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Allen High School, Allen, Texas, 75002 Volume 29, Issue 1, October 5, 2011Eagle Angle
Senior with cerebral palsy appears on KGLE 3 morning announcementsMoments before she
appears on air, her palms begin to sweat and her heart beats become faster and faster by the minute. She doesn’t know
how the thousands of people watching her will react, but as the camera slowly turns towards her, she knows it’s time.
Senior Katherine Battle
has cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects her speech, movement and muscles so that it is difficult for her to talk efficiently and move smoothly. However, through
her friends, family and her own efforts, she now serves as a weather anchor on KGLE 3 News.
“The school’s been really supportive,” Katherine said. “It [makes] me feel good that people [care] about what I [am] saying and [care] to listen to it and [notice] how hard it is.”
Katherine plans to come on the announcements every Wednesday. Regardless of her physical disabilities, she enjoys her job on set and the team atmosphere and support of the broadcasting crew.
“With her, it’s taking a really big risk,” broadcast teacher Dusty Parrish said. “You never know, teenager or not, people can be great and people can be mean and cruel. I’ve seen all those sides of people and I’m very protective of all my students, so my first concern [is how Katherine feels] about it. If she’s comfortable doing it then I’m going to support her 100 percent.”
Katherine is also a member of the Book Discussion Club and Library Advisory Board. Although her disabilities get in her way, Katherine said she takes pleasure in being able to pass those obstacles.
Two years ago in Nov. 2009, Katherine was
In order to compensate for various cuts in
funding from the Texas Legislature, the Allen ISD Board of Trustees initiated a tax ratification election, or TRE, for voters to approve raising the school tax rate to $1.67 per $100 value, compared to $1.54 last year. Voting will be held Saturday, Oct. 8 from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at the Administration Building.
Without the raised tax, the district will face various budget cuts in addition to
the cuts that have already been made.
“[These] kind of problems are big now, and without this they’re going to get much bigger,” Superintendent Ken Helvey said. “So that’s what this is all about, opportunities for students and a personalized learning experience[...] So the reason we called the TRE is [...] we simply weren’t willing to go backwards in our opportunities we’re providing students without at least going a step.”
The decision to raise the tax came after the Texas Legislature cut funding for public schools by $4 billion, which will cause Allen to lose $21 million over the next two years in state funding. The district has already taken measures to adapt to less funding, including eliminating 44 teacher positions and 40 support staff positions, increasing class sizes, reduce energy consumption and reducing budgets by 10 percent. Raising the tax
by 13 cents per $100 will generate approximately $10 million in revenue for the school district, specifically for operating expenses.
“We’ve been in the business of trying to be as lean as we can over the last few years,” Helvey said, “but this was too big, we couldn’t do that.”
Because of the lack of funding, classes sizes are increasing to make up for the lack of teachers. Helvey
District holds election to approve increased tax rate
Battling through broadcastThree
PALs visit New
York for the 10 year anniversary
of Sept. 11.3
Mom
ent of s
ilence
Courtney Lynch visits
England as riots break out across
Europe.5
Terro
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Learn more
about the new CTE
center.
8
Talk
of the to
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Staff writers
share their
opinions on Daried’s, the spa
and cafe.9
Spot o
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Swim team
answers questions from
David Barr about upcoming season.15
Rounding up
continued on page 7
continued on page 2
Perseverance Kathrine Battle’s mother, Robyn Battle, supports Kathrine as she chooses to challenge herself by reporting the weather despite her cerebral palsy.
Nicole Welch
Nicole Welch
Nicole Welch
Maggie Rians
Courtney Lynch
Gregory Bordelon
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Quidditch, t h e
magical sport of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter,” will be played at the lacrosse fields every Wednesday after 8th period in room F126.
The Quidditch club is run by senior Charles Harris and sponsored by English teacher Stephanie Smith.
“There’s been a lot of buzz generating [about Quidditch],” Harris said. “People will
come up to me and say, ‘I heard there is a Quidditch club,’ and they just don’t believe me. I have to explain that we won’t be flying on broomsticks.”
In “Harry Potter” the sport is played with team members flying on broomsticks earning as many points as possible by shooting balls into elevated hoops, before catching an object called the Snitch. The non-magical version will be played the same way except without broomsticks.
“I was amazed at how real the [‘Harry Potter’] characters felt and the ability of the author to create a
whole new world,” Smith said. “[Charles] came to me with the idea of [a Quidditch club], and he knew I would be a good sponsor, because I am such a big fan.”
In the original game of Quidditch, there are only seven players but about 40 people have shown interest in the club so far. The plan is to divide everyone into different teams, each with their own captains. Teams will be open to all students, but tryouts will be held for certain positions.
“I think people are very energetic about it [because] they love ‘Harry Potter,’” Harris said. “They’re willing
estimates there were 25 classes with over 30 students last year at the high school, but this year there are over 100 classes with over 30 students.
Because no teachers were hired this year, the district is currently short 80 teachers, despite the district growing by 670 students. Debbie Richmond, an economics and sociology teacher, said she feels the larger classes are going to hurt students’ education.
“It’s harder to get through curriculum that you need to, and that’s where it’ll hurt,” Richmond said. “It’s the state standards that we will get through all our TEKS - we have to. Something will suffer for it.”
Junior Elizabeth Spangler said she noticed the decrease in class time to truly learn material.
“[We’re] not [learning] as well. It’s not as thorough,” Spangler said. “It’s just quickly go through, hope you get it, if you don’t, you’re spending more time outside of school and you’re also taking away time from the teachers [after school]
when they could be grading or doing other stuff.”
If the community votes for the raised tax, the Board plans to begin reversing the effects of the cuts as soon as possible. According to Helvey, helping the students is the district’s top priority.
Spangler, daughter of Spanish teacher Lillian Spangler, said she sees how much the cuts affect her mom’s workload. As foreign languages department chair in charge of 13 other teachers and National Spanish Honor Society, Spangler was given a third Spanish class this year, and is now teaching Spanish 3, Spanish 3 Pre-AP/IB, and AP Spanish 4 and 5.
Teachers are being forced to develop their curriculum for larger class sizes, something Spangler said she noticed in her own classes.
“In some of my classes they have to say ‘no questions’, because we have a time limit and we have to get through this chapter, otherwise we’re going to fall behind and then we’re going to keep falling behind,” Spangler said. “And then
you’re not going to learn what you’re supposed to learn.”
Richmond, a resident of Allen for 25 years, is part of a community effort, Kids For Allen, to teach voters about the TRE and the consequences of the election. She often hears questions about the money being spent on the football stadium and the new Career and Technology Education Center.
The money funding the stadium and CTE center is from a different property tax, the interest and sinking fund tax, which is used to finance capital projects such as school construction, the auditorium and the stadium. The second property tax, the maintenances and operation tax, pays for teacher and support staff salaries, supplies, utilities and contract services. State law prohibits funds from being mixed between the two so no money can legally be used from any construction to pay for more teachers. In fact, once it’s up and running, Helvey estimates the stadium could bring in
up to $1 million a year in additional revenue.
“Our biggest obstacle, still, is the stadium,” Helvey said. “When you drive down Exchange and look to the south, seeing a structure like that does not indicate that this place must be in a lot of financial trouble.”
According to Helvey, out of 40,000 registered voters in Allen, typically 4,000 participate in school elections. Both Helvey and Richmond agree that the community feels strongly about educating it’s children and will vote to raise the tax, although if the misunderstandings about
the taxes continues, it might be a close call.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a shoe-in,” Richmond said. “I think it’s going to be a tough battle to get people [to vote…] I will say the residents of Allen do care about the schools, that’s why they’re living here. And they care about the kid’s education, so you just kind of hope that everyone rallies together and they say this is important and we got [abandoned] by Austin and we’re going to take care of it.”
