paladinVolume VII Issue 3 December 2011T

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2 [December]

What’s Inside

The PaladinCo-Editors in Chief

Abbey Miller * Kaileen GaulStaffers

Shelby Gregory * Dylan LopenzinaCody Harbour * Samantha Morrow

Madison RaySponsor

Donna BrawnerThe 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.

3. Collegeofthemonth4. Top10Christmasmovies5. TenManJam7. TeenBookFestival8. NationalMeritScholars9. LetterstotheEditor10. Technology11. RapCulture12. Girl’sGolf13. Boy’sGolf14. Rowing15. Soccer16. Basketball17. Fencing18. Wrestling19. ColorGuard20. Bowling21. Skateboarding22. JumpRope23. Traveling

3

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4 [December]

TOP 10 CHRISTMAS MOVIES

1 ELF2 A Christmas Story3 Polar Express4 The Santa Clause5 Home Alone6 It’s A Wonderful Life7 How The Grinch Stole Christmas8 A Christmas Carol9 Nightmare Before Christmas10 White Christmas

5

“It’s time for a good time.” Country Western singer Alan Jackson was among many who played in Houston this past week for the 12th Annual Ten Man Jam hosted by 100.3 KILT. The only way to receive tickets for the Ten Man Jam con-cert was by winning them in a contest sponsored by KILT. The Contest began Nov. 1 and ended Dec. 6. Winning tickets was a challenge for listeners. Participants had to either be the 1000th texter when hearing the key word of that hour on weekdays, or being the 100th caller when they heard back-to-back songs of an artist who was going to perform at the Ten Man Jam on weekends. Another way to obtain entry was by showing up at one of the ticket stop locations. The concert, held Dec. 7 at Verizon Wireless Theatre, fea-tured Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, Darius Rucker, Thomp-son Square, Josh Abbott Band, Sara Evans, Eric Church, Jane Dear Girls, Gary Allan, Stoney Larue, Kevin Fowler, Jack In-gram and Clay Walker. Each sang their favorable songs. In past concerts, only 10 artists performed, but this year more were added. “There were 13 artists this year to add more excitement to the line up,” Radio DJ Corey Foley said. “The more artists the

merrier.” The Ten Man Jam brings more Nashville artists to Texas. “The event has become a well-produced event for the lis-teners in the audience and the artist alike,” Foley said. “Usu-ally the artists invite themselves or inquire about how to get into the show.” Before the show, raffles for different prizes were held. This year KILT requested fans donate to the Toys for Tots drive. The night of the show people lined up waiting to get in be-fore gates opened. Inside, the theatre was a full crowd of wild, country music lovers who were ready for a good time. The concert started off with Jackson singing four of his popu-lar songs. Following him was Clay Walker, Stoney Larue, the Jane Dear Girls, The Josh Abbot Band, Martina McBride and Gary Allan. Each sang a total of three songs while interact-ing with the crowd and the other artists with them. After a quick intermission, the rest of the performers followed sing-ing their three songs. People were on their feet dancing and singing along with each artist. The night ended well into the next day, but people left with a great concert behind them.

13 Country Artist on One Stage in Houston Madison Ray

6 [December]

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Eight authors will grace the eighth annual Teen Book Festival with their presence this January. From famous to local, authors at this festival take reading a book to a whole new level. “This year we have Kristin Cast as our main speaker,” Head Librarian Pamela Coo-per said. Cast and P.C. Cast authored the House of Night series. Starting with Marked and continuing with eight other books. All of the the authors have made a name for themselves. “Hearing that Kristin Cast was coming to the Book Festival this year made my day,” Sophomore Zoe Bubier said. “I can’t wait.” Cast is not the only author at the festival. Cinda Williams Chima, Melody Carlson, Patrick Jones, Gayle Foreman and local authors Joseph Hayes, Meslissa Studdard and Belle Whittington will also speak and autograph copies. “It’s a really exciting experience to talk to all the authors because they come from all over,” Literary Club president Xinyi Wang said. “You can get great advice and infor-mation about their books in a face-to-face conversation rather than through email.” Although chatting with famous authors is all fine and dandy, there is so much more to do. “You get to hang out with your friends,” Sophomore Nikhi Sivagnanakumar said. “There’s a DJ and food; it’s actually pretty fun.” So with food, a DJ and books it seems like there is nothing more a bookworm could want. “It’s very fast paced and has an exciting energy buzzing around,” Junior Martha Todd said. “It’s a great thing to do on the weekend.” Check it out Saturday Jan. 21, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Teen Book Festival Brings

Shelby Gregory

Famous and Local Authors

8 [December]

2011 National Merit Semi-Finalists Worked Hard to Accomplish Goal

Though TWHS has almost twice as many students as CP, the Cavaliers boast more National Merit Semi-Finalists. This year, CP had 10 students qualify as a semi-finalist and TWHS had only nine qualify. To qualify, the student must score in the top 50,000 out of 1.5 million high school students in the nation on the PSAT. Then the National Merit Scholars Committee evaluates the recognizes 16,000 as semi-finalists. The semi-finalists from CP are Rowanne Conway, Lillian Erickson, Vibhav Ganesh, Alexander Jia, Conor McMahon, William Morriss, Derek Peirce, Philip Piper, Xinyi Wang and Reed Watson. Avery Krieger qualified as a National Achievement semifinalist which “provides recognition for outstanding Black American high school students,” accord-ing to nationalmerit.org. “I was pretty proud of myself when I found out; I had al-ready applied to my schools and qualifying gave me more confidence,” Reed Watson said. Watson plans to attend California Institute of Technology and major in physics in the fall. Both the 2011 CP valedictorian and salutatorian were na-tional merit semi-finalists. Becoming a National Merit Final-ist is much more than scoring high on the PSAT. The student must also have an outstanding academic record; be recom-mended by their principal; and have a high school official write a detailed essay about the students leadership quali-ties as well as writing an essay themselves. Approximately 94 percent of the semi-finalists become finalists and over one-half of those finalists receive scholarships. “My advice would be to take tons of practice tests and use the same strategies you would use on the SAT,” Ganesh said. He plans to attend MIT and major in engineering. “I took the SAT the week before the PSAT and I feel like that helped,” Watson said. Last year Harvard recruited the most National Merit Schol-ars with 358 in their freshman class and UT recruited the second most with 258. The other schools who ranked in the top 10 are Yale, University of Florida, Stanford, University of Chicago, Arizona State, Rice, OU and Princeton. Some famous National Merit Scholars include Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Economist Ben Bernanke, Indie rocker Elliot Smith, Director M. Night Shyamalan and Twilight au-thor Stephanie Meyer.

