the

3 12-13 20Buzz on promShattered Dreams 2013 Soccer goes to state

VOLUME 24ISSUE 5APRIL 2013 sidekick

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

Cherished CMS West principal to retire at year’s end

Cyclists ride to raise awareness

NIKKI DABNEYStaff Writer

Coppell Middle School West principal Vern Edin stands in front of the Garden of Edin, a garden and outdoor sitting area that was founded in 2006 in honor of him for his 20 years as principal. Edin will retire at the end of this school year.

Photo by Mia Ford

Cyclists around the metroplex participate in the Ride of Silence, an event in its 10th anniversary that honors deceased cyclist Larry Schwartz.

Photo courtesy David Stonecipher

see Ride on pg. 4

When a passing school bus mirror struck and killed cyclist Larry Schwartz on May 4, 2003, long time friend and fellow cyclist Chris Phel-an wanted to do something to honor his memory as well as those of other cyclists in-jured or killed in accidents.

Just two weeks later, the first Ride of Silence was held. What Phelan thought would be a one-time event is now approaching its 10th anni-versary.

All are invited to par-ticipate in the Ride of Silence on May 15 at 7 p.m. to honor lost loved ones and spread awareness about this pressing issue. The ride begins in the Coppell High School parking lot.

Each May, the ride draws thousands of cyclists to White Rock Lake in Dal-las. In 2006, Coppell cyclist Greg Dean started participat-ing in the event.

In the summer of 2007, Dean set out on a long dis-tance ride on his road bike. What would have been a rou-tine ride quickly took a turn for the worst when he reached the intersection of Freeport Parkway and State Highway 121.

As he was crossing the road, a car driven by a 19-year-old woman ran a red light and struck him.

“He was one of those people who was hyper-careful. He was one of those parents who made me wear a helmet when I rode the little pony at the fair,” Dean’s daughter Betsy, who is now a senior at Coppell High School, said. “He was do-ing everything right that day and was just trying to cross the road.”

oppell is known for its su-perior education system and

the leaders who define the district and guide it into excellence. How-ever, not many of the schools can say they have a servant for a leader.

Coppell Middle School West Principal Vernon Edin has served his school, faculty and students for 27 years. He will retire at the end of this school year.

Edin was the principal of the first Coppell Middle School before it split into West and East in 1992 and Coppell High School moved to its current location from the build-ing that is now CMSW. Therefore, Edin is the first and only principal CMSW has ever had.

“It will be very hard to fill Mr. Edin’s shoes because his spirit is so strong, his heart is so big and his passion is so great,” CMSW English teacher Carson Thomp-son said. “He has printed himself on this school in such an indelible way that people will always think of West and Vern Edin synony-mously, and it will be very hard for someone to inherent that and to surpass that.”

In 1996, the Texas Education Agency chose CMSW as one of only 43 middle schools in Texas to

C

be named a Mentor School, and Edin was named a Mentor Prin-cipal.

“To me, mentoring means helping others,” Edin said. “I be-

lieve in putting others first and serving them and finding out what is best for them, even if that means sometimes putting myself on the backburner. I’ve tried to provide

the most supportive environment for our staff and kids and I think we have.”

To Edin, being principal of CMSW is more than a job. He is

not a distant leader who simply

see Lead on pg. 2

To see more stories go to Coppellstudentmedia.com

For the last couple of months, many students across Coppell have spent their week-ends and free time filming all over town, writing scripts and producing and editing their

EMAC hosts film festNIKKI DABNEYStaff Writer

own short film for the upcoming CHS Film Festival.

The Emerging Media and Communications Academy (EMAC) at Coppell High School gives students a taste of the field of media and prepares them for po-tential careers in film or journalism.

see Magic on pg. 17

Photo courtesy Eric Park

Seniors Josh Brunelli and Mason Adams film on the set of their short film for the EMAC film festival, The Mammoth Affray.

Media students showcase talent

ELIZABETH SIMSStaff Writer

2 news APRIL 2013

delegates tasks. From greeting students in the morning and sending them off at the end of the day, Edin takes an active role in his school. He even makes a point to visit fifth grade students from the elementary schools that feed into CMSW to begin to form personal relationships before they even step onto campus.

“I had the pleasure of being one of [Edin’s] assistant principals for six years,” Coppell ISD assis-tant superintendent Brad Hunt said. “Everything good I learned about being a principal I learned from Mr. Edin. He always put the needs of the students first and foremost in every decision he made. He was always the first per-son at the school and the last one to leave.”

Edin has created a culture at CMSW for every student to be involved. He believes it is their school and promotes that idea by encouraging kids to be in all kinds of activities. Not only does he want kids involved in sports and athletics, but supports orga-nizations like the science club and history club so that every student has a place they belong.

“Mr. Edin was always there for me and kind of showed me right from wrong,” said former CMSW student Jeff Ridley, who entered sixth grade in 1999. “He was able to support me in a big way so I could achieve big.”

As a mentor, Principal and leader, Edin leads by example.

He has high expectations for his staff because he has higher expec-tations for himself. His positive attitude and strong work ethic transcend the campus and define who he is.

“He works hard so he makes me want to work hard and give my all and give my best,” CMSW science teacher Cathy Douglas said. “Gandhi once said, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ and Mr. Edin lives that every day. It’s infectious; it makes all of us want to work and be the change we want to see.”

Edin can be assured that he has left his legacy at CMSW. He has ingrained his philosophies and passion into the faculty, and they will carry out his mission no matter who the new leader is.

“Mr. Edin has really shown me and reminded me about why we’re here,” Thompson said. “One of the things that he always comes back to is doing what is best for kids. His love for what he does spills over into what I do and makes me a better teacher.”

Edin has been a part of CISD for nearly half his life and been a part of many changes. The most noticeable change has been the size of the city and school district. CISD started at about 2,000 kids and now it is about to hit 11,000. Also, the diversity of CISD has increased rapidly. Many students have come from around the country and even around the globe. While many things have changed over the years, Edin has been a part of

many cherished traditions for the last 30 years.

“As I’ve gone through this year and started thinking about if this is going to be the last year and if it is this would be the last pep rally or the last time I do some type of program or ceremony, so every one of those are going to be real special,” Edin said.

Although Edin is retiring, it doesn’t mean he won’t be doing anything anymore. He will still be an active part of the community and education system in Coppell.

“I’m in great health right now and my wife and I love to travel, this will give us the oppor-tunity to do so,” Edin said. “I’d also like to continue working with kids and with teachers in some fashion, maybe new, first-year teachers. I’ll just be doing things at a little different pace. It’ll be a new phase in my life. It’s some-thing I’m really looking forward to.”

The new leadership at CMSW will have big shoes to fill. It will be a difficult transition, but the students and faculty are sure to welcome and support their new leader like Edin has taught them to do. Nevertheless, he will be greatly missed, but forever re-membered.

“What I’m going to miss most about Mr. Edin is his pres-ence here at school because he is everywhere,” Thompson said. “I will miss his spirit, and his pas-sion, and his love for this school and the kids and staff here. He is West.”

Lead Wrangler releases reigns of wild wild West

Coppell Middle School West principal Vern Edin sits at his desk in his office. Edin has been the principal of Coppell Middle School West for 27 years now and will be retiring at the end of the 2012-13 school year.

Photos by Mia Fordcontinued from pg.1

Q&A with Vern EdinWhat is your favorite city you have visited? Beijing, China

What is your favorite restaurant in Coppell? Hard Eight BBQ

What was your most memorable first day of school? My second year as principal my twin boys were born on the first day of school and I had to go to the hospital to be with my wife.

3newsAPRIL 2013

SHATTERED DREAMS

A rear view at

Seated around the Coppell High School park-ing lot on March 28, stu-dents, faculty and commu-nity members watched the mock accident scene unfold before their eyes.

This year, the scene centered on a group of se-nior friends participating in their senior prom after par-ty. Though the accident was not real, the performance of the students left a huge im-pact on students.

“It was very dramat-ic since the actors were everyone’s classmates and friends,” junior Lilly Bal-samo said. “The video was very powerful especially with [former CHS Prin-cipal and current Coppell ISD assistant superinten-dent Brad Hunt]. Every-one was in shock when we realized he would be a part of the crash. Going outside was very surreal seeing the aftermath and the actors’ reaction. I think going into prom and throughout the year, this will always be in the back of our minds and could hopefully stop every-one from making the deci-sion that has consequenc-es.”

Shattered Dreams is a daylong dramatization of an alcohol related crash. The event takes place ev-ery two years before prom occurs. With the help of many other administrators in the high school, assis-tant principal Sean Bagley played a large role in plan-ning the event.

“This is my fourth time to help plan Shattered Dreams,” Bagley said. “Ev-ery time I watch it, it is still as difficult as the first time. It gets hard and you just have to step away and get composure to remember what purpose of program is.”

Though the scene lasted less than an hour, months of extensive plan-

ning went into the plan-ning of the crash. The Coppell Fire Department, Coppell Police Depart-ment, Rolling Oaks Funer-al Home, CareFlight and the Students Against De-structive Decisions Club at CHS are a few of the groups assisting with the crash scene.

Numerous actors played a part in the crash scene from students to po-lice officers. Math teacher Kirk Richardson served as the role of Grim Reaper throughout the day.

“The crash was hard,” Richardson said. “A lot of the actors are in my class-es so you get choked up to see them hurting and hav-ing to endure this. It was almost like participating in a sports game. My legs felt weak, and throat got a big lump in it. It was hard to keep composure at some points.”

With actors such as Richardson, the crash scene seemed very real with numerous compo-nents to the performance.

“I had heard a lot of stories about Shattered Dreams and the accident from older students, but I still didn’t know what to expect,” senior Tiia Turku-lainen said. “The actors did a great job and sometimes it seemed real. It has been a very interesting day so far with people being pulled out of class. The whole per-formance was very impact-ful.”

With the powerful performance, many hope Shattered Dreams leaves a lasting impact on students.

“Shattered Dreams just shows that no one is invincible and this could happen to anyone,” Hahn said. “It does not matter if you are the best athlete or a celebrity. A drunk driv-ing accident can happen to anyone.”

Seniors portray real life consequences

white and watching them go through the day. It is a difficult day for everyone and very hard for teachers.”

After the students are pulled out of class, the Grim Reaper and police officer escorts them to the “War Room” where their makeup is applied, and they are given a Shattered Dreams shirt to wear. The Living Dead have their phones taken up and must remain silent for the re-mainder of the day.

“My job was to hang the obituaries in the hall-way after the person was announced dead,” junior Students Against Destruc-tive Decisions member Holly Swaldi said. “It is re-ally sad to read some of the obituaries especially when you know the person. The crash scene was also pow-erful and touched everyone watching. There were some SADD members helping at the crash site as well. Other members have walked the Living Dead to and from their classrooms, and then there are a few who are hanging up wreathes out-side the school.”

For parents who are assisting in the day’s events, reading other children’s obituaries is especially hard.

“Having a child die is something unimaginable for any parent,” Assistance League of Coppell mem-ber Jennifer McGraw said. “I am sure it was extremely hard for all of these par-ents to write the obituar-ies. Shattered Dreams is an emotional day for both the students and their parents.”

Classes for juniors and seniors at Coppell High School were not like most days on March 28. With the Grim Reaper pulling students out of class every 15 minutes, students saw the large consequences of drunk driving.

In order to represent how frequently deaths re-sulting from drunk driving occur, a CHS police officer and the Grim Reaper visit-ed classes to pull students out that were victims of DWI accidents. Students started to be pulled out at the beginning of school and will be continued to be pulled until the end of the day.

“When [junior] Mik-ki Hoffman was pulled out of band this morning with the Grim Reaper, it was very powerful for everyone in the room,” friend and junior Sydney Owens said. “Seeing someone that you are so close to was hard. I have known Mikki for a long time and have played drums with her since mid-dle school. It became so real with her. The sudden realization that something like this could happen to anyone hit all of us.”

Throughout the day, the Living Dead’s obitu-aries, which were written by the student’s parents, were posted in the hall-ways throughout the day for teachers and students to read.

“As a parent and teacher, it is very difficult to read the obituaries,” Span-ish teacher Janine Kay said. “It is hard seeing old and current students with their faces painted

From top to bottom. Junior Mikki Hoffman stands with the Grim Reaper as her obituary is read before she joins the Living Dead. New Tech High @ Coppell senior Kaitlyn McClew kneels over senior Natalie Odén during the mock accident scene before Odén was transported by ambulance. As one of the people trapped inside the flipped SUV, senior Courtney Echerd is careflighted to the hospital. During the mock accident, senior Austin Gardner kneels in disbelief as senior Cassidy Pickrell is announced dead on arrival. Senior Lizzie Bell hugs senior Kacey Hutchins as they mourn the loss of their friends in the mock accident.

Memory of Living Dead haunts halls

4 news APRIL 2013

Cycling safety promoted through biking marathonSoon after the accident,

Dean’s friend and cycling coor-dinator for Dallas Athletes Da-vid Stonecipher approached the family about hosting a Ride of Silence in Coppell. Though it was still hard for Betsy and her mother Patti Dean to talk about what had happened, they were comforted by the gesture and agreed.

“It is very heartwarming when you see everybody there because of course we miss him because he was my husband and Betsy’s dad, but to see that his friends miss him too is really comfort-ing,” Patti Dean said.

The Deans were also touched by the community’s willingness to honor him through his love of cycling. The event came to Cop-pell in 2008.

“Cycling was just his passion and something that really meant a lot to him,” Betsy said. “And

to know that that community is still supporting him and people who rode with him for a ridic-ulous number of miles, I know he would be really touched to see that.”

Though the Ride of Silence is not funded in any way, it has no problem drawing a wide va-riety of participants, all wishing to honor a loved one and raise awareness about sharing the roads with cyclists.

“This event brings the impor-tance of safety back to drivers and cyclists. Cycling is danger-ous especially when not all driv-ers and cyclists know the laws set in place, and that is what leads to crashes,” former Cop-pell mayor and Ride of Silence participant Candy Sheehan said. “We are raising awareness that roads are made for cyclists and cars.”

Even before the Ride of Si-lence began, the city was work-ing on developments that would

improve the safety of the rid-ing conditions for

cyclists. When Sheehan served as mayor from 1997-2003, the city was able to complete trail systems and widen roadways for cyclists.

“We tried to add bike lanes, but resolved to widening roads because cyclists think they are safe in a bike lane when a car could just as easily drive in that lane,” Sheehan said. “We began maintaining and fixing roads to maintain safety for bikes as well.”

Despite these changes, cy-clists and runners alike still face challenges on the roads, even with personal and city-pro-duced safety measures. Those in Dallas Athletes, an athletics club for runner, cyclists and swim-mers, must work around these challenges on a regular basis.

