In This Edition:

Looking for a club to join? Check Pg. 2

Don’t recognize some of those new teachers? Pg. 3!

In this issue: a closer look at the issues, Pg. 5

Ivan Curtovic is only one of the many stu-dents and teachers who went on vacation;

see the rest on Pg. 4

See what some of your local Boy Scouts are doing to improve their community on Pg. 6

The DREAM and DACA Acts are discussed on Pg. 9, as well as a former Tiger’s fight for her rights

CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEFS:Sam LopezJack William Rodgers I

BUSINESS MANAGER:Odlais Garcia

FEATURE EDITOR:Alisan O’Quinn

ENTERTAINMENT ED.:Stephanie Vargas

CARTOON EDITOR:Lorelei Shannon

SPORTS COLUMNIST:Trammell Weilnau

STAFF WRITERS:David Montufar, Waaris Mohammad, Yara Aristeo-Salinas, Cassandra Cerda An-drade, James Shumate, Christian Garcia

ADVISOR: Pam Karter

The Regit is published every six weeks by the newspaper staff as a public forum for the student community. The staff reserves the right to choose the content of the stories. Final decisions involv-ing all written and pic-torial content shall be made by the staff and advisor. The Regit will strive to present news in a fair, impartial, accu-rate, and truthful way. Editorials represent only the staff writer’s view. To report gross mis-conduct or to file a complaint with the Re-git, drop off a letter to the editor or to the staff at large in room 237. Letters to the editor are welcomed from any Regit reader.

Letters will be checked for grammar, accuracy, and punctua-tion. To join the Regit staff, contact one of the grade level counselors. ADVERTISING: The Regit retains the right to reject advertisement not in the best interest of its audience. Advertising space may be purchased by calling the journalism department at (713) 251-3239. Advertisement may be faxed to the Regit at (713) 365-4474.

Staff (clockwise from front): Sam Lopez, Cassan-dra Cerda Andrade, Odlais Garcia, Jack William Rod-gers I, Christian Garcia, James Shumate, Alisan O’Quinn, David Montufar, Waaris Mohammad, Yara Aristeo Salinas, Stephanie Vargas, Lorelei Shannon

2012-13 REGIT STAFF

Local Spring Branch resident and Houston Texan announcer Drew Dougherty will be this year’s “Voice Over the Stadium”. ” I’ll bring a positive spir-it, support for the home-town team and hopefully a laugh or two,” Dough-erty said. Being with the Tex-ans for several years, Dougherty has inter-viewed many players and people affiliated with not only the Texans, but the NFL in general. He is also in charge of the media the Texans are associated with like “The Texan's Daily” which is a daily video keeping fans up to date on everything Texans. From announcing at Texan's games to an-

nouncing in our stadium,

SWHS is fortunate to have such a well known personality not only in Houston, but in Texas to announce at one of the biggest events of the year.

“ I can’t wait to see all

the glow sticks, flash-lights and everything else that comes along with the Black Out Pep Rally”, Dougherty said. Hopefully Dougherty can come back and

From Texans to Tigersmake the Mardi Gras Pep rally just as thrilling.“ We are excited to to have him announce at this year's Pep rally”, As-sistant Principal Jennifer Collier said. His radio skills will sure-ly keep the Tiger Pride at an ultimate high right before the game against Willowridge. “I’m going to rely on how great the band and drill team will do more than anything, as the athletics will probably be rocking at that point in the season”,Dougherty said. Tigers should show your school pride and come celebrate with the “ Voice over the Stadium”.“Getting together at night before the Willowridge game, with the school spirit in the air is going to be electric”, Dougherty said.

TEXANS RADIO STAR: Dougherty co-hosts with Adrian Foster on the Adrian Foster Show.

Announcer to pump up audience at Black Out Pep Rally on October 5th.By STEPHANIE VARGASENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Texans Media Texans Mobile App- Avaliable for Iphone and An-droid devices.- Text:TEXANS to 51288 down-load the app.- This app provides stats for all games

Texans Radio: Listen to the Arian Foster Show co-hosted by Drew Dougherty on Tuesday nights from 6-7 p.m for Texans updates.

Twitter:Follow Drew Dougherty and The Houston Texans accounts for daily updates on Texan news.

As if being a new teach-er isn't stressful enough, try adding the sponsor-ship of one of the most active clubs on campus as well. Ronald Castro not only teaches freshmen World Geography, but he takes on added responsibility as Humanitarian Society sponsor. “I'm ok with doing more than teaching. Teaching is the easy part of my job,” Castro said. Teaching has always been a passion of his, but so has giving back. “i have always done ex-tra-curricular activities,”

Castro said. “I volunteer anyways. Now I just have helpers.” It could be a bit stress-ful starting fresh with someone that is new at the school, but Humani-tarian Society president Rena Dang had no problem with the new sponsor and starting a new year. “I'm so excited taking on this big job because I am familiar with the new sponsor, new officers and more new ideas will be accomplished this year,” Dang said. These new plans in-volve getting people's attention to vote in the upcoming Presidential

election. This purpose is not to persuade them to vote for a specific per-son, but to just get them out to vote. Another new activity is to tutor students after school at Woodview El-

ementary. Lastly they plan to volun-teer at Hol-librook El-ementary with a program called “Spring Spirit Base Ball” where teens will play games with the kids every Tuesday. This is the first time in a few

years that so soon after the beginning of school that there are so many projects in the works. “Our goal is to get as many people involved in the community as pos-

sible hopefully making people realize the great effects of volunteering,” Dang said. A few people were sur-prised that AP History teacher Lora Clay wasn't the sponsor any more, but she actually gave the sponsorship to Castro. “He is a wonderful role model for these young Humanitarians,” Clay said. “I felt Castro would be more involved in this student volunteer orga-nization and could help lead the Humanitarian Society to be more in-volved in the commu-nity.”

GOT TO DIG IT UP: Members gather to help garden at Woodview Elemen-tary.

By ODALIS GARCIABUSINESS MANAGER

Castro takes charge.Humanitarian sponsor makes changes for better, membership spikes

Class officers 2012-2013

SeniorsP r e s i d e n t : H o p e VasquezVP: Brittany ToySecretary: Odalis Gar-ciaTreasurer: Rena Dang

JuniorsPresident: Boatran maVP: Bailey RayTreasurer: Roy Wheel-er

SophomoresPresident:Christopher RiceVP: Dalila AlvaradoS e c r e t a r y : N a c y ChavezTreasurer: Stormy Tor-res

Name: Charles ReedCollege: RiceExperience: 4 yearsSubject: Algebra 1Why SWHS?: “Spring Woods High: wonderful children, good football team, etc.”Best/Worst Moment: “No worst moment, they were all wonderful. Best moment: seeing my students.”

