Tori Bishop Kianna Jones Kenzie Kates

Roman Garcia

Top 5 B cket ListHost Saturday Night Live

Volunteer in a third world country

Crash a wedding

Experience zero gravity

Visit all 50 states

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What’s Inside...3. Healthy Foods for Lunches4. Paintball

5. Exemption Policy

6.Tennis and Cross Country

9. Football

10-11. Getting your Date to Homecoming12. Homecoming Parody13. Preparing for Homecoming14.Texting and E-mail Policy15. Teen Voting

Austin Burgess

7. Golf8.Volleyball

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Ideas

When packing a lunch, some stu-

dents may not consider the impact of food choices on their health. Things, such as calories or whether it will be filling or

not, could help students perform better academically or in sports if they re-place some of their food items with healthier choices.

“Kids should start now packing their lunches with healthy choices,” Fitness Trainer Taylor Castillo said. “In college, parents will not be able to tell them what to pack and that is why a lot

of kids have trouble maintaining their weight and gaining the freshman 15.” An average student’s lunch contains a sandwich, chips, soda and a type of dessert. This lunch, containing

an average turkey sandwich on white bread, Doritos, a chocolate chip cookie and a coke equals about 900 calories. However, if substituted with a turkey sandwich on wheat bread, baked Doritos, a 100 calorie pack of

chocolate chip cookies and a diet coke, this lunch would only equal about 510 calories. There are little steps that can be taken to make this simple lunch beneficial.

For the sandwich, instead of putting that turkey or peanut butter and jelly on white bread, try putting it in a wheat tortilla or even on a piece of whole wheat bread. Whole wheat bread contains a higher content of fiber which will keep stomachs fuller for a longer time. A study, done by Harvard University, shows people who ate the higher fiber intake in whole wheat bread had fewer strokes and heart attacks than people who ate a bagel. Processed meats are not a smart choice and should be avoided. If replaced with a chicken breast, students absorb more protein. Everyone needs a substan-tial amount of protein, especially athletes. Athletes are constantly breaking down muscles in their bodies and protein will rebuild the muscle. If chips are a must, pack the baked chips or the 100 calorie packs. Desserts should be substituted with low sugar, low calo-ries as well. If one is willing to try something new, any type of green vegetable or fruits that are not high in sugar content and nutritious. Dipping sauces such as ranch should be fat free. Another option is unsalted mixed nuts. There are many options to replace chips, but consumers should read the labels because calorie counts can be surprising. Remember: green is good. As for drinks, water is obviously the better choice; however, there is water with hints of fruit. This is where reading the label is important because producers add extra sugars to the drinks. Most sodas can be found in a diet version. The diet version will not have any calories, so it is still possible to enjoy sodas. “Students should definitely eat healthy when they can easily change what they are eating,” Sophomore Caitlyn Cook said. “However, I think there should be a balance because we are still kids and should be able to eat those yummy foods.” Not just one’s body can benefit from healthy food choices, but staying focused in class is a challenge for many students in class. The main supplements to help maintain focus are omega threes and different vitamins. Fish is a good food to eat at dinner because it contains a good amount of omega threes. Studies have also shown that people who eat

fish on a regular base reduce their risk of having Alzheimer’s disease. Because each person has a different type of body and metabolism, foods will affect each body differently.

The nutritional facts change from brand to brand. A type of food can be low in calories for one brand, but can be high in another. This is why it is important to always read the food labels. Restaurants tend to

add hidden ingredients that makes their meals higher in calories when least expected. A good way to find out the calories in meals at restaurants or to keep track of the intake during the day

is an app on a phone. The slightest adjustment to anyone’s food habits can make a huge difference.

It may not necessarily be weight loss, but the overall performance of a person will change.

Make Healthy Packed LunchesMadison Ray

White Bread Calories- about 90 per slice

Wheat BreadCalories- about

60 per slice

About 250 calories per bag

About 120 calories per bagAbout 50 calories for 20 grapes

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About 150 calories for 4 oz.