All students now have access to Google Apps. Prior to enrollment, students received a personalized email address that is made up of their first and last name. To access Google Apps, go to http://google.allenisd.org.
Steve Payne returned as executive principal after two years serving as assistant superintendent of secondary education. Jimmy Trotter is now deputy principal.
School Resource Officers (SROs) are back at after the police department pulled the program over the summer. During the first two weeks of school, off-duty police officers monitored the campus while the city manager and the police department negotiated to reinstate the program, but the high school now has two SROs, with another at the freshman center. By Oct. 3, the district will have a supervisor and three more officers to be distributed to the middle schools.
story by Neha Singh staff writer
story by Lydia Garder managing editor
August
District addresses $21 million budget cut
to put in work that they would in a non-magical sport.”
Quidditch has been introduced at many colleges already, and the club may even play some of these teams.
“Of course we can’t recreate Quidditch,” Smith said. “But taking the love of literature and pairing that with getting exercise and having fun, I think that’s all that it needs to be. It’s celebrating what we love out of the book, and people having a great time together.”
$132.6 million
$36.8 million
$6.9 milllion
Debt serviceBuilding projects, including stadium construction and the CTE centerNew school busesMajor technology upgrades
Student nutrition Feeds 16,000 students dailySelf-supporting(No cost to school district)
General fundSalaries and benefitsSupplies and materialsContracted servicesEquipment
Harry Potter fans bring magical sport to life
illustration by Lydia Garder
illustration submitted anonymously
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Students visit 9/11 memorial for 10th anniversary
Sept. 28Sept. 14
As Katie Esposito wipes tears from her
cheeks, she looks up at the wall of the Freedom Tower and sees the reflection of a plane, interrupting the reading of the names of those who died in the terrorist attack of 9/11. She, along with two other PALs, have listened to names for four and a half hours, and they just finished A-H. She holds her breath with the crowd as she tries to shake off the chills from the experience.
Senior PALs Gregory Bordelon, Esposito and Megan Plate flew to New York on Friday, Sept. 9, and stayed through Monday night for the 10th anniversary of 9/11. They attended a memorial for the victims at Ground Zero and visited Linden High School, the PALs’ partner school in New Jersey.
“[The memorial] put the faceless story with the name, [and] made [9/11] more personal,” Plate said. “I don’t fully understand all the change and I don’t think we could ever fully understand all of it.”
At the memorial ceremony, people who lost their family and friends on 9/11 read the lists of the names of those who died in the attack, and afterwards said something personal about the loved one they lost.
“It’s sad and emotional because the kids would get up there and they’re like, ‘I lost my dad’,” Esposito said. “They were maybe 10- years-old so they were really young when it happened, so it just broke my heart that these kids never even got to know their parents because of this.”
Where were you when 9/11 happened and how did you feel?
“I was in New York. I felt scared and worried.” Alisha McLorren
sophomore
“I was at home sick and I felt so bad because it was the first time I had seen my father cry.” Bailee von Readen senior
“I lived in Florida, which was a navy base. They shut down every thing and my dad couldn’t pick me up.” Bobby Stiney
senior
“I was at school. My teacher put it on and no one knew what was happen-ing.”
Chandler Bairdsenior
Students attended College and Career Night. At this free event, students were able to communicate with over 175 representatives from a variety of different colleges, universities and career schools from across the nation.
Eight high school students were named 2012 National Merit Semifinalists and will be eligible to complete for approximately 8,300 Merit Scholarship awards in the spring. Alyssa Atkinson, Andre Duvoisin, Chengxi Li, Conner Martin, Ethan Murphy, Katherine Thompson, Alexander Wendland and Yuhui Yan were among approximately 16,000 students named as semifinalists in the national competition.
Interact Club hosted a screening of “Tony” as a part of Invisible Children’s national tour. Invisible Children is an organization aimed at bringing awareness to the conflicts in central Africa and children who are forced to fight in the conflict. At the screening an Ugandan woman spoke about her first-hand experience with the civil war and how it affected her life.
September
At 9:03 a.m. there was a moment of silence at the time the first plane crashed into the tower, and at 10:46 a.m. there was another pause for the second plane to honor the victims.
“I’ve never heard silence like that before,” Esposito said. “It was just creepy how quiet it was because it’s so loud all the time.”
The PALs also went on a dinner cruise on the Hudson, and saw the spotlight where the twin towers used to be, making the spot stand out from all the other buildings.
“[The spotlight] was ghostly in a way,” Esposito said. “That was really powerful to me.”
The PALs also visited the students at Linden High School, and listened to their memories of 9/11.
“I wish everybody in Allen had seen what we
saw,” Bordelon said. “I think they would really step back and be so grateful for what we’ve got.”
Plate said they will always remember all the stories they heard, and the memories they made together.
“I don’t think it’s something that we can share with anyone else,” Plate said. “I think it’s something only we can understand.”
“I was in 2nd grade and we had an-nouncements and had to bow our heads for a moment of silence.”
Lexie Dierkersenior
Still standing
story by Rebecca Barney and Saher Aqeel staff writers
Lighting up memories New Yorkers honor 9/11 with a spot light focusing on the area where the twin towers once stood.
Friendship in pain Posing in front of the New York skyline, PALs Kate Esposito, Gregory Bordelon and Megan Plate attend a memorial to commemorate those who died
Never forget People of all ages honor those who died at the 10th anniversary of 9/11.Gregory Bordelon
Gregory Bordelon
Gregory Bordelon
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Mother nature’s moving truck
Lending a hand
All it took to spark sophomore Nidhi
Patel’s interest was a pen with the word ‘Hospice’ spelled out.
“I have always had a soft spot for old people,” Patel said. “I just want to take care of them.”
Today, Patel volunteers at the Red Bud Facility, a Hospice Plus location that cares for terminally ill patients in their homes or their nursing homes. Sophomores Brianna Basinger and Anna Le also volunteer at Hospice Plus on the weekends.
At Hospice Plus, volunteers talk, watch TV, play games, work puzzles, read and write letters to the patients. Volunteers can also join in games or movie nights at the nursing homes by helping with Bingo or popping popcorn to assist the activity director.
“It’s kind of like we are fighting off their boredom for them,” Patel said.
Nurses and coordinators don’t have the time to stop and chat with the patients often, but volunteers do. Patients love to hear new
stories and mostly want to hear about the volunteers and their lives.
“The volunteers take care of the patients differently than the nurse,” volunteer coordinator Jennifer Williams said. “The nurse goes for nurse duties like checking the blood pressure but the volunteers come in [and] they visit and talk and get to know the patient on a different level.”
Basinger recommended volunteering at Hospice Plus to Patel and Le.
“Everyone should strive to make a difference in the world,” Basinger said. “I got them to volunteer because it’s a way to help make a difference.”
Basinger, who has volunteered for about a year, is the only one who has had patients die. She said the first death she experienced was hard on her, but she still goes in every day with a positive outlook.
“At first you get choked up, but you learn they are in a better place,” Basinger said. “I don’t put up a wall, I just like to go in there and talk and learn new things
then I just deal with the loss later. The way I look at it is they don’t have anymore pain, their weight has lifted.”
Hospice Plus patients have only 6 months or less to live, but Patel said she feels that dealing with the losses will help her with her emotions when she becomes a doctor in the future.
“It depends on how strong [you] are mentally,” Patel said. “Even if you know [your patient] is going to die it’s once they die that you have to be able to cope with it and move on.”
Along with Patel, Bosinger and Le also want a future in the medical field, and feel that Hospice Plus could help them in their future. Basinger said that’s not why she volunteers though.
“Ever since I was little I wanted to volunteer,” Basinger said. “I just feel like that’s what I am suppose to do. I really like that feeling of helping people.”