Name: Kaleb UnderwoodCollege: RiceExperience: First yearSubject: ChemistryWhy SWHS?: “I chose Spring Woods because of the overwhelming support the staff had toward the students.”Why teaching?: “I’m passionate about educa-tion, and I want show students the importance of education outside of school.”

Name: Blaire ZuvichCollege: Texas A&MExperience: First yearSubject: EnglishExpectations: “I expect-ed the kids to give me a hard time and I was terrified. I didn’t expect it to be this fun.”Best Moment: “The whole first week was my best moment. The students trusted me enough in one day.”

Name: Kaitlyn SchwartzCollege:University Of Texas AustinExperience: 4 yearsSubject: AP World History Expectations:”To have all my students pass the AP exam with flying colors!”Best Moment: “Meeting all my students and real-izing that they’re much nicer than the ones I had last year.”

Name: Wesly GuzzetaCollege: LSUExperience: First yearSubject: EnglishWhy SWHS?: “I chose Spring Woods because I liked the area and the school district.”Why teaching?: “I’ve always loved helping people so it turned into a passion for helping kids.”

Name: Mallick SirajuddinCollege: BMA and Mas-ters in Economics from UHExperience: 2 yearsSubject: T.A.Best/Worst Moment: “The best part of the first week was see the posi-tivity in trying to teach the students mathemat-ics”.

Name: Fran MarintschCollege: Queens CollegeExperience: 20+ yearsSubject: PhysicsGreatest Strength: “I think the greatest strength I have is that I taught Physics for a long time, so I really under-stand what the state is requiring on testing”Why teaching?: “I was a geologist undergraduate and then I minored in education.”

Name: Harry PezoldCollege: LSUExperience: 6 yearsSubject: 9th grade Alge-bra; Special Ed; MMA Math ModelsExpectations: “Everyone must come in and do the best that they can do.”Best/Worst Moment: “My best moment was meet-ing all my students and my worst moment was having 2 homerooms because of a misprint.”

Name: Renie Deanda College: Southern Meth-odist UniversityExperience: 7 yearsSubject: English IVExpectations: “Students must graduate, suceed in life, and become a better writer before they graduate.”Best/Worst Moment: “My best moment was getting to meet everyone and my worst moment was dealing with rude people.

Name: Megan SimmonsCollege: Sam HoustonExperience: First YearSubject: EnglishWhy teaching?: “I always wanted to be a teacher. I did other things, but I always came back to teaching.Why SWHS?: “I didn’t want to teach around teachers in a district who knew me and my family.”

Name: Susan ZichonCollege: St. ThomasExperience: Years of work as both instructor and principalSubject: Educational DiagnosticianExpectations: “I thought I was going to be lost.”Best Moment: When she was last in line for lunch, instead of skipping to the front, she was able to talk with some of the students.

Name: Jennifer ShirleyCollege: Notre DameExperience: Worked with kids and adults with dis-abilities in hospitalsSubject: Speech Pa-thologistWhy SWHS?: She was “lucky enough to have it assigned to her.”Worst Moment: When ants invaded the T-Shack she was working in.

Name: Michelle MulletCollege: Sam HoustonExperience: 2 yearsSubject: MathExpectations: “I just ex-pect to get better experi-ence and just to have a better structured year than I’ve had before.”Best Moment: “The best moments have been getting to know the kids and getting to talk with them and getting to know them personally.”

Name: Rosalind LawrenceCollege: Midwestern StateExperience: 10 yearsSubject: World GeographyWhy SWHS?: “Because I like the honor, tradition and location.”Best/Worst Moment: “The best moment was the day the kids arrived. There was no worst moment besides all the paper work I had to fill out.”

Name: Ron CastroCollege: HoustonExperience: 5 yearsSubject: World GeographyExpectations: “To be very involved.”Best Moment: “It was a very regular week and I really like that because there was no craziness. The best moment was that now I have new teacher friends.”

Friendly new faces The summer of 2010 brought a new courtyard. The summer of 2011 brought new princi-pals and counselors. But the summer of 2012 brought perhaps the biggest change of them all. A grand total of 30 (that’s right, three-zero) educators were brought on board as mem-bers of the faculty and staff of Spring Woods High School. Here are 15 of those 30, and the final half will be shown off in the next edition to come out in November.

By SAM LOPEZCO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF For some, going back to high school may seem like a nightmare, but for physics teacher Fran Marintsch, it has been far from that. Marintsch taught her first year at Spring Woods in 1982, working up until 2002 when she retired, but an unexpected call had her excited to return. Head of the district, Duncan Klussmann, rec-ommended that principal Lance Stallworth give her a call. “If it wasn’t SWHS, I wouldn’t have come back,” Marintsch said, “because I was here for a while.” In the beginning, there were very few physics teachers available and Stallworth was worried who would teach the course, but luckily ex-perience is Marintsch’s high point. “I taught physics for a long time, so I really un-derstand what the state is requiring on testing,” Marintsch said.“I can help the teachers who may not have taught be-fore and make sure that my students pass.” Marintsch has always taught science classes,

and even taught IPC at Spring Woods in the past. “I was in the room next to her,” biology teacher Ann Brown said. “When I first started, we both taught physical science.” Teaching physics for so long gave Marintsch a leg up in knowledge over

the course. “She was kind of like our physical science team leader,” Brown said. “I remember that she knew everything there was to know about physical sci-ence. So she was the person I went to when I needed help when I first got here.” Marintsch and Brown also worked together for several years writ-ing an IPC curriculum for the district. Now the two have come back to-gether being in the same science department as if nothing ever changed.

“The best thing about coming back is actually finding things from the last time I was here in my classroom,” Marintsch said. “It’s funny to see how things haven’t really changed since the time I’ve been gone.” Having Marintsch come back has proven to be

the right choice. “As far as I’m con-cerned, she can t e a c h here for as long as she wants to t each , ” S t a l l -w o r t h s a i d . “ W h e n

you get a master

teacher like that who’s been around and has done such a great job with students, you don’t just want to do it for one year.” Although some may be displeased with the idea of coming out of retire-ment to teach a bunch of teenagers, Marintsch is quite happy about it. “It’s kind of like a full circle. Like I started here and now I’ve ended back here in the same room I taught in when I first started. SWHS is a great school,” Marintsch said.