“We always go in the direc-tion of traffic and in groups and never in the middle of the street. [The city] still wants us to stay on sidewalks but they are dan-gerous because of cracks and mud caused by sprinklers and their narrowness,” avid cyclist and run coordinator for Dallas

Athletes Kuay Sullivan said. “There is always a possi-

bility of getting hit by a car even if

precautions

accidents still happen. Just recently a cyclist was hit

and injured even though he was doing every-

thing right.”Though more current action

from the city is not apparent,

officials are very aware of the

i s s u e s f a c e d by cy-

clists andrunners and are in the early

stages of planning for improve-ments.

“The city of Coppell is very aware that there are bike rid-ers and runners, and we have been exploring the extension and expansion of the sidewalk systems,” Coppell city council-man Billy Faught said. “There is even talk of connections with our trail systems with already existing trails in Grapevine, Carrolton and even as far as Denton.”

Faught, though not a hard-core road cyclist, also partici-pates in the Ride of Silence on his mountain bike for the love of cycling and the message it shares.

“It is just a good community experience and a very touching tribute for lost lives and spread-ing awareness for sharing the road,” Faught said. “You don’t have to be Lance Armstrong to ride.”

continued from pg. 1

cycl

ists w

ere k

illed

in 2

010

618

cyclists w

ere injured in

2010

52,000

cyclists ride in the road

48.1%

10 Tips on Riding Safely

Information courtesy www.bicyclinginfo.org

#1 - Always wear a bike helmet#2 - Stop and check traffic before riding in the street

#3 - Obey traffic signs and signals#4 - Ride on the right-hand side of the street

#5 - Do not ride at night

#6 - Give cars and pedestrians the right of way

#7 - Check your brakes before riding

#8 - Wear bright colors so you are visible to motorists

#9 - Avoid surfaces such as cracks or gravel that could cause you to lose control

#10 - Always pay attention!

Photo graphic by Jordan

Bickham

Photo courtesy David Stonecipher

5opinionsAPRIL 2013

In this fast-paced world, nobody wants to be in line behind the guy pay-ing in exact change, especially while his counts out his pennies.

President Barack Obama an-nounced in February that he

was open to saying sayonara to our nation’s lowest val-

ued cent, the penny. This controversial statement has created uproar among as-tonished Americans

who seem to think they cannot live

without the coin and its genuine historic nature, but honestly, there is not point in keep-ing it around any longer.

W h e n originally mar-

keted in the 1700s, pennies

were made out of 100 percent copper, which, over time has

reduced to five percent copper

and 95 percent zinc. This has allowed the

cost of making each penny climb

over its worth of one cent. It costs

the government much more to keep produc-ing pennies than is ac-

tually spent by citizens in pennies themselves.

Despite the cost versus actual us-age, pennies keep being produced and delivered to paying customers who will most likely never use them again.

Name the last time you paid for something in exact change. Can you? Digging around for pennies, if you even have any, only frustrates the person you are paying and the peo-ple who are waiting for you to pay. To avoid this, people pay in bigger bills, producing more

change, but prices would be so much simpler if they could be rounded to a more convenient number.

Due to their lack of use, pennies often pile up in jars over the years until they feel it necessary to cash them in. Unfortunately, the only efficient way to cash in pennies is to use a Coinstar ma-chine, which charges you 10 percent of the money it takes in, causing the pen-nies to actually become less than their worth to the customer.

There was a time when most ev-erything was paid for in pennies. The world’s economy has long since devel-oped into a more complex system that does not need its money divided into one hundred individual pieces.

Many countries, including New Zealand, Australia and Finland have all nixed their versions of the U.S. penny, causing less frustration and compli-cation with coin money by rounding everything to the nearest five cents. With the elimination of these one-cent coins, these countries have not suffered any economic consequences, proving that the coins were already of no use.

The U.S. has done away with oth-er types of money in the past, such as the half dollar coin and two dollar bill that no one misses today because they have since moved on. If Obama were to declare the penny an invalid coin, it would just fade into U.S. history.

The coin has most certainly done its country justice, but all things must come to an end, and the era of the

penny has long since passed. Although parting with the

penny would be a cultural change, it would not be that hard to forget since it is already forgotten.

It is a rainy, de-

pressing day as you rush to school hoping not to be tardy for the second time this week. As you run through the gloomy weath-er, you look down and find something gleam-ing on the gray sidewalk.

A rejected penny lays, face up, staring at you. It is your lucky day.

While the penny may seem like the most useless coin due to its small value, the penny has sentimental and historical value tied to it. This coin has actually been around for centu-ries, dating far back as to 790 A.D. when the first British penny was minted. The penny, be-ing one of the earliest coins used, has been the basis for all coinage we use today.

The penny reminds American citizens of the struggle our nation went through only 150 years ago to preserve our freedom and to keep us a unified nation. With one of America’s most beloved presidents decorating the face of the coin, the penny displays our nation’s fight for unification.

Historically, Americans are traditional-ists - we are typically strongly against change. This thinking drives the argument against switching from the average paper dollar to the more cost effective coin currency. Americans dislike changes, even ones as small as abolish-ing the penny.

Not only is the penny sentimentally and traditionally valuable, it is also critical for keep-ing prices low. If the penny were abolished, many American citizens worry that price increases would result. Without the penny around, everything will have to be rounded to the nearest nickel in order to compensate for the loss of the small coin.

While this may not seem like much of an issue to us, this increase would hit the poor hard. The poor are more likely to make smaller purchases more frequently, and by rounding up the prices on these small purchases, the poor are forced to pay more than usual.

Another issue with abolishing the penny is related to penny drives. Many charities around the nation depend on pen-ny drives for donations since many people part with pennies easily. Asking people to donate more than pennies could be an issue with some and cause charities to lose a main source of income.

One of the overlooked reasons why we should keep the penny is that the abolition of the penny would force an increase in the pro-duction of the nickel, as more nickels would be necessary to make up for the pen-nies that are not in circulation. Many detractors, tell me what a detractor is, argue that the penny costs more than its face value to create (it takes 1.26 cents to make a penny). However, nick-els are even more expensive, as they cost 7.7 cents to make, 2.7 cents over its face value. While abolishing the penny seems like it would save some cash, in reality, the cost it would take to create more nickels would offset those sav-ings. In fact, it costs more to make one nickel than it does to make five pennies.

The penny is cheaper to make than other coins. The penny is a part of our cul-ture, our freedom and our history. The penny is a symbol of luck. You find a heads-up penny, it is your lucky day. While this bit of cultural fiction may not be true, it can still add a little positivity to your day and bring a smile to your face.

Even though the penny may seem use-less as you wait in line behind someone tak-

ing forever to dig pennies out to pay in exact change, the penny is valuable in many other aspects. So while you clean pennies out of your wal-let, remember that pennies have a value beyond what is monetary.

Christina BurkeFeatures Editor

Jordan BickhamPage Designer

PRO CON

Is the penny worth continuing production?

Bickham, Burke add their two cents to the discussion of ending production of the penny.

ON THE FLIP SIDEFLIP

a penny for your thoughts“A lot of people just

think pennies are annoying, so I do not

see the point of them.”

Taylor HoneycuttSenior

“We should get rid of the penny because it costs more to make it than

what it is actually worth.”

Kavi ShahJunior

“It has served its purpose. It is no longer useful. It costs more to make the penny

than what is is worth.”

Kirk RichardsonMath Teacher

“It is not worth that much. You have to carry five

pennies around when you could just use a nickel.”

Emily McCoySpanish Teacher

“The penny is great. Getting rid of it is like

asking you to get rid of the dollar.”

Rachel MalumbaSenior

“You use pennies to make the exact amount

of cents, and if you find a penny it is lucky.”

Sarah Brennan Sophomore

Graphic by Lauren Ussery

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6 opinions APRIL 2013

With the end of the year quickly approaching, various celebrations take place. Whether it is prom or graduation, all of these parties are what encom-passes the high school experi-ence. However, though seniors may be close to the end of grade school, they must still be care-ful when celebrating their great achievements.

Recently, Shattered Dreams reiterated the awareness of drinking and driving, which is a fairly common incident that occurs during prom season. Stu-dents need to take these risks to heart and think twice when

they are faced with the pressure to drink that one beer, all in the name of fun.

Prom, however, is not the only night where bad decisions are made. Whether it is regard-ing drinking or sex, students’ decisions on any night can have a lifetime effect on them.

In order to be safe, stu-dents should avoid drinking at all costs. Senior year is sup-posed to be memorable, but not for getting arrested for driving under the influence.

Parties are known to be the places where the trouble seems to erupt. Whether it is involv-

ing sex or alcohol, parents need to be more aware of what is ac-tually happening at that time of night. Though some parents may be OK with their children drinking on prom or graduation night, they need to be respon-sible that no other guests obtain alcohol as well.

To avoid such negative outcomes, as The Sidekick staff, we believe that parents and schools should take initiative and prepare safe parties for stu-dents. Seniors have worked hard for the past 13 years, and though students should be celebrating, it is the parents’ responsibility

that their children act in a moral manner.

For example, Gracepoint Church took this initiative and hosted its own after-party that welcomed all students. Students were admitted only if they had not taken any alcohol during the night. The party was chap-eroned by parents and church volunteers to make sure that students are completely safe on prom night.

More options like this should be available in which they ensure safety for all stu-dents. High school students will have a great time and the memo-

rable high school party experi-ence would still be intact.

Students need to remem-ber that drinking or having sex are not the only things they can do to have fun as the year comes to an end. Parents and schools should provide more alterna-tives similar to Gracepoint’s af-ter party where parents can be sure that their child is safe.

Eliminating drinking and sex to the high school party reputation will surely not hin-der the experience; students can still celebrate all that they have accomplished without such ac-tivities.

The Sidekick is the official student newspaper for Coppell High School. Its purpose is to in-form, entertain and provide an educational resource for its read-ers. This newspaper is a public forum for student expression and thus student editors make all content decisions.

The Sidekick is a member of ILPC, NSPA and JEA. The Sidekick was named Best Newspaper by The Dallas Morning News in 2012 and 2011 and Best Website in 2011 and 2009.

NSPA recognized Coppell Student Media as an Online Pace-maker finalist in 2012 and the ILPC recognized the website with a Gold Star Award in 2012, 2011 and 2010. ILPC also recognized the newspaper with Silver Star Award in 2012 and Bronze Star

Awards in 2011, 2010 and 2009.The editorials and columns

presented in this paper reflect the views of their writers.

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

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

To read more stories by The Sidekick staff members, and also to find videos and photos, you can visit coppellstudentmedia.com.

The Sidekick welcomes all letters to the editor, but letters must be signed before consider-ation for publication. Send letters to cwofford@coppellisd.com or bring them by D115.

Everyone laughed as my teacher called out one of her se-nior IB students for being lazy, but she had a point when she jokingly suggested he save his parents a large sum of money by not attending college if he isn’t willing to put forth the effort.

Too often I find myself look-ing for shortcuts, dividing up work with other students, skimming chapters with the intent to go back to read them but with full knowl-edge that I would never do so, and generally having a very deeply-rooted “can we not?” attitude when it comes to schoolwork.

My classmates are no dif-ferent. Many students are so skilled at skating by without ever actually acquiring any knowledge that you begin to wonder if their approach may actually be the right one. When your classmates manage to do next to nothing and still get high grades, you begin to focus your efforts on the system, not the content of the curriculum.

I have repeatedly pointed out flaws and shortcomings in our public education system, placing responsibility with teach-ers, legislators and administra-tors – but here I must accept re-sponsibility on behalf of all of my classmates.

My teacher asked the class, with genuine confusion, why we chose to take advanced courses if we weren’t willing to do the work. We stared back at her with blank expressions, just as confused by the concept of “doing work” as she was by our desire to just get by.

The culture of Coppell High School is not a compli-cated one. If you take advanced classes and participate in extra-curricular activities, you sup-posedly hold the key to hap-piness and a successful high school experience. Excelling in an AP or IB class isn’t praise-worthy; it’s simply expected.

The same principle ap-plies as upperclassmen begin the long and arduous journey that leads, eventually, to a uni-versity campus. Students be-lieve that only the schools with name-recognition are worth applying to, only the ones with prestige.

Few remember that once you get to college, you’ll have to start taking yourself seri-ously. Late grades and sec-ond chances do not exist in a college classroom, and many teachers will not hesitate to kick students out of their classes if they are brows-

ing Pinterest instead of doing their work. The job world does not reward those who take on massive projects and complete them with minimum effort just in time to meet a deadline. The people who excel in life are the ones who approach everything in life with a passion and a will-ingness to learn.

Learning is about much more than simply going through the motions. Just as we expect our teachers to think about the big picture and add “real world” relevance to their lesson plans, we should re-member that the purpose of our education is to turn us into culturally-aware adults.

Our school demands ex-cellence, but it doesn’t demand effort. It is the job of the stu-dents to remember the value of our education. I don’t want to get my degree in four years with nothing to show for

it but an under-standing of how

to cheat the system.

EditorialExercising safety important in upcoming celebrations

Effort not reflecting class levelGraphic by Lauren Ussery

Michelle PitcherEditor-in-Chief

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7opinionsAPRIL 2013

Homosexual couples deserve right to marryunconstitutional to impose one religion’s views on an entire na-tion with different cultures and beliefs.

If you oppose gay marriage, that’s fine. But if your reason for doing so is based on your reli-gion, your argument is irrelevant in the court of law.

If the idea of gay couples marrying simply makes you un-comfortable, that is also fine, but that does not justify barring mil-lions of people from the funda-

mental right to marry who they love.

T h e r e are numerous faults with the arguments that claim gay mar-riage would “spoil” the sanctity of mar-riage.

If two people truly love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together, they deserve the right to seal their commitment with a vow mar-riage. That’s what marriage is all about.

I fail to see how a loving gay couple, taking the vow of mar-riage seriously, is more “dam-aging to marriage” than many of today’s shallow, adulterous and divorce-prone heterosexual marriages. Can opponents of gay marriage honestly say that a lov-ing gay couple getting married is more “immoral” than a reality star manufacturing a marriage for publicity?

Besides, over the years, societies evolve and religion is forced to adapt time and time again. People today do not follow dozens of Biblical rules because they are impractical, and even

opposition to gay marriage to-day are the same ones used by pro-slavery groups in the 1860s, opponents of women’s rights in the 1900s and opponents of in-terracial marriage in the 1960s. They cherry-pick verses from religious texts to justify discrim-inating against and suppressing a minority.

For centuries – and still today – homosexuals have been tortured, exiled, beaten, bullied, persecuted, alienated and exe-cuted all because of an innate trait they have very little, if any, control over. Legalizing gay mar-riage will be an important step in reversing this trend and improv-ing our society for all citizens.