Le, even though she just started volunteering in June, said that Hospice Plus is a hard place to volunteer with all the death that happens.
“Sometimes I feel sad but then I know they have lived a full life,” Le said. “You just have to be happy for them.”
Basinger said that volunteering at Hospice Plus taught her to not take things for granted and to accept the things that she has in her life now.
“You learn to be grateful that you have good health and that you’re here,” Basinger said.
Basinger also said that Hospice Plus is a challenging place to volunteer but rewarding. She encourages volunteers to come and take
part of changing a patient’s life.
“Make it not about yourself and make it about the patient,” Basinger said. “That’s what you’re there for and even though it is a lot of paperwork it is worth it in the end.”
At first, senior Alex Kangethe hears a
constant popping, the kind experienced when flying on a plane. The he feels the ground trembling beneath him. He thinks it will give out from underneath his family. He hears the metal clanking on the wood. The twister rips off the roof of their home and rain drenches his family. Then, silence.
On May 22, 2011, a twister ran through Joplin, MO while Alex, his sister,
Vesta and his mother, Esther, took shelter in their home of the past 13 years. The storm, which killed over 100 people, severely damaged St. John’s Regional Medical Center while the nearby neighborhoods, including the Kangethe’s, also received heavy damage. With their home gone, the family moved to Allen in June.
“The tornado sirens were going off, [but] they went off all the time so I didn’t think much of it,” Alex said. “Then
the power went out, so my mom told us to go into the bathroom. We got pillows to cover our heads and we were sitting there for a little while.”
Not long after they took shelter, Alex left the bathroom to see what the tornado was doing.
“I saw the wind rushing, but you couldn’t see the tornado,” Alex said. “I went back in the bathroom and about 30 seconds later, that’s when it hit.”
Although Alex saw the storm first-hand, 11-year-old Vesta only remembers one thing.
“I could just feel rain on me. I did not realize there was a hole in the ceiling,” Vesta said. “We were soaking wet.”
After the storm, all that remained of the Kangethe’s home was Alex’s room and the bathroom.
“It was something straight out of WWII, like the bombing on Hiroshima or Nagasaki,” Alex said. “It was black and white. The trees were stripped of their leaves and houses destroyed. It was unbelievable.”
Alex said that after the twister the town became unrecognizable.
“You could not tell what anything was anymore,” Alex said. “Driving into town, there were roads that I used to know based on landmarks. I got lost a few times because it was just so destroyed.”
The last week of school was cancelled because of the damage. Alex said that even with all the damage to their homes, the people of Joplin became united.
“There was a lot of sorrow, but [also] a lot of unity and a lot of prayer and just tenacity like we knew we were going to get through it,” Alex said. “A lot of just positive thinking and it was really good to see and hear.”
Prior to the storm, the Kangethes planned to move to Allen because of better job opportunities in Texas. Alex’s father, Peter, is hoping to transfer to Medical Center of McKinney. But the family had a lot of work before they could leave Joplin.
“We had to clean up everything,” Alex said. “Take down the remaining walls, clear out the yard and put it on the side of the street for whoever was going to take it.”
Among the surviving
story by Zach Avellanet staff writer
items were family photos, videos and important documents. However, even with bits of their childhood missing, Alex and Vesta said they have adjusted to their new lives in Allen.
“It was like everything you used to know was completely gone,” Alex said. “Your sense of home was destroyed, but at the same time, God was there. He kept us calm, so it was alright.”
Since the storm, Alex said his view of life has changed.
“I’m a lot more cautious about storms now,” Alex said. “I’m more fortunate to be alive and grateful. You don’t take what you have for granted as much.”
Joplin tornado displaces senior
Three sophomores volunteer with terminally ill
Destruction Tornado wreaked havoc in Joplin, MO on May 22 causing senior Alex Kangethe and his family to move to Allen.
Volunteering Sophmores Nidhi Patel, Brianna Basinger and Anna Le spend their time to bond with the terminally ill at Hospice Plus.
Katie Borchert
Nicole Welch
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An unexpected turn
Sophomore Courtney Lynch loves to take
mission trips. She traveled to Haiti and Mexico on trips before she made plans to travel to England. But the mission trip to England was not what she expected.
“I thought it was going to be a challenging experience,” Lynch said. “But going through most of the road blocks that I had to get through was the most challenging part.”
On Aug. 4 in Tottenham, a district in London, England, police shot and killed 29-year-old Mark Duggan, after he resisted arrest. Duggan was under suspicion for planning a revenge attack in response to the fatal stabbing of his cousin. After Duggan’s death, relatives and local residents walked in protest from Broadwater Farm to the police station in Tottenham. During the protest, violent riots broke out. Lynch was there when the rioting occurred.
“I could look out the window and see the glare from the fire,” Lynch said. “I was scared that I was going to be attacked.”
Lynch was in London from July 5 - 8, and August 6 - 11. Riots broke out in cities throughout England during her August trip.
Lynch traveled to
England to evangelize with a group of 47 people from Reign Ministries.
“We went up to Camden Town, which is this huge flea market,” Lynch said. “We were there for maybe five minutes shopping, and then the shop owners were closing up. The police were yelling at us, ‘Get out of here. Get out of here. Go, go, go.’ So we hopped on the Tube, which is like a subway, and we were standing next to a cop, and three minutes after we had left Camden Town, a riot had broken out.”
Lynch stayed in a church called Trinity at Bows Methodist Church.
She said that a few men slept during the day and stayed awake at night to watch over the church.
Places around the church had already been hit by the riots, so the church and students took precautions to ensure their safety.
“Every two girls had to sleep with kitchen knives,” Lynch said.
While shopping and walking around in the cities they visited, Lynch and her group tried not to attract attention to themselves, because there were protesters mobbing people.
“I took my jewelry off,” Lynch said, “and I put that in my wallet, and then I put my wallet [under my
shirt]. And I put my phone [under my shirt]. I took my memory card out [of my camera], so if they’d wanted to take my stuff, they’d just get my empty purse and my camera.”
Lynch and her group still found times and places that were not under attack so they could complete their mission to evangelize.
“Trying to get out there and talk to the people in the streets of London when you know what’s going on, it’s difficult to do,” Lynch said. “And people shoving their hands in your face because they don’t want to talk to you; that was a really discouraging part. But I knew that they needed it.”
After being overseas for six and a half weeks, Lynch and her group returned home safely.
“I was just so overwhelmed,” Lynch said. “I stepped off the plane and to see people that were asking us, ‘How was London?’, ‘What was going on there?’, ‘What was your perspective?’ I just broke down in tears right there in the airport knowing that I was safe and that I was at home.”
story by Rebecca Moss staff writer
story by Grace Lee staff writer
Senior struggles with everyday routines wheelchair bound after she had surgery on her legs. Because of the cerebral palsy, the bones in her legs had begun to twist inward which caused her to have a difficult time walking.
“[Katherine] is very determined,” Robyn Battle, Katherine’s mother, said. “She never really lets anything stand in her way. If she wants to do something, she either finds a way to do it or she asks us to help her to do it, so that’s something we’ve never really had to push Katherine to achieve.”
Today, Katherine starts her daily routine by riding her exercise bike to relax and loosen up her muscles. It is crucial for her to stretch in order to maintain flexibility in her muscles throughout the day.
Since the day Katherine was born, she has had trouble moving around and speaking clearly to others. She uses a walker to help her get around during the day, but everyday routines such as getting through the lunch lines at school are not easy.
“Try carrying your backpack and pushing the walker while getting around everyone and putting the lunch tray on your walker,” Katherine said. “You have to actually think about ‘Where is my walker going to be? Where is [my] backpack going to be?’ You have to really think about the process of getting your lunch to the table.”