Fredrickson Defeats Coaches in Paintball In TV shows and movies, viewers often see the football coaches as screaming jerks who do nothing but overreact. While that can be true, they also have a fun side to them. On Aug. 19, several Col-lege Park’s football staff invited varsity players to join them in an exciting game of paintball. Such an event had never been experienced before by the players. The action took place at Legends Paintball in the Caney Creek area of Conroe. A severe weather warning de-layed the game by 30 minutes, but the eager players were ready to take down the coaches. JV Blue player Greg Biehn marched

onto the battlefield in a totally custom-ized outfit and gun, while everyone else held their stock guns and armour. The

first round took place in ‘The Woods’, which is literally like playing paintball in the middle of a forest. Despite being

all suited up, Biehn was the first man to be eliminated, and the winner of the round was Coach Wright. The second

round took place at ‘The Castle’, which resembled a crazy version of LegoLand. After an intense battle, the winner of the round was var-sity player Austin Fredrickson. The next three rounds took place at other fields, all won by Fredrickson. Paintball is game for strategists. One does not want the other team or op-

posing players to know one’s location. The players who wins is the person who outmanuevers the other team.

Participants: Matt Meyer, Coach Mike Marcantel, Jayvon Jackson, Coach Mike Fredrickson, Corey Meissner, Tristen Newman, Connor Weaverling, Coach Carlyn Callier, Tyler Wright, Sean Kerr, Kyle Cole, Michael Cervera, Greg Biehn, Austin Fredrickson, Coach Jason Washburn, Coach Todd Wright, Stephan Johnson, Scott Foster, Jordan Little, Sean Marcantel.

Tyler Wright

Results. It is all about the results. From the schedule to the policy, decisions are based on what the school administrators determine to be affective or ineffective with regard to increased student academic results, like the exemption policy for underclass-men this year. Exemptions have always been an area of relief for most students at the end of the year. After the TAKS, stu-dents look forward to the possibility of being exempt for the final exams in the spring. Now this privilege is only for seniors. “After review, admin i st rators , teachers, parents and students de-cided that exemp-tions were not fulfilling their pur-pose,” Associate David Perkins said. “The policy was in-tended to increase students test scores on the TAKS. We have seen no signifi-cant change in scores over the past few years that we've had exemptions.” Each year various policies are ex-amined to see how it is affecting the school and whether it is in a positive or negative way. A board of instructors, administors, parents and students, at College Park met to better the learning experience of students. The decision was decided by not only teachers and administrators, but students who also decided that this was the best decision concerning exemptions. Seniors are allowed this opportunity

because in the spring there is always an increase in absences. The exemp-tions provide a motivation for seniors to come to school everyday. Seniors can only be absent a certain amount of times before they will no longer be exempt. “Spring brings a dramatic drop in at-tendance rates because seniors stop caring near the end of the school year,” Perkins said. “Exemptions provide the necessary push to get seniors to school

in the spring se-mester.” The policy can be revisited and re-vised to possibly bring exemptions for all students back. Everyone will be affected by the policy in-cluding teachers. They must make sure students are prepared for the exams meaning more class time for reviews. It will be harder at the end of the year for stu-dents and teach-ers because of the weeks taken out for TAKS tests than

the end of the semester. Students need to be prepared and to be in class. Their scores should be fine with the help and leadership of teach-ers. After what is expected to be a great school year, the students of College Park will continue to excel.

Tristan Jones N E W

P O L I C YExemptions are not for everyone

Chocolate Punch

15% offentire purchase

Students will be more prepared for college and fu-ture tests by taking end of year exams.

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As sophomore Austin Walker walked away from his lost doubles’ tennis match, he just smiled and took a bite out of his subway flat bread sandwich. “It’s okay,” Walker said. “I’m just going to eat something and start mentally preparing for my next match.” Whatever he did to mentally prepare, it worked. He then proceeded to annihilate his opponent in his singles’ match, winning his first set with a score of 6-2 and his second set with a score of 6-1. “It’s important to keep a positive attitude,” Walker said. This seems to be the mentality of the College Park tennis team. Some people wonder what the difference between fall and spring tennis is. “Fall season is team tennis and spring season is individual tennis,” Head Tennis Coach Henry Garza said. “The fall is more of a team atmosphere. Tennis is special because the boys and girls compete as one team.” “Our current seniors won district as freshmen, so their goal this year is to go out and regain the district title.” Anyone who has gone to one of this year’s tennis matches will notice a fair amount of freshmen and sophomores play-ing for varsity.

