip” or “rub”-is a type of smokeless to-bacco. To dip, a person packs the finely ground tobacco between his or her lower lip and gum. The lower lip absorbs the nicotine con-tained within the tobacco, which (according to the National Insti-tute of Health) can act as both a stimulant and a relaxant.

Senior Clint Hollis, a football player who started dipping in his eighth grade year, calms himself down with dip.

“Some people play Xbox,” said Hollis. “I throw a dip in.”

Hollis feels that dip “definite-ly” helps put him in “the right state of mind” before a game, as does fellow senior and football player Coby Foster. Foster began dip-ping this past summer “for fun” but eventually found that it also

relieved stress.“[Dipping] kinda helps relax

the nerves before I play,” Foster said.

Foster and Hollis both said-that “a decent number” of their football teammates dip, and Hays mentioned that his track team-mates dip as well.

“It’s like something you can look forward to,” Hays said.

HEALTH CONCERNSRedford dips three to four

times a day, at home and at school. He brushes his teeth with baking soda to “build [his gums] up” and maintains that dipping “doesn’t re-ally” concern him health-wise.

“I’ve always seen, you know, the rednecks,” Redford said. “Like, they always have messed-up teeth

and stuff, but that’s probably be-cause they don’t take care of their mouths.”

Avoiding swallowing while dipping is generally thought to let a person circumvent the “bad parts” of the tobacco and stop car-cinogens from entering the body: thus, people who dip must spit into bottles. Hollis keeps a collection of spit bottles around his house in his most frequented place.

“I dip all the time,” he said. “I even have a bottle in my bedroom.”

Hollis remains unconcerned about any possible adverse effects dip may have on his health, as does Hays. In the two years Hays has been dipping, he says that his den-tist “hasn’t said anything” to him.

Local physician Beth Berigan, however, disagrees with the com-mon assumption that dipping isn’t nearly as bad as smoking.

“People [who use dipping to-bacco] tend to think it’s not bad, or at least not as bad as smoking cigarettes,” Berigan said. “But they tend to have comparable medical problems.”

These potential problems, ac-cording to Berigan, include can-cer of the head, neck and mouth. (The National Cancer Institute has identified 28 cancer-causing substances in smokeless tobacco.) Additionally, those who dip and

neglect to spit can experience stomach cancer and even bladder cancer, as the carcinogens present in all commercially-sold tobacco products will not hesitate to spread throughout the entire digestive system.

“Smoking causes cancer, but [smokeless tobacco] can cause some of the more disfiguring can-cers,” Berigan said. “For example, the PSAs [warning against use of smokeless tobacco] are a lot more gruesome-looking than those warning against cigarette smok-ing.”

Even if a dipping habit isn’t quite severe enough to cause a condition as severe as cancer, Ber-igan says that putting the tobacco between the lower lip and the gums-essentially, dipping-causes the gums to recede, and a precan-

cerous condition known as leuko-plakia sets in.

Leukoplakia (literally, “white patch”) is the medical term for a number of whitish lesions of the mouth caused by smoking or chewing tobacco. These lesions, in conjunction with a swelling of the lymph nodes, typically signal the advent of cancer of the throat or mouth.

“When you get down to it, they’re kids: they’re think they’re invincible and that they can get away with everything,” Berigan said.

KICKING THE HABITHays once attempted to kick

his habit after a “bad experience” with dip involving nearly chok-ing. He returned to dipping after “a couple of months.”

“But if I don’t have a can, I’ll go without it,” Hays said. “It’s not a need, it’s a want.”

*name has been changed to protect the identity of the student

the roar | news | 3friday, sept. 27, 2013

Smokeless tobacco users reflect on personal experiences with dip

Snuff Stats

“Some people play Xbox; I throw a dip in.” -senior Clint Hollis

Sources: The American Cancer Society, 2011the National Institute of Drug Abuse, 2008

More than 5% of people aged 18 to 25 said they were current users of smokeless tobacco.

13.4% of high school boys and

2.3% of girls are current users of smokeless products.

Among high school seniors who ever used smoke-

less tobacco products, almost 75% began by the 9th grade.

There was a 47% increase in the number of new smokeless tobacco users between 2002-2008.

Men are over 10 times more likely than women to report using smokeless tobacco.

16% of college athletes use chew-ing tobacco.

DIP cont from page 1

friday, sept. 27, 2013 the roar | news | 4

Local protesters show support for change in Egyptian regime

With a blessing from the Muslim Brotherhood, supporters of Egypt’s ousted president Mohammed Morsi attacked and torched Christian homes, schools and churches that held precious memories for many. Such acts, along with several news media in the United States having portrayed the situation differently, have incited protests from all around the world, including local students.

“[The media] calls the overthrow of Morsi a coup organized by the military,” junior Monica Hanna said. “However, the military was called in by the people of Egypt to help them.”

Many youth in Egypt had begun to protest the rule of Morsi, who was democratically elected, because he changed the constitution so it gave him and the Muslim Brotherhood complete control of everything, as Hanna pointed out. A petition calling for Morsi to leave gathered around twenty-two million signatures.

Junior Joy Asaad, a Christian who just moved from Egypt, was one of the twenty-two million who signed the petition.

“It was kind of an interesting [feeling], knowing that I’d helped with something big in the country,” Asaad said. “I am a part of history, part of the thirty million who helped change [Egypt].”

On June 30, over thirty-three

million Egyptians gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to protest against the Muslim Brotherhood in one of the largest civil demonstrations ever recorded in history. Among them was Heba

Farag, a former student of Consol and Asaad’s cousin, who moved to the United States in 2008 for a better education and more religious freedom.

“Never [had] there been so

many people out for one cause— to protest the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood over Egypt and Obama’s support for their rule,” Farag said.

The protest, which lasted four days, was mostly peaceful, as the protesters would avoid going out at the same time as Morsi’s supporters. On the fourth day, the military announced that they had heard the request of the people of Egypt and would step in and remove Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from power.

“What the [news shows] here is that the military shot at innocent protesters, but actually, the protesters were the ones who began shooting first,” Hanna said.

In retaliation, the Muslim Brotherhood began burning the homes, churches and businesses of Christians.