After complications
during Katherine’s birth, Robyn said she remembers being afraid. When Robyn and her husband discovered their first-born child had cerebral palsy, they were determined to help their daughter live a normal life.
“I was terrified,” Robyn said. “I didn’t really understand it. I think a lot of people, if you’re not familiar with it, don’t really understand what cerebral palsy is.”
At school, Katherine takes English and government dual credit courses offered through Collin College.
“There really isn’t anything [Katherine] can’t do that other people can do,” Parrish said. “To limit her would not be fair and that’s [true] for any student.”
Katherine loves to read and write, go to the movies, go shopping and watch “Grey’s Anatomy” with her mother. She also enjoys making her own audio and video and being able to manipulate the words she says.
“It’s different raising a child [who] has disabilities in that you have to think about things a little bit differently,” Robyn said. “You have to plan things out a lot more. But I really wouldn’t trade it. I love Katherine. Katherine is who Katherine is and we love her just the way she is and she’s been a wonderful impact on our [lives].”
Sophomore experiences violence on London streets during riots
Enjoying the sites (left) Despite witnessing riots in London sophomore Courtney Lynch still finds time to enjoy herself.England performance (top) As part of her church’s missionary effort, Lynch performs a skit called “Fallen Man.”
On a mission (bottom) Taken right before the riots began, Lynch preforms a skit called “Frozen in Time” with other teens on the mission trip.Submitted Photo
Courtney Lynch
Courtney Lynch
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PLUS . . .Subscribers at the Gold and Platinum levels will also receive a
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Contact Information:300 Rivercrest Blvd. Allen, TX 75002
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CTE center opens to students after year of construction
Located in the upper level of K-hall, the health science and clinicals facilities have a mock shower for the Clinical I students, two new beds, a new vital signs machine, washing machine, linen baskets, a new lab and a practice bathroom area that includes a shower and toilet. “I’m really thankful for the new facility, because it is beautiful,” senior Shannon McQueeney said. “It definitely helps make the program that much better.”
The Career and Technical Education
(CTE) Center doors opened to students on Aug. 22 and the new Performing Arts Center will open this month.
The $18 million CTE center and $23.3 million Performing Arts Center are part of the $119.4 million bond package approved in May 2009. All CTE programs moved into the new center.
“I love that we have such a nice, modern, current facility for kids because it matches what we want to be doing,” CTE principal Karen Bradley said. “It looks like today and tomorrow rather than looking back and to
me, it’s a real forward feel.”Bradley said the goal
behind all classrooms in the CTE center, or K-hall, is to provide a technologically advanced classroom environment, whether it is a broadcast studio modeled off WFAA or a brand new restaurant and kitchen.
“I think it gives [students] an opportunity to explore careers and make decisions before they go to college,” Bradley said. “The restaurant is going to be a great facility for people to come in and for us to share our facility.”
Among other programs, the CTE center includes an improved culinary arts
facility and a new school store. The culinary students will use the new kitchen not only to cook for practice, but for the new student run community bistro, called blú. This restaurant will be open to teachers and parents on Sept. 21, but not to students. Next to the new kitchen, the student run store, the Eagle Edge, will open on Oct. 20, where students will be able to purchase spirit wear, school supplies, candy and drinks.
“It’s a classroom. Yes it says it’s a school store, but at the end of the day, it’s still a classroom,” store sponsor Cheryl Lee said.
“The students are learning and applying the skills that they learn and are putting them to real life work in the business.”
In addition to the K-hall, the new building will have a Performing Arts Center that has a $99,465 9 - foot long Steinway piano. This piano will be stored in a temperature and humidity controlled room.
“[The auditorium] was kind of mind blowing, for theater kids at least,” junior Ivy Moretti said. “Our stage now has so many different uses and well, our performances are going to be much more extravagant.”
The CTE center and Performing Arts Center will be opened to the community for an Open House that will be held on Oct. 20 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Both areas will be open for tours and demonstrations.
“We’re tired and we’re excited,” Bradley said. “It just provides us with great opportunities to grow and I think this building will still be providing great opportunities to kids in the next 10 to 20 years.”
story by Aafiya Jamal and Nilanjana Pati staff writers
story by Emily Cantwell staff writer
story by Elaine Kirby staff writer
The KGLE 3 broadcast studio’s modern design was influenced by the American Airlines Center and the WFAA channel eight studio. It’s furnished with new technology and software. The new technology includes a Mac lab, a network separate from the high school’s network and an iPad. Broadcast will have control over the multi screen video wall and ticker tape in the commons area and over the TVs in the hall. The new software includes the Adobe Master Collection CS5.5. “We made sure everything down to when the product is from script to screen is completely high definition and at the top of industry standard,” broadcast teacher Dusty Parrish said.
Medical school The clinical facilities have a mock shower for the Clinical I students, two new beds, a new vital signs machine and a new lab.
This just in KGLE 3 student announcements will broadcast from a brand-new studio this year.
Clinicals
KGLE 3
Katie Borchert
Emily Cantwell
The new restaurant, blú, is a community bistro that is run by students. The new restaurant is serves meals that are accessible to teachers and the community and serves students coffee and pastries in the mornings. On the first day of school, the culinary students were in shock when exposed to the new building. Jordan Swim, the culinary director, said the enhanced restaurant is, “a great opportunity for students to gain real-world experience as well as a capstone opportunity for their senior year.”
Construction on the auditorium began during the 2010-2011 school year and is currently still under way, but it is due to open sometime this fall. Some of the special features include a new Steinway piano and orchestra pit that can rise up and down to stage level. “I don’t want to say we are all going to get cocky but, I feel like we are all going to be more confident,” senior Dominic Pecikonis said. “I feel like its going to drive us to do better at competitions and have better performances.”
The band hall, built over the summer, is 9,200 square feet. Its larger size allows the band to have more organized and efficient rehearsals. “The new locker room is amazing,” junior Tressa Scott said. “We can all fit in there without being so claustrophobic.” The new space also features a soundproof practice room for percussion students and six flat screen televisions.
The Eagle Edge will open at the end of October in the new commons area. The store will be selling spirit wear, candy, drinks, school supplies and small gift items. The students will run the store by rotating through each position so that they can learn every job in the business. The store will be open during 1st and 4th period, and then as the year goes on, the hours will be extended. “What we need all of our customers to remember is the school store is a class,” store sponsor Cheryl Lee said.
story by Haly Nguyen staff writer story by Carly Osterman staff writer
Playing to a new tune As part of the CTE building, the band receives a new hall. The hall includes new practice rooms.
Sold out Opening on Oct. 20, the student run store, the Eagle Edge, will sell spirit wear, school supplies, candy and drinks.
Setting the stage A new performing arts center will open this fall and will feature a 9 - foot Steinway piano.
Food for thought Located in the CTE lobby, blú, the new res-taurant run by culinary students, is currently open for lunch to the community and teachers.
story by Madyson Russell staff writer
story by Kate Conroy staff writer
blú The Eagle Edge
Performing Arts Center
Band hall
Kate Conroy
Submitted Photo
Carly OstermanHaly Nguyen
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Comfort food ‘The Help’ inspires
College Stalker: creepy letters, emails colleges send
Friday night could have been any other
girl’s night in, complete with chocolate ice cream and a handful of 90s chick flicks. But when Daired’s, an upscale café, salon and spa, offered for us spend an evening at their Fairview location, it was an opportunity we couldn’t refuse.
We started the evening off at the salon and spa. Our manicure began with our fingers soaking in a small dish while the technician massaged our hands and arms with shea butter cream. While we didn’t see much of a difference in their polishing techniques, we were impressed at how soothing the whole experience turned out to be.
Our haircut began with a scalp massage, a wonderful treat after such a hectic week of school. After washing and blow-drying our hair felt silky and smooth.