In future generations, chil-dren will sit in school and learn about the civil rights movements of the past. They will learn about women’s rights in the 1900s and interracial marriage being legal-ized in the 1960s.

But on the same page they will also learn about the gay rights movement of the 2010s and frown upon those who op-posed it, much like we frown upon segregationists and mi-sogynists today. Don’t be on the wrong side of history.

In the end, true love and dedication is what really matters, and homosexual couples that wish to take the vow of marriage

by heart should have just as much of a right to do so as any couple.

immoral, in today’s society. As America continues to progress and advance, religions must con-tinue to adapt as they have al-ways done. Perhaps the concept of homosexuals getting married is something religions will just have to accept and adapt to.

Furthermore, many oppo-nents of legal same-sex marriage are under the impression that marriage is strictly a religious term. Though religions each have their own views on mar-riage, marriage predates all of the world’s major religions. It is firstly a civil contract (any public courthouse will marry a couple with no religious involvement) and a proclamation of love.

By depriving gay couples from being officially married, we are depriving them of more than just a ceremony and certificate. Married couples receive 1,138 federal rights that civil unions do not encompass – including social security benefits, right to visit a sick or injured loved one in the hospital and various insur-ance and tax benefits. Depriving homosexual partners of the ben-efits that heterosexual partners receive is discrimination against a minority. Civil unions are just as “equal” as segregated facili-ties were a few decades ago - not equal at all.

Allowing homosexual cou-ples to receive these benefits and say the vow does not infringe upon the value of heterosexual marriages. It does not negative-ly affect your life in any way. So why do people stubbornly insist on standing between couples that simply want to be happily married?

The answer is that histo-ry is repeating itself. The arguments used by the

Facebook users logged in on the first week of April to find their news feed plastered with dozens and dozens of red equal signs – people changing their profile picture to support the push for legalization of same-sex marriage. It is not “just a trend” or an “attack on religion.” It is a civil rights movement that has been a long time coming, finally receiving the recognition and at-tention it deserves.

There is no legitimate rea-son why a loving couple should be banned from be-ing happily mar-ried, regardless of their sexual orientation. Leg-islature barring same-sex couples from marriage is just as uncon-stitutional as the laws that banned interracial mar-riage.

The only thing that should govern this nation is the Consti-tution, with “no establishment of religion” (Amendment I). Pass-ing legislature based solely on religion directly conflicts with this principle – and that is exact-ly what laws like the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) are do-ing.

I repeatedly find that the only arguments against gay mar-riage are religious in nature. These arguments are not valid in the eyes of the Constitution, which leaves me baffled as to why it has taken us this long to begin to question laws like DOMA.

Religion cannot man-date law: it’s called separation of church and state, and it’s the reason this nation was founded. Even as a Christian, I know it is

When I was young I could be described as athletic. I was obsessed with soccer and basket-ball. I swam and practiced kara-te. However, as time went on, I realized that not everybody gets the same chances when it comes to athletics.

When we glance at today’s society, sports have taken the main stage. They are lathered with attention and self-imposed importance. Days such as Su-perbowl Sunday become just as well-known as Christmas. Phys-ical sports have their problems – problems that do not exist within the realm of technology. Electronic-sports, or commonly known as eSports, provide a saf-er and more modern path in this world of advancing technology, and ultimately, are a better choice.

eSports, like regular sports, take many different forms and is a highly competitive arena that concerns both computer and video games; some examples include Call of Duty and Star Craft. Due to their technological ties, they’re harder to cheat and worm through.

Humans cannot help but to judge or be bias, even when it is their job not to be. Referees and umpires can make mistakes or choose to look the other way. A computer, however, cannot.

eSports are easier to regulate and its system is harder to fool. While referees and judges keep constant watch of the players in regular sports, their reaction time is limit-ed. They make mistakes and they have limits. In eSports, there is a significantly smaller amount of such occurrences since there is a less emphasis on physical strength and more on concentration, and thus the playing field is more level.

Drugs and steroids are a rampant problem in athletic sports. The drive to become the best pushes even the least ambitious to build up all the muscular bulk they can. Even with drug tests, athletes still find a way around obstacles that might attempt to bar them from the use of steroids. Though there are sure to be professional gamers in the eSports world who take drugs to focus, those who have made

their way to the top are respected by their peers for their work ethic, not the use of steroids. The constant and obvious abuse within physical sports is disturbing.

Some may argue that the physical exercise that accompa-nies sports such as football and hockey is priceless. Though mus-cle and health is gained, the health of players in such sports become at risk as they age. The Na-tional Football League,

for example, has an increas-ingly troubling problem with retired players who acquired head injuries throughout their career, resulting in memory loss, lack of focus, depression and even suicide. eSports does not carry this risk. You don’t get broken bones or bruised brains by sitting at a computer for an hour.

Electronic sports are largely inclusive. Unlike reg-ular sports, eSports doesn’t have physical requirements. It doesn’t matter how tall or short you are, how much you weigh or what your gender is. As time progresses, the coaches of ath-letic sports weed out the un-desirables, the ones who don’t fit the physical picture of the perfect sportsman. As one such child whose hopes were crushed by this cruel truth, the flaws of modern physical sports are un-forgivable.

eSports is objective, inclu-

sive and safe. It remains a better option than physical sports.

ESports challenge traditional physical sports

“If two people truly love each other and want to spend the rest of their

lives together, they deserve the right to seal their commitment with a

vow of marriage.”

countries worldwide have legalized gay marriage

The United States has states that have

legalized gay marriage

states ban gay marriage

119

38594,391gay couples exist in the U.S.

according to the most recent census

Statistics courtesy galperlaw.comGraphics by Haley Madigan

Graphic by Sophie Nauyokas

Thomas HairOpinions Editor

Julie NakamuraStaff Writer

As traditional sports threaten athletes with injuries, referees with ethical dilemmas and non-athletes with bullying, Nakamura ponders the alternative. Electronic sports (eSports) have seen increasing popularity in recent years and are beginning to challenge the popularity of traditional physical sports.

Quality of literature continues downward spiral

What gets in my hair? Peo-ple who spout off about how modern music is trash or how nothing will ever compare to the “classics” or how the art of music has hit an all time low.

I’m not a fan of modern mu-sic. I’m a fan of good music. It is for that reason that I believe that we are truly entering a golden age in the music industry.

Yes, an era in which Nic-ki Minaj is playing on the radio instead of Led Zepellin and The Beatles can be considered a gold-en age.

Music is infinite in the 21st century. There are hundreds of ways to share music, thousands of genres and millions of artists. Output of music grows exponen-tially larger with each year, as more people have the means to produce music and share it with the world.

There has always been more bad music than good music. The 70s and 80s had plenty of junk as well. In retrospect, however, we only remember the highlights and gems of those eras, whereas we hear today’s crappy music ev-ery time we turn on a radio.

With output of music at an all-time high, there is more bad music than before, yes, but there is also more good music. All you have to do is look beyond the Top 40 pop stations and find it.

In this day and age, when there is infinite music instantly at your fingertips via the internet, there is little excuse to continue to listen to emotionless, corporately manufactured “music” like Ke$ha and Lil Wayne. There is also little excuse even to keep listening to the same exact artists and genres

over and over and over. As an en-thusiastic fan of music of many kinds, I am constantly on the lookout for intriguing artists and am always exploring new genres.

When I hear my friends re-mark “I’m bored of all my music” or “There’s no good music out right now” it completely astounds me. If you’re bored of all your music, perhaps try branching out of your comfort zone and delv-ing into a genre you may not be familiar with. Even if you have a very picky taste in music, you’ll be surprised how many gems you can find if you search for them. But how, you ask? Where does one begin?

There are well-known music resources such as YouTube, Last.fm and Spotify, where you can search for music until your ears bleed and stumble upon tons of music that will bring you joy for years to come. I personally love Spotify and its gargantuan (and free) music database, but there is also a vast array of music blogs and websites that are constantly recommending great music from today and from years past.

There are popular music blogs and websites that cater to specific groups, such as blabber-mouth.com (for metal fans), the-boombox.com (for hip hop fans) or progarchives.com (for progressive music fans). Howev-er, no music blog has earned my respect and loyalty as The Needle Drop has.

Headed by Antho-ny Spantano, “the world’s busiest music nerd”,

The Needle Drop is an excellent resource for anyone who is into music. The website’s staff real-ly knows its music and provides plenty of reviews, vlogs. recom-mendations and more for every genre conceivable - from noise rock to electronic to doom metal and everything in between.

I firmly believe that mu-sic is one of the most powerful tools of self-expression known to mankind. The emotional power of music is immense and there’s noting else like it. You are doing yourself a disservice if you limit yourself to one certain type or one certain era of music. With literally hundreds of genres and soundscapes to discover and ex-plore in this day and age, I am baffled by people who foolishly insist that all modern music is trash. The mainstream pop music most people associate with mod-ern music is just the ugly tip of a beautiful iceberg. Don’t be afraid to try something different.

The 21st century is truly a golden age of music. Whether it is trip-hop or bebop, you’ll be surprised how rewarding it can be to expand your horizons – and taking advantage of 21st century resources like Spotify and The Needle Drop may be the first step in helping you begin your musi-

cal journey.

Golden age of music upon us

I am a reader. I always have been. I was one of “those kids” who would regularly stay up way past my bedtime reading books in bed. I was a self-proclaimed bookworm and I took pride in the fact. Such behavior has be-come a bit of an anomaly. Society as a whole has begun to show a decline in interest in reading.

Even though I still consider myself a “reader”, I have found myself reading less and less. I was at the library studying recently and realized it had been months since I looked for a good book to read, so I decided to change that fact. As I walked through William T. Cozby library, I could not help but notice the contrast between the literature and the technology.

People were constantly milling around the DVD section. There was always someone trying to find a video to watch. The com-puters were never vacant. People in every direction were on their laptops and phones. Yet the actu-al rows of bookshelves were de-serted. Even the magazine shelves

seemed to have more activity than the bookshelves. People just do not appreciate printed books as much, especially with the more accessible eBooks, and movies.

Books such as Little Wom-en, Frankenstein, Romeo and Juliet and Robinson Crusoe were considered the popular books of their times. These same books are what we read in high school classes now. Many students cannot even comprehend these books - books that were best sellers when they were pub-

lished. Read-ing is

not

t h e only thing that is on de-cline - the r e a d i n g level of students is also on de-cline.

Now the popular books are Twilight, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. This is such a dif-ferent level than Shakespeare and Jane Austen. I am not attacking contemporary writers - I do be-lieve that many are very talented and amazing writers, but it seems that popular books now cannot even compare in quality to those written in earlier times.

Something that exacer-bates lack of reading is that the majority of popular books now are made into movies. Twilight,

Harry Potter, The Help, The Time Traveler’s Wife, most

of Nicholas Sparks’ books... the list goes on and on.

Companies like SparkNotes and CliffNotes are even worse. They make it

easy to avoid actu-ally reading the book. Some peo-ple I know look to these notes from the start. Truly reading the

book is never even on their mind. Short, quick and lazy seems

to be a growing trend as gener-ations pass. We are inclined to favor the simpler method. Inno-vations have made life a lot easier, but a lot lazier as well.

Even mail and newspapers have been struck by this phenom-enon and turn of events.

There has been talk of abol-ishing Saturday mail because it may not be necessary. Last year, a prompt on my AP Language and Composition test was about the deterioration of mail and the postal system. It is true that I – and the majority of people in the US – do not write or receive let-ters very often anymore.

As for news, I have an app on my iPhone called Summly. It uses an algorithm to process news articles to condense them into short, easily-read mini articles that I can skim. Sure, as busy as I am as a high school stu-dent, I very much enjoy being able to know what is going on without having to sit down for minutes at a time to read whole articles, but at the same time, it is not

the same as reading a whole news article.

Many reasons can be seen as causes of this degeneration of literature and reading. Among them are time, technology and the progression of our culture as a whole. Perhaps, as much as our world is advancing technologi-cally each day, we are heading the wrong way.

I have found it increasingly more difficult to sit myself down to read a book for my personal enjoyment as I did when I was younger. But when I do read, I still enjoy it. The hard part is get-ting started. There are so many other distractions.

In the end, perhaps it is technology that is taking over. As banal as this argument seems, there is a reason. It is most like-

ly true. Hopefully, I will slow down to stop and

smell the flowers. Or in this case, stop and read a great piece of literature.

Graphic by Haley Madigan

PHOTOSof the

DAY

Photo by Rinu Daniel

Photo by Jessica Rivera

Photo by Rachel Bush

April 6: Handwoven baskets made of environmentally friendly material were sold at Earthfest. Residents of Coppell came out to the event in Town Center all morning.

March 28: Behind the scenes, a makeup artist creates the dramatic effect of a head injury on senior Coleman Armes - to later be used in the portrayal of a car accident at Shattered Dreams.

April 12: Seniors Austin Huens, Seth Slover and Alex Garcia sign out with Coppell volunteers to enjoy an off campus lunch during Renaissance on Friday. Photo by Rachel Bush.

8 opinions APRIL 2013

Thomas HairOpinions Editor

Tina HuangStaff Writer

Read about New Music in Coppell on pg. 18

Graphic by Haley Madigan

Hayes, GracePoint team up to end modern slavery9featuresAPRIL 2013

JESSICA RIVERAStaff Photographer

NFL fanatic and New Tech High @ Coppell senior Sara Hayes had her sports marketing career all planned out until she read a devastating article in The Times-Picayune saying that the NFL Super Bowl is the largest sex trafficking event in the world per year.

Every year New Tech se-niors are required to complete the Capstone project where students reflect on what they’ve learned at New Tech, as well as through their junior and senior year intern-ships. Seniors select and research a topic that they are passionate about and write a research paper, create a project (with checkpoints throughout the year), and turn in their final product due April 12 with presentations on May 3.

Hayes interned for Youth Pastor Charley Hellmuth her ju-nior year, the Coppell Chamber of Commerce for her first semes-ter of senior year and is currently an intern for Tina Brown, Gra-cePoint Local/Global Missions Director, and Charley Hellmuth where she is in charge of the an-ti-slavery awareness for youth and adults at GracePoint Church in Coppell.

“My immediate thought was a little skeptical from the stand point that we have students who tell us all the time that they want to do something,” Hellmuth said. “But the t w i n -kle in [Sara’s] eye was d i f f e r -ent and I could tell that it was a heart deal for her and that she was pas-s ionate a b o u t it and wante d to go after it. We wanted to give her as much platform as we could.”

Hayes’ desire to work with the anti-slavery movement came from a trip that she took with the seniors of her church to the annu-al Passion Conference held in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Geor-gia with 60,000 other high school seniors and college students from all over the world.