“They killed people walking in the streets, just anyone they didn’t like,” Asaad said. “They seem to think that the Christians are the ones who caused the problem.”

Hanna’s Coptic Christian church organized a protest a few weeks ago, where members held signs calling for the media to portray the truth and condemning the Muslim Brotherhood’s actions and Obama’s support for them.

Their protest was featured on the news, but was showed along with a segment of a protest by Morsi supporters.

“They showed it as if we were two equal parties, but we’re really a

lot different,” Hanna said. “We’re not the same at all.”

Assad was not able to join in any protests but expressed her wish to do so.

“I want [to protest] for peace, freedom, safety and love in Egypt,” Asaad said. “Maybe everyone has different opinions and point-of-views, but that shouldn’t make us fight or have a war.”

Now that she lives in the United States, Asaad sees that not having any freedom really was an obstacle.

“In Egypt, I didn’t feel comfortable walking the streets as a girl, and that was really hard—to feel unsafe in your own country,” Asaad said.

Despite their young ages, Asaad, Farag and Hanna continue to let others know their demands and make their voices heard.

“When a person understands why he’s protesting and the possible conclusions and the results of his protests, then he can protest, regardless of age,” Asaad said.

All three believe that the voice of the people, especially of the younger generation, matters.

“[The young people] are the ones who will be leaders in the future, so their opinions are very important,” Farag said. “Getting them involved in these important matters will make them much more educated and become better people in the future.”

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5Here We Grow Again

Former Consol student Heba Farag joins a protest in Tahrir Square in Egypt. According to Farag, her sign mimics soccer penalty cards that require players to leave the game. PHOTO PROVIDED BY HEBA FARAG

The question “where are you from?” never ceases to annoy me.

I was born in Temple. I spent seven years in Boulder before moving to College Station. Wherever I’m from, it’s right here in the United States.

But the people who ask this question tend to ex-pect a certain answer, and that answer lies outside the country. They expect In-dia (or perhaps some other place with lots of brown people, like Africa. It’s hap-pened).

India is where my par-ents immigrated to the United States from two

and a half decades ago. The thing is, my parents might be from India, but I’m not from India. I’ve spent a total of about four months in In-dia, spread out across my 16 years of life.

So why do people get so confused when I answer “I’m from Colorado” or “I’m from Boulder” or even “I’m from right here?” I can’t make my situation much clearer than that. Why do they expect an answer from outside the United States? Why does an answer from within the United States throw them off?

And most importantly, why do they feel the need to

even ask such a question?The answer lies some-

where in the dank and musty realm of race and skin color and profiling. It’s dank and musty because the majority of white Americans—who, as you may have noticed, outnumber everyone else—don’t like to go there much, and for good reason. White people in America can af-ford not to think about race and skin color and profiling.

The rest of us can’t.You may say that it’s

better not to think about race and skin color and pro-filing: after all, shouldn’t we strive to be a “post-racial” society? Post-racial, huh? Then give me a good reason

for this: when I imagine a person—just any random person—the image in my mind is white. I’m not white. But that default person is. That’s not a post-racial per-son—that’s a white person. I can’t not see race as long as this default person is dif-ferent than me. If you try to tell me that there’s not a sig-nificant difference between white and brown, I’ll tell you to get your eyes checked.

These people them-selves often aren’t post-ra-cial, either, as much as they claim to be. They assume I’m from India because I look brown. Logical pro-tip to avoid such fallacies: many people in India are

brown, but not every brown person was born in India. I don’t consider myself “from” India, and I don’t see why anyone else should, either. Yes, my background is In-dian. But I’m technically American, and I don’t ap-preciate people trying to tell me that I’m not. America’s great. I’m willing to bet that I like America just as much as (and probably more than) the average person reading this.

My complaint may seem like it’s just a mat-ter of terminology, but the situation goes much deeper than that. Being branded as Not American leads to other things: for me, You’re Brown So You Must Be A Terrorist, inevitably leads to That’s Why You’d Vote For Barack Hussein Obama and then to I Can’t Believe They Let People Like You Into This Christian Nation. (I can’t make this up; it’s actual sixth-grade torture so ridic-

ulous and offensive that I’ve not forgotten it in the nearly five years that have passed since.)

The anti-immigrant mentality is all sorts of ri-diculous because America is a nation of immigrants. Maybe your ancestors got here before mine did, but unless you’re one hundred percent Native American, your ancestors took some-one else’s land. Therefore, I belong here just as much as you do--or, perhaps, you belong here just as much as I do.

So next time you ask someone who looks “for-eign” where they’re from, think about where you’re from.

Shilpa is opinions editor of The Roar. If you’d like to rant about how you’ve been stereotyped because of your race as well, you can e-mail her at the.roar.saravanan@gmail.com.

Skin color leads to stereotyping of students’ originsfriday, sept. 27, 2013 the roar | viewpoints | 5

Exclusion from family activity prepares senior for future departure

“When I imagine a person—just any random person—the image in my mind is white. I’m not white. But that default person is.”

shilpa saravananopinions editor

The first, very vague part of my college experience has begun: isolation from my family.

Senior year is just starting, and I’ve already felt this isolation in one very specific way: my family watching “Lost” without me.

If you know me at all (or have been in earshot of my angry yelling), you know my mom, brother and sister watched “Lost” this spring and summer. By watched, I mean breathed, ate and drank “Lost.” Nothing else mattered.

Don’t get me wrong: I love television. If you know me at all (or have been in earshot of my passionate, excited or angry yelling) you know this. But, unlike my cruel family members, I welcome others to join me in my obsessions. I explain, I love, I console. I love when others explain to me, like when my dear friend Amber talked me through endless episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” (and that’s quite the task).

However, that was NOT the way my family treated me with regard to the “Lost” Marathon of 2013.

Thanks to my mom’s eagerness to get her money’s worth out of Netflix, I was isolated from my very own flesh and blood.

Here’s a glimpse of my pain: I walk in after a long day at the old Chick-fil-A and try a casual conversation.

DAY 1Me: “Hey, family members! Whatcha watching?”

Family members: “Oh, just that show ‘Lost.’ Mom started it on Netflix.”