“It’s a very young bunch,” Garza said. “There’s a few seniors that have been on varsity all four years, that’s Ni-cole Delgado, Meritt Rabson, and Adithya Hari. However the majority of the team are freshmen and sophomores. They’re very enthusiastic, very excited and their work ethic has been very good. They’re buying into the system that I’m putting them through, and they’re getting better every time they compete. When they come out at the beginning of the season, they’re fit, but we’re looking for a new level of fit.” The new abundance of talented underclassmen has given Garza a sense of déjà vu. “Four or five years ago we had a group of freshmen boys that came in and ended up being number ones’ by the time they were seniors, but they’re gone now,” Garza said. Sounds familiar. So far it has been a pretty inconsistent season with a roughly even number of wins and losses. But the team con-tinues to stay headstrong and positive. “I just tell them to be aggressive. Where we may be short on experience we try to make up with fitness,” Garza said. The next tournament will be today at Lufkin at 3 p.m.

Tennis Interesting Mix of New and Old Blood

CC Shows Promise Early in Season The Cavalier Cross Coun-try team is off to a fantas-tic start. At the Oak Ridge Meet, James Wolhart won first place with a time of 16:19 in his event, the Var-sity A 5K. “[I was] pretty surprised,” Wolhart said. “I’d never been one of the very top guys so...I mean, I was ex-cited, but I was surprised.” This is an excellent way to begin the cross country sea-son. This year’s team is a tal-ented group of athletes that work seamlessly together

and train diligently. “They all have one goal in mind...to achieve the best that they can achieve,” Coach Mike Gibson said. When asked which school would be their biggest com-petition, he gave a surpris-ing answer. “To be honest, ourselves” he said. “Because, I mean, you got the powerhouses...of the world, but to be frank, you can’t control how they run. You can only con-trol yourself.”

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Rachael Wasaff

Senior James Wolhart wins the Oak Ridge Invitational.

Senior Emilie Lostracco runs the girl’s varsity race at Oak Ridge.

William Moessinger

Austin Burgess Austin Burgess

For the Love of the Game

Kassidy Smith

Eighteen holes in the blazing Texas heat is no small feat. The College Park golf team knows this better than anyone. All summer long the teams have been preparing for an extremely competitive fall season ahead of them by playing in tournaments such as the Texas Junior Golf Tour, Houston Golf Association and the South Texas PGA Junior Tour. “I practice a lot and work on my mental game before tournaments,” Sophomore Kaleigh Brady said. “I have to get my mind focused on the goal in front of me.” For those who do not play golf, the mental aspect is 90 percent of the entire game. A person who does not have a strong mind will crack under the pressure of a lead. A single tournament round of golf averages around six hours and in extreme cases 11. Staying fo-cused for that long is an extremely fatiguing task. A golfer must take into consideration the wind speed and direction, club selection, where to aim the ball and even the way they swing the club. Yes, even the way they swing. Many golfers go to a private swing coach to perfect their swing and to learn the exact way to play a tricky shot. “Everyone who thinks golf isn't a sport has obviously never tried it,” Junior Jessica Dunn said. “If they've never played it, how would they even know if it is a sport? They don't know how much work actually goes into the competitive side of golf.” Many people do not consider golfers athletes, even though they work as hard if not harder at their game than other athletes. Golf is an all season sport and participants can never cut down on their practice time. A three hour practice every day of the week is common. Golfers are extremely dedicated and persis-tent people. “Push comes to shove,” Sophomore Collin Bryant said. “I can play any sport I want to, but I chose golf. It's the best game in the world.”

8th Annual Cavalier Classic Golf Tournament

For more information contact:

Larry Leno at (713) 471-3520lleno@sbcglobal.net

Saturday Oct. 27

River Plantation Country Club

Presented by: The Woodlands College Park High School

Golf Booster Club

Golf Fundraiser

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Young Team Goes All Out to Leave It All on the Court

Alex ThorsonEmily Thorson Maddie Ray

Kennedi Smith Hannah ErwinTaylor Neal Cori Schrier

Alyssa McNeely

Maya ArguezAndi Platt

Haley Sobosle Allie BroussardKaley Hauff

Paige Kempker

Tuesday Night the Lady Cavaliers played the Highlanders in a disappoint-ing game that ended, 0-3. The team tried and pushed. However, it just was not enough without the height that was needed to shut down the undeaf-ted Highlanders. “I feel like we all worked hard,” Fresh-man Kennedi Smith said. “In the end, it just did not end in our favor.” With one-half the starting line gone, Coach Candace Collins must forge a dynamic team able to compete in an already challenging district. During a questionable preseason, the Lady Cavs won 12, but dropped 10. For the first time in CP history, the team was elimi-nated from the Spring Branch tourna-ment on the first day of competition. The team is full of young talent that just does not seem to have come to full swing. The cohesiveness of the team did not seem to be there as the crowd watched the team breakdown in their playing. “I think we have a young team and we were all still trying to get used to our playing styles,” Libero Cori Schrier said. “The new members are doing their best to contribute to the team, so they do not have complete confidence yet, but it is coming.” District play brought a new game with two entirely new opponents, Bry-an and A&M Consolidated. The ques-tion on everyone’s mind is whether or not this state ranked team will keep its district championship streak intact. The Lady Cavaliers faced their first district opponent, Oak Ridge, going to five games in a set that kept the fans on edge for most of the night, but they pulled out their first district win. The game was full of ref calls that were questionable and fans fighting to be the loudest. The night seemed like it would never end as each match went