Cycling through PhysicsTeacher comes out of retirement to teach at Spring Woods once again

. “Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Zero! Launch!” stu-dents shout as they send their generation 1 rockets up at the Spring Woods official launch pad be-hind Mariana Field on September 19-20. “My rocket, aka ‘Steve’, launched great!” senior rocket scientist Allie Lail said. “It went up straight and did not break when it hit the ground!” As for the re-sults of the first launch, “sixth pe-riod’s launch went awesome! We only had one rocket that didn’t launch and it wasn’t even the rocket. It was the ignitor that broke,” senior rocket sci-entist Cristal Rubio said. Rocket Science is back and physics teacher Jim Kirkwood is teaching the class for the fifth time. The mission is to send a one pound pay-load up one mile with a high powered rocket. “It’s an engineering program,” Kirkwood said. “We go through exactly the same steps that the engineers do.” If you’re looking at be-coming an engineer or just for something fun to take, this course is a good window into what you might be doing in the future. “I chose Rocket Sci-ence because it’s not like

other science classes where you get lectured to. It’s where you design your own stuff,” senior rocket scientist Eva Mi-chelle Zapata said. Many students have chosen Rocket Science because it’s unique and and not offered any-where else in SBISD. “This course comes from Fredericksburg, Texas,” Kirkwood said. “It went statewide in ‘07 and had about 10

schools launching... There’s up to 40 schools in this now.” As the program has grown, so has the inter-est level from students here. The first year the course was offered, there were seven students tak-ing it and now there are two full classes of rocket scientists, which also means two rockets. In this engineering course, first semester students will learn the basics. “Each student will build his/her own generation 1, 2, and 3 rockets,”

Kirkwood said. “The first is just to see what hap-pens, the second is for stability, and the third will be going up 1600 feet.” From this, the students will learn the basics of friction, aerodynamics, and coefficient of friction, which will then help them to, second semester, build the high powered rocket. “The class requires a lot of work and atten-tion since your grade

depends on if your rocket launches or not,” Zapata said. As in any other class, “time sched-ules are grueling and deadlines are there,” Kirkwood said. Only in Rocket Science, there is no time to fall be-hind or do make-up work. “The old ‘Failure is not an option’

from Apollo 13, well, fail-ure is an option and you don’t want to go there,” Kirkwood said. Many students have learned to think differ-ently and make critical decisions. “It’s an engineering course, not a rocket club,” Kirkwood said. “It’s a transformational course.” As for students decid-ing to take Rocket Sci-ence, ”it’s not everyday one can say that in their high school career they built and launched a rocket,” Zapata said.

By ALISAN O’QUINNFEATURE EDITOR

Rocket Science launched again. Engineering course now offered at Spring Woods

TIME TO LAUNCH: Sixth period Rocket Science has their rockets ready to launch.

BACK IN ACTION: Marintsch teaches her physics students as she did several years ago.

Summer is the perfect time to go out, explore new places and create an unforgettable adven-

ture. Some of the stu-dents at SWHS spent this summer creating their own summer fun by visiting places all around the world, from the Virgin Islands to the wonderful city of Paris. Here are some of the students and where they went: Junior Abigail Gomez and her family had the opportunity to go on a one week cruise to visit the US Virgin Islands. “I had an amazing time not only because there

were some great views, but because I could feel the warmth and friendli-ness of the people. Plus it was fun to spend time with the family,” Gomez said.

Senior Ivan Curtovic went on his annual trip with his family to his birthplace, Croatia. “I like to go to the beach and stuff like that when I'm over there. I came here when I was three years old and I go there every year to visit the rest of my family,” he said. Senior Robert Barbosa went to an RTX con-vention in Austin during July. This production by Rooster Teeth Produc-

tions specializes in the creation of live action shorts, machinima, live action and, video games. Senior Noel Hernan-

dez traveled to Seattle and California with his family. “Seattle was life chang-ing,” Hernandez said. “I felt at home there. There were lots of things to do mainly food to eat. And Florida was amazing beautiful, beaches, girls everything. I also got to see my favorite baseball team.” Sophomore Makayla Franco went with her church's youth group to

visit Seattle. “I experienced God in a new way,” Franco said. “I have never realized how much Texas represented

the “bible belt” so much until I looked at it from the outside. Going there I immediately experi-enced the culture shock. My youth church choir split up into groups and we either helped out give out food to an apartment complex, worked with kids in VBS or remod-eled a rundown church.” Franco felt that this experience brought her unexpected challenges to strengthen her allow-

Around the world in 97 days. Spring Woods proves that Tigers are found almost everywhere on the planetBy YARA SALINASSTAFF WRITER

ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE: Abigail Gomez enjoys time in the Virgin Island’s waters.

ing her to meet a lot of people in need. Sophomore Emily Meeks traveled with her family to Paris. “I saw the Eiffel Tower

and went to the top of it so I got to see the whole city,” Meeks said. “I liked the experience because I like to travel and it was in a different country. I've been out of state and all, but never out of the country. So I enjoyed this trip a lot.” Art teacher Megan Doby visited Hong Kong, specifically to the islands of Cheung Chau. “It was one island we went to for a couple of days,” Doby said. “It

had great beaches and I thought it was very unique. We did take a ferry over there, but it did not carry cars, only peo-ple. This was because

the is-l a n d only al-l o w s b i cyc l e and foot traffic so that was interest-ing.” Senior Andrea G o m e z w e n t to New York this summer

to visit f a m i l y members

that she had not seen in years. “I really enjoyed seeing my family over there,” Gomez said. “It was about five years, maybe more, that I hadn't seen them. I loved that we got to spend some quality time together and that we took thousands of pictures in Times Square because I, personally, found that place pretty amazing.”

ROLLING IN THE DEEP: Jack William Rodgers the First spends time with family in the raging waters of Costa Rica. ZENFULLY BEAUTIFUL: Megan Doby enjoys

the beauty of the Chinese Gardens.

A WALK IN THE PARKER: Congratulations to senior Parker Blome for qualify-ing as a National Merit Semifinalist. His hardwork and intelligence have been rewarded by the government. He is one of only 16,000 students in the state of Texas to be recognized at this level.

Celebrity look-a-likes

2012 Elections-What’s your vote? Platforms Democrats Republicans

*Government should directly invest in the students*Save students thousands by knocking out the middle man*Double investments in Pell Grants so students receive aid credit worth $10,000 or more*Regulations will be made stating that students only have to pay 10% of their monthly income in order to make loans more affordable.