EVERY DAY AFTER THATMe: “Hey family members! What’s going on in this

episode?”Family members: “WHY DON’T YOU JUST BE

QUIET AND LET US WATCH THIS SHOW, OKAY? THIS SHOW IS SO EPIC AND INEXPLICABLE, SO PLEASE JUST LEAVE.”

Me: (indignantly proceeds to bedroom, licking verbal wounds).

And so this continued every day until the darn show was done. They still reference it, going as far to tell a random server that she looked like a character on the island, as I turned a violent shade of red. Or we’ll be at dinner and they’ll go over a funny or sad moment and begin yelling things like “Charlie! You have to die this time, brother! It’s the way it’s got to be.”

I felt so “Lost,” okay?From what I gather, there are approximately three

versions of each of the 50 characters and they all kiss random people and are sometimes on this island, sometimes not. Helicopters are involved and also the Dharma Initiative. While trying to process all this, I feel like one of the Others, whoever they are.

But I digress. The point here is that I’m not necessarily involved in every part of familial proceedings now. They’ve grown comfortable with leaving me out of the loop

sometimes. I go to work or extracurricular activities, and, well, things happen while I’m gone.

They have a communal activity that I am not a part of, and they don’t feel compelled to include me. It’s not mean or rude (besides the yelling at me to leave part), it’s just a progression, a transition into me not being there as often.

It does hurt a little to know my family is functioning without me. I balk when I think about pressing enter for those

college applications. It’s like I’m cracking, splitting from the reasonably firm foundation that is my family. Other times, I wish I was already gone and already free, building my very own foundation.

But then my deep reflections on maturity are interrupted when I hear the TV on in the living room. I think about my family starting a new show

without me, and I want to take advantage of the year I have left.

My brother and sister have started “Switched at Birth” now, and I’m going to try to catch up, even though it’s on ABC Family. Family means sacrifice (of quality television).

Nicole Farrell is senior editor of The Roar. If you’d like to discuss television shows (not including “Lost”), you can e-mail her at the.roar.farrell@gmail.com

nicole farrellsenior editor

“The point here is that I’m not necessarily involved in every part of familial proceedings now. They’ve grown comfortable with leaving me out of the loop sometimes. I go to work or extracurricular activities, and, well, things happen while I’m gone.”

friday, sept. 27, 2013

OPPOSINGHave people become too comfortable with casually breaking the law?

YESLaws seem silly sometimes-like the Texas law that forbids a

person from milking another person's cow. What?On a more serious note, though, most laws (silly as they may

seem) do serve a purpose. While jaywalking or driving with an expired license is certainly against the law and unadvisable, it may very well not directly hurt anyone nine times out of ten. Of course, just because we can get away with breaking the law doesn't mean it's right.

Similarly, breaking a law because it's convenient doesn't mean it's the right choice. When we break laws for the sake of shaving a few minutes off our trip to school in the morning (here's look-ing at you, kids who speed to school, weaving in and out of lanes of traffic,) we're showing a disregard for the authorities that are actually there to protect us. Inconvenient as it may be, laws like speed limits and laws that prevent us from jaywalking actually can be beneficial.

While you may be okay with cutting across the street to get from the fieldhouse back into the school more quickly, remember that you'd likely not be pleased if someone ran in front of your car with the same intention while you were driving down the same road. Plus, just as a heads-up: police officers are now watching for students jaywalking across the street to the gas station and to the fieldhouse.

The same goes for pirating movies and TV shows-it seems like a victimless crime, but that doesn't quite make it okay. (Also, really, your internet service provider comes after you. Better safe than sorry!)

When we respect the laws that govern our world into less-than-chaos, we grow up a little bit. We learn to be a little more cautious, a little more courteous, a little more aware of the people around us. And if now's not the time to learn to respect the world around us, when is?

Lawbreaking proves convenient, not morally sound

The Roar 2013-2014 Staff

NO

Editor-in-Chief: Dana BranhamManaging Editor: Michelle LiuSenior Editor: Nicole FarrellExecutive Editor: Leah CrismanOpinions Editor: Shilpa SaravananPhotography Editor: Eva AraujoNews Editor: Annie ZhangSports Editor: Channing YoungEntertainment Editor: Rojas OlivaAssistant Editors: Aaron Ross & Tiffany HammondStaff Reporters: Stephanie Palazzolo & Elizabeth ReedFaculty Adviser: Michael WilliamsAssistant Adviser: Chauncey Lindner

The Roar Editorial BoardDana Branham, editor-in-chiefMichelle Liu, managing editorShilpa Saravanan, opinions editor

The Roar is produced by the Advanced Journalism class at A&M Consolidated High School, 1801 Harvey Mitchell Parkway South, College Station, Texas, 77840. The opinions expressed are those of the writers and are not reflective of the administrators, faculty or staff of the College Station Independent School District. Submissions to the editors are welcomed but must be signed and should not exceed 300 words. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions in the interest of clarity and length or to not print a letter at all. Letters containing obscene or libelous material will not be considered. The Editorial Board consists of the editor-in-chief, managing editor and opinions editor. The Roar is a member of the Interscholastic League Press Conference (ILPC), the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). The Roar is a winner of the CSPA Gold Crown, the 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 ILPC Award of Distinguished Merit, the CSPA Gold Medal Award, the NSPA All-American distinction and 2005 ILPC Bronze Star and 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Silver Star. College Station Independent School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex or handicap in providing education services. Glynn Walker, Director of Human Resources, 1812 Welsh, College Station, Texas 77840 (979-764-5412) has been designated to coordinate compliance with the nondiscrimination requirements of Title IX. Catherine George, Director of Special Services, 1812 Welsh, Suite 120, College Station, Texas 77840 (979-764-5433) has been designated to coordinate compliance with the nondiscrimination. requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

• One should never follow the law blindly. If a person doesn't believe in something wholeheartedly, he or she should not feel inclined to follow it.• We are young and should not be told that we will ruin our lives if we do not follow the law. Teenagers make mistakes, and it is okay to mess up every once in a while (if we consider breaking small laws "messing up," which it is).• Teenagers are still trying to find their way around this world and figure out the proper shortcuts to take in life. Breaking small laws is just another way for us to find out who we are and what we stand for.• When teenagers do get caught breaking the law, the law becomes more serious to us. Having to pay the price for their actions can help teenagers better understand the law.

eva araujophotography editor

rojas olivaentertainment editor

• The fact that people break laws so casually and on such a regular basis is scary for a number of reasons.• Most significantly, it shows that our culture is a culture in which people stay within the boundaries of the laws not because they are told to, but because the laws conveniently align with their own beliefs, ideas or most likely just their personal unconscious habits.• If, at this age, teenagers can garner enough respect for the law, learn the discipline of constantly obeying the law and realize that most laws exist for legitimate good, then maybe we can break the unconscious habit we have of not really paying attention to small laws.• By obeying even the small laws, teenagers become less abstractly and more concretely "good" people.

the roar's consensus which "small" law do you break

most often?