Dinner at the café began with the Caprese crostini appetizer. The crostini, or small pieces of toasted bread, had fresh mozzarella and tomatoes served on a pesto drizzled baguette. It was a perfect balance between sweet and tangy.
For our entrée, we both ordered the grilled chicken, goat cheese and pesto on baguette. The baguette was toasted perfectly, with the perfect crunch. Unlike other restaurants, they didn’t skimp on chicken or pesto. Though the goat cheese was overpowering, we could still
Tribal College didn’t just want anyone. They wanted me, even if I didn’t want them. Or know exactly where Little Priest Tribal College was.
The most interesting catalogs were ones with crazy designs and embossed seals. I could tell there was actual effort put into making these. It felt more personal, especially if the signature was actually signed or the letter was handwritten.
Unfortunately, towards the end of sophomore year the creativeness stopped and
In 1962, the Caucasian women of Jackson,
Miss. are anything but idle in their upper class lives. They have to get their house ready for bridge club, attend Junior League meetings and help fundraise for starving children in Africa. If any one thing messes up their dire plans, they become an outcast by the ringleader herself, Mrs. Hilly Holbrook.
But back in their kitchens are the women who make sure there are no mistakes, the help. Kathryn Stockett’s “The Help” swept the nation with controversial topics including the heartbreaking bond between African-American maids and the Caucasian children they raise.
When Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan starts to write a book about “the help” and their struggles, she finds out that getting some of these ladies to talk about their bosses will be harder than she planned. African-American folks are beaten and sometimes killed for as much as looking at Caucasian men wrong, so how on earth will she get more than a dozen maids to speak about the personal lives?
The book and movie, “The Help,” takes a unique spin on the 1960s and shows America that just because African-Americans had legal rights, doesn’t
mean they were treated with respect. The book is long, but readers won’t be able to put it down as the people of Jackson battle the topic of race. Although the frequent changes in narrator can be confusing, paying attention to how each character talks helps eliminate confusion. For example, Minny (an African-American maid) includes a lot of slang in her speech.
After facing rejection over 60 times, Stockett is basking in glory as “The Help” climbs to the top of the bestseller lists. “The Help,” recently made into a movie, came out in early August starring big names such as Emma Stone as “Skeeter” and Viola Davis as “Aibileen.” The movie stays with the storyline for most of the movie with expected strays here and there. For example, the story is in a different order than it is in the book. The emotion from the movie moved me as much as the book did and I highly recommend seeing it if you haven’t yet.
But the movie is, as expected, nothing compared to reading the book. After reading the book twice through, I found myself hooked in the lives of the women of Jackson. The shocking relationship differences in the book and the tiffs between the women entertain throughout.
Try and hold back tears as Mae Mobley’s (a Caucasian child) own mother ignores her, smile whenever she talks in a slang-ridden accent because of Aibileen (an African-American maid) and laugh when she pulls down her pants in front of everyone in “The Help.” The book and the movie are well worth the time.
story by Victoria Erb and Maggie Rians staff writers
story by Kacey Wilson staff writer
story by Kayla Graves co-editor-in-chief
Sweet tooth (top) With tart cherries and a powdered sugar garnish, the chocolate cake was delicious.
Kicking back (left) Daired’s consists of a cafe, as well as a spa and salon.
Upscale cafe, salon offers relaxation
Reviewing with an angle
taste the fresh ingredients that made up the sandwich.
After looking at the mouth-watering menu of desserts, neither of us could resist, so we ordered a chocolate cake with Kirsch flambéed cherries. The cherries were tart, but it was perfectly balanced by the powdered sugar garnish.
The menu wasn’t the only thing perfectly balanced. Daired’s managed to blend together three completely different businesses into one unique and memorable experience. We’ve decided Dreyer’s can keep the ice cream.
A+
I first took the SAT in 8th grade, and somewhere
between the excitement of being grown up, my massive anxiety of getting a low score and the general freezing temperature of the room, I bubbled away an empty mailbox for the next five years. I gave College Board the permission to give my information out to “colleges looking for students like you.”
Oh, okay.At first it was flattering.
University of Alaska Anchorage or Little Priest
it took a turn for the worse. That’s when I started
getting the emails. The creepy, impersonal, obviously computer generated and written by someone who has watched my “continuing academic success and extraordinary active involvement in your community.”
I wasn’t aware that I had someone watching my every moment of academic ‘’success” and reporting back to Little Priest Tribal College.
My favorites were
the catalogs though. The glossy and posed photos of girls laughing in the quad, dazzling smile and latte in hand, or a group of students laughing in the student union center, or a couple walking in one of the college’s parks, laughing.
Apparently you do a lot of laughing in college.
This fall I have to decide where I’ll spend the next four years and $150,000 I have lying around. And after being bombarded with over-exaggerated half-truths and enough paper to cover
the front of my lawn for the past half decade the colleges I’m applying to have never even sent me as much as a postcard.
Northwestern doesn’t need to send me a brochure to proclaim their greatness. I had to look for these colleges and discover their greatness. I had to find the schools that I thought would be the best fit for me. And that’s something an automated email or posed photos will never be able to tell me.
Maggie Rians
Maggie Rians
Spa indulgance (bottom) Among other services Darieds wash and blow dry began with a soothing scalp massage.
Victoria Erb
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Red in the face
Raising tax good decision for district
After a long day of being lazy and
hanging around in the pool, my aunt comes into the guest bedroom of her house.
“We’re going to my friend Yvette’s house.”
“Finally, we get to do something.”
“So?”“So what?”“So are you going to get
story by Jessica Alaniz staff writer
editorial by The Eagle Angle staff
EDITORS-IN-CHIEFKayla GravesNicole Welch
MANAGING EDITORLydia Gardner
BUISNESS MANAGEREsther Yang
ONLINE EDITORKailey Warren
OPINIONS EDITORDavid Barr
PHOTO EDITORKatie Borchert
SPORTS EDITORLucas Lostoski
STAFF WRITERS Aafiya JamalAkshay MirchandaniBreanne McCallopBryant AriasCarly OstermanConner MartinCory FleckDanielle WashingtonDymielle DesquitadoElaine KirbyEmily CantwellGrace Lee
Haly NguyenJennifer WagonerJessica AlanizJessica NasonJessie HamzeKacey WilsonKate ConroyKathleen SinorMadyson RussellMaggie RiansMckenzi MorrisMolli BoydNeha Singh
Nilanjana PatiRebecca BarneyRebecca MossSaher AqeelShaylon MillerVictoria ErbZachariah Avellanet
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Allen High School • 300 Rivercrest Blvd. Allen, Texas 75002 • 972-727-0400 • [email protected] eagle angle
all dressed up?”“Why?”“Because she has a son
around your age.”“Oh. My. Gosh,” I say in
a really annoyed voice and slam the door. All my aunt ever bugs me about is boys. I would never talk to her or any adult family member about that because all they do is bug, bug, bug.
I want to look my best whenever I get the chance, so when I finally leave my room I’m not overdressed at all, but as I make my way downstairs my uncle spots me and laughs.
“She did get all dressed up for this kid. She’s looking for another boyfriend to add to her collection.”
Really? I’m dressed in a sweater shirt and shorts. Nothing fancy. He keeps on until my aunt walks into the living room and yells at her husband to stop embarrassing me.
The six of us pile into the Hummer. In the 20 minute drive to the house, my stomach is doing flips. I know that there is no turning back now.
My little cousin knocks on the door and Yvette’s son, Jaylen, answers.
“Jessica got all dressed up and pretty for you,” my uncle announces.
My mouth drops. I must be in a dream. My head spins. My cheeks get hot and my throat feels like it’s
On Oct. 8 at the A d m i n i s t r a t i o n
Building, citizens will have the opportunity to vote to approve raising the school tax rate from $1.54 per $100 value to $1.67. Early voting is already in progress. This tax ratification election (TRE) is an attempt by the district to offset statewide budget cuts for public schools.