“I went into Passion praying

where students could take a sur-vey on slavery footprint and see how many slave-created prod-ucts they were using in their daily routine, another station to give money and buy t-shirts and stick-ers for proceeds to be donated to the rehabilitation of victims, a so-cial media station where students could take a photo in front of an “#enditmovement” sign, and a stats wall station with facts about modern day slavery.

“Through these experienc-es I’ve gotten a clearer vision of something I may want to do and definitely stuff I don’t want to do,” Hayes said. “Through me working for [God], He’s really opening my eyes.”

Based on Hayes’ research, according to the CNN Freedom Project, if you took the price of a slave before the Civil War and inflated it to today’s prices, that

Movement efforts and Sara went into everything with a servant heart.

Hayes’ relationship with her facilitator at New Tech, Lindsey

Ayers, has also made the experience worthwhile for her. Ayers, intrigued by Hayes’ project, has heard and experienced Sara’s sermon and project.

“Seeing the End It Movement [at Passion] sparked an interest in me to see what [the End It Movement was] doing and find out more about the End It Movement”, Hayes said.

As a team, Hayes, Hellmuth and Brown knew that they needed to start a fire in students’ hearts about the cause be-fore spreading the word to adults. With that in mind,

the team collaborated to create an event on Wednesday, Feb. 20 where Hayes gave a sermon to her fellow youth group. Following the sermon, station guides were handed out to help students trav-el to each of the six stations that were set up to learn and become part of the cause.

Stations included a prayer station where students could pray for victims of slavery, a station

for a fire for God and constantly wanting to be in God’s word and doing something for Him for the rest of my life,” Hayes said. “He answered that prayer by putting

all of this on my heart and tasking me with this.”

Hayes’ project idea was in-spired by her internship at Gra-cePoint Church and her diligent efforts toward bringing awareness to the church community. When she began her internship with the church, Sara went in not know-ing what to expect. Charley Hell-muth, GracePoint Youth Pastor gave her the reigns on the End It

slave would cost you $40,000. Today, it only costs $90 to buy a human slave.

“Students need to under-stand that [slavery] is bigger now than it was then. It’s not just black children, or black women; it’s every race, age, and both genders,” Hayes said. “There is no discrimination; it could be me.”

By entrusting everything to God, Sara feels that she can make the difference and believes that you don’t have to be a doctor, or a even a hero to make a change, you just have to be willing.

“[God’s] really using the fire that He put in me to do something, not only in Coppell, but in Dallas,” Hayes said.

Aside from Hayes’ efforts in ending slavery, GracePoint Church has devoted church funds to helping organizations that are nationally contributing to the cause. The church is also currently researching local proj-ects for rehabilitation of rescued slaves, as well some laws and legislation for the marketing of billboards on highways that ad-vertise adult establishments to be shut down.

“Our role as a church is that we’re going to do something and be open to how the Holy Spirit moves us, “Hellmuth said.

About the Movement

Photo by Jessica Rivera

Get involved Find your slavery footprint

The End It Movement is an organization aimed to end modern day slavery.

There are 27 million people living in slavery today.

Nearly 48 people per day are trafficked in the United States.

Photo courtesy Wes Ashworth

“Students need to under-stand that [slavery] is bigger now than it was then. It is not

just black children or black women; it is every race and

both genders.”

-Caroline Overman, junior

Seniors Shannon Von Strohe (left) and Sara Hayes (right) hold up the End It Movement hand sign in front of the social media booth at GracePoint.

New Tech senior Sara Hayes teamed up with GracePonint Church Coppell to support the End It Movement and spread the word on ending modern day slavery.

10 features APRIL 2013

Lariettes waltz with Walt on trip to Disney WorldNATALIE GILBERTStaff Writer

Bright and early on March 22, the Coppell High School Lar-iettes drill team lugged their bags filled with jazz shoes, costumes and performance make-up to American Airlines Airport as they embarked on their trip to Orlando, Fla.

With preparation and fundraising since October, the dancers were more than ready for their four-day trip to the hap-piest place on Earth.

Before lunch time, the 41 dancers, five chaperones, 12 par-ents and directors Julie Stralow and Hayley Hoffman trampled into Animal Kingdom for safari adventures, roller coasters and dinner in Downtown Disney.

Although Walt Disney World is known as a place for va-cation, it is also known as a place of production and showcase. Thousands of performance em-ployees put on shows with char-acters throughout Disney daily, and the Lariettes had the oppor-tunity to participate in a mock audition on Saturday.

Making their way behind the scenes of Disney in Epcot, a choreographer in the Disney production business taught the Lariettes a new dance to audition with. As the process continued, a casting director was brought in to evaluate each dancer’s audition as well as assess versatile abilities taken into consideration when casting for Disney performances.

“We went through the ex-act process a Disney employee would go through, which gave us a real perspective on what fu-ture careers in dance could hold,” sophomore Landry Walker said. “We also got advice on dancing resumes and audition presence in order to give our best impression when trying to get a job like the ones in Disney.”

After the mock audition was over, the dancers presented their newly learned dances in a simu-lated production and were joined by Disney character Goofy.

“The whole process was a great opportunity and incredi-bly realistic,” Walker said. “Even

when Goof y came out to dance with us we got a sense of how Disney per-formers feel since they are either in the cos-tume or d a n c i n g next to one during their per-formances.”

L a r i -ettes learned multiple per-formance tech-niques at Disney World throughout their lessons, and the next day they got to show off their skills.

Early Sunday morn-ing, the girls put away their Mickey Mouse ears and broke out their performance attire for a recital in the entrance of Univer-sal Studios. The recital entailed special senior and officer dances in addition to modified versions of dances performed at previ-ous pep rallies and competitions throughout the year.

“I was surprised at how many people gathered to watch the girls,” mother Tamra Walker said. “People would naturally come watch because immediately after

walk-ing in the park you heard f u n music and saw the girls dancing. It was really fun as parents to see our girls draw a crowd.”

With many hours of dancing complete, the group took Disney by storm. They attended Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Uni-versal Studios, Epcot, Harry Pot-ter World, Dr. Seuss World and

more a l l

while it was pouring

rain.“[The rain]

stopped us from riding the larger roller coasters, but we did not let it ruin our time,” sopho-more Madison Badura said. “We threw on our ponchos and had fun with it.”

Ponchos and all, the Lariettes met their favorite Disney charac-ters and saw artifacts from some of their favorite Disney classics.

How-e v e r ,

the danc-ers were not

the only ones having early child-

hood flashbacks.“The moms and I

were more like children in paradise than some of the girls,” Mrs. Walker said. “Disney even had artifacts from my childhood, so it was nostalgic and ap-pealed to all ages.”

A trip to Disney World is not a regular oc-

currence through a school program, so the trip would

not have been possible with-out the planning and booking

by Stralow and Hoffman.“It would not have been

possible without their perfect planning,” Mrs. Walker said. “Ev-ery detail went perfectly with the girls’ dance classes, performances, trips to parks, meals and hotels.”

Lariettes themselves had to do more than practice their danc-es in order to attend. Girls who desired to go on the trip were re-quired to be passing all classes, and according to Lariette treasurer Benita Weaver, had a fee of $1,200.

From fan dances to fire-works at Cinderella’s Castle, the Lariettes had a wonderful dance opportunity combined with ad-venture to finish out the season on a good note.

As a magical place of production and showcase, Disney World provided the perfect backdrop for the Lariette trip on March 22.

Photos courtesy Shannon Wilkinson

Lariette junior Emily Orlich visits Leggo World during the Lariette yearly trip to Disney World

Lariette Juniors Allie Bond, Nico-lette Pianelli, Makenzie Armstrong, and Kylie Mohler get an autograph from Mary Poppins during their trip to Disney World

Lariette junior Emily Cox revis-its her childhood with the Little Mermaid in Disney World.

Taylor’s Gift ‘paints it forward’ for awareness

Paint, share, go. In these three simple steps, anyone can help support the Taylor’s Gift Foundation in celebrating Na-tional Donate Life Month.

April is National Donate Life Month, a special time dedi-cated to the awareness and cele-bration of organ donation. This year, the Taylor’s Gift Foundation has taken this opportunity to cre-ate an easy, effective way to con-nect with its supporters.

“We wanted a way to con-nect and have fun with organ donation,” founder Todd Storch said. “One of the things we are working on is changing the conversation so that people want to talk about it. Organ donation has been viewed as negative - some-thing that happens when you die. We have been work-ing hard to change that conversation, so the Paint it Forward! campaign all came to-gether.”

Taylor’s Gift, founded af-ter the death of Coppell Middle School East eighth grader Taylor Storch following a skiing acci-dent in 2010, has teamed up with OPI Products to produce the nail polish color “Taylor Blue” to both spread awareness about their cause and help raise money for people whose lives have been touched by organ donation. OPI

loved the idea of what Taylor’s Gift was trying to do and will-ingly agreed to take part in the campaign.

“The response is unbeliev-able; it has blown us away,” Tay-lor’s Gift event director Linda Medina said. “We had asked for 1,000 bottles thinking it would hang around awhile, but we sold those 1000 bottles on March 22 by about 2 a.m. We have already ordered 2,000 more bottles. The reach that we have seen has been amazing. We have had many more people exposed to Taylor’s Gift from this campaign. We have got a wonderful support group in Coppell, but we also have reached

across the country.”

W i t h an incredi-ble number of sales in such a short amount of time and an i n c re a s i n g l y high demand, OPI is consid-ering turning Taylor Blue into more than just a limited

supply, by keeping it as a perma-nent color. At taylorsgift.org/tay-lorblue, there is a map available to view recent purchases of the polish around the globe.

“When we launched [the nail polish], we knew it was a good idea, but we were getting online sales every minute or two all over the country,” Storch said. “We had two locations in Cop-pell selling Taylor Blue - Zenzero Bakery and J. Macklin’s Grill, who were calling us saying they were

sold out in hours. It was exciting, overwhelming and fantastic.”

Though the Paint It For-ward! campaign proved success-ful from its launch, Storch and his wife, Tara, have not stopped there to promote their founda-tion, especially during the month of April. On April 1, the Storches released a book, Taylor’s Gift: A Courageous Story of Giving Life and Renewing Hope, that was a long time in the making.

The idea of writing a book over his family’s experiences was proposed to Storch by Father Al-fonso of St. Ann Catholic Parish not long after Taylor’s accident when he began to realize all of the things that had happened af-ter Taylor’s death. When Storch was contacted by the editor of a publishing house the same week, he knew that he needed to share his story with other people.

For students who knew Tay-lor, the book provides a glimpse back into the world with her in it. The book especially touches the family and friends in the ac-knowledgments.

“I just felt an overwhelming amount of honor and happiness when reading that I was credited as one of her closest friends,” ju-nior Kate Dicken said. “Although I have always known in my heart that is true, it is amazing that people all over the world will be reading this and will know how much Taylor Storch meant to me and how close we were, and now it is in ink, and nothing will ever change my relationship with Tay-lor.”

Since Taylor’s death, Dicken has remained in a close relation-ship with the Storch family, and

has an overwhelming amount of respect for what they have ac-complished and shared.

“From the Storches, I have learned that no matter what, you can never give up,” Dicken said. “Although things may not go your way or may look bleak, never give up, because there is always some-thing good to come out of it.”

The Taylor’s Gift Founda-tion has come so far since March 2010. The Paint It Forward! cam-paign and book release are just

the next steps in their journey of touching lives. The Storches are determined to never stop spread-ing their message.

“Seeing Taylor’s story touch lives feels so good because it real-ly is a love story,” Storch said. “It is a horrible, horrible thing that happened, but the outpouring of it is beautiful, and people are attracted to that. We want that message to be all over the world; there is so much good that is out there.”

CHRISTINA BURKEFeatures Editor

Photo by Jessica Rivera

The Taylor’s Gift Foundation released a new nail polish color with OPI called “Taylor Blue” to raise awareness for organ donation in honor of National Donate Life month.

11featuresAPRIL 2013

“Seeing Taylor’s story touch lives feels so good because it really is a love

story. We want that message to be all over the world; there is so

much good that is out there.”

- Todd Storch, founder of Taylor’s Gift

ADM

IT

ON

E

Natale and Gomez have been saving coins amount-

ing to $200 for Prom.

12 in-depth 13in-depth

6.76%GOING ALONE

9.46%GROUP OF 2-6

24.32%GROUP OF 7-12

30.41%GROUP OF 13-20

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE IN YOUR PROM GROUP?

29.05%GROUP OF 20+

148 students polled

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

$0-100

$100-200

$200-300

$300-400

$400+

10.06%

12.58%

25.79%

23.27%

28.3%

WHAT IS YOUR PROM BUDGET?159 students polled

“I am more excited for the after party than prom itself. I have spent over $400 on prom, which included tickets, transportation and my tux. I have probably been preparing for this one

night since February.”

“I got my dress at Group USA and it was about $160. I was at first really nervous about being the only junior in my prom group and I really hope that going this year does not take the fun out of going

senior year.”

“It is always better to go with a group for prom than just you and your date. It is fun to be with all of your friends one last time before

graduation.”

PROM PHOTO

P R O M

2 0 1 3

By the end of her junior year, Kylie Mohler will have attended three proms - two CHS and one New Tech High@Coppell. Her senior year, she hopes to attend both CHS and New Tech proms for a grand total of five proms.

Ever since she was little, Mohler has loved all things beauty and fashion. Prom, the most formal event in most high school girls’ lives, runs on girls’ pas-sions for beauty and fashion. For Mohler, the opportunity to attend multiple proms has given her the chance to show off her individual style.

“I feel like the style of dresses that I wear and the way I style my hair and makeup reflects my personality most,” Mohler said. “I love being able to get all dressed up and everything.”

Mohler’s passion for beauty and style has been useful not only in get-ting ready for prom, but in various formal events such as homecoming,

banquets and other parties. After each formal event, Mohler has had the chance to look back and find things to work on to make the next formal

event less stressful.“For someone who hasn’t gone to prom before, I would say

plan everything way ahead of time,” Mohler said. “Make your ap-pointments for hair or nails or anything way in advance because

things fill up quickly and that adds to the stress of preparing for prom. The sooner you plan, the less you have to worry about

when prom starts approaching.”For Mohler, three proms means three times the stress of

preparing for prom. Three proms so far has meant three dates, three dresses, three hair and makeup styles to plan, three formal din-

ners and three sets of dance tickets. Mohler admits that the stress of prom would be difficult without the support of her parents.

“The one person that helps me so much would be my mom,” Mohler said. “She helps with planning and ordering everything and is such a blessing. [Prom] would be ten times more stressful without her help.”

Prom is more than the dress and the shoes though, and Mohler’s favorite thing about prom is spend-ing time with her friends on such a special night; the style and appearance is just icing on the cake.