"I occasionally throw food out

the window, which might

be considered littering, but it's

biodegradable."science teacher

Samuel Childers

"I watch a lot of movies online for free. I like

watching movies, but I don't want

to spend money."junior

Yuchen Gao

CFriday, September 6 , 2013--the first football gam the roar | snapshots | 7friday, sept. 27, 2013

Tigers trumph over Midway in first varsity football game of season

The Bengal Belles perform an exciting number during the half-time show. Senior Sarah Higgins dances front row and center, leading the team as captain. PHOTO BY DANA BRANHAM

Junior running back Derrick Dick smiles on the sideline as his teammate senior Riley Garner scores a touchdown in the first quarter. This touchdown starts the game with Consol in the lead 7-0. PHOTO BY DANA BRANHAM

Senior defensive back Reggie Davis leaps to tackle a Midway player. Davis stopped the player from advancing further on the field. PHOTO BY DANA BRANHAM

Senior Carlos Malavé dances in the student section during the third quarter as the drumline plays. At the end of the first half, the score was 34-14. PHOTO BY DANA BRANHAM

Midway and Consol line up during the tense fourth quarter. While Consol had the ball, Midway was in the lead with a score of 41- 37. PHOTO BY DANA BRANHAM

dana branham & aaron ross | editor-in-chief & assistant editor

home field advantage

the roar presentsfriday, sept. 27, 20138 | student life | the roar

new faculty & staff

to read web-exclusive content on Consol’s new assistant principals, visit

http://bit.ly/18ETv6p

cathy raffieldBengal Belles director Cathy Raffield is back to

the dance world. Once a dancer in high school and college, she took time off when she married and had children, and she taught English at AMCMS for two years prior to directing the Belles. She credits her kids for the dance “do-over.”

“They saw remnants of my dance world,” she said. “I thought I would never do it again. I’m so happy to be here.”

Raffield acknowledges that the Belles are a spirited, well-trained part of Consol.

“[Former director] Ms. Joerns left a really well oiled machine,” Raffield said.

views on Consol “So far so good. I have a really good work schedule and really good kids, so it’s been an easy transition.”views on position “I knew I was going to be a coach in third grade; I knew I was going to be a tennis coach sophomore year in high school. It’s always been my dream to be a coach, and I’m pretty passionate about tennis. being involved “I’m the president of the Texas Tennis Coaches Association. I’m involved with the USTA again; in every aspect of it, I’ve been a part of tennis. I grew up as a tennis player placed third in the state 1995 in boy’s doubles.” any other job in the world “I’d like to be the CEO of Apple...I like coaching tennis to be honest, and I know that’s what everybody says, but I think I have a pretty good job.”

reason for position “My actual first year teaching 9/11 happened and it was kind of like writing on the wall that I should be coaching rather than fighting fires. When I was six years old, I saw Dave Wottle win the 800m in the Olympics in Munich in 1972 wearing a baseball hat, and I knew that’s what I wanted to run.”views on position I think that one on one connection sometimes you miss in the classroom [as opposed to coaching] and so I try to build those in the classroom and if I can do that that’s when I feel I’m doing my best.goals for the year “We need to grow our numbers. We need to get kids out running, and so I’m going to be making sure that we make some connections and build some relationships. I’d love to have Saturday fun runs where parents come out and run and that kind of stuff; the more the merrier.”

jonathan sweetAfter four years as La Grange High School’s

head band director, Jonathan Sweet is bringing his passion for music to Consol.

“The biggest thing is that I want our students to perform at a high level all the time,” Sweet said. “That means it’s not just about trying to play the notes and rhythms, it’s about finding every detail and every nuance and finding ways to entertain beyond what maybe we normally look at; it’s about finding deeper ways to express our performance.”

With these philosophies, he hopes to achieve a consistent level of success for Consol’s Tiger Band.

kevin waters

daniel marshall

a q&a with new coaches

michelle liu & rojas oliva | managing editor & entertainment editor

things you might not know“I’d like to be a performer, a professional musician, that’s probably the only

other thing I’d enjoy doing on a consistent basis.” -Mr.

Sweet

Raffield’s married to football coach Raffield.

She says the Belles are tapping this year,

“which is like WHAT?!” She used to be a Kilgore

Rangerette.

head tennis coach

boys head track coach

Belles director head band director

the roar presentsfriday, sept. 27, 2013 the roar | student life | 9

new faculty & staff

david casperLatin teacher David Casper might be a little

weirded out by working in the same school as his mom (counselor Mindy Casper), but he says, with all the substitute teaching he did here last year, he’s already used to it.

“[What I like about teaching] has been where I’ve seen somebody learn something. You can tell when they help someone else get it,” Casper said.

Casper “stumbled backwards into” teaching Latin when, as a youth minister in Waco, the school next door needed a long term sub, and Casper found himself starting with the basics again.

“That taught me I could do it,” Casper said.

maria landryFrench teacher Maria Landry is used to having

a lot on her plate. A Texas A&M graduate who majored in French and history, she’s now teaching five different levels of French.

“It’s been fun and amazing,” Landry said of her first week of school. “My students are really great and motivated, so it makes my job easy.”

Landry, whose goal this year is “to do really well at Texas French Symposium,” offers the following snippet of advice to the student body:

“Hard work merits anything good,” she said.

byron gobleFor German teacher Byron Goble, starting a

guitar club at Consol is a very viable possibility—he studied music at A&M, where he played classical guitar, percussion and piano.