point for point. The team overcame all the pressure and won. With this win, they made their mark, ready to fight all the way to state. “We get stronger every match; we learn more with every match and now we are able to use that in our district matches to stay strong,” Coach Collins said. In the next game, the Conroe Tigers lost 3-0 in a match that showed that this team is capable of working togeth-er. Conroe did not want to give up a win, but the Lady Cavs held them off to secure their second win in district. The team is getting the hang of work-ing together each game they play. A&M Consolidated showed that they will be this years’ big hot shot team. After a disappointing night, CP lost to A&M, 3-1. The tension generated by the game put pressure on the Cavs to perform one step ahead, but they came up short. Whatever the score, the Cavs never gave up. They fought for every point they earned and fought for the points they thought they de-served. The first loss in district is never easy. Although Lufkin is no A&M all wins count.The game gave everyone a chance to take risks and work on new plays that will be needed for The Woodlands game. The stands lacked fans and allowed the team to practice their ability to create their own moti-vation to win. It gave Coach Collins a chance to see her players in leadership roles to truly step up and show that they adjusted. “I think the veterans are adjusting well. It has given them the opportu-nity to step up and be leaders and re-ally have the opportunity to make an impact on the younger players,” Col-lins said. Tonight the Lady Cavs take on Bryan at six at Bryan High School.

PROVE IT!

2012 Roster

Sam Morrow

Senior Maddie Ray dives down at the perfect mo-ment to pass the ball to the setter to make a play.

At the height of the game, Sophomore Emily Thor-son moves behind the block to make a great pass.

Bryce Sutter

Bryce Sutter

Young Team Surprises Foes;Outlook Good for District

Wide Receiver Byron Makel returns the kick-off against the Wolverines in the Homecoming game Sept. 20.

Senior Weston Talley leads the Cavaliers onto the field against Clear Brook. The Cavaliers lost to the Wolverines, 20-17.

Tyler Wright

With the thrill of Homecoming, students and athletes looked for-ward to one of the most anticipated events of the year. Thursday night the Cavaliers entered the Woodforest turf to play Clear Brook, a high school that, size-wise and team-wise, is almost CP’s identical

twin, which made it a good challenge. The first quarter ended with the Wolverines scoring with just a minute on the clock. During the sec-

ond quarter, Wide Receiver Charrod Henry scored, but missed the ex-tra point. Kicker Matt Meyer went for a field goal during CP’s next

possession, making the score 9-7. As they began the third period, Quarterback Brett Buckley fumbled the ball and a Wolverine out-

side linebacker ran it in for a touchdown. After long and intense blocking defense from both teams, Fullback Connor McPherson jogged into the endzone with ease, setting the score, 17-13. With just over just four minutes to go, it looked like the Cavs had won. Suddenly a Clear Brook halfback ran 91 yards to make a touchdown. The heat turned on like an oven as CP tried to score just one more time before the game ended. With just a few seconds left, Meyer attempted a 34-yard field goal to go into overtime. The kick just missed.

The game ended, 17-20, the first Cavalier loss of the season. The previous Saturday against Katy Taylor, the Mustangs scored almost flaw-

lessly, with the wide receiver making a 75- yard passing touchdown. College Park answered and scored just two plays into their possession by McPherson, making the score 7-7 in just six minutes. The Mustangs galloped into high gear,

scoring once again. College Park mirrored the opposing team and tied the score, 14-14, by the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, each team stayed on the edge of the other team’s heels, as the score stayed 14-14. CP defense did an outstanding job, with three sacks and one fumble recovery in a single quarter.