When senior Alexis Natale started putting her spare change in an empty glass jar last October, she had no idea that seven months later, she would have a large portion of her prom paid for.

Natale and her boyfriend, University of North Texas freshman and 2012 Coppell Graduate Chris Gomez, know that prom can have a hefty price tag. At last year’s prom, Gomez and Natale met for the first time. Almost one year later, Gomez and Natale are counting down the days until their one-year anniversary.

“We started putting change in a jar at Alexis’ house a long time ago,” Gomez said. “We didn’t really know what we were saving for, but now it’s making prom a lot less expensive. It was really amazing to see how it all came together.”

What started as a few pennies in a jar has amounted to over $200 in savings, which will contribute to the price

of their prom tickets. Besides their savings, Natale has looked for other small ways to cut down on the expense

of prom. Natale and Gomez will be driving themselves to prom, in hopes of saving money by avoiding an expensive

limousine rental. Also, Natale and Gomez’s group will be swap-ping a five-star restaurant for a less-expensive but appealing alter-

native, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. “I don’t think that prom is exaggerated,” Natale said. “Prom is

what you make of it. When I was a sophomore, my group went all out in terms of a limo, dinner and pictures, but I’m ready to relax and have a great

prom without all the extra expenses.”A prom veteran herself, Natale has avoided much of the prom planning

stress by relaxing. Less than three weeks before prom, Natale had yet to purchase a dress. Instead of going crazy, Natale is sitting back and letting prom fall together, trusting

that her friends and boyfriend will be all she needs to have the perfect senior prom experience.

For Mohler, third prom is the charm Small change helps fund Natale’s prom

The King and Queen BEST PART WORST PART

Dance 22

After party 82

Dinner 16

Photos 27

Shopping 3

Asking/Getting asked22

Expenses81

Shopping9

Organizing/Planning35

Photos3

WHO DID YOU GO WITH?

CC

no date

boyfriend or girlfriend friend romantic

interestsomeone from another school

20.39% 26.97% 39.47% 10.53% 2.63%

Statistics based on polls from coppellstudentmedia.com

152 students polled

by Kristen Shepard

Photos courtesy Alexis NatalePhoto courtesy Kylie Mohler

Perfectly poised red velvet cupcakes were set up as snacks at the “Fire and Ice” themed prom on April 13 at the Dallas Trade Market.

Students danced to the top hits music from 9 pm to 1 am at prom on Saturday night.

Seniors Nathan Hernandez and Will Udeh played poker at one of the

tables set up at prom Saturday night.

Junior Wesley Szalkowski and senior Harry Holzer arrive at the dance.

Senior Kavina Pandya, sopho-more Jack Meyer and seniors Mira Shah and Josh Abaya got all dressed up for the memorable prom night.

Seniors Katie Condon, Mallory Osi-gian and Nathan Leonard entered the colorful scene at the “Fire and Ice” themed senior prom.

54.67%

18%

14.67%

10.67%

2%

54

%

23.33%

14.67

%

6%2%

Seniors Jen Olson and Coleman Armes were crowned prom queen and king at the end of the dance on April 13. They were voted by their fellow seniors for these titles.

From a poll of150 students...

Matt Smith, senior Lilly Balsamo, junior

Vignesh Krishnamoorthy, senior

ADMIT ONE

Graphics by Haley Madigan

Photo by Mia Ford

14 features APRIL 2013

Triplets connect through music despite differencesCAROLINE CARTERStaff Writer

When a home has a student in the marching band, there is a constant sound of their instru-ments playing. At the Zill home in Coppell, there can sometimes be three instruments at once.

Juniors Madi, Allie and Ben Zill are a set of triplets who at-tend Coppell schools; Allie and Ben attend Coppell High School and Madi attends New Tech High @ Coppell. Though a house with three students can sometimes be crowded and busy, being a triplet is a unique experience for each of the Zills.

“The best part about being a triplet is having someone who understands what you are going through at the moment because they are going through the exact same thing,” Allie said. “Madi, Ben and I are all in the same grade so we always have someone to talk to when we are struggling in something or we want to vent about things that have been both-ering us. We can all relate to each others’ situations.”

Not only do the Zills share the same birthday, but they also share the same hobby. All three of the triplets are members of the Coppell High School Marching Band; Madi plays the bass clari-net, Allie plays the flute and Ben plays the trombone. Though they play different instruments, being a part of the band together gives them an experience unlike most members of the CHS Marching Band.

“Band with all of us is stressful,” Madi said. “It is real-

ly hard to leave on time because you have to leave with everyone almost always at once, unless someone drives the other car. But as anyone in band will tell you, band consumes most of your life. So our family dinners are just a never ending conversation about band, which is kind of great.”

The Zills also help each oth-er throughout the year so that each person improves.

“When we practice, we usually listen to each other and make corrections,” Ben said. “We will give each other pointers too. During the summer, we practice marching in order to prepare for the marching season next year. We became a part of band be-cause our cousins played the vio-lin, and we all really like music.”

Mary Ellen Gherardi, the Zills’ mom, says that having the triplets in band is a great experi-ence for the whole family, though it can sometimes be hectic.

“Having three children in marching band is, first of all, noisy,” Gherardi said. “If I had any early illusions of a peaceful home life, they quickly disap-peared with the first honk of a trombone. Add a flute and a bass clarinet and it’s like having a Sal-vation Army band right in your living room. Band is also expen-sive. Before one trip to San An-tonio, we were writing checks so fast I think I saw sparks fly out of the checkbook.” Madi, Allie and Ben are not the only set of mul-tiples

on band. Juniors Rosemary Brinegar and Chase Brinegar are twins and both perform with the CHS Marching Band and can re-late to some of the same things that the Zills go through.

“I know what it is like to have a sibling that is always here beside me,” Rosemary said. “I know it can get annoying, but at the same time they are also your best friend. Being a twin, or es-pecially a triplet, you are known as just that and sometimes peo-ple focus on what you are togeth-er instead of who you are as an individual. However, the Zills are great and fun to be around.”

Like most siblings, the Zills have their fair share of arguing and conflict. But

with there being no age differ-

ence, they can always connect in ways that many cannot.

“We fight as most siblings do, but we may even get under each others skin more since we are the same age,” Madi said. “I don't think we are that much closer than other siblings, but we do understand each other more. I talk to them about a lot of things that you couldn't tell a younger sibling.”

With all three of the triplets performing in band and com-pleting the same course work at school, each find that they con-stantly have to compete with each other whether it is in band, school or extracurricular activi-ties.

“We are all competing to get the best grades, SAT score or band placement,” Madi said. “We all try to one up each other. It can be hard to be your own person when you are constantly being compared to your brother and sister. Allie and I also have pret-ty much the same friend group. We each have a few friends that we're closer to, but for the most part we hang out with the same people.”

Though the Zill triplets are frequently together, each has found a way to be unique and different from the others.

“I go to New Tech which is one way that I am different, and I absolutely love it,” Madi said. “We all have distinctly different personalities and qualities. But for the rest of my life I will al-ways be associated as a triplet, and I'm okay with that. Being a triplet is, very interesting, and there is honestly no way to per-fectly describe it.”

Photo by Jessica Rivera

(From Left to Right) Juniors Madi, Ben and Allie Zill are triplets who all are in the band program. While they have different interests, band has always connected them.

Community commits to environment sustainabilityHALEY MADIGANDesign Editor

Consider the contents of your lunch. They probably consist of disposable bags, bottles and miscellaneous wrappers. Now, multiply the trash you generate by over 10,000 students and discover the amount of waste Coppell ISD produces daily.

This figure represents just one of our district’s current environmentally damaging habits. From superfluous waste to excessive electricity use to thousands of papers printed daily, every school in Coppell can afford to increase awareness and implement more sustainable measures. Coppell High School environmental science teacher Holly Anderson strives to execute this change.

Since beginning her career with CISD at Coppell Middle School North in 2000, Anderson’s priority has been to inform every student about the benefits of going green.

“We started small, with the initial creation of an outdoor classroom at North,” Anderson said. “The next step was doing the Sustainability Expo at Coppell High School and eventually joining with the Coppell Nature Park to promote environmental education.”

Anderson hopes educating students about the importance of sustainability will help them to develop an interest and eventually pursue environmentally friendly endeavors on their own. She assigns homework called flex assignments, which encourage students to choose a couple events to attend that promote awareness of these issues. Such events include scoping out the Coppell Farmer’s Market, attending a lecture by nature conversationalist Jeff Corwin and even visiting the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.

“I provide flex assignment opportunities for students to integrate sustainability into their own lives,” Anderson said. “Although class discussions hopefully motivate students to get out there, these assignments force them to apply green techniques in the field to better understand their value.”

One of Anderson’s IB Environmental Science students, senior Klementine Klein, has taken full advantage of the opportunities the class presents and embodies a similar passion for sustainability. Klein has been an integral part of presenting student-prescribed plans to district officials in hopes of initiating this green movement.

“I have participated in a program through the environmental Science classes that was intended to monitor the progress that schools in CISD were making toward their sustainability goals,” Klein said. “As part of this, a group of my peers and I met with [CHS Principal Mike Jasso] to discuss sustainable measures at CHS.”

One of the chief concerns with the CHS administration was the amount of money required to institute these changes.

“Funding is always the top priority, of course, but going

green can also save our school a significant amount of money,” Klein said. “For example, going paperless by utilizing the Internet to submit assignments saves the cost of paper, ink and trees. Installing light dimmers in classrooms also conserves electricity and, therefore, money. It is just important that this money saved goes directly back into implementing more sustainable measures.”

Klein, originally from Germany, grew up with an emphasis on environmental consciousness. She attributes part of her commitment to the influence of her European lifestyle.

“Across the pond, there is much more focus on a

sustainable culture which includes extensive recycling programs, public transportation, federal support for these initiatives and social awareness. There is almost a green peer pressure that exists in society,” Klein said. “We need that here.”

As a model environ-mentalist, she exemplifies the standards CISD hopes to achieve with this initiative.

“I drive a smart car and bring a reusable water bottle to school,” Klein said. “I also try to create as little trash as possible and write on both sides of all of my papers. You do not have to start a charity organization to make a difference. It is the little things that add up.”

Some of her habits serve as an example for the district’s goals for implementing sustainable measures. Involving students in school gardens is another way it hopes to promote educational and health awareness. Teri Keith, Coppell community garden board member and Lakeside Elementary kindergarten teacher, touches on the benefits of gardening.

“The Coppell community garden has been somewhat of a hidden gem and an outstanding source of progress for this community,” Keith said. “People come every weekend in all sorts of weather to harvest fresh, organic food to donate to Metrocrest.”

Keith recognizes the educational opportunities associated with bringing gardens to each school in the district as well as the benefits of cafeteria workers growing and selling the food as lunch options.

“When you are in kindergarten and can harvest your own sweet potatoes, you are better able to understand the value of sustainable gardening. No matter the age, we should know where our food comes from,” Keith said.

To incite progress in

gardening for both environmental and health reasons, in 2011, New Tech High@Coppell brought in Helen Duran, or “Chef Helen” as students affectionately call her, a Child Nutrition Culinary Trainer. Duran advocates gardening as a tool to reduce the carbon footprint of CISD campuses.

“To process and ship food, you have to consider the watering, harvesting, trucking, cardboard packaging and energy involved. With the gardens, it is much lighter. We plant seeds and harvest directly to prepare in the kitchen,” Duran said.

Because of the success of gardens at campuses like New Tech and Pinkerton Elementary, CISD plans to introduce

gardening to the new Lee Elementary School under construction. Growing lettuces to fuel a fresh salad bar is a primary goal. To

increase sustainable practices even further,

proposals for compost projects are also in the works.

“At Pinkerton, they already compost,” Duran said. “They have a bucket in the cafeteria with weighing devices, so kids can be directly involved and keep a record of the waste they are conserving. Then once processed, the compost is used as fertilizer in the garden. It is an extremely sustainable cycle.”

Unfortunately, because of the sheer volume of food necessary to support all of CISD’s students, gardening will never substitute traditional shipping altogether. However, the importance of such a system reaches beyond environmental concerns.

“The value is two-fold,” Duran said. “First, the food from gardens is fresher with more nutrients. Second, it gets kids interested in eating things they would not otherwise try.”

For learning purposes, gardening can serve as an effective tool for biology and other science classes. Additionally, teachers in other subjects utilize the change in atmosphere to teach poetry and provide an outdoor reading area.

“The garden can be about being outside and enjoying the beauty of the world. In education, it should be as integral as the library,” Duran said.

With this month including such events as Earthfest on April 6 and Earth Day on April 22, now is the perfect time to appreciate the environment and be involved in implementing more sustainable measures throughout Coppell.

Anderson and her students encourage students and staff to follow CISD’s lead and take the extra few steps to the recycling bin. Request your teachers to post and submit assignments online to save paper and money. Ditch your brown paper lunch bags in favor of a reusable one. Become involved in this latest movement toward increasing environmental awareness. After all, it is easy being green.

“Whatever we do should be student-initiated so it is more meaningful and becomes a significant part of our lives,” Anderson said. “Changing our culture is the first step.”

15featuresAPRIL 2013

Photos by Rinu Daniel

Graphic by Sophie Nauyokas

Handmade crafts, like these birdhouses, were sold Coppell’s Annual Earth Fest which was held on April 6.

Sophomore Shivani Burra and world history teacher Tim Dixon’s son Reignbrent show off their face paint at Coppell’s Earth Fest.

AP’s Apiaries Honey and other local food products from the Farmer’s Market were available.

Coppell ISD students gathered around dozens of booths set up at this year’s Earth Fest.

Natural style bracelets were sold at one booth. Many other useful or collectable items were also sold at Earth Fest.

16 entertainment APRIL 2013

Dallas brings unique entertainment to teenagersHave you ever wanted to walk into a rainforest under a waterfall? Have you ever wanted to dance to your favorite band while they perform

live? While these exciting opportunities may seem across far-fetched and hours away, they are actually closer than you think. Although Coppell is a small residential community, the prominent, cultural city of Dallas is only a 30-minute drive away. And with numer-

ous activities occurring throughout the year, it is not difficult to find something to do downtown.

JORDAN BICKHAMPage Designer

WHAT TO DOIN DALLAS

One of the most prominent aspects of Dallas for Coppell High School students is the multitude of concert venues throughout the Dallas area. Ranging from the House of Blues to the Palladium Ballroom, there are always wide variety of concert tours and bands coming through Dallas. Whether it is at Gilley’s for country music or the Gexa Energy Pavilion for just about anything, there is a good chance that your favorite artist will come to Dallas.

Whether you want to go to a great concert or a sporting event, the American Airlines Center holds it all. The center is very diverse and with a spacious area, so it can be used for a wide variety of events. The American Airlines Center, home of the

Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars, holds events year round and for a variety of prices depending on what the event is and where you sit. You can stay updated by becoming a member of their site, allowing you to see

what events are coming soon.