“I was born in Germany, [but] moved here when I was five [and] grew up in Houston,” Goble said.

Admittedly, Goble preferred the first week of school over the second (in which he became sick, he said).

“I really like the school, the kids, the teachers,” Goble said.

jonathan sweetAfter four years as La Grange High School’s

head band director, Jonathan Sweet is bringing his passion for music to Consol.

“The biggest thing is that I want our students to perform at a high level all the time,” Sweet said. “That means it’s not just about trying to play the notes and rhythms, it’s about finding every detail and every nuance and finding ways to entertain beyond what maybe we normally look at; it’s about finding deeper ways to express our performance.”

With these philosophies, he hopes to achieve a consistent level of success for Consol’s Tiger Band.

michelle liu & rojas oliva | managing editor & entertainment editor

things you might not know“I’d like to be a performer, a professional musician, that’s probably the only

other thing I’d enjoy doing on a consistent basis.” -Mr.

Sweet

Ms. Landry runs half-marathons. She did

ballet in high school.She backpacked

across Europe with her two best friends.

Mr. Casper is a Consol graduate. He’s a

professional musician who has an album on iTunes

(called Awakening).

Mr. Goble has a dachshund and a schnauzer. He

taught The Roar how to say “something about potatoes:”

Etwas über kartoffeln!

“They’re wonderful. I am so amazed with them.”

—department head Irma Escobedo on the new

foreign language teachers

head band director French teacher Latin teacher German teacher

“I can show it to you,” Schlum-precht said. “I don’t know if you’ve

played Dots on the iPhone, but it’s similar–well, now [Dots is] on

Android too, but [that was] af-ter I released mine.”

As Schlumprecht pulls out his phone and pulls up the app, a passerby stops and comments on what “a cool game” it is.

S c h l u m p r e c h t starts with a grid of different colored dots and 20 moves. Con-necting four dots in a square clears all dots of that color off the screen; longer chains of dots equate to extra moves.

“Your score is just however many dots you

manage to clear [off] the board,” Schlumprecht

said.However simple the

game might be, the numbers show that it’s rising in popular-

ity–fast. With an average 4.0 star rating, Connect has 90 reviews, 48

of which are five-star.“It’s kind of strange, because [on] the

first week, I posted it to Reddit and got 400

downloads,” Schlumprecht said. “Then, starting a [few weeks ago], it just started getting 400 a day.”

With the recent success, he added adver-tisements to the app on Sept. 10, earning $5 in the first day. There are now 20,000 total down-loads for Connect, and Schlumprecht says that about half of these remain installed on their re-spective devices.

All the numbers don’t tell the whole story, though.

For starters, there’s the cult film-esque fan base that’s sprouted up at Consol, a small but dedicated number of students who eschew such popular apps like Dots for a game made by their own classmate, playing out of boredom or pro-crastination–or even nostalgia. This is the case for senior Shankar Srinivasan, who discovered Connect through a peer.

“It’s stress relieving because there’s no time limit,” Srinivasan said. “As the game progresses, you start having more strategy, [though].”

Srinivasan not only enjoys the game, but has also aided in one of its updates.

“I connected 20 dots, and [the app] didn’t give me any extra moves, so I told Nico, and he improved it,” Srinivasan said, noting that the “What’s New” section of the app download page now has a “Thanks Shankar!” next to an update.

Fiddling with–and creating–Connect be-gan as Schlumprecht’s summer project, which he completed the bulk of over the course of two weeks, using Adobe Flash and the program-

ming language ActionScript 3.0. Schlumprecht acquired much of the skill required to complete the app through his computer classes at Consol.

“I took two years of programming fresh-man and sophomore year, and in there we learned Java,” Schlumprecht said. “ActionScript is just really similar, so I just figured it out with Google searches and experimenting with it.”

Programming teacher Dianne Rister notes that Schlumprecht was always trying to go above and beyond in the work he did in class, doing more than the mere basics and require-ments of the work she assigned.

“He was an awesome programming stu-dent, always looking for more to do,” Rister said. “[He is] just really interested in all aspects of programming.”

While Schlumprecht doesn’t have plans to make another app in the near future, he’s inter-ested in following up his success, as he intends to go into software development.

Connect, despite its marked increase in popularity, does have a few haters, though.

“Someone was like, ‘Uh, it’s kind of a fun game, but there are other games like it, so you shouldn’t have wasted your time,’” Schlumpre-cht said. “It’s not a big deal. It’s [actually] kind of funny.”

With all these growing numbers, one might be the cause (and the incentive for read-ers to pull out their phones): the cost of the app? Zero.

While other seniors frantically work on college applications, senior Nico Schlumprecht has created something he can put on applications. With some free time this summer came the birth of Connect, an Android app that shows players the beauty of connecting the dots.

_coding for a connection

PHOTO BY MICHELLE LIU

Programmer creates Android app, releases game to public

Scan the QR code with a smartphone to try Nico’s game for free.

friday, sept. 27, 201310 | people | the roar

michelle liu | managing editor

the roar | sports | 11

worth collecting: offenseThe Roar staff creates cards for the varsity football offensive starters

kobemiller6-2/205

brandon jackson5-10/175

cobyfoster5-9/235

connersmith5-10/215

corey dukes5-10/180SENIORWR

Play the game as a family; play for them, don’t play for yourself.”

“

daniel zivney5-11/185JUNIORWR/K

The best part [of my po-sition is that I can score points for my team, but I also can block.

“

SENIORQB

I get to be active in the play every time, and I think that’s pretty fun. I like the responsibility.”

“

kerrythomas6-1/185SENIORWR

We’re put in the position where we have to win the game. It’s about stay-ing positive in all situations.

“

reybaldobino5-10/250SENIOR

“

SENIORRB

[On the other running backs]They’re go-ing through the motions, putting in work everyday. They’re team players, so I really look up to them.”

“

derrickdick5-8/165JUNIORWR/RB

“

luis bañuelos6-0/185

“

SENIOROL

I like being where the action starts. Since I’m center, I have to give the ball to Gus [Miller]. It was also the position my grandpa played when he was in college.”

