Coppell High School has been working diligently for the past week, donating cans to fourth period classes for the annual Souper Bowl of Caring competition. CHS is kicking off the fundraiser after raising the most cans last year,  and hopefully, this year will be as successful.

To wrap up the fundraiser a school-wide pep rally will be held tomorrow to award the winning class who raised the most cans and to celebrate the great deed the entire school is participating in.  While Channing Tatum will not be visiting this year, the winners of the competition can expect some great prizes such as an off campus lunch for the first place winners.

With one more day until the pep rally, canned food donations can still be made in your fourth period class until Friday, when the cans will be tallied up. The winners will be announced and rewarded during the pep rally.

The Coppell Swim Team’s annual  tradition of “Flocking” is back! I noticed this when my neighbors were flocked, and the next night my house was flocked as well.

Five years ago, the tradition of flocking began. At the time I thought it was kind of stupid; how does sticking flamingoes in someone’s yard raise money? However, you actually pay to have the swim team take them out of your yard and put them in a friend’s yard.

This is actually really clever and a great way for the swim team to earn money, and a great way for someone to play a fun prank on their friend or neighbor. You can also pay the swim team extra to find out who “flocked” you. But once someone has been flocked they can not be flocked again.

So if you see pink flamingoes in someone’s yard, do not think that they are just crazy yard decorations! It is a fundraiser, and don’t be mad if you got flocked, just have fun with it and send it to your friends house.

Staff Writer

Cancer is a big part of the 21st century lifestyle, affecting many people in our lives. The latest statistic is that one of out of every three people is affected by cancer.

It is because of the serious statistics that people join together against cancer. On November 15th at 6:30 p.m. there will be an informational meeting about Relay For Life, an organization that holds an annual marathon for cancer awareness.

In addition to the introductory meeting, there will also be a fun T-shirt design competition for anyone that wants to send one in. The winner will have their design be the official shirt of Relay For Life. For those of you that want to help support those affected by cancer, or just want to have fun playing door prizes and eating food, come be a part of Relay For Life.

Next week, it will not be uncommon to see yards of house in Coppell covered with pink flamingos. The CHS swim team will begin their annual Flamingo Flocking Fundraiser today.

How it works is that the swimmers will place a flock of pink flamingos in front of a house after sunset.  The flamingos will come with a letter explaining how the fundraiser works, and the different donation levels and what they earn you.

A ten-dollar donation will remove the flock from your yard, a 15-dollar donation will remove the flock and will allow you to find out who flocked you, and a 20-dollar donation will allow you to flock someone else in Coppell. You can also pay for “flocking insurance” which means that you will no longer be flocked.

“It is a really fun thing that we do every year,” varsity swimmer Caroline Overman said. “It’s fun to see everyone get involved plus it raises a good amount of money.”

Staff Writer

As you drove to school this morning, you probably noticed an army of pink ribbons around Coppell High School. Almost every tree on campus was decorated with a little pink ribbon, and in the parent loop, a large banner billowed in the wind.

The group behind the fuchsia-colored adornments was the CHS volleyball team. It was all part of an effort the raise breast cancer awareness, and more specifically, the volleyball team’s annual breast cancer awareness fundraiser: Dig for the Cure.

Dig for the Cure was founded in 2003 by the volleyball coach of UNC-Charlotte, and has since become a tradition for volleyball teams nationwide. All proceeds from are given directly to the Susan G. Komen foundation, a group dedicated to treating breast cancer patients.

Coppell has been “digging for the cure” for 5 years, and was the first school in the metroplex to take part in the benevolent event. Since then, many other nearby schools have gotten involved.

Last year Coppell raised over $14,000, and on Tuesday September 27, they’ll seek to build upon that success. The 2011 Dig for the Cure will feature an exciting District 7-5A matchup between the Coppell Cowgirls and Justin Northwest.

The Cowgirls have had a remarkable season thus far, and tomorrow, they’ll seek to improve to 27-7 while simultaneously assisting hundreds of cancer patients through Dig for the Cure.

The game begins at 6:30 p.m. at Northwest High School.

Staff Writer

The Coppell Fire Department prides itself on its dedication to improving the community, and one of the ways it does so is by embarking on ambitious fundraisers.