This tax is a necessary step to preserve the quality of education in the school district.
The raised tax will help to avoid major cuts in schools. To address the budget deficit, Allen ISD has already reduced dozens of teaching and support
positions, reduced school budgets by 10 percent, and put a freeze on all salaries. If the TRE does not pass, more cuts will have to be made. It is projected that 80 to 100 teachers may have to be laid off without the TRE. Services that students often take for granted, such as bus routes, crossing guards, maintenance and groundskeeping would also be reduced.
These cuts will have overwhelmingly negative effects on students. Fewer teachers will result in larger class sizes, making it more difficult for teachers to effectively and efficiently communicate with all of their
students. Allen currently has the lowest revenue per student in Collin County, as the budget decreases and enrollment increases. With the TRE passed, the district will be able to hire more teachers in order to keep up with enrollment growth and maintain an educational environment for students.
The TRE is not as big of a tax increase as it appears. The current rate is $1.54 per $100 value, meaning that the TRE is only proposing an increase of 13 cents per $100 value. In fact, the proposed rate for the 2011-12 year would actually be 12% lower than the 2005-06 rate, which was the highest
in recent years at $1.91 per $100 value. The tax will still be affordable for the average family, and will raise $10 million for schools, allowing the district to offset a significant portion of state budget cuts.
Schools should always be a top priority, but budget reductions have forced the district to make some tough decisions. But in these difficult economic times, supporting education is more important than ever.
closing up, but I stay strong. I walk in and sit on the couch while my uncle keeps making jokes.
I lie and tell everyone I have a boyfriend. How else do you get out of something so embarrassing?
All the adults send us upstairs, where I watch the guys play the PS3. I’m still stunned.
A little while later my uncle climbs up the stairs and sits next me.
“So is he cute?”“I’m not talking to you.”“So is that a yes? Did you
even look at him?”“I’m not looking at
anybody.”“So I embarrassed you
that bad that you won’t even
look at him?”“Yep.”“Do you want me to
leave you alone?”“Duh.” I stay silent the whole
time we are there, which feels like forever.
I will never go to Yvette’s house again and I know that I can never trust my uncle. Family members are the people that you know the best and the ones that can, and will, embarrass you at unexpected times. I hold this against him to this day.
“SMH,” was my new Facebook status update when I got home.
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Have your own opinion?Leave a
comment online at allenisd.
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A stroke of luck
As she heads to the state golf
tournament in Austin last year, Maddie Szeryk is stuck in her normal pre-game routine. Immediately she turns her iPod on. She starts warming up with putting. Then she works on chipping. Then hitting balls. She ends with putting again. Her nerves are beginning to fade away.
“Before the tournament and before we left I was really nervous that I would mess up,” Szeryk said. “But once we got in the car to go there I was just excited to get started and I was pumped.”
Szeryk started playing golf at the age of seven, when her dad decided to take her to the hitting range one day. Her interest was sparked and she began enrolling in junior camps and eventually taking private lessons. Today, Szeryk is a sophomore on the girl’s varsity golf team.
As a freshman, Szeryk placed third at the state tournament in Austin. She’s up at 5:30 every morning to work out before school, and then practices again once school gets out to be able to play as well as she does.
Szeryk spent her summer
traveling the country to play in national golf tournaments. She played in Chicago, Minnesota, and twice in Houston.
In Chicago she played in the United States Golf Association tournament, a major tournament for amateur girls, with many college coaches present.
“I qualified for that one which is a big deal. I was nervous and excited,” Szeryk said. “I had played in it last summer and it was really nerve wracking. This year I had a lot of fun.”
Even though Szeryk did not make the final cut, she decided she needed to keep pushing herself and working hard. Her parents couldn’t be more proud of her as they watch her progress.
“It was really exciting, but I knew she could do it,” Szeryk’s mom, Karen Szeryk, said. “She sacrifices a lot for this and I’m really proud of all the hard work, and I hope and pray that her talent shows at a tournament.”
Even as a sophomore, Szeryk plans to play college golf and possibly turn professional.
Szeryk already has several colleges looking at
her, including Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Louisiana State University and Texas Christian University (TCU). She has gone on a college visit to TCU, but still doesn’t know what school she would like to attend.
Head golf coach Karen Gravley believes Szeryk will go as far as she wishes, at whatever school she decides to attend.
“I see Maddie continuing into college and if she continues winding up and doesn’t get burnt out, then I certainly think she will have the opportunity to try to qualify for the tour,” Gravley said. “[She] certainly will have all the tools and the opportunities that can be afforded to her to accomplish the ultimate goal of playing on the Ladies Professional Golf Association.”
Szeryk hopes going into this season that her and the other girls on the team can go to state again, and that they will play even better than last year.
“We will have a good chance to get out of our district and make it to regionals and continue to try to make it back to state as we have the past three years,”
Gravely said. “We hope that that trend doesn’t change, and maybe bring home that third state championship.”
Szeryk and her parents have big plans for her in the future, with both golf and academics. But for right now, they are simply proud of her success.
“I knew that she was really good, and I’m probably not giving her enough credit
Set for state
In her 19 years of coaching at Allen,
some of volleyball head coach Kelley Gregoriew’s favorite memories include getting second in state in 2003, participating in team activities and watching a kid “get nailed in the face.”
“A long time ago, back in ’93 or ’95 there was a kid that hit the ball so hard it knocked another kid flat on her back, knocked her feet out from under her and broke her arm,” Gregoriew said. “I’ve liked the fact that we can bring power to the
game, I get excited about that. I don’t want to hurt another player, but when we can power the ball like that I get excited.”
Gregoriew tries to bring that power and intensity to her practices, which take place before and after school every day.
“We try to run our practices at game-like speeds. I’m pretty intense,” Gregoriew said. “I don’t ever want to lose a game because we are out of shape.”
The Lady Eagles volleyball team is now heading into the stretch of district games that will lead them to the bi-district tournament starting on Oct. 31. From there the Eagles hope that their tenacity can lead them to the state tournament.
As The Eagle Angle went to press, the team’s record was 20-17 with a 2-5 district record and seven games remaining in district play.
“My expectations [at the beginning of the season] were high, as always,” senior and team captain Tori Bates said. “I believe that my team can do well.”
Highlights of the season
so far include finishing seventh in the Texas Open tournament and 11th in the Westwood Showcase Tournament.
However, the Lady Eagles are playing without senior Tyler Southern, who will not return to the season. Senior setter and team captain Kristen Newton was also injured for the first half of the season, but was able to rejoin the team as district play began.
“I think [the injuries] made some people who weren’t necessarily ready to be in charge have to step up,” Newton said. “And some seniors have to take on leadership roles they didn’t think they’d have to.”
Coach Gregoriew said that this team genuinely gets along which helps with the team’s cohesion.
“I think [team chemistry] is huge, because if somebody is struggling [the team] will be there to help them,” Gregoriew said. “If somebody is having a bad game they don’t mind if somebody comes in and plays for them, hoping they will have a good game. These guys are a little bit
story by Mckenzi Morris staff writer
story by Cory Fleck staff writer
Tap In Sophomore varsity golf player Maddie Szeryk earned third place at a state tournament in Austin last May.
Ready, set, spike Ashley Hooper (# 10) hits the ball in the Allen vs. Lovejoy volleyball game on Sept. 6. Allen lost 3-1.
sophomore places third state tournament
but she’s pretty awesome,” Szeryk’s dad, Neil Szeryk, said, “I’m just proud of her, she works really hard.”
more about the team, which I like.”
Bates said the players also emphasize the importance of working together and the idea of team unity.