NMS: Back row: Derek Peirce, Alexander Jia, Lillian Erickson, Philip Piper, Vibhav Ganesh. Front row: Xinyi Wang, Rowanne Conway, Conor McMahon, Reed Watson, William Morriss. Not pictured: Avery Krieger.

Kaileen Gaul

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Dear Editor, I would like to express my thoughts that the CPHS in-struction that usually takes place on Wednesdays during advisory is utterly pointless. If this is the public school system’s attempt at teaching kids to have stronger moral values and better character, they are sadly misguided. While I find the school’s in-tentions admirable, students are not going to learn to be more generous, conscien-tious, organized, or have bet-ter character simply by hav-ing these lessons crammed down their throats in ten minute increments each Wednesday. Students learn these values from life, not from having them taught in a classroom.

In addition, I find it rather ironic that a program that stresses developing bet-ter organizational and time management skills takes place during advisory, when students are supposed to be doing their homework or making up tests or quizzes. How are students supposed to put these organizational skills into practice when their one chance during the day to do homework is taken up by more mindless instruction? Sometimes CPHS actually ends up being counterpro-ductive, because teachers will not let students go to another class or do home-work in advisory because of CPHS time. I, for one, know that eliminating CPHS would leave me with more time to

do other, more productive activities. I urge the adminis-tration to consider eliminat-ing CPHS in favor of letting students have a more pro-ductive advisory period.

Sincerely,Natalie Sullivan

Dear Editor, I strongly believe that we could create more unity in this school with a community vegetable garden. The ques-tion of where such a garden could be planted is most likely crossing your mind. Well, I have given it some thought and I feel that our school’s roof would be an ideal location. Though safety may be a negative to having

this garden on the roof, there are far more pros than cons. For example, in the summer sun come August, having some foliage on the top of the school will absorb the heat-energy and allow for a cooler interior. This school would save money cooling this school in the summer and can allow for that extra money to be spent on the students. The main goal of this garden is to promote the interface of students with one another. So take my somewhat eccentric idea into consideration. Think of the change this gar-den will promote.

Sincerely, Nicole Martini

Letters to the Editor

Eight hours pass and the photographer sits and waits for a single flash to document a significant moment. The first camera took eight hours to take a single photo. And so has the time spent by people waiting for it. Today cameras take one second or less to snap a photo. Technology has rapidly advanced not only in photography, but in every area. The time one spends using technology has also increased dramatically. Teens spend an average of three hours daily on electronic devices. “It is not the technology that is good or bad, but rather, how a person chooses to use it,” Dr. Susan Caffrey, the Director of The Academy of Science and Technology, said. Wendy Lazarus and Laurie Lipper of The Children’s Par-ticipation organization asked a group of 550 teachers about how technology changes students’ ways of thinking. They stated that “inquiry-based analytical skills - like critical think-ing, data analysis, problem solving and independent thinking - develop when students use a technology that supports re-search, communication and analysis. However, telecommu-nications does not directly help their performances on state or city mandated tests.” Research has shown that when students uses technology, they trigger an active role instead of a normal passive role by just receiving information from textbooks or teachers. Stu-dents are required to search for the data which then causes higher level thinking to occur. What hurts the students the most over the years with the technology influence is ”writing in complete sentences” ac-cording to Ms. Cynthia Rehrig, lead counselor. Another survey was recently administered about how students believe technology hurt their education. A high amount, 75 percent, of the students instantly said “no,” but these same students have said they spend up to five hours on electronic devices per day. “As adults, we have the obligation to teach our students the responsible use of technology,” Dr. Caffrey said.

“Students must be discerning. Just because something is on the web does

not make it true, ”Cindy Rehrig, lead counselor

A major problem with technology being involved in educa-tion is student’s online research. ”It is important to put what is found on the Internet into perspective,” Dr. Caffrey said. A recent survey was adminis-tered by Bernard Schulteout of 4,500 high school students

from 25 high schools around the country.

10 [December]

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Recent Studies Show TechnologyIncreases Student’s Thinking Level

Jenna Slagle

Up to 72 percent of these students admitted to handwritten plagiarism and a shocking one-half of these students admitted to taking parts of papers from online and saying it was their own. The Federal Communications Commission states that 97 per-cent of schools around the country had Internet connectivity in 2010, but in spring of 2011, a foundation called Project Tomor-row recorded that the restrictions of Internet during school hours is the biggest complaint of 2010. It causes their educa-tion on computers to be limited in certain aspects. Because of the amount of technology available and the in-creased student access to it, research has shown that the in-crease of technology in education causes students to learn more.