Trouble struck when Buckley was sacked in his own end zone with 15 seconds left in the half, ending the quarter, 14-16. Just as College Park entered the locker room

for halftime, a severe weather watch delayed the game for 90 minutes. CP scored instantly after the kickoff, with McPherson carrying the ball. With the score 27-16, Taylor defense stampeded onto the field and fumbled. After just one play, CP scored again using McPherson, the score, 32-16. In the final quarter, the Taylor defense lost the ball again, this time with Safety Stephan Johnson catching an interception and running it in for another Cavalier touchdown. With just three minutes left, McPher-son scored again, ending the game, 40-23. The Friday before, the navy and silver marched onto the Sam Houston State field to play the Huntsville Hornets. Huntsville beat Humble, 39-7, the week before. The Hornets tried their best, but within just three minutes of the first quarter, the score was already six to zero, thanks to Running Back Nick Black. The Hornets then turned their stingers towards CP and blocked the Cav extra point. They then scored a touchdown two plays later, the score 6-6. During the second quarter, McPherson dashed 88 yards down the field and scored. Not risking another tied score, CP went for the extra two points, with Black running it in, the score, 14-6. The season started against the Livingston Lions, a 4-A team that advanced to round two in last year’s playoffs. The game stayed even for the first quarter, until Henry caught a pass from Buckley with only three seconds left in the first quarter. How-ever, the Lions quickly accept the challenge, raised the score to 14-7 by the end of the half. With just a minute left, McPherson sprinted down the turf and scored, but the Lions ran the ball back after their kick-off return and scored with 19 seconds left in the half, leading 21-14. After a halftime, the Cavaliers retaliated almost instantly, with Henry scoring two more touchdowns in the third quarter. In the final quarter, McPherson ran the ball and scored with two minutes left on the clock. The Cavs emerged victorious and left the field with the scoreboard flashing red, 39-21.

The Cavs are open this Friday. The Cavs face Oak Ridge next.

photo by Austin Burgess

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Donna Brawner

When Sophomore Miranda Rhett decided to sport sweat-pants to school, she had made it clear she expected it to be a regular day. She was wrong. When she reached second period, her favorite class had thrown together a mini party to celebrate those with summer birthdays. No reason to fret – it was common for the close-knit group to take a Friday off to commemorate special days. But then someone brought out the fortune cookies. Homecoming. It has been the topic of lunch conversations since the first day of school. The excuse for girls to lug flow-ers, chocolates and whatever else boys think attracts girls to their classes. This is the incentive behind the boys’ efforts to dish out cash to pay for food and tickets. The reason be-hind parading those cowbells –those massive mums- around necks. With the dance’s arrival Sept. 22, extra pressure was pushed on the Cavalier men to sweep their prospective dates off their feet. Or ladies, if they are the empowered ‘it-is-the-21st-century-for-goodness-sakes’ types. While Homecoming 2012 is now as much a part of history as the ancient Nile is, the acts that happened throughout these past few weeks will live on in the memories of sore feet and candid post-party pictures. Particularly the most nerve-wracking, go big or go alone part of it all: the asking.

avalier Homecoming Courtship RitualsC

In Chinese II, traditions play an important role in keeping the family together. So Sept. 7, when Sophomore Lucas Git-zendanner began passing around fortune cookies, the other members were already circling up. With the help of a friend, he had made sure Rhett was standing in a certain place – one that did not face the door. As planned, the girl next to Rhett began reading her fortune out loud for the rest to interpret. One by one they cracked open their cookies only to find a ridiculously generic predic-tion. In the middle of it all, Gitzendanner had excused himself to leave class – or at least, that is what Rhett believed – to sneak behind his date, snatch the hidden sunflowers stowed behind the teacher’s desk and wait for his plan to fall into place. “I was opening my fortune to read, ‘I see Homecoming in your future. Will it be with me?’” Rhett said. “My immedi-ate reaction was ‘Wow’, what a strange fortune. I stood there for a moment and proceeded. ‘Look behind you.’ I saw Lucas standing there with flowers- yet again, it took me a moment to realize that he was asking me to Homecoming and that this wasn't just a strange coincidence.” “When she said ‘yes’, I was overwhelmed with happiness,” Gitzendanner said. “I like a bunch of things about Miranda and this was my first time asking someone to Homecoming. And it was all worth it, from making the fortune from scratch to looking for the sunflowers.” The young man was willing to drive to the Texas-Oklahoma state border for her favorite flowers. Luckily, the third store was the charm. “I knew by saying ‘yes’ that we would have a good time at Homecoming,” Rhett said. “I wouldn’t have changed anything about what happened because I know Lucas is a really sweet guy, a loyal friend, and I look forward to Homecoming this year as a sophomore.” Rhett left the class that day with a smile on her face, sur-rounded by friends who were eager to divulge the parts they played in the scheme. Once Gitzendanner had made sure no one was around to watch, he literally jumped with joy.10

Sophomore Lucas Gitzendanner puts Sophomore Miranda Rhett’s fate into his own hands when he plants a message in her fortune cookie.