*VP candidate Paul Ryan is pushing for a budget plan that would slash Pell Grants, the govt.’s free money for financially challenged students*Only families that make under $23,000 a year will receive Pell Grants in comparison to the previous standard of $33,000*The per student cap would be cut to $5,550, about one-third the average total yearly cost of college

*Retrain the long-term unemployed to revitalize their prospects for jobs*Free trade policies with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, meaning we pay less for our imported goods*Cut outdated economic programs and policies to save money*Establish regulations on corporations so outsourcing becomes dif-ficult and jobs will come back to the US

*Set up a system of trickle-down economics where the rich, saving money off tax cuts, will use it to open the job market to the unemployed*Make Bush Era tax cuts for the rich permanent*Lower Upper-Class and Corporate taxes from 35% to 25%*Raise taxes for the lower and middle class

*Establish military spending reductions*Cut number of nuclear weapons to appease other, smaller nations*Re-Allocate existing funding for the military to strengthen support for Veteran policies like the G.I bill, meaning more money for soldiers who wish to go to college after service*Plans to cut out little under $500 billion from the Defense budget

*Keep military spending as is without spending cuts in order to keep our nation’s military at it’s peak*Cut funding for cost-heavy policies like the G.I bill*Keep the current nuclear arsenal and enhance it’s size*Ban those from the LBGT community that served in the mili-tary from wearing uniform at protests and parades

*Abortion shall remain a legal option in the US*Minimum legal drinking age should not be lowered to 18 from 21*Gay marriage shall be legal and unhindered by the govern-ment as a right*Establish a new immigration policy focused on admitting and retaining highly-skilled immigrants*Felons should not be allowed to vote

*Ban gay marriage in order to preserve traditional family values*Ban abortions within the US*Lower the drinking age to 18*Law enforcement should be allowed to use racial profiling*Guns should not be restricted by government policy*The economy and society is valued over the environment

Financial Aid

Economy

Military

Social Issues

By Waaris Mohammad

Senior Gia Martinez

Actress Selena Gomez

Senior Oscar Rodriguez

Actor Michael Cera

Senior Candace Edgley

Actress Leighton Meeser

Junior Nicolas Turnbough

Actor Dax Flame

Senior Jack Rodgers

Actor Michael Eric Reid

The Bully’s Choice By Lorelei Shannon

Writing is slowly be-coming a lost art among this generation. Many take it for granted and some may not even be aware that they have a talent. To help en-courage writing among the students of Spring Woods, the Regit staff has decided to host a

writing contest. To enter, write about an opinion or a controversy that you feel strongly about. Write at least 500 words, type it up and turn it in to room 237 by October 31. The winner will be decided and then announced and pub-lished in the next issue of the Regit. Stay tuned for more opportunities!

RegitWriting Contest

Must enter to win. “I had to build fences

around A/C units. The hardest thing was prob-ably trying to get all the money to buy everything because it had to be from

me. I couldn’t ask for any money,” Knoerzer said. The fences stand be-tween the Tiger Gym and Black & Gold Gym, behind the administra-

Scouts earn Eagle rankStudents build fences, trophy shelves around campus.

By CASSIE ANDRADE CHRISTIAN GARCIASTAFF WRITERS

FAMILY AFFAIR: Scouts and their families help beautify the courtyard between the gyms and behind the Administrative offices.

Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and Ironman are superheroes that are well known, but what about those people who do incredible things in our community and don’t receive any recognition? Those that deserve recognition are seniors Austin Carlson and Nico-las Knoerzer along with freshman Christopher Bond. They are part of Troop 631 who started and completed their Ea-gle Projects at SWHS this summer. “The hardest thing to do was probably setting out the budget and going out to buy the supplies,” Carlson said. He built and installed a trophy case in the De-bate room that was much needed due to their suc-cess. “The entire planning took a couple of weeks, but building the trophy case took two to three days,” Carlson said. He feels very proud that he did something for his school and is glad to have contributed to the

Debate team. “From doing all of this, it did help me, but first of all it helped the school and the students. Now they have two big shelves to

place their trophies on,” Carlson said. Knoerzer’s job took a little longer, but he man-aged to finish it in two days time.

tive offices. Bond recovered shelv-ing units from Frostwood Elementary School be-fore they were to be discarded and installed

them in Choir teacher Kathleen Cudihee’s room to be used for all the music trophies and books. “I am yet to build a

podium for the Debate teacher Victoria Beard and more trophy cases,” Bond said.“I think helps me out a lot in the future due to the fact that Eagle scout projects are very de-manding when it comes to hard work,” Bond said. The Scouts worked very hard to meet their dead-line of August 27, suc-cessfully finishing their jobs before school.“The guys planned this during the spring and summer, but they did it in one weekend. They all have done an amazing job,” Associate Principal Jennifer Collier said. Collier was very proud of the guys. She said that the job they did was outstanding and that the courtyard looks beauti-ful; even though it was a tough job for them. “All of the work was dif-ficult just because they were big projects. No one had an easy job,” Collier said. By doing all of this, the Scouts are not only helping our school/com-munity, but they are also helping themselves by having something wor-thy of showing on their resume.

Homecoming 2012

Every-o n e always w o r -r i e s a b o u t l e a v -ing a bet ter planet for our c h i l -

dren, but no one even thinks twice about leav-ing better children for our planet. Sometimes parents are carefree and quite easy-going, while others are up-tight with constant nagging. But, where is the happy medium? Is it possible for parents to raise successful children and not constantly annoy and ask how everything is going? Personally, I think the answer is yes. But one basic teaching that I’m pretty sure at least half of America’s youth,

meaning ages below 18 (yes, even you, Ms. 4.0 GPA), missed out on was manners. Just the kind “please” and “thank you”, not interrupting, waiting in lines, gra-ciously accepting what is given to you, and even making eye contact with someone when having a conversation can be

greatly appreciated and help you to earn a per-son’s respect. So many times the middle of my sentence interrupts the beginning of someone else’s or someone just mysteriously doesn’t see the end of the line and hop in where they see it ending. Honestly, I don’t know whether to feel sor-ry for these people be-

cause they were never taught simple manners or if I should beat them over the head with my 20 pound backpack. One way to ensure that our generation can leave better children is to get our families and (when that day comes) children involved in caring for the earth. If we’re “green”

only for selfish purposes, what will that do for fu-ture generations? Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty sure that Mother Nature doesn’t need our help in being detrimental to the earth. After all, she’s got her own tactics like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and all that with the add-ed bonus of the stupidity

By ALISAN O’QUINNFEATURE EDITOR

.of the human race. But if we pick up every piece of garbage on this planet, and raise children who couldn’t care less about littering, what good have we done? They certainly won’t teach their children that, and then everything will only continue to get worse. ‘Well, what else is there

to do?’, you may find your-self asking. There are tons of op-tions! Take volunteer-ing, for e x a m p l e . Many uni-

versities and academic clubs, such as National Honor Society, require students to have a cer-tain number of volunteer or community service hours with the bonus that they’re helping to make our community a better place. When students volunteer, they’re giving their own time to help those in need, which in-

Money well spent?.By SAM LOPEZCO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

T h e “ i n -sp i ra -tional” words around school a r e n e w t h i s year. The

words are intended to motivate and excite stu-dents to do or be what they say. Discover, dream, schol-arship, believe. All those things sound wonderful, but when those words are painted all over the school, I feel that they lose their “inspiration”. Over time, we students and even faculty mem-bers will get so used to seeing those unnec-essary words around school that we won’t even notice them any-more. So why spend the money to paint them? The decision to put the words around school was made with good in-tension, by the head of the district, to create a constant visual inspira-tion for us students. It even took two years to decide on the specifc words to go on our walls and to plan it all out. Although it is a nice thought that students will see those words and feel motivated or something, I do not think anyone will look at those words and feel motivated. Many people, like my-self, think the words were just a waste of money and time. I do not expect the words to magically peel off the walls and the money spent to some-how reappear, I just feel that our school should have spent the money on something useful like snacks for our vending machines or more paper towels in the bathrooms instead. We already get a “word of the day” on the an-nouncements, we don’t need them all over our walls.