“Although technology seems to have taken on a bad persona, it has actually created a

new method of “hands on” learning”Sophomore, Shelby Gregory

11

The legacy of DJ Screw and the S.U.C Rap is one of Americas most popular music genres. In al-most every city around the country there are at least a few rap artists making music that gets out there in the mainstream. But in Hous-ton, Texas the rap game is different from most other places. A whole new style of rap and hip hop has appeared in Houston over the last decade or two. The ‘chopped and screwed’ styles of DJ Screw and the Screwed Up Click (or the S.U.C) have exploded out of southside Houston and changed the game for a time. The impact here in Houston has been especially huge. It all started with a man named Rob-ert Earl Davis, or otherwise known as DJ Screw. Screw started the revolution here in Houston, when he started the Screwed Up Click (or the S.U.C). The S.U.C is an assortment of rappers mainly from the southside of Houston that DJ Screw founded in the 90’s. Original members of the S.U.C include DJ Screw himself, Kay-K, Lil’ Keke, Fat Pat, Big Hawk, Big Pokey, Botany Boyz (C-note, Will-Lean, B.G, Gator, and D-Red), Big Jut, Big Moe, Z-ro, Trae, Lil’ O, Dat Boy Grace,

Southside Playaz (Mike D, Clay Doe, and Mr. 3-2), Lil’ Head, Lil’ 3rd, C-Ward, Samuel-R, E.S.G, Tha Raider, Randy and Rhi-no, LOS, C-Loc, and Henne. Since the initial founding of the S.U.C, members have come and gone. Some are either dead,

or incarcerated, and some have just left to go do their own thing. But other art-ists have been inducted in to the group, as either a member or an affiliate. 3rd Ward/South Park is the groups place of origin. In 1999 they released the Block-bleeders compilation. Some S.U.C members have been more successful than others. Most radio sta-tions wont give this sort of music airplay because it is without a doubt explicit and the songs all deal with real issues and struggles that go on in the ghettos and poorer places of a major city. Z-ro is one of the more popular members in the S.U.C. Otherwise known as Joseph

Wayne McVey, Z-ro has been a prominent member in the group ever since day one. Releasing 15 albums between 1999 and the present, Z-ro is the epitome of a success story. He came from nothing, born in Houston’s notorious South Park on January 19th 1977 into poverty and hardship. His mother died when he was six, and his father was never re-ally in the picture. By the time he was a teenager he was dealing drugs and living on the streets. He discovered his talent in freestyle rapping and from there he worked hard to achieve his goal of being a rap artist. His music is mostly about the countless hardships he has faced in his life, and the challenges that he has overcome. Most of the S.U.C members come from a similar story. Each one has risen up through his own hardships and struggles. With the death of DJ Screw in 2000, and many members of the S.U.C either dead or incarcerated Big Hawk was left as the so-called, Five Star General of the Screwed Up Click. Big Hawk was an original member of the S.U.C, along with his brother the late Fat Pat, and DJ Screw. He produced a few albums in the years he was active before his untimely death at the age of 36, on Monday May 1st, 2006. He was shot to death and pronounced dead at the scene. Fellow Houston rapper Bun-B commented on Hawks death in an interview to the Houston Chronicle saying, “There were no chinks in this man’s moral armor, because he was a rapper there will be people who will take his death the wrong way, but he was a peaceful guy and a family man who had no beefs with anybody.” Since the deaths of some of the bigger names in the S.U.C the group has shrunk. The group routinely gives shoutouts to the “fallen soldiers” if you will, of the Screwed Up Click in most of their songs still to this day. The slowed down, chopped and screwed styles of the S.U.C still live on today, as many of the members are probably at this moment record-ing songs for an upcoming album.

Dylan Lopenzina

hey work for hours on the course, get up twice a week to meet for 6 a.m workouts and spend extra practice time on their own. It takes them four-and- a-half to five hours to play just one round of golf. Few

athletes put as much time into a sport as golfers do. Golf season usually lasts from September to April, unless the team makes it to regional’s or state. The girls finished in the top six in the three tournaments they competed in this season. The Lady Cav’s played against last year’s state champions, Westlake, and The Woodlands who are fourth in state. “I’ve been pleased with the performance of the team this fall,” Coach Steve Tatum said. “We have finished no worse than sixth in our three tournaments.” “It’s going really well,” freshman Kaleigh Brady said. “It is so much fun and we are doing great. We have played in a couple of tournaments so far including a district preview where the team finished second.” “But there is still some room for improvement in the up-coming spring season,” she continued. Many people are unaware that golf is a team sport. There are five people on a golf team, but only the top four scores count. The lowest of the four scores are used for the team’s overall score, but everyone also competes in-dividually. Awards at the end the tournament are given to the top teams and the top individuals. The toughest things golfers have to overcome, especially if they have played other sports, is not having their teammates by their side cheering them on. They have to learn to cheer themselves

on which is why it is important to have a strong team bond off the course. “Without a doubt, team unity is the strength of this team,” Coach Tatum said. “The girls know they can depend on one another and that allows them to relax on the course and play good golf.” “There is a definite bond between all the girls this year and we all love to be with each other,” Smith said. “I am a freshman and I was a little worried about coming in, but all the girls welcomed me in and really helped me.” Although this team has many strengths, they have some weaknesses. They will have to work hard on their short game (putting and chipping) to excel at district. The girls have a phenomenal long game and have great distance, but the short game is their challenge. “As I said earlier, the short game for most of the girls needs to match up with their ball striking abilities,” Coach Tatum said. The team has great potential do well at district and move on to regionals. Fortunately, district is not until April so the team has time to prepare. The golf team will be compet-ing against some of the best teams around Houston, like The Woodlands and Kingwood. These competitors will not stop the girls, but on the contrary, it will make them fight harder. “My expectation for the girls is to tee it up each tourna-ment with the mind set that we can win the tournament,” Coach Tatum said. The next tournament is in January in The Woodlands.