Like concerts in Dallas, there are numerous locations that offer dancing and even dancing lessons. From the two-step to salsa, there is a wide variety of dances and taught in Dallas. Coppell students have even traveled down to Dallas for some lessons in swing dancing at Son of Hermann Hall, which also has live music, and country dancing at Gilley’s, which triples as a bar and concert venue.

Dallas has added yet another building to its skyline with the construction of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. The Perot Museum takes you back in time with hands on activities and unique displays that teach you aspects of nature and science through our history. Not only can you go back learn about history in downtown Dallas, but you can also learn about art at the Dallas Museum of Art which has hundreds of pieces of art on display year round.

For those fine arts lovers, there are plenty of performing arts centers and museums to keep you interested. In the category of theater, the AT&T Performing Arts Center is incredibly popular for a variety of musicals and plays ranging from “Les Miser-ables” to “Chicago.” There are a number of smaller venues that also put on shows, but to see major hits, the AT&T center is the place to go.

The Dallas World Aquarium and the Dallas Zoo are other unique venues. Throughout the year, both the Dallas Zoo and Dallas World Aquar-

ium are open for enjoyment. Both hold a variety of rare and common animals. The Dallas Zoo generally holds more com-mon animals such as elephants, lions and tigers. The Dallas World

Aquarium holds a wide variety ranging from monkeys and spiders to bats and sharks.

Although there are numerous concert venues, there are also numerous venues for classical music lovers. Some of these venues include the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center; which is

the center that the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performs in frequently. There are numerous other centers, also including the Winspear Opera House, which puts on popular musicals throughout the

year.

So before you find yourself going to Bahama Bucks yet again or going to a movie you do not care to see, check out all the activities going on downtown. Plan ahead for a fun night swing dancing at the Hermann Hall or see what musicals are being performed at the AT&T Center.

While you may run out of ideas within Coppell, Dallas has activities that can keep you entertained year round.

Concert Venues

American Airlines Center

Dancing

Museums

Theater

Dallas World Aquarium & Zoo

Performing Arts Center

Graphics by Addy Buigas-Lopez

Every year EMAC prepares a showcase of the students’ work, where they can create an in-depth piece that sets them apart as college applicants.

This year, EMAC will have a film festival where groups are formed and given a topic a week in advance to brainstorm and preplan. The day of the event, April 29, the students will pro-duce and edit their film as well as publicize it through social media within about five hours.

The festival will provide EMAC students with the re-al-world challenge of working under a deadline. EMAC is also hosting a district-wide film fes-tival open to all CISD students grades six through 12. All films were submitted by March 18 and the winners, as well as the best films produced by EMAC stu-dents that day, will be viewed in the CHS audito-rium.

“ [C opp el l ISD Superin-tendent Dr. Jeff Turner] has al-ways wanted to see a film festival happen for about seven years now and after EMAC was created, it laid a perfect path for a film festival to happen,” EMAC president, junior Me-gan Menegay, said. “Everything just fell into place this year. We decided to open it up to the six through 12 graders because we know that everyone has talent, whether they’ve discovered it or not.”

EMAC received a positive response with over 50 short film submissions that they had to ex-tend the deadline. Some classes are collaborating to create a film together; even media students from middle schools are partic-ipating as well.

The Multimedia/Video Production students at Coppell Middle School West (CMSW) were required to produce a short film and were given the option to submit it to the CHS Film

Festival. Students chose their own topics and were required to complete a plot chart, script and storyboard before filming and were provided feedback on those planning pieces. They were also given a rubric to show them the story writing, filming, and video editing skills they were expected to incorporate.

“I felt it would be a great motivational tool for the stu-dents,” CMSW Multimedia/Vid-eo Production teacher Monica Champagne said. “Broadening their audience and introducing competition encourages students to produce their best work.”

KCBY’s short film crew consisting of seniors Josh Brunelli, Mason Adams, Joe Han, Adam Borel and Eric Park will debut “The Mammoth Af-fray”, a student produced short film entered into numerous film festivals nationwide.

“It’s quite an interesting feeling to have our film premiere after working on it so long,” Adams said. “It will be good to see others react to our film rather than just seeing our friends’ reac-

tions.”While there are many film

festivals in the Dallas area, the CHS Film Festival is unique be-cause it is more of an entry level competition for students who may not have much experience in film and editing.

“Middle school students aren’t exposed to people who do this all the time like in KCBY, so they can see what it’s like so if they enjoy it it’s something they can work toward,” EMAC sopho-more representative Jamie Fran-cis said.

Films will be judged by local filmmakers and owners of Chazown Films Michael and DeAnza Spangler.

There are two divisions, middle school and high school, and the winner of each will re-ceive a $100 cash prize. Several local businesses have chosen to

sponsor the event. Sponsorships come in three packages. Silver is $50, gold is $100 to $200 and platinum is more than $200.

One local company, YOUR Community Credit Union (YCCU), has pledged the plati-num donation. YCCU regularly supports EMAC and the media program at CHS.

“Anytime we are able to sponsor events that promote youth in our communities, the school benefits, our business benefits and the community benefits,” YCCU Vice President of Marketing Rick Stokes said. “It’s simply a win-win for every-one.”

YCCU has also chosen the EMAC Academy to create a series of commercials for the company. The marketing team is working on reaching a different demographic- young, Genera-tion Y, educated consumers.

“We are utilizing the ser-vices of EMAC because they represent a large part of the de-mographic we are targeting,” Stokes said. “Who better to cre-ate the commercials than people who are most able to relate to the message we want to send?”

Film Patterson, owned by CHS special education teacher Andrew Patterson, is donating the use of a high definition pro-jector for the festival.

“I chose to donate because I feel that it’s very important to encourage and promote interest in the visual arts for the up and coming generation,” Film Pat-terson Technical Director Tony Couzelis said. “Film offers a cre-ative complexity level seldom seen in other mediums.”

EMAC students look for-ward to this year’s film festival becoming the first of many more to come.

“It is interesting to see how many students walk the halls ev-ery day and have so much talent that they don’t have an outlet for,” Francis said. “We want them to see that if they work hard toward something there will be an amaz-ing outcome. As years progress, we hope to discover new talent through the festival.”

17entertainmentAPRIL 2013

It will be good to see others react to our

film rather than just seeing our friends’

reactions.-Mason Adams,

senior

Magic of cinema on display at EMAC film festival

Junior Maggie Crosby prints posters in preperation for the EMAC film festival on April 29.

Coppell Middle School West eighth grade media students Gracie Webb and Lindsay Hopkins do Isy Martinez’s makeup for her role as “The Screech” in their short film.

continued from pg. 1

18 entertainment APRIL 2013

The audience claps along as senior Chris Capezzuto sings “Pride and Joy” at this year’s talent show. Capezzuto sits alone on stage with only his acoustic guitar and his voice to win over the crowd.

Capezzuto has been a long-time music enthusiast; it was not until three years ago he decided to take his love for music and learn to play the guitar. He began playing with his dad before he moved on to a teacher and eventu-ally learned all he could from him.

“It was surprising to me to see how quick he could pick up with a little introduction,” Chris’ father Jon Capezzuto said. “He is naturally talented, and it made it possible for him to get excited about playing guitar.”

After a year and a half of les-sons, Capezzuto ventured out on his own and began performing his own covers of popular songs and posting them onto his You-Tube channel. He began singing a year ago, and even though he has not had any voice lessons, he shows a natural talent for singing.

“I think that his dedica-tion and commitment to his guitar is clearly shown through his talents,” senior Nadir Khan said. “He has some sweet chops mixed with phenomenal talent.”

Stage fright is not an issue for Capezzuto; having played live a couple of times by the time he

played at the talent show, most of the nerves were gone. Having the support of friends and fam-ily has encouraged Chris to write his own music and play for others.

“For his cousin’s 16th birth-day he learned a song and took his guitar to her house on her birthday and sang her some songs,” Chris’ mother Joan Cape-zzuto said. “We had a family sing a long and it was really fun.”

Capezzuto continues to post songs to his channel and is cur-rently working on some of his own original songs. Though nothing is planned to be released in the near future, he is hoping on re-leasing his own songs eventually.

As for the song-writing, for now C a p e z z u t o will be l i s te n -ing to oth-e r

m u -s i c for in-spirat ion and work on more poetic lyrics.

“I listen to a lot of different artists,” Capezzuto said.

“I have a really diverse musical interest and I take things from a lot of different genres and artists and apply it to my own music.”

Though Capezzuto will not pursue music in college, it will be a hobby for him to have throughout the years. At this point his music could go in any number of directions.

Capezzuto has had suc-cess as a solo artist, but he would also become a part of a band if the opportunity presented it-self. For the time being fans can check his YouTube channel for his weekly cover, something he does for fun to show off his talent to friends and YouTube viewers.

“He is very good, especially for someone who has

only played for three years,” Mr. Cape-

zzuto said. “I am a big

fan of mu-sic and I think Chris re-ally has t a l e n t , it’s just a question of him,

like any musician, finding a u n i q u e s o u n d .”

Singing her first solo at age three at her church, junior Kenzie Hitz has been influenced by music from a young age.

Her mother encouraged her daughter to start piano les-sons with a formal teacher, but that did not last long. In-stead, Hitz started learning by ear and took off with that.

Hitz and 2012 Coppell High School graduate Jack-son Webster started Atlan-tic Daze and currently per-form at local venues; bigger goals in mind for the future.

“We have not got the chance to gig in Austin yet, but it would pretty easy especially when you know who books certain venues, other bands and stuff like that,” Web-ster said.

W i t h W e b s t e r studying at the Univer-sity of Texas at Austin, At-lantic Daze does not have as many op-portunities to practice as they h o p e to, so they improvise.

“We give each other songs that we think

we should do, and we practice on our own,” Hitz said. “When Jack-son flies back to Coppell we put it together, which does not take us very long, then we perform.”

Hitz’s mother, Lori Shaw, has been a great influence on her musical life, supporting her both financially and emotionally.

“I give her advice about what songs she should and which ones are right for her,” Shaw said. “With experience in piano and singing for 15 years, I know how to help Kenzie when she stumbles upon a problem.”

The split between band members is something that would have caused normal bands to break up, but Atlan-tic Daze is stronger than that.

“Since we know each other so well and were good friends before we made the band, it has been easier to make our band

work long distance,” Hitz said.

Hitz s i n g s ,

plays t he

uku-l e l e ,

t a m -b o u r i n e ,

bass, gui-tar, bass drum or whatev-er is necessary for the song.

Despite Webster being in Austin, they have had the oppor-tunity to perform at local venues such as Zenzero Bakery and Bigg-by Coffee. It released its debut EP “Moving Backwards” on Feb. 5.

Cappezuto finds musical identity

Local music scene providing creative outletHitz, Webster in daze

About two years ago, se-nior Michael Darwin fell ill. When doctors declared that his lungs had collapsed, bit-tersweet truth accompanied the unfortunate news; the tall trumpet player would no longer be able to play the instrument.

“After playing the trumpet for so long, I stopped liking it as much,” Darwin said. “[When] they told me I probably should play an instrument that does not require any lung work and suggested guitar, I did, and I’ve just rolled with it ever since.”

After many hours of prac-

tice after school and during work breaks, Darwin has suc-cessfully taught himself to play the guitar. It has become his source for stress relief and a prominent part of his daily life.

Last August, after attending a Def Leppard concert last August with a friend, the idea of creating a band arose but didn’t quite work out just then, a situation fit to the band’s name: Results May Vary. A band however, did eventually come together, bringing individ-uals from different backgrounds and instruments seamlessly to-gether. Darwin, senior Kayla Boyer (singer/bassist), 2011 CHS graduate Matt Campbell (singer) and 2010 CHS graduate Steven Campbell (bassist/harmonica)

fused their tastes in 80s rock, clas-sic metal, new age and contempo-rary grunge music to form a band.

Results May Vary practices frequently, usually learning and taking their spin on covers of songs for the time being. This past month, the group had the oppor-tunity to play publically for the first time at Biggby Coffee in Coppell.

“Our first performance was terrifying yet exhilarating,” Matt said. “I was really proud of the way we sounded. It gave me per-spective on where we are; I can now see the direction I want us to go. I would like us to become more direct with our music; see us writing songs and really put-ting ourselves into the music, not just covering the music we like,

but making the music we like.”The group is not entirely

sure in what direction they plan to take their original music, but they are excited at the con-cept and hope to begin soon.

“Performing is one of my favorite feelings; there is some-thing about interacting with the audience, telling jokes to them, telling stories, explain-ing why we pick certain songs,” Steven said. “Because some of the songs that we do play are se-lected, knowing well that certain people would be in the audience.”

Although all of the indi-viduals enjoy producing music, none plan to pursue it as a career.

“As weird as it is to do something you enjoy for liv-

ing, you can’t pay bills with happiness,” Steven said.

The band has come together not for fame but pure satisfaction.

“We are just trying to have fun and play music together,” Boyer said. “It would be re-ally cool if we could do some big performances, but it has been fun to get to know each other.”

So it seems for now, they will continue with cov-ers, from the Goo Goo Dolls to Tom Petty - Results May Vary.

“I just hope that I don’t lose my hands in a tragic accident, so I can play the guitar until I am dead. I’ll play with my feet if I have to,” Darwin said. “I just want to do it for fun; I don’t have any means of becoming famous.”

Phot

o by

Rac

hel B

ush

Photos by Jessica Rivera

Photo by Rowan Khazendar

Photo by Rinu D

aniel

Junior Kenzie Hitz and CHS 2012 graduate Jackson Webster have overcome distance barriers to per-form at local venues, such as Biggby Coffee.

Senior Chris Cappezuto has always felt a connec-tion with music. Cappezuto frequently posts cover songs to his YouTube channel: Chris Cappezuto.

Photos by Jessica Rivera Photos courtesy Ryan Willams

Results May Vary for local band in search of own genre

CORRINA TAYLOR Social Media Director

SHIVANI BURRAVideo Producer

KIMBERY DEL ANGELEntertainment Editor

19 entertainment APRIL 2013

Downtown Dallas park becomes perfect attractionKids sprinted back and forth

on a large, open stretch of grass with footballs and Frisbees. Jog-gers zipped by on a gravel track that surrounded the grassy field.

Families lounged around bright green tables and chairs, sampling the delicacies from the five food trucks parked on the left side of the park, completely unaware of the never-ending line of cars roar-ing just under their feet.

During spring break, I took a day trip to a bridge over the Woodall Rodgers Freeway. This was not just an ordinary bridge, however; this was the Klyde

Warren Park.Officially open last October,

Klyde Warren Park was the city of Dallas’ way of connecting the neighborhoods in Uptown with unique culture of the Dallas Arts Districts and downtown.