“

You always need to work together, no matter who you’re with.

SENIOROL

“

michaeloliney6-2/350

I [look up to] DJ [Jackson]. He pushes me and the other line-men to do better. He’s that big dude who can push you around.”

SENIOROL

“

SEE THEM IN ACTIONTONIGHTvs. Lufkin (away)OCT 4vs. Woodlands (home)OCT 11vs. Bryan (Kyle Field)OCT 18vs. College Park (home)dana branham| editor-in-chief

friday, sept. 27, 2013

information and quotes gathered by[ [

SENIOROL

I’ve never played o-line before. It’s still kind of new for me, but I’m geting the hang of it.”

My biggest inspiration is Rey [Baldobino] because he always pushes me to exceed my limits.”

(on viral video) We’re a bunch of high school kids--you would think that it would get heads, but it didn’t. We were just like, “Thank you, everybody, but we were still working hard all week.”

OL

friday, sept. 27, 201312 | sports | the roar

alexarseneaux6-1/235

worth collecting: defense

DLSENIOR

The impor-tant thing football has taught me is an immense level of discipline, as well as hard work to achieve whatever goal is set before me.”

“

The Roar staff creates cards for varsity football defensive starters

dana branham | editor-in-chiefinformation and quotes gathered by[ [

tristanbatts5-10/185SENIOR

[on who inspires him the most] That’d have to be my homie DJ Jack-son. He works hard every play—he takes no plays off.”

“DL

ryanbevans6-0/195SENIOR

I’m in the middle of things. I always get to hit people. I’m always around people; it’s just great.”

“LB

reggiedavis5-9/165SENIOR

I need to keep my eyes out of the backfield—if you’re a cornerback, you’ve got to keep your eyes off of backfield or the other team’s going to score.”

“DB

kjdukes5-10/180

DBSENIOR

It’s not one person that makes the team, it’s a whole connection. You’ve got to come together, play together, because you’ve got people counting on you out there.”

“

rileygarner6-3/215JUNIOR

[on who inspires him the most] Clint Hollis—he’s a really good leader and he gets everyone fired up.”

“DB

clinthollis5-9/165SENIOR

[on what he’s learned]That anything is possible when you’re fighting with your family.”

“LB

quinhaynes5-10/165SENIOR

[on the vi-ral video]More then anything, it gave us life and gave us an extreme amount of confi-dence.”

“DB

djjackson6-2/295

DLSENIOR

The most important thing I’ve learned is how eleven brothers can’t be beat on the field.”

“

coreystoll6-1/160SENIOR

Even though times get tough, you have to keep fighting on and never give up. It’ll be a great lesson for me later in life.”

“DB

shermanwilder6-0/190SENIOR

[on the Copperas Cove win] It was just one play. Anything can happen at the end of a game.”

“DB

want to read more?

find web-exclusive q&as with the team at

bit.ly/1bEj2nf

From presentations given by policemen in elementary schools to shows like “Catfish,” kids are taught from a young age not to talk to strangers on the Internet. It isn’t hard to see why, especially with the estimated 750,000 online predators.

The statistics didn’t stop sophomore Maddi Peel, though, from chatting with online friend Maya Green when she was 10 on Stardoll.com and eventually meeting her in person. However, their relationship was not friendly at first.

“I hated her,” Green said. “I found her extremely annoying and stuck up because of how she acted. The fact that everyone found her beautiful and me ugly wasn’t a bonus ,either.”

The two were able to get past their rivalries, though, through an “Animal Lovers” forum, where Peel saw Green’s posts and added her to her friend list. Peel and

Green continued to chat for five years and were able to see each other thanks to the wonders of technology.

“We video [chatted] and snap [chatted], so I knew she wasn’t some creep,” Peel said.

Ever since they had become friends, the two had considered meeting in real life. However, this dream didn’t turn into a reality until this past summer.

“It’s indescribable, to be honest,” Green said. “We [had] been friends for about five years before finally meeting, so it was amazing.”

Green, who lives in Chicago, visited her dad, who lives in Arkansas. Peel and Green planned to book the same Dallas hotel and spend two days together. Although Katie Peel, Maddi’s mother, was informed of the plan only a month before, she was eager to help.

“It was all plotting and scheming on

their ends, sneaky sneaks,” Katie Peel said jokingly. “I made sure that they had the same hotel so that they could run [down] the hall and get in trouble.”

The two spent the first day of their trip

just catching up and the second at Six Flags. They both agreed that the other was just as they had imagined.

“I couldn’t believe this was someone I [had] seen in pictures for five years and now she [was] here in the flesh,” Maddi said. “She was taller than I expected, [but] she [was] so loud and funny – the same person over text.”

Despite the risks, Katie Peel never felt too suspicious about Peel meeting her online friend.

“I honestly never felt that way,” Katie Peel said. “She was in a little kid’s group. [Their] conversations were basic, [and] we were really cautious with all the profiles we made.”

For Maddi Peel, meeting Green has removed some of the stigma behind talking to people online. She now has two other online friends who she texts frequently, and she even plans to meet up with Green in the future.

Katie Peel also has a new outlook on chatting with strangers online; however, she realizes the risks as well.

“There’s definitely danger in it; you can’t be naïve,” Katie Peel said. “You can’t believe everybody on the Internet, but you can’t [mistrust everybody]. It’s a gray area. If the parents are involved and know what’s going on, [then] there’s going to be less danger.”

Sophomore Maddi Peel meets up with long-time online friendstephanie palazzolo & elizabeth reed | staff reporters

“It’s indescribable, to be honest. We [had] been friends for about five years before finally meeting, so it was amazing.”

sophomore Maddi Peel

the roar | people | 13friday, sept. 27, 2013

PHOTOS BY LEAH CRISMAN AND MICHELLE LIU

something just clicked

Cult Classic Films

Critics often describe Darren Aronofsky’s “Pi” as “ce-rebral”—it’s called a science thriller, a mathematics thrill-er. But at its heart, “Pi” is simply a thriller—no qualifying adjectives necessary—about a brilliant and slightly dis-turbed mathematician intensely obsessed with patterns, and the pain that such an obsession causes.