Girl’s Golf Strives to Improve Short Game for Spring

Hope Doberman

T

12 [December]

Shelby DeVore

13

Golf is a sport in which participants have to master each ele-ment of the game in order to put up fantastic scores. To do this, boys varsity golf practices three days a week with the team and are trusted to work on their own on the other four days. This fall season, Coach Stephen Tatum had high expectations for the boys, especially with five returning seniors playing on varsity for at least the third consecutive season. “I think this fall we struggled to find our identity as a team and thus struggled with our team scores at times,” Tatum said. Many people do not realize that high school golf is a team sport. Whenever the boys compete in tournaments, their scores are added together to produce a total team score, which is where they struggled the most. The guys are competitive with one another, which is great dur-ing practice, but this could be the reason for the mediocre tour-nament scores. If a team is focused on beating each other out of the game, the opposing teams will become an afterthought. Although this fall season did not go as smoothly as expected, the spring season looks extremely promising. The boys are defi-nitely going to work hard over their month-and-a half-long off-season. “The guys mesh together really well,” Junior Jesse Redman said, “It’s always nice when you’re with your team and you feel comfortable with your fellow teammates.” The boys are working on becoming closer and developing a deep sense of trust that will allow them to play off each other’s strengths during tournaments. “Better scores are dependent on each individual player want-ing to improve their game and taking ownership of their role on the team,” Coach Tatum said. The guys definitely have potential to do great in the spring. The top five have great qualifier scores and if they were and if they were to be transferred to tournaments, they could bring home some wins. “I think the guys will try a lot harder in the spring tournaments to put up better scores,” Sophomore Pontus Dahlstrom said. Every player on the team has his definite strengths and weak-nesses but they all put the time in to get better and they will continue to improve. “That’s what makes this a life-learning game,” Coach Tatum said. “You are presented with a challenge, then you figure out a solution and you work to make that solution a reality”. The boys may have their work cut out for them, but they are capable of learning from the mistakes they made in the fall to succeed in the spring season.

Woodlands Coach Eric Nosk competes in a putting contest with CP stu-dents, Senior Dylan Innes and Junior Matt Oesterling.

Knocking in a putt, Senior Tyler Staggs practices his up and down short game at the player course.

Hope Dobelman

Hope Dobelman

Kassidy Smith

Teamwork Proves Essentialto a Successful Spring Season

14 [December]

To be able to compete on the national level for rowing is a feat in itself. Junior Hugo Gomez accomplished that with only a year of experience with his part-ner Thomas Eastwick. Gomez started rowing his freshman year after witnessing a home competi-tion, sponsored by the Rowing Club of The Woodlands Juniors (RCTWJ). The race sparked his interest and Gomez decided to give it a shot. After coming to the realization that he enjoyed it, Go-mez joined the RCTWJ. What he found that he liked about rowing was the good exercise, competitive spirit and great friends. “He has always wanted to win,” Sopho-more Andrew Gomez, his brother said. Eastwick was a homeschool senior (now at Norwich University) when he

was first paired with Gomez. He has been rowing for four years, with no sta-ble partner. The talented team worked well together and made it to regionals. “They took a year, and are as good a team as I have ever seen,” Coach Leon-ard Scott said. Gomez and Eastwick won their region-al regatta in Oklahoma City, opening the door for them to go to nationals. What the duo found there was a different mindset and more challenging circum-stances. “They were overly competitive,” Go-mez said. “A whole different competi-tion level compared to regionals.” In total, the pair did four 2,000-meter races over the period of the three days in which they competed. Gomez and Eastwick made it to the

semifinals, the four-hour-a-day practic-es paying off. The two then competed in the Petite Finals, earning them fifth place. The team learned of what they were capable. One memory from the experience stands out for Gomez in particular. “Being overconfident from the region-als performance to being destroyed during our first heat in nationals,” Go-mez said sheepishly. Although they did not win nation-als this year, Gomez still has another two summers to accomplish that goal. Coach Scott has high hopes for him. “He can achieve a lot of things... he has shown that he has the capability to do whatever he sets his mind too,” Coach Scott said.

Rachael Wasaff

From Casual Interest to Competitive Spirit,Hugo Gomez ‘Looks Ahead’ to Nationals

15

Boy’s Soccer Opens Seasonwith Fresh Faces in January

After losing seven senior members before this year’s 2011-2012 season, the varsity boy’s soccer team is starting fresh with new faces. The pressure is begin-ning to mount as game time draws nearer and the boys start the season with hopes of making the playoffs. “We’re turning the roster over pretty well; it will be mostly brand new players,” Coach John Owens, head of boy soccer, said. With the loss of many key players and the possibility of only five returning seniors this season, the team is work-ing hard to find their rhythm and get into the groove before the first game in January.

“Right now we’re at the point where we’re just installing our system of how

we’re going to play and getting that worked out in addition to figuring out

who can play. We’re really at a pretty crucial point.”

Coach Owens

Dealing with high school athletes means dealing with both academics and athletics. “The biggest thing for us is, if you don’t pass, you don’t play,” Owens said. “Part of being a student athlete means you’re a student first.” “A lot of kids love to play soccer, they have to do school work, and we want to make sure they keep their priori-ties in balance; it’s not all about soccer.” Many of the players are extremely dedicated, focusing in school to make certain they have a place on the team. Athletes learn to balance their homework and soccer practice as Owens makes it clear that a single class pe-riod of soccer a day is simply not enough.