Words around school not so inspirational for some

Good manners promote well beingClean language now helps create cooperation among us all later

“When students volunteer ... it in-stills in them a core value of thinking about the well being of others before themselves”

stills in them a core value of thinking about the well being of others before themselves. Another way for the students of SWHS to be-come better people and help future generations to be more respectful and successful is to stop with all the cussing! Every-day as I walk through the halls to class all I hear is, “Bleep bleep bleeeeep bleeep bleeeep!” due to the endless string of foul words that come out of students’ mouths. Often times profanity is used to measure the gap be-tween uneducated and educated. So, if you enjoy looking like a foul mouthed fool, continue to cuss and disrespect others, but if you wish to at least appear intel-ligent, stop with all the bad mouthing. A wise man once said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

We all k n o w that the d r e s s c o d e h a s changed t h i s s c h o o l year. No m o r e s h o r t -s h o r t s ,

short skirts, tights, “sag-ging” pants and even facial piercings are not permitted. Teachers and admin-istrators are always re-minding us that we are in school, not at the beach or at a party. But come on, who wants to wear long pants when outside i t ’ s a b o u t 1 0 0 d e -grees? I know I don’t. Our school is literally outdoors and we can-not change that. What we can do is just wear clothes that you’ll feel comfortable in. I’m not saying to wear mini skirts, but some girls have longer legs than others, so the ad-ministrators shouldn’t be too strict about it. Wearing shirts with sleeves on hot summer days is no fun. Girls should be able to wear spaghetti strapped shirts and guys should be able to wear muscle shirts. There’s nothing wrong with that unless

of course you’re showing too much. A lot of students have athletics or gym class during the day. So af-ter class all they want to do is feel comfortable in their clothes. Some classrooms do not have air conditioning so it should be understand-able that we want to wear shorts or shirts with no sleeves. Even teachers agree that students should be more aware of the the clothes they wear to school. Some say that they feel awkward when they see a girl that is out of dress code and they have to tell them to go to the of-fice to change. They also say that when girls wear shorts, skirts

or even tight pants, boy’s can’t concentrate at all in class. Those teachers are glad that the dress code has changed in some ways because they want a nice environment to teach their students. But in the end, we stu-dents are the one’s that have to change class-rooms every 50 minutes. We are the one’s that go outside, eat outside and the one’s that have to deal with the heat. I think that the school should reconsider what is necessary to change.

By CASSIE ANDRADESTAFF WRITER

.Students better off with old dress code

Rules prove unfair

“We are the one’s... that have to deal with the

heat”

Syrians reach for freedomAssad’s tyranny has reached it’s peaks

By WAARIS MOHAMMADSTAFF WRITER

History tends to r e p e a t i t s e l f . W h a t h a p -p e n e d d u r -ing the Amer i -c a n

Revolution is happening through the middle east, specifically in Syria. I feel that our founding

fathers would agree that the U.S needs to commit to supporting the Syrian rebels fighting for free-dom against the oppres-sive and corrupt Assad regime. Syrian President Bashar-Al-Assad clings to his throne that lies upon the thousands of

innocent lives he took to remain in power. Even now, he sends his troops to kill rebels and inno-cent children before their parent’s eyes. The Council of For-eign Relations reports on 9/6/2012 that since the beginning of the con-flict in 2011, over 27,000 people have been killed, 13,000 of which are inno-cent civilians, and over 2.5 million Syrians are in dire need of humanitar-ian aid. Some say we have spent too much of the U.S

budget on wars across the ocean, yet this isn’t a war. The UN Security Council has restricted military intervention from any nation in Syria, yet it is still possible to provide foreign humanitarian aid. A portion of our federal budget, almost 56.7 bil-lion dollars, is allocated

.

Courage

Kno

wle

dge

Dream

Opportunity

Imagination

Believe

DiscoverExplore

Leadership

FutureAch

ieve

Pride

for situations like Syria and the UN has no re-strictions on aid. It would simply be inhumane not to support those stricken by misfortune when we have the resources to provide help. However, we cannot expect our government to do all the work alone. Even as an individual, we have some sort of sway in the conflict thousands of miles away from us. Do your part and go to www.syriarelief.com and donate to help the inno-cent populace simply try-

ing to survive, because as the Dalai Lama once said, “If you want oth-ers to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

REGIME DESTRUCTION: Syrian President Bashar-Al-Assad’s popularity crumbles due to mass murders in his country.

Imagine if you couldn't legally drive, couldn't get insurance for your car, couldn't apply for schol-arships, or even work after you've earned a college degree. This is a common problem for students who are cur-rently about to graduate from high school. Undocumented stu-dents that live in the U.S. can't enjoy the “Ameri-can Dream”, but if the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Mi-nors Act (DREAM) gets passed, and they can fulfill the requirements, then they can have it all. The DREAM act was created to help undocu-mented minors that have graduated from high school not only to get their citizenship, but al-low them to expand their education into college and beyond. This will help Ana Rodriguez, a 22 year old '08 Spring Woods graduate. Rodriguez was born in Zacatecas, Mexico and has lived in the U.S. since she was 4 years old. With a lot of work, she graduated last year from the University of Houston. “My parents paid for my

education at UH and to-

day we have no financial debt. My father lays car-pet and my mom cleans houses, so we don't have any spare money,” Rodriguez said. She had to live at home

throughout her college years in or-der to save money. “Because I have no car, I ride public transporta-tion and it takes over three hours to get to c a m p u s and I feel I waste a lot of time sim-ply because I can't drive legally,” she said. This act means a lot for her. It means she could get a job, drive legally and get insur-ance for her car that her mom bought for her. She fulfills all of the require-ments, but they change constant ly

so she's never sure. But there are two sides to every issue. Social studies teacher Jeffrey Whitehall does not sup-port the DREAM act. His reason is based on when

he went to Paris. He

didn't get any help what so ever. “When I was in Paris, at no point did the French people cater or give me anything. They expected me to know the French language. They expect-ed me to know every-thing in French,” White-hall said. He believes that if a per-son wants to come in to the U. S., they should do it legally not illegally. He also mentions that he feels President Obama

is doing this purely in or-

der to get the Hispanic vote on election day be-cause typically, Hispanic citizens don't vote. “If they want to come in to the U. S., come in to the U. S. legally. Pay for their college on their own dollar not my dollar. If Obama can persuade legal Hispanic voters on one act, those are votes that neither candidate would have before,” he said. Whitehall believes that if you want to be suc-

Undocumented students strive for citizenshipBy DAVID MONTUFARSTAFF WRITER

.cessful, do it in your own

country. “I don't want il-legal students to go to college in the U. S. In their home country, yes they can go study there,” Whitehall said. A differing opin-ion comes from social studies teacher Ronald Castro. He sup-ports the DREAM Act. “If you are against it in gen-eral, you are just against prog-ress,” Castro said Castro didn't think Obama is doing it for the votes, but trying to do the best for his country.