Max Cohen is the obsessive mathematician and highly unreliable narrator of the story, and the film makes apparent from the beginning that Max doesn’t quite see life as everyone else does. “Pi” is creepy. Most scenes last no more than a minute. This clipped urgency takes the viewer completely inside Max’s paranoia—and to top off the mise en scene, the film is shot entirely in high-contrast black and white. This fits Max’s obsession to a T, because mathematics is about elegance and simplicity, and black and white’s about as simple as simple gets. Clint Mansell’s score contributes significantly to the generally tense at-mosphere: add it to the already potent mixture and “Pi” becomes a perfect storm that builds up ever so slowly to the shocking climax.

And even though “Pi” isn’t about mathematics, one can’t completely avoid absorbing information about the topic throughout the film: Max frequently alludes to some famous mathematician or other, Fibonacci spi-rals abound, and the entire film effectively instills in the viewer a sense of fear and wonder regarding mathematics and its role in nature. Watching Max Cohen, mathemati-cian extraordinaire, destroy himself and his brilliance is the truly fascinating and frightening part of this film, but it’s the subject of mathematics itself that lends the film its unique mystique. Perhaps it’s because mathematicians are seen as recluses such as Max, or perhaps it’s because few people know much about math anyway: either way, the combination is unforgettable.

“Battle Royale” is a Japanese action movie released in 2000 and directed by Kinji Fukasaku. The film follows a male teenager, Shuya Nanahara and his Battle Royale, a competition where a random class of ninth grade students is selected, taken to a deserted island and told to kill each other. Each student is fitted with a collar which will blow up if they try to escape. Additionally, the students are each given a backpack with supplies, a weapon or a seemingly useless item. They then have three days to eliminate each other, and if more than one person is alive at the end of the three days then all the remaining survivors are killed.

In part, “Battle Royale” is seen as a cult film due to the fact that the movie was not released in North America originally until 11 years after it premiered due to movie

distributors thinking the movie was too violent. Similar feelings in Europe led to a ban in Germany. The movie was also frowned upon in Japan at first, but it achieved much more success and has since become one of the ten highest-grossing films in Japan.

Many people compare this movie to the Hunger Games and although they share a similar premise, the two are vastly different. “Battle Royale” is much more gripping, largely due to the fact that all of the students involved in the games have known each other for years. The tension of the movie results not only from the fact that these are children killing children, but that the teenagers all have real relationships with each other. There are members of the same cheerleading squad, best friends, boyfriends and girlfriends. Some decide to try and win the game; others opt out and kill themselves rather than go through the traumatic process. The movie stresses internal conflict rather than external. As viewers, we can identify and relate with each character in the movie: the naïve students on a hill begging for everyone to come together and talk things out, the girl who acts only in self-preservation, the boy who defends his dead friend’s girlfriend. All of the characters have a certain amount of depth to them, which is what ultimately gives “Battle Royale” the edge over most other action movies.

There’s something deeply American about the films Wes Anderson makes. “Bottle Rocket”, his first, immortal-izes the story of Anthony Adams, Dignan and Bob Map-plethorpe as they go “on the run from Johnny Law” after one of the greatest robberies of a bookstore ever filmed. In essence, it’s a film about the fundamental American themes: loneliness, an inability to love, narcissism and quiet desperation. Its brilliance, however, is that all of this exists on the periphery.

All of the dark undercurrents flowing through the film never seem to be addressed. This, in and of itself, isn’t that unique, but tied into some of the most wonderfully idiosyncratic dialogue this side of a Tarantino film, com-edy arising from an ever so slightly suspended reality that leaves people throwing the adjective quirky around (think early Coen brothers films), the incredible attention to detail and cinematography that have become Anderson’s

most obvious auteurist signifiers, and the pulsing heart of all of his films: a character, in a sense, growing up and you see that this is a product made for a young American gen-eration that’s obsessed with authenticity but sees films that tackle the problems of our times directly as overwrought or easy to mock. However, apart from a brief moment of ironic self-parody where a character tells us that he ended up in a mental hospital when he realized he never wanted to answer another water-sports related question, there is nothing coy or unauthentic about the manner in which “Bottle Rocket” explores its characters; it just makes the audience pay close attention and, cleverly, makes the ex-perience feel that much more personal. This oblique sto-rytelling is the common string that runs throughout An-derson’s films and is part of what makes them cult classics.

All this, however, might make it seem like it’s an in-tense or really serious film, and while Anderson eventu-ally would make films that deal with suicide, death and other, more urgent, human concerns, this is the sort of film you’ll want to throw nice, simple adjectives at: funny, heartwarming, clever and just all sorts of lovely.

friday, sept. 27, 201314 | entertainment | the roar

PiBottle Rocket Battle Royaleaaron ross | assistant editorrojas oliva | entertainment editor shilpa saravanan | opinions editor

“At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At 15% unemployment, 10 million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence, and, fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act. AKA: The BR act.”

“1. Mathematics is the language of na-ture. 2. Everything around us can be rep-resented and understood through numbers. 3. If you graph these numbers, patterns emerge. Therefore: There are patterns ev-erywhere in nature.”

“Here are just a few of the key ingre-dients: dynamite, pole vaulting, laughing gas, choppers—can you see how incred-ible this is going to be?—hang gliding, come on!”

If You Like Those, You’ll Like These

Raising Arizona Punch Drunk Love The Big Lebowski{ { Full Metal Jacket

Kill BillDjango Unchained

{{MementoRequiem For A Dream

Inception

{{

what we’re roaring about:

Roar staffers review niche movies{ {

the roar | entertainment | 15 friday, sept. 27, 2013

On August 30, when the varsity Tiger

football team was trailing Copperas Cove by three points with one second left, it seemed there was no other option but defeat. However, one second was long enough for the Tigers to claim victory. The outstanding kick return led to a surprise win, defying what seemed impossible. Luckily, this incredible play can be watched over and over, thanks to senior Chad Ruesink.

Ruesink played football in 7th and 8th grade, but he realized through these years that, although he thoroughly enjoyed the sport, being an aggressive football player was not his calling.

“I’m not that mean guy who goes out there and hits people,” Ruesink said. “I still wanted to be involved with the people because I love the sport; I just didn’t want to play.”