Preparations for the 2012 season not only include soc-cer practice outside of school, but vigorous workouts of weight lifting and continuous running during class. “If we’re out on the track and we’re running, our tar-get goal is to make sure we get more than two miles in, about two to three miles, maybe a little bit more than three some days, and working on just general endur-ance,” Owens said. It is clear that a new season brings a brand new dy-namic. Seniors and young players alike work endlessly to achieve a starting position. Owens keeps in mind that every team is different. “These guys aren’t last year’s guys, and last year’s guys weren’t the year before,” Owens said. “They’re going to have to determine their own kind of destiny.” Along with coordinating a fresh set of players, Owens also plans the Cavalier offense for an attack-based sea-son. “Our plan is not necessarily to adjust to what some-body else is doing, but force our play on somebody else, so they’ve got to react to us,” he continued. With excitement and anticipation, the Cavaliers plan to take the season a game at a time, advancing at every level possible.

“When we go to play, we play every game to win, that’s what we’re

going to do.” Coach Owens

The soccer season begins Jan. 6 in a scrimmage against New Caney at home. The TWCP varsity tournament will be Jan. 19-21. District play pits the Cavaliers against Oak Ridge at Oak Ridge Feb. 7. Varsity and JV play at the TWCP soccer field adjacent to the school.

Emma Lahvis

16 [December]

After placing third in district and falling to Klein Forest in an extremely close game of 64-65 in the playoffs last year, the Lady Cavaliers are back with a vengeance. “We’ve had many changes this year,” Coach Rich-ardson said. “There’re lots of new faces on varsity because so many players graduated.” Most notable of the graduates is Megan Shafer who now plays basketball for Rice University. Other elite schools have sought CP basketball players. Monique Smalls, 2009, plays for Texas Tech. Allie Messimer, 2009, now plays for Yale. The returning varsity players are Alexia Sanders, Tif-fanie Haidar, Leah Breakfield and Lisa Harris. Juniors Sanders and Breakfield are already being scouted by colleges as well.

“This year, we’re hoping to reclaim the district title, beat

The Woodlands, and make it to state,”

Tiffanie Haidar

“So far, we’re meeting expectations. We started off a little rough, but now we’re doing great,” she said. The girls defeated Cy-Fair in the season opener, 44-43, and lost to A&M Consolidated two days later, 62-54. Other teams the Cav’s defeated are West-field, Pearland, Ray and Cyprus Creek. Dec. 9 they played a grudge match against The Woodlands and fell short, 43-76. Today the girls will play Oak Ridge. “Our main focus this season is that personal ac-countability makes strong teams. It’s more of a feel-ing that you can see both on the court and off the court,” Haidar said. “This year we’re hanging out more and on the court we tell each other ‘great job’.” Haidar considers all of the team strong on offensive and defensive play and believes team unification will give the Cav’s a successful basketball season.

Early WinsBode Wellfor Cavaliers

Kaileen Gaul

Heading down the court, Junior Uma Ra-jagopalan sets up the scoring play.

Before her free throw, Junior Alxia Sand-ers concentrates on the basket.

Looking for an open teammate, Senior Tiffanie Haider gets the ball into play.

Setting up the play, Junior Regina Cuesta scouts the court for an open teammate.

17

The man gracefully salutes with his weapon, before the harsh cry of “en garde” erupts from his chest. His opponent swiftly shifts her feet into position, and with knees slightly bent, swings her arm to meet the slashing blade. The man re-coils, and as his opponent regroups, he lunges. With nothing between her and the blade, the opponent falls, the sound of clashing metal still ringing in her ears. This is what fencing is like in movies at least – but it would not be the first time the silver screen has steered many peo-ple wrong. Fortunately, the lack of films on the sport lead to less error on their part; unfortunately, it means more miscon-ceptions on the audience’s. Fencing is an Olympic sport of using bladed weapons while confined to the boundaries of 14 meter by 2 meter strips. The objective is to earn five points before the opponent does, keeping within the three minute time limit. This art of armed combat not only permits people to unleash their suppressed urges to stab others – it is praised. Yet compared to other athletic activities in America, fencing falls short in the num-ber of participants, raising the question as to why it is not as popular. “In Europe, people know the sport; countries like England, France, Poland, Hungary and Spain – it’s a European tradi-tional sport,” Woodlands Fencing Academy (WFA) Head Coach and Soviet Union National Champion Khariton Zazhits-kiy said. “But in the United States, it’s relatively new.” While fencing as a sport can be traced back to the days of ancient Egypt, according to fencing-future.com, it was the Spanish who published the earliest works. In the 16th centu-ry, the French established techniques, and as fencing contin-ued molding, it was only by the late 19th century that fencing finally made its way to the other side of the Atlantic. As the sport is comparatively new in this country, spreading information is essential to keep it thriving: the basics being the advantages and disadvantages. “Fencing improves self-confidence, develops self physically and people learn how to defend themselves,” Coach Zazhits-kiy said. “Also, you can go to the Olympic Championship, and on the way to the Olympics, complete all the previous tasks.” “Fencing has kept me away from a lot of stupid decisions because I’m always busy,” Senior Evan Gandin said. However, one of the disadvantages of the sport that pre-vents its growth is the lack of popularity – a paradox, as fenc-ing cannot be popular without its expansion. “Compared to other sports, like football, the crowd is not so big,” Coach Zazhitskiy said. “It’s nice to participate in front of a large crowd.” Fencers can also agree that fencing consumes hours of op-timum homework-doing time on weekdays and free time on weekends. “It’s time consuming; on weekdays I have four to five hours of training, Monday to Friday,” Gandin said. “Not including Saturday training.”