Though the space is only five acres, it holds a wide variety of attractions. With anything from food trucks, an area for young children and pets to museums and concerts halls just across the street, there are boundless oppor-tunities to make a day in this area.

On my visit, I took the DART to the Pearl Street-Art District station and made the short walk to the park. As soon as I stepped onto the fresh-cut grass, I knew that I was going to have a good day.

I, along with my mother and younger brother, decided to walk around the park and take it all in. Despite a larger crowd of people, the walk was pleasant and the park did not seem crowded.

When we reached the far end of the park, we stopped to check out the geometric and very mod-ern children’s playground that looked more like a piece of public art than a jungle gym.

Just beyond the playground was a shaded area dedicated to reading and board games. Local magazines and newspapers were stocked in multi-colored met-al racks with board games and chess sets stacked below. Though we did not stop to play any of these games or flip through the papers, several people had gath-ered around to partake in these relaxing activities.

After venturing around the perimeter of the park, we decid-ed to get a snack from the food trucks. With anything from New York style subs to Vietnamese fu-sion, we certainly had a variety of options. Since we were only purchasing a snack, we decid-ed upon the New York style sub truck called Gandolfo’s. There we purchased Black-and-White Cookies, which are soft short-bread cookies with half-choc-olate, half-vanilla frosting, and settled onto a stone bench to en-joy our treats.

The soft, sugary cookies were

gone in a matter of seconds, leaving our sweet tooth satisfied. Soon after, the melodious sounds of a quartet, made up of three cellos and a drum, warming up echoed across the park. This was one of the many local mu-sic groups that come to the park daily to showcase their craft and entertain visitors. We listened to them play before we saw a group of people with their dogs in tow heading for a fenced in area near the end of the park.

Curious, we followed them and discovered that the park had an area for dogs to playas well. With rolling hills made out of turf and an in-ground fountain that streamed water every 15 sec-onds, the dogs were able to enjoy

themselves while their tired own-ers relaxed on concrete benches.

After watching the dogs play for a solid 15 minutes, we ven-tured over to the Dallas Museum of Art, just across the street from the park. We toured the museum and decided that this was where we would end our day.

The Klyde Warren Park’s proximity to both the Arts Dis-trict and downtown provides a wide variety of activities outside the park, with the Dallas Muse-um of Art and Nasher Sculp-ture Center just a short walk away. With all of these factors considered, this park is the per-fect place to spend the day with friends and family.

ELIZABETH SIMS Staff Writer

THOMAS HAIROpinions Editor

Newest burger joint proves to be a smashing hit

There was a time, not long ago, when the golden arches of McDonald’s defined the Ameri-can burger industry. Fast, cheap and greasy – that was the only option. Within the last few years, however, we have witnessed the rapid boom of trendy “better burger” establishments provid-ing a higher quality, albeit more expensive, hamburger alternative.

Coppell is a testament to this phenomenon – with In-N-Out and Five Guys all opening stores nearby within the span of a couple years. Smashburger, which opened on Denton Tap in late March, is the latest “better burg-er” franchise to expand into Cop-pell territory.

I have eaten at plenty of “gourmet burger” restaurants like Smashburger. I knew I was going to get a good hamburger. I was looking for was things that make Smashburger stand out from the growing crowd of competition. My high expectations were met. I hereby declare, burger buffs and food aficionados, that Smash-burger is the new best burger joint in Coppell. Here is why.

LocationSmashburger occupies a

prime lot on Denton Tap in the heart of Coppell, unlike Five Guys in Lewisville and In-N-Out in the

outskirts of Coppell. It is very easy to find and does not occupy the back of another restaurant’s building (Mooyah). Smashburg-er is also 100% wheelchair and handicap accessible.Design and Ambiance

The first thing I noticed when I opened the door was the impressive sleek and smooth in-terior design. There are plenty of seating options, with stools, ta-bles, booths and outdoor tables available. All of the decor is very smooth and clean – to the eyes and to the touch. Whereas Five Guys has a rustic aesthetic, with wooden menu boards and sacks of peanuts lying around, Smash-burger embraces the 21st century, utilizing massive video screens. One video screen rotates through mouth-watering photos of var-ious menu items and special of-fers, while the two others display the extensive menu, which brings me to my next point.

MenuIn terms of the variety

and mass appeal of their menu, Smashburger is way ahead of their “better burger” competi-tors. You can order one of their specialty burgers – like the Clas-sic Smash or Jalapeno BBQ – or pick and choose your own infinite combinations of toppings. There are also four styles of buns and eleven side options, including Smashfries, fried pickles, chili and veggie fries. If you do nor even like burgers or French fries, there is still something for you at Smashburger. They offer multiple chicken items, such as the Spicy Baja Chicken Sandwich, salads, hot dogs and veggie burgers. This extremely diverse and localized menu is miles ahead of competi-tors like Five Guys who only

offer burgers and fries and noth-ing else.

Portions Yes, a night with the fami-

ly at Smashburger might be a bit pricier than bringing home Burg-er King, but you get much more for your dollar. The burgers are thick and hearty, and the pile of French fries on the side of the tray is deep enough to hide golf balls in. I ordered a $4 special-ty Haagen Dazs Oreo Shake and was pleasantly surprised when the waitress brought out a one-foot-tall glass filled to the brim – in addition to a chrome pitcher with even more milkshake because they made more than they could fit into my glass. Talk about awe-some portion sizes!

Flavor Smashburger restaurants

use a unique “smashing” method to cook their patties and Smash-fries. I am still not completely sure how slashing a patty makes it taste better, but it definitely seems to work! I could literally taste the delicate blend of spices and juicy flavors in the meat. The brown artisan buns are delightful as well, cut in a unique and mem-orable shape. The Smashfries are thin, crispy and lightly salted – irresistible to munch on by the handful!

I was very pleased with my experience at Coppell’s new Smashburger. Everything was clean, the service was impeccable and the food was even better!

Smashburger has stated that its goal is to be “every city’s favorite place for burgers”. With its prime location in the heart of Coppell on Denton Tap, flavorful food and large portions, Smash-burger is poised to become Cop-pell’s go-to burger joint. Smashburger shines in Coppell as a popular new restaurant.

Photos by Regan Sullivan

Local musicians show their talent in the new Klyde Warren Park which is located in downtown Dallas.

Photos by Elizabeth Sims

Numerous food trucks line the streets surrounding the preimeter of the park, making Kylde Warren a great picnic spot.

The restaurant’s friendly employees welcome Coppell customers.

A Smashburger was recently added in next to Floss on Denton Tap.

20 sports APRIL 2013

The Coppell Cowboys soccer team sealed the deal on the 2013 district champi-onship after defeating Lewisville in their final district game on March 22.

The Cowboys finished out district with a district record of 9-1-0 with their only loss coming at the hands of Flower Mound Mar-cus. The Cowboys had defeated Marcus once

before losing to them again.Other big wins for the

Cowboys include a 5-0 win over

Flower Mound and their final 3-1 win over Lewisville. Junior Chris Madden is leading the teams offense with 12 goals and six assists.

They needed this win to ensure that they took the district championship be-fore going into the post-season playoffs. The Cowboys know first hand just how important it is to play every game like it could be the last. Last year after win-ning the district championship and being poised to go to state the Hebron Hawks knocked them out of playoffs in the first round. This year the Cowboys played the

Hawks twice this district season win-ning 2-0 and 9-2 showing just

how far they have come in the last year.

After a rocky start in the Coppell Cowboys second playoff game against Waco Midway the Cowboys were able to win 3-1 sending them into the regional quarterfinals.

From the beginning of the game it seemed to be a matchup of the Cowboy’s strong and fast offense against Midway’s forceful defense. Though the Cowboys were able to maintain possession of the ball for most of the game, and had the most attempts at the goal they struggle to put it in the net. While the Cowboys struggled to put a point on the board, Midway scored the first goal of the game nearly 20 minutes into the first half after forcing themselves past the Cowboys de-fensive line. Now down 1-0, the Cowboys were forced to fight through what many expected to be an easy run to the regional tournament.

“When you get down 1-0 that fast and early into the game it is important to stay composed,” coach Chad Rak-estraw said. “We needed to settle the ball

and keep our composure.”

Junior Chris Mad-den put the Cowboys back into the game with a header into the goal with an assist by senior Mitchell Parnell. At the end of the first half the game was tied 1-1.

The Cowboys came out much stronger in the second half, but were still struggling to turn their shooting attempts into goals. Midway helped by essentially giving away two goals to the Cowboys af-ter fouling them in the penalty box. The Cowboys final two goals were scored off of penalty kicks by senior captain Drake Love-lady.

Junior Chris Madden dribbles the ball down the field during the Cowboys second playoff games against Waco Midway on April 4.

State Tournament April 19-20Birkelbach Field-Georgetown

by Sammy Robben

Sports Editor

Senior Drake Lovelady challenges Waco Midway midfielder before scoring twice off of penalty kicks.

Fol l ow i ng a close win last Thurs-

day against Waco Midway, the Cowboys were forced to take on the

Hebron Hawks in their closest game yet. Up until this playoff match up the Coppell Cowboys had beat Hebron twice, but for the last two years in a row it was Hebron that knocked the Cowboys out of their playoff run. This year it was the other way around.

“Playing Hebron is a mental chal-lenge for us because of last year,” Rak-

estraw said. “To win we just have to be confident in who we are

this year.”The Cowboys

were the first to score a goal

nearly half-w a y

through the first half

with a penalty kick by Drake Lovelady. This 1-0 lead

held up through the first half. In the second half the Hawks came out scoring an off sides that was called back just to follow it with a regulation goal. The score remained tied 1-1 through the rest of the game.

From here the game continued into two ten-minute overtimes as nerves on both sides ran high. The Cowboys had the remainder of the attempts at goal but struggled to put points on the board after the 20 minutes was up neither team had scored a goal, putting the game into a shootout.

Madden was first to score for the Cowboys and was followed by a shot by senior captain Nick Hazelrigg and senior Mitchell Parnell. Senior goalie Dante Di-ciolli stopped three of the four penalty kicks sent his way, one going in after being deflected off his hand.

This win sent the Cowboys into the regional tournament Friday night and Sat-urday morning in Birdville, TX.

The Coppell Cowboys went into the regional tournament on April 12-13 ner-

vous about the idea of facing some of their toughest competition yet, but

they came out on top. On Friday, April 13, the Cowboys went

up against the Keller Central Chargers

in the regional semi-finals

beating

them 4-0 with two goals by Lovelady, on goal by junior Nick Price and a final goal by sophomore Stephen Tower. This win sent the Cowboy into the regional finals in what would be their toughest game yet. The Cowboys played the Marcus Maraud-ers on April 13, after having lost to them earlier this year in district. Looking for revenge the Cowboys were ready to fight, and came out with a 1-0 win after Lovela-dy score a goal in the second half. From here the Cowboys will compete in the state tournament or the first time since 2004. Their first game will be in George-town on Friday April 19 against Humble Kingwood.

THE ULTIMATE GOALCowboys compete for first state championship since 2004

Photos by Rinu Daniel

Kuechler makes a splash at Colorado State University JULIANNE CAULEYNews Editor

“Swimming has taught me so many more things than just how to race. ”

-Lauren Kuechler, senior

sportsAPRIL 2013 21

Seeing the Olympic rings is just a dream for most swimmers. After her mother missed out on her Olympic dream when the United States boycotted the Mos-cow games, senior Lauren Kuec-hler understands the dedication it takes to reach the next level. After 11 years of early mornings, year round seasons and chlorine stained hair and teeth, swim team captain Kuechler has com-mitted to swim for the Colorado State University Rams and is one step closer to reaching her ulti-mate goal.

“I am looking forward to the new competition at the col-lege level,” Kuechler said. “Right now I know who my competi-tion is and how the race typically turns out. I can’t wait to see new competition and be able to race with a [Division I] program. Specifically at CSU I’m looking forward to their dryland pro-gram. Dryland is stuff like lift-ing weights, running, abdominal workouts. I know I will benefit from that and it will make me a better swimmer.”

As an animal lover, Kuec-hler’s interest in CSU was sparked by its esteemed veteri-nary program, which ranks third in the nation. After looking further into the school and its swim program, she approached the program as she saw her swimming times would fit in with the existing team.

“Honestly, he never recruit-ed me and made that initial con-tact,” Kuechler said. “I contacted him first, but when I met with him last Monday, he said he was keeping his eye on me and sent emails to me asking for updated times. So it worked in my favor I would say, there were not any huge problems in the recruit-ment process.”

As a Coppell swimmer, Kuechler swam the 100-meter butterfly, 200 individual med-ley and 400 individual medley. This winter, Kuechler, along with sophomore Shannon Wheeler, junior Gaby Rivera and fresh-man Savannah Henry, set the school record for the 400 freestyle relay at 3:44.01.

Though a major time commitment, Kuechler

believes swimming has been re-warding.

“Seeing myself improve my times is always uplifting,” Kuec-hler said. “Swimming has taught me so many more things than just how to race. Putting in the extra work and hours and then seeing my numbers improve re-ally keeps me going.”

Kuechler’s initial interest in swimmer developed from her mom, Jennifer Kuechler. Mrs. Kuechler made the Olympic trials for the Moscow Summer Olympic Games of 1980, but it was boycotted and she didn’t ad-vance any further after that.

“Her story just inspires me to never give up on my dreams and to set high goals,” Lauren said. “Now, let’s be honest, the Olympics is a very high goal, but being able to swim at a D1 col-lege was an incredible goal that I was able to achieve.”

Because of her experience at that level, Mrs. Kuechler knew the work it would take to raise a potential collegiate swimmer.

“Raising an athlete who has [Division I] aspirations is invigo-rating,” Mrs. Kuechler said. “I am so proud of Lauren’s discipline and dedication to swimming. She has worked hard – swimming doubles [four hours of practice a day] at least three times a week

– for the past five years, and, she did so without us forcing it on her. She made a lot of sacrifices to achieve this dis-tinction and had

the maturity and understand-ing at a young age about what it would take to perform at this level. I admire her for that and for her tenacity and just like with any goal, you reach plateaus and it can be frustrating and discour-aging, but she had the courage to keep fighting and training hard through those tough times.”

In addition to swimming for CHS, Lauren was a member of the Texas RiverSharks club team.

“Participating in both high school and club help prepared me extra for meets because I got to see different competition,” Lauren said. “Some swimmers

only do one or the other, and doing both allows me to be better prepared in meets be-cause I have seen different styles of swimmers and competitors. Being able to

swim twice a day really

helps get you in shape and get a lot of training in and also being in different atmospheres I have learned so much more than just swimming on one team.”