Julienna Law

College Park was not the only one who made points at Sept. 7‘s football game against Huntsville. Senior Erin Sha-heen, with the help of her fellow varsity cheer girls, made sure of that. Before the game, they had gotten together to eat, prepare posters and grab some last-minute flowers for Shaheen’s friend, Senior Sean Kerr. Nervous and excited, she waited until she could make her move. “Three of the girls that I cheer with grabbed the signs we made that said ‘Sean’ on one side, and once we got his at-tention they flipped them over and they said, ‘HC with Erin?’ while I stood next to them with the flowers,” Shaheen said. “I was very surprised she went Sadie Hawkins on me, and I had planned to ask her the next week,” Kerr said. “His face turned bright red when he saw what was going on. He had been warned earlier that day that I was going to ask, but he had no idea it was going to be a few hours later,” Shaheen said. She was relieved and he was shocked – especially after Col-lege Park won its first away game of the year. Both were ex-cited to share their last Homecoming together. “I decided to ask him because a group of girls in my Home-coming group were planning on doing it this year so that the boys would step it up for prom, so I decided to join in on it,” Shaheen said. “I thought it would be fun to be the asker rather than the askee this year partly because I hate the sus-pense of not knowing when or where and partly because its my senior year; so why not?” Moral of the story: breaking social boundaries is not neces-sarily a bad thing. And if the boys think that asking girls to prom will be easier, they are deluded.

Chivalrous Lady CavGoes Sadie Hawkin

When Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) needed to win over the girl of his dreams, he stood outside her window, boom box raised high, in the iconic 1989 romantic-comedy. Unlike Cusack, Sophomore Luis Nieto did not want to spend his afternoon hauling around an ancient stereo and a pack of D-batteries to creep in front of Sophomore Bela Lacayo’s house. Instead, with the help of a friend, Jacob Bella-my, Nieto took a more traditional approach and picked up flowers and a poster board from HEB, then drove down to the end of Lacayo’s street in Bellamy’s car to make the Homecoming sign. Deciding that he was “wearing not very decent clothing” for the occasion, he quickly switched outfits with Bellamy who was wearing a button-down shirt – no tan trench coat, unfortunately. When in front of her house, Nieto rolled down all the windows, cranked up the stereo on full blast and had Bellamy stand in the back with a sign. Like a sensible young man, he rang the doorbell and waited outside her front door, flowers in tow--until he realized no one was coming to answer it. The doorbell did not work. Lacayo knew he was coming because Nieto had texted her beforehand, saying “we need to talk.” “I thought he was going to say something ter-rible, considering he doesn’t come over terribly often,” Lacayo said. Nervous and sweaty, Nieto motioned for Bella-my to restart the song and called Lacayo to meet him outside. When she opened the door, she was greeted with Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon and her flower-bearing boyfriend. Flat-tered and relieved, Lacayo absorbed it all as she was asked to Homecoming. “What I liked about it is that it was a spur of the moment thing - I planned it for five minutes,” Nieto said. “I feel like if I had planned some-thing before, I would have kept changing it.” Instead of a pen, he got his “yes.” “It was a simple and classic way of asking someone,” Nie-to said. “I feel like that’s some-thing that’s not in our day.”

Mo

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The PaladinCo-Editors in Chief

Madison Ray * Rachael WasaffSamantha Morrow * Shelby Gregory

StaffersJulienna Law * Tristan Jones * William Moessinger

Cody Harbour * Kassidy Smith *Tyler Wright Anna Rech

SponsorDonna Brawner

PublisherDr. Mark Murrell

The Paladin is the official newspaper of The Woodlands College Park High School.

Editorials represent the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those the staff, school or the district.