Nevertheless, they also agree that the time spent is worth it. “The hardest part is that you have to train every day,” Coach Zazhitskiy said. “Sometimes you don’t feel like it, but you know you have to work hard. Otherwise, you’ll never make it. If you can overpower yourself, you can overpower anything.” “First, fencing is probably the safest sport,” Coach Zazhitskiy said. “There are not many injuries and you wear protection, which a lot of people don’t know. The outfit can literally stop the blade.” Fencing began as a practice of swordsmanship, and in the Middle Ages, swords were used as hacking devices against armor – it was not uncommon for duels to be to the death. Nowadays, jackets are padded with high collars; pants are thicker and made for lunging; masks protect the face and neck; a glove is worn on the hand wielding the weapon; and there are protective chest pads available. The bulky weapons have also changed; some disappeared, some evolved. However, three weapons have survived time’s test, and are currently used in the Olympics: the epee, sabre and foil. An epee is a thrusting weapon, and the target area covers the entire body. The foil is also a thrusting weapon, but targets only the torso, excluding the arms. The sabre is not only a thrusting weapon, but a cutting one, targeting the waist up, excluding the hands. Weapons have evolved to such an extent that according to the United States Fencing Association (USFA), the second fastest moving object in sport is the tip of the fencing weapon – after a marksman’s bullet. Due to the speed of the fencer’s movements, electronic scoring must be used. As fencing rounds, or bouts, are fast, people may think they can learn quickly. However, there is a reason the sport is con-sidered time consuming. “They think they can learn fast; there is not enough pa-tience,” Coach Zazhitskiy said. “They watch too many kungfu movies, there are no old men with long beards coming from the mountains that can teach everything to you in three weeks.” While movies hold some truth, it makes one wonder how much of the rest is exaggerated. “The main difference is that in movies, there is a big move,” Coach Zazhitskiy said, slashing his arm. “If you make a big move with a real sword, they’ll kill you immediately by ex-tending their arm.” Another misconception is that only certain people can fence – like cooking, anybody can do it. All they need is a little dedi-cation. “They think that fencing is an elite sport – that it’s only for the rich,” Coach Zazhitskiy said. “Almost anybody can fence. There is no restriction like swimming - you don’t have to be born a swimmer. In fencing, you can compensate: if you are short, you may be faster; if not faster, smarter. Anybody can fence if they’re dedicated.”

Fencers Slash out at Competition Julienna Law

18 [December]

Much like the wrestlers themselves, the wrestling team started off strong. Early in the season, the Cav’s won a close dual against Humble. At the Cy-Ridge tournament, six people made it to the second day of rounds. This oc-curs when a wrestler makes it to the top 16 wrestlers in their weight class. The Cavaliers wrestle well, but still face challenges. Of the five key wrestlers on the team, only one is a senior. “Some of our key wrestlers are Kyle Roberts (126), Stan Ricard (132), Chance Robinson (152), Marcus Moore (160) and Stevie Parker (182),” Coach David Barrett said. Although the team is young, with their strong start to the season, the team looks like they are in mid-season form. Next week will have two highly antici-pated competitions. The team gets to show their talent as they have a dual on Tuesday as they compete against Jersey

Village. Next weekend they have an-other tournament at Bryan at the Doc Hess Tournament. They will match up against Cy-Fair after the Christmas holi-day. The competition is fierce at both of these tournaments. “It takes time, dedication, mental toughness and hard work,” Senior cap-tain Stan Ricard said. Wrestlers are some of the world’s toughest kids. They have to go through the grueling practices and find ways to make weight. Making weight is one of the most important things in wrestling, If the wrestler does not make weight, they do not wrestle. The weight means that a wrestlers body weight has to be at a certain weight class which are like the positions in wrestling. Throughout the season, wrestlers develop habits to cut weight. “I just try to eat right and exercise and just doing a lot of work,” Ricard said. Although they all have different ways

of cutting their weight, they all have to make the weight and then go out there and wrestle for six minutes or some-times even less. In a dual, wrestlers usu-ally wrestle one time because they face only one other team. In a tournament, wrestlers dual at least two times de-pending how well they do. If a wrestler wins every match in the tournament, they usually have about eight to ten matches. Finally, in a “Quad” as they call it in wrestling, there are four teams in a dual tournament. Four teams have duals against every other team, so a wrestler has three matches during a quad. Wrestling is not a sport; it is a life-style. Day-in and day-out, wrestlers go through grueling practices. Even during the most relaxing parts of their training, they are still working extraordinarily hard.

CP wrestlers start strongKyle Roberts

Freshman Chance Robinson begins his match shaking hands with his opponent. He gets taken down, but quickly returns the favor at the Dec. 8 match.

Austin Walker

19

ColorGuard combines

Grace with Athleticism

Senior Brittany Spradling was among the guard who

wore cone-like outfits to represent a night in the city.

Alexis Ruble

It’s not as easy as it looks. It takes the aspect of

dance and combines it with flag technique. You

have to fight the elements, be in time

with the band and last, but not least, perform. Alicia Norman, senior

In addition to brilliant flags, Colorguard performs with sabres and rifles.

The guard adds a colorful component to halftime.

“

”Austin Burgess

Courtesy photo

When one thinks of the word “colorguard,” one usually pic-tures flashy clothing and baton twirling, but there is more to colorguard than people think. Colorguard started in the military and members often trav-eled with a band to perform a patriotic song to encourage troops. Modern colorguard evolved from a military purpose into a form of dance entertainment during the 1950’s and 1960’s in the era of competitive drum and bugle corps. The vision of colorful spinning and twirling flags rapidly caught the attention of many audiences. Soon, even winterguard, a form of colorguard during the winter season, has gained widespread popularity and membership. To some, colorguard is more than just a form of entertain-ment. It is the art of dance only with flags, rifles and sabres. Not all of the colorguard members consider themselves as dancers. They think of themselves as athletes. “Being an athlete, to me, means you have confidence and strength in your sport,” Sophomore Erika Urbano said. Colorguard is not exactly an easy feat to do. It requires hard work and dedication, not to mention the fear of having a rifle

fall on one’s head. “Colorguard requires hard work, but you have supportive coaches and others to support you and to help each other be better to represent colorguard as a whole,” Urbano said. Colorguard is a sport like any other, just with colorful and sparkly uniforms, but there is a reason for this. “Since College Park is new, we want to be the only school out there that stands out for beauty, confidence and fun,” Urbano said. Just like colorguard, winterguard does not get enough credit as a sport. Many may not know that there is a difference in the two. “Colorguard is with the marching band and winterguard is when the guard performs by themselves and compete against other winterguards across state,” Color guard sponsor Andy Acheson said. Colorguard members are athletes and dancers too. People just see the beauty of the performances and do not think of the athleticism involved in these choreographed events.