On Thursday May 26 and Friday May 27 the Coppell Fire Department will  have firefighters positioned by numerous Coppell intersections to fill boots full of donations, as part of the nation-wide Fill-the-Boot Campaign.

This annual fundraiser benefits the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), a benevolent organization that treats and researches dozens of forms of muscle disease, and provides support groups and summer camps for families.

The firefighters and their boots will be collecting donations, on the two aforementioned days, at the intersections of Belt Line and MacArthur, Sandy Lake and Denton Tap, and Bethel Road and Royal Lane.

Coppell‘s participation in the Fill-the-Boot Campaign is just one small piece of the long-standing tradition of involvement Texas fire departments have with the MDA.

Last year’s Campaign was a huge success as $27 million was collected from departments across the nation, with $3.1 million coming from Texas alone.

This year’s boot-filling efforts will culminate with the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon on September 5.

Shine up a dirty car this weekend while supporting EMAC with a donation: EMAC is having a car wash this Saturday, April 23, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. behind 7-Eleven (corner of Denton Tap and Sandy Lake Roads) to raise money for the Emerging Media and Communications activity account for various activities and items for the program. EMAC students and parents will be present to get dirty cars squeaky clean when you stop by to get gas, a snack or just drive by to support Coppell High School’s EMAC.

Entertainment Editor

As I’m sure you have noticed, it is Valentine’s Day. At Coppell High School, that means balloons and flowers.Throughout the day, the hallways have been filled with huge heart shaped balloons and roses. Beaming girls with presents making the empty-handed singles jealous. But one thing is one everyone’s mind: where did the carnations go?

Normally, people send and receive carnations every year at CHS. However, this year, they are nowhere to be found. Instead of the traditional flowers, bags of candy were delivered to fourth period classes with the typical message. The IB economics classes assembled the bags and sold them during all three lunches, but instead of raising money for a club, it was a cause. All of the proceeds went to KIVA, an organization that gives loans to those who cannot afford them. In all, the classes raised approximately $150.

For more information about KIVA, visit: http://www.kiva.org/

CHS students are constantly getting involved with worldwide organizations to not only make a difference in their community and the world as a whole. IB Economics students are continuing this trend with their work with KIVA, a micro lending organization.

KIVA is a global community connected through lending. The mission of the organization is to connect with entrepreneurs in undeveloped countries. Anyone is able to go online, create an account, choose anyone of the prospective entrepreneurs and give a donation as low as $25.

The donations give entrepreneurs the chance to receive a loan in a country where they would not be able to otherwise. In numerous countries the closest bank could be more than twenty-five miles away and with no transportation it is nearly impossible to make it there. Also many banks refuse to give out loans to people with pour economic status and those few banks that do give loans have extremely high interest rates that buriers the recipient in debt.

IB Economics teacher Donnette Alexander has been trying to bring KIVA’s interesting concept to CHS for over a year. She feels that is innovative idea is a great learning experience for students.

“It is a great way for students to learn about peoples ideas and it helps the entire community,” Alexander said.

Alexander’s IB economics students have been working on business proposals since early October. In each class students got into groups to develop a product and a complete business proposal for selling their product. The proposals included a marketing plan, financials, and working staff break down. In one of the business proposals was a unique bracelet.

“This gives students the opportunity to learn how to create a business proposal and a business,” Alexander said. “It is a great experience and it gives students the chance to understand real world economic and government situation.”

After the business proposals were complete the classes broke down each proposal to find the best fundraiser opportunity. The students will pick their final fundraiser and complete it on their own. All the money raised will go toward their KIVA account and together students will manage their profile determining where to donate the money.

Students are getting excited about the opportunities the project is offering. Senior Natalie Gale is looking forward to the fundraiser.

“I think it is really cool to deal with real world situations and I like how it is a local and international project,” Gale said.

With KIVA’s high success rates of a 98% return rate they hope to continue donating money year after year. Students will track the progress of their loan recipient to see the difference in the community’s economic situation. Senior Farah Mithani is one of these students.

“I look forward to seeing all the progress our recipients make and to see if it actually works,” Mithani said.

Each of the IB economic classes should start their fundraisers in late January and hope to start lending money in March.