The Conroe Independent School District is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability in employment matters, in its admissions policies, or by excluding from participation in, denying access to, or denying the benefits of district services, academic and/or vocational and technology programs, or activities as required by Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the First

Amendment of the United States Constitution, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Homecoming Drama I don’t know if you heard or not, but there is always some crazy drama wrapped up with Homecoming. The stories I have heard are absolutely ridiculous, but true. There was this one girl, poor kid, who had to kick her best friend out of the group. Her friend had just had a messy break-up with her boyfriend of 11 months and she would have been the only single. Can you say embarrassing? Also, that would be like, totally awkward for all the couples in the group. She had no other options but to remover her from the group. The day before the big Homecoming game, Mr. “Ma-cho football player” (of the third string) decided he needed to be focused on the game. He might actually get to play this time. He chose to dump his girlfriend/Homecoming date. A few nights later at an after event, the boy was found by his ex kissing her best friend. In another situation, a girl somehow managed to pull off getting two dates. Date number two asked her literally two class periods after boy number one. The first date was her dorky best friend who was so sweet when he asked. But the second boy..

wow. What a hottie! What girl could say ‘no’ to a guy that cute? So instead of retracting one of her acceptances, she took it upon herself to plan both evenings. What a sweetheart. Both groups were programmed to go the same picture location, same restaurant and even the same after party. On mum day, she would stash one of the mums in a cabi-net until she knew one of the guys would see her. These events are based on happenings at College Park from the past two years. They have been slight-ly changed, but the ridiculousness of the drama is absolutely real. Every year so much hype is created over one stupid night. Years from now, most stu-dents will probably not even remember who was in the group from that one night. These silly people complain about their Homecoming problems when they are the ones that created them. Homecom-ing is supposed to be a great night. The morale of this story: for most people, Homecoming is a great event. For the few, however, it is a waking nightmare.

Kassidy Smith Is It Worth It?

Editorial/Opinion

**Choose theme**Visit decorator**Create ticket design and have them printed**Order crown, tiara, and sashes for court members**Book DJ**Book photographer and design backdrop**Purchase gifts for male court members**Purchase flowers for female court members**Make large signs for dance and ticket info**Prepare ballots for court nominations**Reveal theme with dance (where the music messes up) at pep rally**Type ticket sales info into spreadsheet EVERYDAY.**Get parent volunteers**Number all 2000 bags for coat check**Collect bios from each court member**Prepare court practice invitations and deliver to all court members**Order cookie cake for Student Council meeting**Have a court practice after school **Introduce court members at Homecoming game.**Prepare sign in sheets for all parent and member volunteers**Put up parking signs outside for student drop off and limo parking**Make projects for Student Council members to participate in**Pass out. **Revive.**Meet with decorator at 8 a.m. to help unload truck and help with decorating (put black butcher paper on all bulletin boards, library windows, coke machines, ect.; hang signs for coat check, concessions, and photographer; take all signs down in the commons for the dance; get sign in sheet ready for ticket takers; get all 2000 coat check bags set up; purchase and place all water bottles and cookies for parent volunteers)**PARTY ROCK!!**Stay after dance until one a.m. to clean up dance**Breath.

The Devils in the DetailsWhat it takes to make Homecoming happen.

Shelby Gregory

Homecoming Checklist

Junior Matt Gilmore pretends to be a cow for Texas Tuesday.

Texas Tuesday brought out the hats. Seniors Ashlyn French and Riley Rundquist go Texan.

Juniors Ashley Little, Carly Stuart, James Ford, Will Zitterich stay C14ssy with their mums and garters.

Sophomores celebrate Marvel Monday.

Seniors Scott Foster and Katherine Killian are crowned King and Queen.

Seniors Steven Gonzalez and Andres Seminario strut their cool styles for Twinsday Wednesday.

Junior Newton Liu and Senior Zachary Kosut battle it out on Marvel Monday.

May Olvera

Roman Garcia

Dante Daniels

Christin Chavers

Emma DellmoreDante Daniels

Austin Burgess

(Student Council does more than just make posters)

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As technology seeps into peoples' daily lives more and more, it changes the way we do things for better or worse. And as those changes occur, lawmakers will do everything they can to create a system that is consistent with the changing landscape. But many peo-ple question how effective these laws sup-posedly designed to protect us really are. Students involved in extracurricular activi-ties probably received a yellow sheet of pa-per at the beginning of the year, and were then told that if they wanted to communi-cate with their teachers via text, they would have to fill it out. This may seem like a small ordeal, but it is greatly significant in showing what effect technology is having on our lives. Here is how it works. If a teacher wants to have the ability to text a student, they have to first fill out a form and have it apporved by Principal Mark Murrel verifying that that teacher has a valid reason to want to contact his or her students. Then the teacher dis-tributes a separate yellow form to his or her students. It must then be signed by parents and students showing that the student and parents are comfortable receiving text mes-sages from their teacher. “This may not be a state law, but it is becom-ing more a widely adopted rule by more and more schools,” Assistant Principal David Per-kins said. “We're seeing more and more sto-ries in the news about teachers and students engaging in inappropriate relationships, and this is meant to prevent those relationships from taking place. It's also meant to help teachers that are not genuinely involved in inappropriate relationships but are trying to get information out to their students or ath-letes.” Sadly, it is true that people are becoming more and more afraid what they say can be held against them. Teachers like Mr. Greg Steinbach are well aware of this.