20 [December]

Spare theTime to Participatein Bowling Club

From the moment the ball strikes the wooden lane, each revolution builds another layer of suspense. At the last instant, the ball drops into an abyss of victory or defeat. “Bowling is a competitive sport, but it’s also a social ac-tivity,” Sponsor Kristen Hanlin said. The CP team competes in bowling tournaments against other local high schools. Beating The Woodlands is al-ways a good thing and on Nov. 8 the varsity bowling team defeated the Highlanders with a high score of 286. “I would describe us as a team that is motivated and committed to winning, supporting each other and having fun,” Sophomore Joseph Bertolini said. Even though the team carries some skilled bowlers, new members are encouraged to join. Anybody can be par-ticipants, one just needs to attend practices at 4 p.m. on Mondays at The Woodlands Lanes. What is most impor-tant for this club is fun. “It makes me feel great; it’s a blast and I enjoy it,” Junior Javier Blanco said. Sophomore Alan Birdsong started the team. He had a list of people who wanted to join and persuaded teacher Kristen Hanlin to be the sponsor. The bowling team now has 11 players and is co-sponsored by Brent Birdsong. “There is a kind of a football type atmosphere,” Mr. Brent Birdsong said. “There’s a lot of yelling, cheering and high fives.” With all this fun, the team truly comes together. “They support each other and they’re always there for each other,” Senior Lea Vetter said. The team holds tournaments every Tuesday against TWHS, Oak Ridge, Spring, Tomball, or New Caney, usu-ally at The Woodlands Lane. For a more detailed sched-ule about the tournaments, visit the College Park website and go to The Bowling Club under activities. “I feel we need more representatives out here, we could use support for CP,” Blanco said.

Kassidy Curry

Buy your 2011-12 yearbook today! **either charge online at:

www.balfour.com or bring a check to room 3112**

**Checks payable to TWCP**

plain books: $65

namplate: $5

icons: $5 (limit 2)

21

Risky Skateboarding Career Worthwhile to Passionate Students Waking up to go to school, C.J. Bulkley gets out of bed with bruises on his legs, a twisted ankle and a torn and cut arm from the day before. He puts on his trashed shoes, packs his backpack, grabs his skateboard and walks to school. During his classes, he often daydreams of achieving his goal of be-coming a professional skateboarder. After school, Alex Quinn uses his talents as a photographer to shoot and edit videos of his friends’ tricks to get his name out in the skateboard world. Out of the 18.5 million skate-boarders in the world, these two local students are achieving their goals of becoming well-known in the skateboard world. To many, skateboarding could be either considered a reckless law-breaking fad or a sport. However, local professional skateboarder, Dan MacFarlane, has a broader opinion on what skateboarding is. “The route of skateboarding is being creative,” MacFarlane said. “To me, skateboarding is an art, a form of expression and us-ing your mind and body at their fullest creative level. It becomes a sport when people compete against each other.” As skateboarding gains more and more popularity through contests on TV, shows, video games and products, it is obvi-ous the sport has evolved into a business as well as an art. Pro skateboarders attract sponsors and represent their compa-nies and get paid various amounts of money. Board sponsors bring in $1,500 to $2,000 a month. Skateboard wheel spon-sors pay around $2,000 a month to professional skateboard-ers. Skateboard video games and contests also bring in heavy pay for professional skateboarders. However, getting spon-sors, getting good at skateboarding and winning contests re-quires sacrifices. “I turned pro because I did well in local and national con-tests,” local Houston Texas professional skateboarder and in-structor Dan MacFarlane said. “A big sacrifice is staying out of your comfort zone of getting hurt or into trouble with guards or cops,” MacFarlane said. “It’s fun though. If you use common sense, you won’t get into trouble.” “The other sacrifice is your health; you have to find a bal-ance.”

The journey of a skateboarder cannot be completed alone though. In this day and age of digital media being worked into sports, filming and photography also play a huge role in skateboarding. Quinn is a local TWHS student who uses his abilities with a camera to capture and document skate-boarding. “It’s really free, not too much planning; just do it,” Quinn said. “And you are following another guy the whole time with a camera while standing on a piece of wood with four

wheels.” Capturing skateboarding on camera, editing the footage into a video and uploading the video to the Internet helps the skate-boarder being filmed get his tricks and name out there. ‘Spon-sor-me’ videos are skateboard videos made for a skateboarder with footage of his tricks. Once the video is made, the filmer or skateboarder sends the ‘Sponsor-me’ video off to either a skate-board company or a local skate-board shop. If the video is good enough, the skateboarder could get sponsored. “You can turn pro by being mar-keted through magazines and things like that,” MacFarlane said. “When I was skateboarding, one of the best ways to go pro was to do good at major contests. If you win big contests, sponsors see that as potential.”