“Volleyball is probably the most team oriented sport there is,” Bates said. “If you do not work together as a unit then you will not succeed. And I believe that the players on my team have definitely contributed. They give their all, try hard, and they never give up.”
The Lady Eagles expect their hard work and team unity to pay off in the playoffs.
“I believe that we will definitely make [the] playoffs,” Bates said. “And when we make [the] playoffs we are going to have to fight for every win, but I believe that with the heart and the determination that we have, we are going to pull through.”
Nicole Welch
Victoria Erb
Volleyball team begins season strong
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The Allen Eagles know it is their time. Running back Jonathan Williams feels it. He can sense the energy from the fans who are hungry for a state title. Head coach Tom Westerberg draws similarities between this team and the 2008 State Championship squad. And senior defensive end DeAndre Hill says the No. 1 nationally ranked Allen Eagles will deliver.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to win it all this year,” Hill said.
High expectations. Correct that, the highest of expectations face the Eagles this year. Whispers filter through the halls of the high school, talking about 16-0 and a state title.
“We know we have to do our best, because we’ve got a target on our back, and everybody is trying to knock us off,” Hill said. “We’ve got to stay on top.”
The Eagles are returning 13 All-District players
from a year ago, including quarterback Alec Morris and Williams. Both Morris and Williams have committed to BCS schools Alabama and Missouri respectively.
According to Hill the coaches continually remind the players that rankings mean nothing, and that their play on the field means everything. Williams doesn’t really consider the No. 1 ranking a big deal either.
“Coming from Allen, we always have high expectations for ourselves,” Williams said. “We always feel like we’re the No. 1 team no matter where the polls rank us, so the expectations are pretty much the same as every year.”
The Eagles suffered a loss when Williams injured his back on his eighth carry in the season opener against Cedar Hill. Williams also missed several games as a sophomore due to an ankle injury.
“Health is a huge thing,”
Williams said. “I pray before every game and I pray for God to keep his hands over me and my teammates, and the opposing team as well.”
Williams returned to action against Plano, scoring a touchdown and running for 82 yards on 13 carries. In the homecoming game versus Lewisville, Williams managed 234 yards on 17 carries.
Williams said he wants to win the state title, and help be a leader to his younger teammates.
“I’m trying to lead by example,” Williams said. “I don’t really like to yell at anyone or talk to anyone, I just try to do what’s right and let other people follow.”
Juniors Marcus Ward and Jeff Harris replaced Williams while he was hurt. In the season’s first five games Ward tallied 300 yards on 46 carries and Harris rushed for 304 yards on 42 carries.
“Marcus Ward and Jeff
Harris are great athletes and they’ve been doing a great job while Jonathan is out,” Westerberg said.
The Eagles early season success can largely be attributed to Morris. With his accuracy and decision-making greatly improved, Morris has thrown for 1357 yards, 19 touchdowns and no interceptions so far this season.
The receivers he’s throwing to have been successful thus far, with Morris spreading the ball around to many different targets. Wiliams said it is a good thing that there isn’t one go-to-guy on the offense.
“[With this team] you don’t have to go into a game and think that you’ve got to do it all,” Williams said. “You can rely on the offensive line to open up holes, and you can rely on Alec throwing, and on A-Rod (Andrew Rodriguez), and Ollie [Pierce], and Cortland [Tolbert] catching.
You don’t have to be the man and do everything yourself. You have other teammates to rely on.”
As The Eagle Angle went to press the Eagles are 5-0, having won their first four contests in convincing fashion, outscoring their opponents 218-56.
But don’t expect the players or coaches to get overconfident over their early achievements. Westerberg said the Eagles focus only on the next game on their schedule.
“We’re taking the season a game at a time,” Westerberg said.” “We’re not really worried about state championships right now.”
If they meet their full potential they can plan on being at Cowboys Stadium in December, where they will get a chance to prove their ranking on the field.
“Now if you get a concussion or have concussion symptoms you could miss half the season, and it just takes longer to get back on the field.”
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3“In baseball there aren’t many concussions. The only time someone gets a concussion is when they get hit in the head with a ball.”
4“Swimming is a pretty safe sport, the only way you can get a concussion is by bumping your head against the wall or hitting another swimmer.” 1“In Cross Country,
their aren’t many concussions.”
Cortland TolbertFootball
Austin KongSwimming
Shannon GoodwinCross Country
1“I’m not sure what the new concussion laws are.”
McKenzie PatchTennis
Carl CrearBaseball
Rate the ReactionsOn a scale of 1-10 how are the new concussion laws affecting your sport?
Lucas Lostoski
Football team ranked No. 1 in nation
Illustration by Lucas Lostoski
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Be wary of entitlement
Should high schools adopt BCS standards?
Picture this: Two die hard New England Patriots fans, arguably the best team in the NFL, are about to watch them play the Cincinnati Bengals, arguably the worst team in the NFL. Before the game starts one of the friends turns to the other and says, “This will be so easy. We are the best team in the NFL and we are going to win the Superbowl this year.”
Final score: Bengals 35, Patriots 0.
In this hypothetical situation, the Patriots flat out messed up.
Why? Because the team and its fans felt entitled.
Entitlement is the
downfall of every sports team from football to cricket.
Students I’ve talked to in the halls of feel that the football team has the state championship in their pocket, because they are ranked so high in the state and nation.
Now hang on a minute.Since when do rankings
determine who hoists up a championship trophy at the end of a season?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying being ranked No.1 in Texas 5A and No.1 in the nation is bad, but please don’t feel that the Eagles are going to win the state championship just because they have the entitlement of being so highly ranked.
Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way in sports. It never has.
The Eagles have a target on their back this year. When that happens teams often feel their opponents will just roll over and not compete because they think
they are invincible. It’s the exact opposite. Teams want to beat the Eagles.
They are going to compete.
Don’t believe me? Let’s look through recent sports history and see how a sense of entitlement has killed good teams’ dreams of winning it all,
The 2007 Dallas Mavericks: The Mavs won a league high 67 games and earned themselves the first seed in the Western conference. If these Mavs thought they were going back to the finals, they were dead wrong. They were bounced in the first round by the Golden State Warriors, in what some consider to be the biggest upset in NBA history.
The 2011 New Orleans Saints: The Saints were the defending Superbowl champions, but went into the playoffs 11-5 as a wildcard. They were matched up against the Seattle Seahawks
who won their division with a 7-9 record. “Who Dat Nation” thought since they were the champs and because Seattle had a losing record they would coast to the next round, but the Seahawks beat the Saints 41-36. Mardi Gras didn’t come as early as it did the previous season for New Orleans.
Still don’t believe me? Just take it from senior defensive end DeAndre Hill, who has become one of the leaders of the Eagles’ defense and earned all district honors last year. He said that high rankings don’t guarantee a playoff spot.
“We could be number one but if we lose all of our district games then we won’t go to the playoffs,” Hill said, “So ranking doesn’t mean anything.”
Hill added that he has seen entitlement kill players and teams that have potential.
While the players may be the ones making plays every
story by Akshay Mirchandani staff writer
story by David Barr opinions editor
story by Cory Fleck staff writer
High school football currently uses a playoff
system that is inefficient, and in the end does not result in the best team winning the state championship. For the state championship to be more fairly decided, high school football should devise a system similar to that of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which is the system currently used to determine the college football champion.
Using a BCS style system would make the regular season games for football far more important and more exciting. Under the current playoff system it is possible for a team to make the playoffs with only three or four wins, taking away all the meaning of having regular season games. A BCS system would create a more intriguing regular season because every game would affect a team’s chance of making the championship. This creates a far more entertaining regular season for everyone.
Adopting a new system would make sure that both teams playing in the championship are fully healthy with all of their best players available, which makes for a better game and determines who the true champion really is. The playoffs force legitimate contenders to play mediocre teams who haven’t even earned a shot in the playoffs for
several weeks in a row. Every game in football is a battle, and the more unnecessary games you play the more likely injuries are to occur. The BCS system would make it so that both of the top teams are at full strength when they meet on the field.