“Because all of my CISD emails are archived by the school, it changes the way I word my emails,” Mr. Steinbach said. “They're very professional, which is how they should be. But every time I send one, I have to stop and ask myself, 'is this really ok?'” That is the consequence of living in an era where people are able to and therefore tend to broadcast themselves more. Ask any teenage delinquent who has been busted for bragging about his marijuana-smoking-exploits on Twitter. The entire point of this new regulation is to limit inappropriate exchanges between teachers and students, but some worry it does not completely solve the problem. If anything, it only fills one loophole while al-liowing another loophole to be created. Keep in mind, even though teachers can not text their students, there are no prohibitions against calling them. The reality is teacher pedophiles with insidi-ous intentions will always find a way to prey on teenage students. It does not matter how many yellow forms, pink forms, or blue forms the Conroe administration distributes. Sadly, these new regulations will not stop any in-appropriate relationships, but they will help prosecute the offender, and protect teachers with good intentions. The only way to ensure there are no situ-ations that endanger students, would be to have cameras in every corner, monitors on every website, and wiretaps on every phone. Anyone who has read George Orwell might find this familiar. Communication has changed dramatically in the last couple of decades, especially be-cause of social media. The hard part about finding a solution is striking the perfect bal-ance between respecting a person's privacy and looking after their well-being.

New Rules Crack Down on Student-Teacher Interactions

ith November fast approaching, politics is the hot topic right now for everyone. And that everyone needs to include, well, everyone - even kids who are ineligible to vote yet or unsure of their incredibly important role.

The truth is, the fate of this country may well rest upon the shoulders of - yes, us kids’ - generation, from the seniors who are planning to vote this year to the freshmen who may par-ticipate in the 2016 elections. “If you don’t speak up, then the vote rests with a much smaller group of people, which can cause the election to go the other way,” says Mr. Gary Bartlett, a government and U.S. history teacher who worked on Capitol Hill for eight years. While it may seem that politics is in parents’ domain, some-thing kids don’t need to worry about until they come of age, it is something that affects not only our parents but the younger generation, too. “Don’t forget that elections aren’t just national,” cau-tions government and U.S. history teacher Brian Clevenger. “They’re local too. You can vote in school board and other local officials’ elections - you can cause changes in your com-munity and in school.” For example, kids would have the chance to speak up and alter school policy by voting in of-ficials who have the power to change it. It may seem like “youngsters” don’t have a lot of power re-garding politics, but we truly do; the path to unlocking that potential is simply to take an interest in politics. “The more informed about the candidates you are, the more informed a decision you can make,” points out Teresa Delong, chemistry teacher and database master for Barbara Cargill of the State Board of Education.

“Start reading the newspapers, watching the news; don’t just take your parent’s advice. Make your own opinion,” suggests senior Martha Todd, who will soon be eighteen. Also, when asked whether younger kids, like sophomores or freshmen, should vote, Todd emphatically replied, “Abso-lutely! These decisions we make today impact you tomorrow, and if you don’t like a certain policy, you can be informed and maybe fix it when you are eligible.” Kimberly Alger, a senior of voting age who plans to vote this November, adds, “It’s not just about if you can vote or not; when you’re a young kid, that’s when most of your opinions are formed. So if you take an interest now, it will affect you when you’re over eighteen, and even beyond.” Politics affect everyone, down to the youngest kid entering kindergarten. They decide what school rules are, how our so-ciety functions, where this generation goes from today. And if this generation chooses to remain out of the loop and not vote, the outlook for the future is certainly not good what-ever political affiliation people may have.As Todd puts it so accurately, “We are the future.” So let’s

make it our future.

Politics & Kids: Why Should We Care?

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Myth or Fact?

*FACT: Voting machinhes can be hacked

*MYTH: Voting for a third party candidate is a wasted vote

* FACT: :You can’t campaign within 100 feet of a polling place

*MYTH: Americans love to vote.

“Wearethe

future.”Senior Martha Todd

Anna Rech