The coaches offered Ruesink a position filming for the football team, and, since then, he’s been shooting good plays, bad plays and everything in between at both the practices and games.

“I just wanted to help the football program. I didn’t even know the football film existed, but once I got involved, I loved it, and I stayed in it [for all four years],” Ruesink said. “We’re at every game

and every practice. So every day we’re out there in the same heat that the football players are in; we just don’t have pads on.”

Coach Corey Scott, who approves the film crew’s schedule, agrees that the students who help film are just as important of an asset for the football team as the players are.

“He’s one of the hardest workers,” Scott said. “I mean, he works just as hard as football players do, but it’s behind the scenes, and it’s not physical. He’s just as much as a part of Tiger football as anything else.”

Ruesink’s dedication to filming is appreciated by all of the football team, since it benefits them and allows them to constantly improve by reviewing their work on the field.

“Film is a big part of football,” Scott said. “We coaches study for the upcoming games through the film Chad gives us.”

Recently, Ruesink filmed the Tigers’ unbelievable last-second win over Copperas Cove, which earned him major publicity. After gaining the attention of hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube, Ruesink was contacted by ESPN via Twitter and was asked for his permission to show the footage. Later, he was also interviewed by The

Killeen Daily Herald and appeared on the front page of their sports section.

“I’m not used to being the guy that’s noticed,” Ruesink said. “The filmer usually does not get any recognition. We usually just do our job and the players thank us, so getting all this recognition… I’m not used to that.”

Ruesink wants to someday work for a major football team, and he hopes that his success from the filming he has done for the Tiger football team will help him for his future aspirations.

“I’m hoping to get a scholarship for filming to do it at a college for their football program,” Ruesink said. “I’ve thought about going into a film school, but definitely something with sports.”

Ruesink has without doubt made an impact on the filming program, and his persistence and passion has set the bar high for future videographers.

“Chad is a big part of the film crew. He’s the boss. He tells me what’s going on,” Scott said. “[When he leaves] we will have other people who will be in his place and take over, but Chad will be very missed.”

going viral: a twitter timeline

just one secondStudent filmer captures logic-defying play, glimpses viral video fame

tiffany hammond | assistant editor

“I’m not used to being the guy that’s noticed.”

Aug. 3011:50 pm

Aug. 31; 1:04 am

Aug. 31; 2:48 am

Aug. 31; 2:30 pm

Chad tweets: “The best football game I’ve ever been to. The last play will be

on YouTube soon. Thanks guys.”

@amctigerfilm tweets a link to the play -- little did they know

what would soon follow.

Chad tweets: “Just leaving the school at 3am...Still can’t get over that game!”

Chad’s video reaches 16,000 views in roughly 12 hours.

Aug. 31;11:26 pm

Chad tweets: “Passed that 60K mark and it hasn’t even been up

24 hrs yet!”

Sept. 1;10:28 am

Chad tweets: “100K on YouTube! #TigerFootball”

Sept. 1;7:25 pm

@ESPNAssignDesk tweets at @amctigerfilm, asking for permis-

sion to use Chad’s film.

Sept. 1;8:57 pm

Chad tweets: “ESPNnews NOW,” alerting followers to watch the famous play on Sportscenter.

NOW*Chad’s video has 743,501 views.

*at time of publication

Following tweets from @ChadRuesink and @amctigerfilm, @theroarnews put together a timeline of Chad’s road to viral video fame.

PHOTO OF CHAD RUESINK BY DANA BRANHAM

For senior David Blinn, filming isn’t just a hobby. It’s his future. Blinn knows that filming is what he loves. It’s what he uses to express himself and where he has found his place.

Blinn has been mak-ing his own videos since fifth grade.

“I’ve always liked cre-ative stuff like drawing and painting, but I was never good at it, so video making has given me a creative outlet for stuff like that,” Blinn said. “I’ve just always been interested in filming.”

At a young age, Blinn began to pursue filming by creating music and gaming videos on YouTube. Blinn began to find his passion for film and wanted to learn more. Chris Woodward, Blinn’s neighbor, was a cur-rent student in Media Tech and, aware of Blinn’s hobby, recommended the class to Blinn. Since then, Media Tech has played an important role in Blinn’s personal life, and has shaped his filming techniques.

“Media Tech has given me a big group of friends that are always there for me,” Blinn said. “In addition to my friendships, most everything I know on the technical side has come from Media Tech.”

Media Tech has allowed Blinn to ex-perience and learn multiple ways of film-ing as well as the different roles involved in shooting a film.

“We shoot all of the football games and make short films, as well as producing

school news,” Blinn said. Blinn’s Media Tech teacher, Scott

Faulk, says Blinn shows prodigious inter-est and a promising future in filming.

“David always wants to take the extra step,” Faulk said. “He takes charge and is a

leader.” Blinn currently in-

terns for the City of Col-lege Station by filming everything from promos to archive footage. He took on the responsibility for getting the internship himself.

“We talked about in-ternships and different op-portunities, but he went and did it himself,” Faulk said. “He didn’t even ask me to help him get it.”

Blinn has found the internship ben-eficial in that it increased his skills in and knowledge of filming.

“It was an unpaid internship, but I did learn quite a bit, and it will lead to real paid jobs later on,” Blinn said.

Faulk said he could “definitely” see filmmaking in Blinn’s future.

“He always wants to direct and try something different. I think he’ll push through. He’s always trying to progress more,” Faulk said.

Although Blinn does not know what he wants to do specifically, he hopes to at-tend the University of Texas film school and pursue a career in filming wherever it might take him.

“I love everything about it, from edit-ing to even acting, so I could really end up anywhere,” Blinn said.

friday, sept. 27, 201316 | etcetera | the roar

Filmmaker doggedly pursues artistic interestschanning young | sports editor

I love everything about [filming] from editing to even acting, so I could really end

up anywhere.

seniorDavid Blinn

Senior David Blinn edits film and adjusts the lens on a camera during fifth and sixth period Ad-vanced Audio/Video Produc-tion, com-monly known as Media Tech. Blinn plans to pursue a career in film.PHOTOS BY SHILPA SARAVANAN