“Obama is doing this because it is a good plan for everyone. Those kidsare here in America trying to do good. They should be given that op-portunity to do good. If you have a smart kid who has road block at the age of 18 and can’t go to col-lege, what are they going to do? They are going to do bad,” he said. Much will be decided in November on elec-tion day. The Deomo-cratic Party supports the Dream Act.

THE AMERICAN DREAM: Alum Ana Rodriguez celebrates her UH gradua-tion with her family.

DACA, DREAM act help illegal students to achieve the American dream

Pathway to citizenship The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) act will say who gets deported and who doesn’t. The government will only deport the people that are criminals and dangerous immigrants instead of a mother or father whose only crime was passing a red light or something similar. This means that an undocumented person that arrived to the U. S. be-fore the age of 16 and met a few requirements will be protected from deportation for 2 years. People that qualify to the DACA would be able to apply for their driver’s license even for a work permit. The requirements are: -Were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012;

-Came to the U. S. before reaching your 16th birth-day;

-Have continuously resided in the U. S. since June 15, 2007, up to the present time;

-Were physically present in the U. S. on June 15, 2012, and at the time of making your request for consideration of deferred action with USCIS;

-Entered without inspection before June 15, 2012, or your lawful immigration status expired as of June 15, 2012;

-Are currently in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the U. S.;

-Have not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national secu-rity or public safety.

The requirements for the DREAM act are:-You must have entered the U. S. before your 16th birthday;

-You must have been in the U. S. for at least 5 years prior to the bill passing;

-You must have graduated from high school, have a GED or currently be enrolled in college, a trade school or another type of institution for higher learn-ing;

-You must be 30 or under when you apply;

-You must have good moral standing (no convic-tions).

THE DREAM TEAM: Social studies teacher Ronald Castro and assistants hosted an event at SWHS to inform students about the DREAM act

Debate goes to NATSSWHS debaters qualify for Nationals

“And 1st place, from Spring Woods High School, goes to Victoria Beard!” the announcer said. This past sum-mer the Speech and Debate Team, Sigma Delta, had the op-portunity to travel to Indianapolis to compete against hundreds of other schools around the nation. “The national tournament was a really great expe-rience not only for me as a coach, but for the debat-ers as a whole because they got the chance to experience an extremely diffi-cult tournament,” sponsor Victoria Beard said. In order for the 13 stu-dents to participate at the National tournament, they had to first compete in Houston to represent the local National Fo-rensic District. So this was a really great ac-complishment for all of the speech and debate team members. Out of

By YARA SALINASSTAFF WRITER

that team (class of '12) Cade Bundrick and ju-nior Chris Rice placed first in their events at the

Space City NFL District event that took place at Cy Fair HS in April. The team as a whole was responsible for winning 20 sweepstakes in the events throughout the year. “We travel locally and we are working at it hard!” Beard said. The debate team has been successful through-

out the years thanks to the dedication and coaching of Beard who has devoted her time to

this program. Hard work pays off and Beard's de-baters and interpreters had the chance to com-pete against thousands of students across the nation. “It was both awesome and fun, but hard too,” Beard said. At Nationals and out of 250 competitors, Bun-

.drick had to compete for three days with eight prelims. He reached quarter-finals in Dramat-

ic Interpretation and is now ranked as one of the top 25 in the nation. “I believe that this experience was a great way to finish my se-nior year here at SWHS because I had the chance to experience what a real hard core competition was,” Bundrick said. “Everyone who went was great at what they do.” Rice after three days and eight hours of Con-gress, also pro-ceeded to semi-finals and is now ranked as one of the top 30 in the nation. “My experi-ence at Nationals was a very great one,” Rice said.

“I learned a lot about the higher levels of debate that I don't really see at the Houston level. This was a really big accom-plishment for me”. Beard is “proud beyond words” of her successful and feared debate team and also expects to get to finals this summer with her even bigger de-bate team this year.

TAKE HOME THE TROPHY: Chris Rice and Cade Bundrick come back from Indianapolis with their NATS awards.

“Alright! Work on your serves!” said head tennis coach Misty Germer on a hot summer day during after school practice. With practices starting from early August, Coach Germer’s varsity, jv, and freshman teams began preparing for a season iwhere they would face a lot of new faces in a new district. Germer always has her team prepared for whatever competition lies ahead. “Our competition as usual is tough. Stratford, once again, has a strong team, but we played very well against them,” Germer said. Another challenge for Germer is preparing her freshman. Tennis is a very hard sport to mas-ter, but Germer is confi-dent her beginners will do well. “The beginners are picking up things really quickly. I’m looking for-ward to this team’s fu-ture,” said Germer. One a bright spot stands the varsity team who throughout early Au-gust have worked hard to be where they stand now. Germer has a set of people she really ex-pects to pull through this year.

“All my seniors! This group of seniors has some serious talent and I expect them to step up and lead the team,” she said. Aside from her senior stars, there’s another star player. His name is Marcus Comello. Comello is a sopho-more, but he’s not just any ordinary sopho-more. He’s a sopho-more on the varsity tennis team which isn’t something you see usu-ally. He fell in love with the sport when he first played as a freshman. Through hard work, dedication, and initia-tive, he quickly climbed up the ladder to var-sity while skipping over many upperclassman to the spot. Being on the varsity team comes with great responsibility and hard work. So you would have to wonder; what’s on Comello’s mind? “Excitement. I didn’t see this coming. It was a pretty great surprise and this isn’t something every sophomore gets a shot at,” Comello said. “I knew coming to sum-mer camp and coming to every practice would pay off.” Being on the varsity team summons up a lot more challenges and it’s

not something you can just adapt to quickly. But he’s prepared.

“Coming to every prac-tice is going to help, but I think putting a lot more effort during practices is what is going to prepare

me for this season’s up-coming matches,” he said.