The most important benefit of adopting a BCS-type format is that it would reward those teams that are consistently excellent, while a playoff system rewards teams that are on a hot streak, but not consistent. When the championship game is decided by a teams regular season performance then a team must start strong and stay strong throughout the season. An inconsistent team that is able to ride a hot streak should not be declared the state champion. It should be a team that has been consistently great throughout the season.
The playoff system is a flawed system which rewards teams that do not deserve it and takes away all of the importance from the regular season. In order to promote fairness to all teams and ensure that the best team in the state is the one that is holding the championship trophy at the end of the season; Texas high school football must adopt a playoff system.
The BCS needs to go away.
Now.Many sports fans have
come to the same conclusion, crying out for one change in the great sport of college football.
They want a playoff system.Even high schools have a
playoff system, and you can’t say that these games aren’t exciting, or that the high school playoff system isn’t working. It generates good games and draws a huge crowd.
The same goes for the NFL. They also have a playoff system that is frequently one of the most watched televised events every year. The Super Bowl is greeted with the same kind of excitement reserved for Christmas morning and birthdays.
High schools should not even think about trying out a BCS system. The BCS has only caused controversy and convoluted rankings. Not only are college football fans upset with it, but the system is also biased and flawed. The BCS is biased due to the writers and coaches polls, allowing for these voters to vote subjectively. It also fails to take into account vital components such as head to head meetings and gives too much credit to teams who blow out smaller, less talented schools.
Basically, there are enough holes in the BCS to allow for the
best team in the country to not get a shot at the championship. That cannot be acceptable. In a playoff system, every team in the tournament gets the same opportunities and simply lets the best team win. It’s the only way to show which team deserves to be called the best, and isn’t that the driving force behind competition?
High school football is fine the way it is. The games are intense, the atmosphere is charged and the fans love it. As the saying goes, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Why replace a flawless system with a flawed one? It doesn’t make sense.
And frankly, neither does the BCS.
week, it comes down to the coaches to stop their players from getting a big head and feeling entitled, and Hill says the Allen coaching staff talks to them everyday about that.
Now please don’t feel that I’m hating on the Eagles here. They are a football team with the talent, depth and coaching to win state.
However, they won’t live up to their potential if they feel entitled to win, and it’s great that a team leader such as Hill feels that entitlement is a killer.
Hopefully all of the players think like that.
If the Eagles feel entitled, if they think it’s going to be an easy ride to state, if they think teams will just roll over when they play them, they will not live up to their expectations.
None of us want that.
Point counter-point with Cory and David
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story by David Barr opinions editor
team had a strong showing against Plano Sr., handing them their worst loss ever to an Allen team with a score of 16-3 on Aug. 23. The team also routed Lewisville on Sept. 6. The Eagles have lost four of their last five matches. The team has five matches left before they head into the district
The R
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With
David B
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personal rivals that you really want to beat?F: Plano Senior. Just because for a long time they were kind of that team in the area, the good team, the team to beat, but now that we stepped up on the guys side and the girls side… beating them always feels really good. They used to be at the top but now it’s us. G: Beating Tyler would also be a big one because we know a lot of people on that team so it would be fun to rub it in their faces.M: Plano Senior. Since I’ve been here for 12 years, I don’t think the girls have lost the district title. The guys have been given a lot of accolades, but you’ve always had other teams. Plano West was good a few years; Allen won the title, McKinney when they were in our district, won the title. The Plano boys have always been seen as good as the girls, but the girls, since I’ve been here, have never lost. We’ve either been second or third every year I’ve been here. It would be nice to get over the top. Talking to their coach, they believe that we’re the team to beat, but until we knock them off their pedestal we’re still No. 2. A lot of talk doesn’t mean much. I’ve told this
team since day one everyone tells me were supposed to win, but that means zero until we do it. B: So realistically, how many people do you think, or are you expecting to take to state this year?M: 15. I think we’ve got quite a few girls relays [and] guys relays that should go and a lot of individual swims. 15 is more of what I expect. I think we have the ability to take more. But last year we should have taken 12. We had a girls relay just miss out that should have put us at 10. The boys 400 free relay just missed out. We had a good year, boys winning districts, but like I tried to explain at the end it doesn’t make you feel good when you don’t go to state individually. We had some tears at regionals and we swam well. We got some people to state, but you have to swim an amazing meet at the top of your level. A little slip here and a little slip there and you miss out. And we did. There’s a lot that’s there, we just have to take another step. I think we’ve got a good shot.
B: What are some expectations for this season?M: As a team I think they have a great shot on both sides, girls and boys, at winning districts. Regionals are going to be a lot tougher. Southlake Carroll is probably a top 3 team, both girls and boys, at state, with a shot to win both sides as well. They’re sort of the team we’re after now. Both sides had a great year last year, with the guys winning districts and the girls getting second. The girls have the ability to step it up this year and do a better job. The guys should hold on to their district title if they train hard.F: Individually on the team, the expectations are make every practice, don’t be late and just go out there and make sure you’re trying 100 percent all the time. Coach doesn’t appreciate any slacking at all. M: (laughs) This isn’t about me, it’s about the team.F: Alright… The team doesn’t appreciate any slacking. G: I’d really like to see a lot of swimmers make it to state. Like as many as possible. Even the ones you would not consider state level swimmers. B: Coach Mitchell said Southlake was the team to beat; do you guys have any
The swim and dive team, coming off a great season, is hungry and ready for state. I (B) sat down with Coach Brent Mitchell (M) and senior captains Tommy Frashier (F) and Justin Gibson (G) to discuss their goals and expectations for this upcoming season.
Junior Katherine Allen won 1st place overall in the teams’ latest meet at McKinney Boyd, completing the meet in 12 minutes 17 seconds.
sports
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The boys cross-country team has recovered from a slow start, taking second place in their latest tournament at McKinney Boyd. In their first three meets of the season they finished no higher then 11th place. The varsity girls team won all but one of their four meets so far this season.
As The Eagle Angle went to press the tennis team was 8-8. The
tournament beginning on Oct. 17.
“Watching [the team] try to accomplish one goal and try to get into the regional tournament,” head tennis coach Justin Quest said. “That’s been fun to watch.”
-compiled by Lucas Lostoski and Cory Fleck
David Barropinions editor
Brent Mitchellswim coach Justin Gibson
swim captain
Tommy Frashierswim captain
Making the call (top)Head football coach Tom Westerberg listens to the referee’s call on the field.
Crossing the plane (left) Senior receiver Tony Adams caps off a 58 yard reception with a touchdown dive.
Royal pair (right) former homecoming queen and king, Brooke Currie and Ryan Trantham crown seniors Gregory Bordelon and Shannon Goodwin as Homecoming king and queen during the Sep. 30 game against Lewisville.
Breaking free (bottom) Senior running back Jonathan Williams runs in the Eagle homecoming victory against Lewisville. Williams ran for 234 yards on 17 carries. Nicole Welch
Running wild (left) Junior Oliver Pierce avoids a defender in their 45-13 rout of Lewisville.
Welcome to the jungle (right) Seniors Jacob Chester and Allison Casstevens dance together at the 2011 Homecoming.
Nicole Welch
Nicole Welch
Nicole Welch
Nicole Welch Katie Borchert
Homecoming weekend started with the Eagles 45-14 rout of Lewisville on Sept. 30. Running back Jonathan Williams ran
all over his competition totaling 234 yards and scoring a touchdown. Senior Gregory Bordelon and senior Shannon Goodwin were named king and queen before the game. The Homecoming dance was held in the cafeteria on Oct. 2 with a jungle theme.
Wild about football