Skateboarders in high school are considered reckless or per-ceived to not care about school in the media. With skate-boarding being covered more and more, it has evolved into a business, an art and a sport. Contests, video, photography and magazines have helped skateboarding become well-known by showing the sport to the world. “People in high school are usually going to want to fit in and be part of a group,” MacFarlane said. “However, if you skate-board, you want to reach your full potential as a skateboard-er. You need to stay out of your comfort zone; keep skate-boarding; compete in contests; get your name out there; and most importantly, stay in school and do your work.” “In the end, it is not how much money you make, it is what you experienced as a skateboarder,” MacFarlane said. “It’s remembering how good the tricks felt or how good it felt to finish a video part.”

Jimmy Bent

Instuctor Dan MacFarlane executes a wallride nosegrind in down-town Houston. MacFarlane has won national competitions through-out his career.

22 [December]

Once Thought of as Child’s Game,Jump Rope Now Competitive Sport The quick, bright blur of a cheerfully colored rope; the in-tricate, flickering dance of feet; the scuff of sneakers on con-crete; and the ebbing and flowing of children’s voices uplifted in timekeeping chants or cheering on their friends: there, under the old pine tree at recess, watching my schoolmates jump rope, lie some of my clearest memories of elementary school. That was all I thought of jump rope then: child’s play, a silly but fun pastime. Now, I know better. Jump rope has jumped (pun completely intended) from dim memories like mine to the world of competition, complete with dedicated teams of athletes, national competitions, and governing bodies like USA Jump Rope. And now, the jump rope craze has landed at College Park in the form of the new College Park Jump Rope Club (CPJRC). Competitive jump rope is just that - competitive. Jump rope can be done solo (still affiliated with the same team, of course), in partners, or in groups in different events test-ing footwork, stamina and rhythm. The teams compete with others at regional, state, nationals - and for the best of the best - world championships. The CPJRC is relatively new, with 10 members thus far. The founder and “coach” of the CPJRC, Lauren Royle, is a member of High Velocity, the Montgomery County jump rope team and is a veteran of several competi-tions. She has been jump roping for five years, entering her sixth in 2012. It is one of the daily facts of her schedule; “I go to jump rope practice every Monday for two or three hours,” Royle said. “Then, we have CPJRC on Wednesdays for an hour; it’s a lot of fun.” Not only is jump rope a real sport, it has real benefits. It was long ago proved that jump rope is fabulous exercise for the arms, legs, and upper body. It is also great for one’s heart. There is even the American Heart Association that has founded and sponsored “jump-a-thons” called Jump Rope for Heart for years at schools around the country. Jump Rope for Heart promotes physical activity, health and, best of all, raises money for children born with heart problems. Jump rope is a fantastic activity to get involved in, whether for the health benefits, fitness, familial ties or just in the spirit of fun. Just because jump rope is often overlooked or looked down upon does not mean it is any less healthy, grown-up and “cool” as any other “mainstream sport.”

Anna Rech

USA Jump Rope (USAJR) is a national organization formed in 1995. USAJR is a nonprofit organization committed to the exchange and sharing of jump rope knowledge and experience through jump rope workshops, camps, seminars and tournaments at the state, regional and national levels.

As I recently spent some free time on the Internet, I hap-pened to stumble upon an article displaying statistics about school-aged children and travel. Research from the U.S. De-partment of Education stated that students who travel dur-ing the summer break get better grades in reading, math and have a greater general knowledge. I, myself, having lived in England for three years, know how travel has impacted my life enormously and prepared me well for my high school years. I traveled to many different places including Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Bel-gium, China, The Chezek Repub-lic, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and many more. While living abroad, I was able to study a wide va-riety of subjects (18 different ones) including five languages, French, Spanish, Latin, German and Mandarin-Chinese. Through my travels, I broadened my hori-zons with new-found knowledge of world cultures, and learned to accept people and customs which did not seem “normal” to me. Other students at College Park have also had life-chang-ing learning experiences through travel. A keen student traveler, Sophomore Rachel Wasaff, was born in Buenos Aries, Argentina and has found herself largely impacted by her experiences as well. “You try so many different things when you travel and meet so many different types of people,” she said. Wasaff also mentioned how strange it was to see places that one only normally sees in a text book. Not only did her journeys benefit her in creating an open mind, but she also “got to know her dad a lot better,” benefiting her family life as well. On another note, not only does travel benefit students’

growing minds, but it also provides real world experiences which help them in later life. On a recent survey it was dis-covered that 64 percent of leisure travelers are willing to take their children out of school for a travel vacation. Travel in some cases, both literally and educationally, has replaced traditional schooling. Nevertheless, not all students are as fortunate or as will-ing to travel as Wasaff. All parents cannot afford to take their children on costly and excessive trips. Luckily, just outside

The Woodlands, there are cheap-er options which still provide a pleasant and educational day out. The Houston Museum of Natural Science offers fun and excitement through an educational adven-ture. Museum-goers can enjoy anything from dinosaurs and star clusters, to the IMAX theater, planetarium or butterfly center. The Space Center Houston is also a popular attraction where stu-dents and their parents can tour NASA and visit the Kids Space Place, the Astronaut Gallery, the

Starship Gallery and the newly opened Amazon Voyage. For those older kids who are looking for something a little more historical, there is always the San Jacinto Monument which provides information about the history of the climax of the Texas Revolution at the Battle of San Jacinto. While visiting the monument, one can tour the historic Battleship Texas or hike and bike on the surrounding trails. So when you are sitting at home, contemplating Black Ops, simply take a look around and see what you can find right outside your doorstep. As has been proven time and time again, students who travel have their eyes opened and have a new-found respect for the world in which they live. Do not neglect the opportunity for pleasure and education.

23

World Travel Benefits Student’s Education

Emma Lahvis

Travel not only is fun, but it is educational and enhances life skills.