Comello isn’t in this alone either. To assist him through his practices is class of 2011’s Kevin Ngo.

“Kevin is great to play with. He was the top var-sity player and working

with him will bring me the challenge and push I need,” Comello said. Ngo was one of Coach Germer’s star players last year. Something Comello says he’s been helped with are his serves. “I think my ad-vantages are my serves. They’ve been my primary focus and they’re pretty solid.” Comello also takes notice of what happens on the court even when he’s not on it. Watching his favorite player Rafael Nadal win matches, he takes note of every move. “Rafael Nadal is my role mod-el in this sport. His playing style matches mine. Very consistent.” With all this in mind it seems that

Marcus Comello is definitely ready for

whatever this season throws at him. Someone also taking a lot of responsibility in the tennis program is

new assistant coach, Mi-chelle Mullet who attend-ed Sam Houston State University. Coach Mullet plans to take this team to new heights along with head coach Misty Germer. “My expectations are that she will be a role model and motivate the team to be successful,” said Coach Germer. As a former tennis player, Mullet knows the game very well and knows what is essential to bring to the beginners and the rest of the team. “I played competitive-ly in junior high. I also played during the time I was in college with some friends of mine,” Mullet said. As a new assistant coach, Mullet works hard to assist coach Germer and the rest of the team in whatever they may need, but she also brings her own set of goals and her own mind set for what she wants her ath-letes to accomplish the 2012-2013 year. “I want my kids to see a more unified coaching system between me and Coach Germer. I also want the kids to walk away feeling like they had more wins and a fun program,” Mullet said.

New year, new facesAssistant coach Michelle Mullet assists with this year’s changing team.

By CHRISTIAN GARCIASTAFF WRITER

TIGERS DOWN WILDCATS: Varsity player Austin Lee serves against his Tomball Memorial opponent.

Cross country females aim for medals. Constant training equals high hopes fo regionals, junior scores resultsBy DAVID MONTUFARCHRISTIAN GARCIACASSIE ANDRADE JAMES SHUMATESTAFF WRITERS

PUT THE PEDEL TO THE MEDAL: Junior Lily Mendoza shows off her medal that she has earned for being 27th out of 80 runners at the TC Jester meet.

Being successful at Cross Country is amaz-ing, but representing Spring Woods at region-als is legit. Coach Wadey Yaya and Coach Joe Davis are

very proud of their run-ners this year because they have been working hard this past summer. “Since June 4th, they’ve competed at every meet from Varsity through to the freshman team. Both of our teams have a shot at finishing second at district and going to re-gionals,” Yaya said. The whole team has a

great responsibility be-cause the coaches ex-pect a lot from all of their runners. “We have high ex-pectations for the kids throughout all aspects of their lives. If you are an athlete at Spring Woods then you are expected to be a leader on campus and lead by example,” Coach Davis said.

Both coaches have been working really hard with all of their runners and they are seeing the results from that. “Both of our teams have a shot at finishing second at district Octo-ber 26, and going to re-gionals,” Yaya said. Yaya and Davis are very proud of the outstanding job that the runners have

done this year. “I will be honest, watch-ing these kids run the last 400 meters of a grueling 5k race, is the most exhilarating feeling a coach and a spectator can have,” Yaya said. Yaya and Davis want

their runners to do their best and try to get other students to join the team. “We tell the kids that the best way to get rec-ognition on campus and to recruit kids to join the team is by being successful,”Davis said. All of the runners have been working really hard, but one that shines is ju-nior Lily Mendoza. She is one of the captains of the girls cross country team. She might make it to re-gionals this year. “Joe and I have to two runners who will indi-vidually be competing at

regionals. One of them is Lily. We don't know when was the last time a Spring Woods girl repre-sented us at regionals,” Yaya said. Mendoza is very proud of what she has done. “Top 10 individuals at

district go to region. From there, the three teams with the smallest scores, go to region,” Mendoza said. “To be competitive, it would have to be under 22 minutes in a 5K race. My fastest time so far is 22.5 minutes to I’m right at the golden line.” The coaches want support from the school also. “We want to encour-age faculty and students to come help support the runners at a XC meet one Saturday morning,” Davis said.

On a balmy night at the beginning of September, Roberto Chavira warms up on the grounds of Darrell Tully Stadium. Field goal after field goal goes soaring through the uprights. “All right, let's back it up five yards,” A coach calls out. Chavira, his holder, and the long snapper take a few steps back and re-sume the routine. Snap, hold, kick, repeat. An ex-tra five yards makes no difference. Snap, hold, kick, repeat. Good every time. “He's real good,” Coach Boane said as he watched another kick go up. Chavira paid little atten-tion to the result of each kick, even though most every one was splitting the goal posts straight down the middle. “Back up another five,” Boane said. By now Chavira is kick-ing straight into the wind, trying to hit 40+ yarders. The wind doesn't matter much. Snap, hold, kick, repeat. It's like watching a machine in action; same motion every time, same result as well. Chavira, who, until recently, only played non-American

football, acknowledges that his skills come from a source other than grid-iron. “I've been playing soc-cer since I was ten,” Chavira said. “That's

where the technique comes from.” Across the field, the op-position warms up, too. Their kicker, who would go on to miss multiple extra points, looks no-where near as good as Chavira- even with the wind at his back. Chavira thinks little of this. “Before I kick, my mind just clears up,” Chavira said. “I don't think about anything; just making the

extra point.” Having a kicker that makes extra points nearly 100% of the time is certainly a big deal in the game of football. In the game against

New Caney, both teams scored five touchdowns. When it was all said and done, however, Spring Woods ended up win-ning 34-33. The win was decided by which kicker was more on point. Spe-cial Teams Coach Brian Keefe is proud of his squad. “It's a great feeling when you have a kicker that accurate,” Keefe said. With what is arguably

the most talented senior class in four years, and two games scheduled against schools who have never fielded a varsity team, the Tigers seem to have a legiti-mate shot at a share of the district title. Keefe is not afraid of dreaming bigger. “State playoffs,” Keefe said. “We are working each day to get better.” Chavira is not leaving anything up to chance, though he does have his fair share of supersti-tions. “I always have to put on my left sock first then right and it's the same thing with my cleats,” Chavira said. “[and] I ac-tually consider my beard and somewhat long hair lucky. That explains why I haven't shaved or got-ten a haircut.” Beards and cleats aside, Chavira needs lit-tle else to succeed. And with the leg he's got, the Tigers have the chance to succeed as well. Snap, hold, kick, re-peat. The same routine over and over again. Pre-game warm ups are over, and the team begins to jog back into the locker room. Cha-vira holds out for just one more. Snap, hold, kick. Good every time.