While she is a talented ath-lete in the water, she also stands out in the classroom too.

“We have taught both our children that you can achieve anything you set your mind to – but you have to truly want it and be willing to take the good with the bad,” Jennifer said. “Lauren has done just that all while taking a rigorous course load o f AP classes with over a 5.1 GPA. She knows my mantra has always

been, ‘Go big or go home.’ I can proud-ly state that she

went big and realized her dream and goal of swimming [Division I]. I love my girl more than life itself.”

Best friends since seventh grade, senior Sarah Agnew has been with Lauren through every step of her journey to collegiate swimming.

“She is such a talent-ed swimmer and such a great friend,” Agnew said. “She has worked hard so hard and it re-ally shows. I go to all of Lau-ren’s major meets and recently went to one at Texas A&M and it was awesome to get to watch her swim in front of such a huge audience and do so well. She has wanted to swim at the next lev- el for as long as I have known

her and its cool to see her years of dedication earn her a spot at CSU.”

Kuechler says her friends and family are are one of the main reasons she is still in the sport.

“Sarah specifically has come out to all my district and regional meets,” Lauren said. “My friends and family are always there to support me and cheer me on and I appreciate it so much. With-out their support and love I don’t know where I w o u l d be.”

Graphic by Sophie Nauyokas

Photos courtesy Lauren Kuechler

Senior Lauren Kuechler poses for a picture next to the mascot for the school she will be attend-ing in the fall, Colorado State University.

Kuechler swims in a meet at Coppell’s YMCA in addition to the Texas RiverSharks club team.

22 sports APRIL 2013

Imagine you not only get to travel to another country to do something that you truly love, but you also have the opportu-nity to fully experience the cus-toms and culture of that country for an entire week.

From March 24-31, hun-dreds of foreign soccer players participated in the Dr Pepper Dallas Cup. The Dallas Cup is the longest running youth tour-nament in the United States and has been around for 34 years.

Players from a variety of teams traveled to the United States from countries such as Venezuela, Germany and Eng-land for the chance to play in the event.

Many of the high school and club soccer players at Cop-pell High School played in the Dallas Cup and had the unique experience of housing players from different countries.

“There were a lot of teams in our area that got chosen to house players,” sophomore Aus-tin Jones said. “There was some-one who was in charge of the housing program, and I was told that my team, Andromeda FC, was chosen to participate in it not too long before the tourna-ment started.”

Throughout the week, the CHS students and the players rooming with them were on dif-

ferent schedules. While the Cop-pell students were in school, the visiting players were either with their coaches practicing for the tournament or playing in games.

“This year was my first year ever hosting for the Dallas Cup,” Jones said. “I host-ed two boys from Ven-ezuela named Ivan and Car-los; they have definitely im-proved my Spanish and made the Dallas Cup a really cool and different experience for me this year.”

It is an amazing experience for not only the CHS students who were hosting, but also for the players who traveled from different continents as well.

For Venezuela’s Academia Venezolana de Fútbol players Jose Andres Frontado and Greg-ory De Freitas, the experience was one they will not soon forget. For one week, they housed with sophomore Robbie Coens.

“I really enjoyed playing in Dallas Cup, it was really neat coming to the United States to play soccer,” De Freitas said. “I really liked visiting the United States. It was really interesting seeing what American customs and culture were like compared to Venezuela. The best part was the food and the girls.”

The United States and in-

ternational teams who partici-pated in the Dallas Cup were in-vited by the tournament director to compete.

“The academy that I play on, Academia Venezolana de

Fútbol, was asked to come play in 2004 so our coach told us that he had been here before,” Fronta-do said. “Once we were told we would be com-ing to the United States, we were so

motivated to work hard and train a lot.”

International players also get to experience what the cul-ture is like by living with their assigned American family.

“I got to experience a lot of new things when I came to America like new food and going to an FC Dallas game,” De Freitas said. “My English also improved a lot since I got here.”

The American and inter-national players benefitted from the opportunity of meeting each other and bonding by living to-gether for a week.

“I feel that I have really bonded with the boys who stayed with me for the Dallas Cup,” sophomore Robbie Coens said. “It has been a cool opportunity to show them how I live and what we do in America that might be different from other countries.”

High school athletics is built up with students with big dreams, working hard every day to see their biggest dreams come true. These lofty dreams, such as win-ning a state championship, could keep some senior athletes from fulfilling another dream: the per-fect prom night.

While other seniors are get-ting ready and taking pictures on their way to the senior prom, the Coppell Cowboys soccer team were supposed be busy competing for the regional title in Midland but their tournament got moved to Birdville allowing them to do both. Despite the move the se-niors were still rushed as their af-ternoon game left them crunched

for time, and even a little tired for prom.

While the seniors were originally torn between the idea of missing their senior prom and winning the regional title, the thought of redemption keeps them looking towards a win.

“Last year we lost in play-offs in the first round when we should have won,” senior captain Nick Hazelrigg said. “We will do everything in our power to make sure that we don’t lose this year because all we want is to make it to the state tournament. Even if that means we miss prom.”

These soccer seniors are ready to make the most of their last chance at a state title. A dream they have been training for their whole lives.

“When I figured out there was a chance that I could miss

STEPHANIE GROSSSports Writer

SAMMY ROBBENSports Editor

Soccer challenges foreign opponents in Dallas Cup

prom for regionals, I was really bummed. I have been working for a state title since I started playing soccer and this is our year to do it,” senior defender Jacob Tucker said. “They are both really impor-tant times for me, but as much as I want to go to prom, I want to win state as well and we need to win regionals to do that.”

And while the soccer player almost didn’t make it too prom, senior tennis and girls golf play-ers will be leaving early to make it to their regional tournaments in Lubbock that begin on April 15. Both teams will be leaving Sunday morning, meaning these seniors must be back from prom early in the morning.

“I am definitely torn be-tween staying at prom and the after party, and then having to leave early for my tennis tourna-ment,” senior tennis player Lizzie Bell said. “It could be my last tournament so I want to play well and be rested but then it is my se-nior prom. You look forward to that forever, and I won’t get the whole experience.”

Most of the athletes were given a choice by their coaches of whether or not they wanted to stay late at prom and fly to their tournaments the next day, or whether they would want to drive with the rest of the team.

The tennis players chose to drive early Sunday morning, forcing them to leave the night festivities early. The girls golf team elected to fly.

Coppell athletes have a lev-el of commitment to both their sports and social life that makes these decisions hard.

“Obviously, the perfect an-swer would be all high schools to schedule their graduation

Prom, playoff conflicts leave athletes in frenzy

and social events after the end of the spring season sports,” tennis coach Jane Jackson said. “Un-fortunately life is full of choices, and we all are forced to make dif-ficult ones. You have to choose based on your own values and using your own judgments. A team player has committed to the team for all games. A playoff game, which means it’s for a state championship, is huge.

“Ask any athlete and I’m sure they will tell you playing sports and reaching the finals is something they strive for all through high school and some-times even before they reach high school. While going to prom might be a memorable oc-casion especially with all the ex-pense, most students don’t dream about this event for 12 years. I

would hope my athletes realize that this is the first of many dif-ficult decisions they will encoun-ter throughout life.”

The coaches understand the tough decisions facing their ath-letes and want to help them make the best decision for them.

“In most cases, my players have been able to attend both,” Jackson said. “The state quali-fiers that I have coached in the past never considered putting prom first. I definitely feel there is a relation to the skill and inten-sity level of the athletes and the choices they make. We have ad-justed schedules, changed flights and helped our players as much as possible to be able to attend prom. Thankfully, I have never had a tennis player choose prom over our regional tournament.”

Graphic by Rinu Daniel

“[Foreign soccer players] have definitely

improved my Spanish and made the Dallas Cup a really cool experience”

-Austin Jones, sophomore

Graphics by Rinu Daniel

Photo Courtesy Robbie Coens

CHS Sophomore and Andromeda FC player Robbie Coens and Academia Venezolana de Futbol players Jose Andres Frontado and Gregory De Freitas pose for a photo before attending the Dallas Cup.

23sportsAPRIL 2013

Successful athletes all over the world have a good career due to a lifetime of practice and dedication to the sport. How-ever, some are lucky enough to have the capability to join a sport as a teenager and have a natural talent.

Mckenna Arras, Coppell High School’s soccer team goalkeeper made an unexpected switch in sports when things didn’t work out her junior year.

“I started playing soccer when I was 5 and my dad was the coach,” Arras said. “Even when I was little I was horrible with my feet, and I didn’t feel comfortable play-ing any other position but the goal keeper, so he stuck me in goal. That was where I fit best and I did pretty well.”

However, as Arras grew older, she found herself becoming interested in vol-leyball and losing interest in soccer. Arras decided to give volleyball a try in middle school and ended up falling in love with it. From then on, Arras focused on volleyball to develop her skills”.

“I did all of the usual things that a girl had to do to be a club volleyball player, and I was very dedicated to it,” Arras said. “I put a lot of time into the sport because I loved it, and I wanted to be really good and go far with it,” Arras said.

After playing middle school and club volleyball, high school volleyball came along where she started off her freshman year playing outside hitter.

Arras’s freshman year at Cop-pell High School, she made the freshman A team. It was not until her sophomore year that she was moved up to JV. However, the sum-mer before her junior year, Arras did not get the results she wanted after the Coppell High School volleyball tryouts.

“I made JV as a junior and I was hoping to make varsity,” Arras said. “At that point, I think I real-ized that I was just burned out, and I really didn’t want to play anymore. I couldn’t see myself going too far in the program af-ter that.”

Luckily, Arras still had soccer to fall back on, so she tried out again that fall for the Cowgirls soccer team, where she earned a spot as varsity goalkeeper.

“I was obviously thrilled and slightly surprised when I found out I made varsity,” Arras said. “After vol-leyball ended for me, I found myself enjoying soccer and the whole program

so much more, and I really began to ap-preciate it.”

Overall, Arras’s teammates have proven to be her biggest fans. Because of her easy-going personality as well as her amazing ability as a goal keeper, Arras is someone that the whole team thinks very highly of.

“McKenna is hilarious and has be-come a really great friend of mine,” sopho-more forward Sarah King said. “She is also a fantastic goal keeper, and a teammate that everyone can rely on. All of the younger girls respect her and look up to her so much as a leader, and she never disappoints.”

Considering Arras’s transition from volleyball to soccer happened so fast, there is no doubt she’s highly coachable and has a natural talent for the sport.

“To be successful in goal, you ei-ther have to be tall and built in stature or incredibly quick and responsive,” coach Chris Stricker said. “McKenna has all of those qualities, which is what makes her such an important part of our team and overall, in the top three of the best goal-

keeper’s I’ve ever coached.” Although quitting vol-

leyball was a very tough decision for Arras, she

looks back now and does not regret a thing.

“I’ve loved both my volleyball and

soccer experienc-es,” Arras said.

“And although it wasn’t at all what I ex-pected, I’m so glad I fin-ished high school play-ing soccer. I’ve developed so many great f r i e n d s h i p s after tran-sitioning to soccer, but I got to keep the friends I made

in volleyball as well. Looking back I realized that not making varsity volleyball my junior year was just the way it was supposed to be, and it was a way for me to see what sport I really needed to be playing.”

“I believe…I believe that…I believe that we…I believe that we will win, I believe that we will win, I believe that we will win!”

The cheers radiate down from the fa-mous Coppell student section as the Cow-boys take the court. The fans that made the cheers popular at the football games are not the ones leading them now though. It’s time that the football players returned the favor.

The Cowboy football team has made it its goal to go out and support the other sports at Coppell with just as much spirit that was shown at their games this year.

“Our coaches encouraged us to go since they came put to support us during our season,” sophomore lineman Glenn Williams said.

Although basketball and baseball games have smaller followings, and not all of the football players go, the team’s leaders always seem to make an appearance. Senior quarterback Colby Mahon, junior lineback-er Collins Okotcha and junior lineman Bill Weber are just a few that are in attendance.

It is not just the players that attend the coaches go as well.

“A lot of the coaches go to the Hebron games since some came from there,” Weber said.

Besides the chants and rallies the players do, they also have some more cre-ative ways to get into the heads of Coppell’s opponents.

“If they do something weird we will call them out on it,” Weber said. “The best thing is when we get a reaction out of them.”

Some schools are easier than others. Weber said Flower Mound did not respond at all to any of the student sections cries, but Lewisville on the other hand was the perfect team. According to Weber the team would always respond when they did something good and would exchange words.

Their presence although small com-pared to their football counterparts is felt throughout the programs. Weber said that on many occasions the dads of the baseball team come up to him and the other foot-ball players and express the appreciation of them coming out to support the team.

“I think that the energy they provide, our players feed off of it,” head basketball coach Kit Pehl said. “When things are going well, they take it and make it 10 times the amount of what it actually is because when the guys are on the floor they can feed off the positive energy from the crowd.”

Pehl recalled a time that he was at a baseball game and his son, Gabe, saw a cou-ple of the guys and went over to them since he hung out with them in the stands of the basketball games. He saw that they brought that same intensity to the baseball game.

“It is amazing. I think the unity here, the care that people have for their school-mates and for their teammates is above and beyond,” Pehl said. “It is really neat that even outside of sports everything matters. It matters to you guys.”

Players are also ecstatic about the support they receive because most of the time basketball or any other sport does not draw the same crowd as football. Ev-ery fan counts.

“Junior point guard Landon Goes-ling said that I was his favorite student sec-tion guy,” Weber said.

The football players also bring post-ers of player’s heads to the games and they make up special cheers for individual play-ers on the opposite team.

“One guy looked like an oompa-loompa, so we started chanting the oom-pa-loompa song,” Weber said.

One more reason besides going out to cheer on their schoolmates is to sup-port their own. Coach Nate Blackwell, coach Clint Rushing, and coach Shawn Sparks, all football coaches, coach base-ball for Coppell.

ALLISON ARNOLDSports Writer

ALEX NICOLLSports Writer

Arras keeps goals strong

Fans believe we that will win, support every sportAt games there is only one way to de-

scribe them.“We are loud and proud,” Williams

said.After the tragedies that occurred at Cop-

pell this year with the passing of seniors Ja-cob Logan and Jonah Blackwell, students have come together in times of need to strengthen

one another. The student section led by the Cowboys is just another example of how there’s strong but then there’s Coppell strong.

“It is just something we do,” Weber said. “We love the support we get at our games and how big our student section for us is. I feel like we should return the favor.”

Photo by Rowan Khazendar

Junior Clay Kemp and seniors Hayden Henry and Mark de la Chapelle bring horns and other loud instruments for the student section to show their support for the Cowboys during the Flower Mound football game on Oct. 19.

Photo by Rinu Daniel

Senior goalkeeper McKenna Arras

24 the sidekick APRIL 2013