By JACK RODGERSCO-EDITOR IN CHIEF

A DUAL THREAT: Chavira not only knocks home the extra points, he works as the kickoff man, too.

Mister Reliable 2012Senior kicker proves invaluable to team.

The H o u s t o n A s t r o s have been known for being a fairly good baseba l l team from the Nolan

Ryan era down to the recent Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio term. But with these future hall of famers gone, the fran-chise has begun to fall apart. Last season the Astros posted the worst record in the majors which earned them the number one overall pick. And the season seems to be heading in that same direction of worst team in the bigs. Not only are we continuing to lose and get all of these high draft picks, but the owners of Astros seem to be trad-ing away all of our veter-an talent for young pros-pects who are people we have never heard of. I mean we traded away our all-star center fielder Michael Bourn for Jor-dan Schafer and minor league pitchers in 2011. More recently we traded away our number one pitcher in Wandy Rodri-guez for Triple-A All-Star Rudy Owens and Colton Cain, both left-handers, and outfielder Robbie Grossman. So all of these decisions and los-ing may seem bad for the franchise right now, but what about five years from now? Not too long ago the Washington Na-tionals were in the same position as the Astros be-ing the worst team and getting all kinds of young prospects in trades or drafts. And now after the bad seasons and years of rebuilding, they are the best team in base-ball. So maybe even if the Astros look to be in trouble, now they will end up like the Nationals and be back in the pen-nant race soon.

By TRAMMELL WEILNAUGUEST COLUMNIST

Forever L’astros?

Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow: “I think there’s a lot of reasons to reflect on the last 50 years, and there’s a lot of good memories. But at the same time, there’s re-ally compelling reasons to get excited about the future. New look next year, new division, new league, new staff. There’s just a lot of reasons we’re excited about next year.”

. In most stereotypical sports movies, a team that hasn’t had the best of luck usually receives a new coach who has a

strong worth ethic and great amounts of faith in the team. With a turn of good for-tune, fantasy has bled over into reality and gift-ed the volleyball team-with a wonderful, brand new coach who’s faith and leadership skills have reinvigorated the team’s passion.

New Varsity Coach Re-nie Deanda has through her deep conviction al-ready brought the team more success than last year. The current standing of the team is substantially higher than last year,

with a 3-5 district record. They’re ranked 5th in the district right now and just recently won a consola-tion trophy at the Lamar CISD tournament. “The new coach is won-derful. She’s brought the team together with her fresh passion,” senior Wendy Castillo said. Coach Deanda stepped

Fantasy turns into realityup to the plate and iden-tified the issue of confi-dence in the team from last year’s losses. “I want to let the girls know that they really are extremely talented and they can win,” Coach Deanda said.

With so much head-ing the girl’s way, it raises the question what the new coach is do-ing differently in terms of coaching. “It’s not just that Coach has new idea’s, but unlike last year when the previ-ous coach lost motiva-tion after some losses, Coach Dean-da just drives forward,” se-

nior Imani Webster said. The girls work tirelessly after school to prepare for their upcoming dis-trict games in order to win and rise in rank. “Coach Deanda’s ex-perience mixed with her strong connection with the team has allowed the team to grow by leaps and bounds and become

New coach comes to team’s aid, just like in the movies!

By WAARIS MOHAMMADSTAFF WRITER

TEAM SPIRIT: Volleyball girls join hands as is tradition at the beginning of each game.

HI-FIVE: Coach Renie Deanda forges strong bonds with her players.

more successful,” senior Wendy Castillo added. The coaching methods of Deanda mixes well

with the aptitude for hard work and talent that the team already has. “Talented players and leaders like Imani Web-ster and Michelle De-veau show promise in leading the team to bet-ter places,” Coach De-

anda said. With the amazing suc-cess the volleyball team has already seen, it

leaves space in the future for the g o a l s of the t e a m to win m o r e games t o slowly b e -c o m e a real-ity. “The g i r l s a r e d o i n g g r e a t a n d t h e y u n -doubt-e d l y w i l l c o n -t i n u e to per-severe

in their goal to win as the season goes on,” Coach Deanda said.

Cross Country increases their odds at winningYaya pulls in soccer players to the mix with his runners, all push harder to succeed.

By JAMES SHUMATESTAFF WRITER

The Bully’s Choice By Lorelei Shannon

BURST OF SPEED: Seem-ingly reenergized, Carlos Flores dashes towards the finish line one up in the ranks.

KEEP ON KEEPING ON: Jaime Rodri-guez continues on in spite of intense fa-tigue.

BAND OF BROTHERS: The team stops running for just long enough to take a picture. Then it’s off to the races!

Soccer. Everybody loves the game, unfor-tunately you can’t just join the soccer team and start playing competitive-

ly. It’s now mandatory to join cross country first. Junior Juan Garcia learned this firsthand upon his first meeting with the soccer coach. “For me, cross country is just a thing I needed to compete in soccer,” Gar-cia said. Joining cross country is important to playing soc-cer for its building of a player’s endurance.

“I have more power to bring the soccer players in to help the cross coun-try program grow in num-bers and make it more competitive,” Coach Waydey Yaya said. Bringing in more stu-dent-athletes helps to

increase their odds in win-ning more compet i -tions.“We are a l r e a d y up to al-most 30 r u n n e r s who have competed this year, and that n u m b e r increased at the Cy-Fair meet when we

had 10-15 r u n n e r s c o m p e t e

just at the freshman lev-el,” Yaya said. “I have such deep ad-miration for the boys because they have so much heart . I thrive as a coach when I see young athletes just want it,” Yaya said. Yaya takes pride in his students effort in how they never give up on themselves, train and

continue to improve. “Watching them run is a thrill, and I just wished these kids’ parents, teachers and friends would come watch a meet and stand at the finish line as they race

the last 200 meters. Its an adrenaline rush even for the coach,” Yaya said. Win or lose, sports are all about the thrill of the kill. “The guys I coach are very disciplined athletes in the aspect of wanting

to compete,” Yaya said. The boys cross coun-try teams are in it to win it, “failure” is not in their

vocabulary.“You bet-ter believe I see these boys go-ing some-where.” Continu-ing their training, the cross coun-try student-a t h l e t e s could go far in life. Taking what they’ve learned from Yaya, to apply it to life creates success wherever you are in life. “I believe that if you have the mental capac-ity, any positive route you take is possible,” Yaya said. Keep a straight head on your shoulders, un-derstand your goals

and what is required to fulfill them. Target acquired. Assess-ing distance to target. Ready for fire. Firing. Target hit. Mission ac-complished, heading home.

What To Watch ForWhat:

District MeetWhere:

George Bush ParkDate:

October 26, 8:00 amRunner to see:

Eduardo Hernandez