Senior girls defend their ground

By Kara Adkins Online Copy Editor Blocks, pressure points and strikes were all new phrases to many senior girls on Jan. 18 at the first Senior Girls’ Self Defense course of the year. This course will be offered to all Coppell High School and New Tech senior girls every Wednesday for the next six weeks from 6-8 p.m. at Coppell Middle School East. This course focuses on ways to protect oneself when put in uncomfortable or dangerous situations. “They will learn techniques and maneuvers to fend off someone,” Coppell police officer R. J. Harr said. “At the very end they will be able to put them all together and demonstrate how they all work.” Although…

Coppell alum lost after tragic accident

By Julianne Cauley News Editor Elizabeth “Libbie” Ainsworth, 2010 Coppell High School graduate, died yesterday at 3:50 p.m. Just 20 years old, Libbie was a sophomore studying at Auburn University. Early Sunday evening, she was traveling with boyfriend, and member of Auburn’s football team, Drew Cole. Their vehicle lost control and Ainsworth was ejected from the vehicle. Alcohol was not involved in the accident. Cole, who was not seriously injured,  was treated and released at East Alabama Medical Center. Ainsworth was airlifted to Columbus Regional Medical Center. The official cause of death was traumatic brain injury. To read more about the accident, click here. Her visitation is scheduled for this Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. at…

CHS drum line competes in Lone Star Classic

By Annie Wen Staff Writer While the marching band season has ended for the beloved CHS drum line the season went on a little longer. The drum line competed this past Saturday November 12 at the Lone Star Classic Drumline Competition. The Lone Star Classic is a competition for drum lines specifically. Over 80 drum lines all over the area come to compete. Coppell competed in the Marching division and performed a modified version of the marching show that the band performed during the 2011 marching season. The band placed 9 out of 15 bands in its division in preliminaries and did not advance to finals. “We changed up the show a little bit to…

The power of a secret

By Annie Wen Staff Writer “Secrets, secrets are no fun unless you share with everyone.” Everyone has told a secret to someone or has been told a secret at some point in his or her life. They seem like harmless words shared between two people, but secrets are the underlying cause of many problems in the high school world. The word “secret” is defined as “something that is or is kept hidden or concealed.” Following the logic of the definition of the word, a secret then should be something a person hides within himself or herself. However, nowadays secrets are no longer kept, but spread everywhere. The word “secret” no longer holds the meaning that…

CHS band to compete in BOA contest

By Annie Wen Staff Writer The CHS marching band students will soon be checking in their uniforms and hanging up their shakos for the year. As the marching season comes to an end the band prepares to go out with a bang. The band’s final contest of the year is the Bands of Americas Super-regionals contest to be held in San Antonio on November 5. “This year’s show is a much different show,” director Scott Mason said. “The level of difficulty is much greater than what we’ve done in the past, so it has been somewhat harder to get it all learned to the high level we like. The BOA contest is a very highly…

Band to go to DMI contest this weekend

By Annie Wen Staff Writer This week the CHS band will be heading out to Duncanville for the annual Duncanville Marching Invitational. This contest is held every year and 20 area bands are chosen to compete based on their past record of success. The CHS band has had a great marching season so far, winning 7 awards at the Mesquite Marching Festival and earning a First Division at the UIL contest. The DMI contest is the second most important contest of the season, the most important being the Bands of America contest that will be taking place next weekend. The band will be competing against long-time rivals Marcus HS and LD Bell HS at both…

Academy website up and running

By Annie Wen Staff Writer With a deadline approaching, sophomore Sydney Williams knows she must get her interviews done and her story posted online. Williams is not a member of The Sidekick or KCBY but a student in EMAC’s Advanced Reporting elective course. The Advanced Reporting class provides EMAC sophomores with hands-on experience as they serve as true reporters of Academy news. “There’s always something to write about,” Williams said. “After I have an idea of what to write I do my interviews and I make a draft. Then the other writers and [teacher Chase Wofford] edit the story and once the story has been edited it gets posted on the website.” Students in the…

CHS students play Battlefield 3 open beta

By Chase Porter Staff Writer Just days ago, DICE, the developer for Battlefield 3 released an open beat onto the Xbox live dashboard. This beta will be up for the next few weeks and I advice all fans of the game franchise to check it out. The beta for this first person shooter type game is available on the Xbox live dashboard and can be downloaded for free. The beta includes only one map and one game mode but most of the weapons and upgrades can be unlocked. The game so far looks great but some of the effects and graphics are a little sloppier than most fans would like to see. Fortunately, according to…

Homecoming Havoc

By John Loop Staff Writer Coppell High School won’t be the only one grooving on the dance floor for the Homecoming dance this Saturday night. Three other schools are having their dances as well. Flower Mound, Cistercian, and Jesuit are getting down on Saturday night. Many of the restaurants near the Omni Mandalay Hotel, where Coppell is hosting their dance this year, are running out of reservation space. This includes I Fratelli Restaurant and Bar, which is expecting large parties of kids squeezing in for dinner before partying long into the night. Coppell’s Homecoming dance is from 7-11 p.m.

Wait is over, Gridiron greats return

John Loop Staff Writer   The first week back on the gridiron had its ups and downs, as NFL fans got their much-needed influx of football since the 130-day labor standoff started. The league kicked off week one of the regular season last weekend with the first slate of games. On Sunday, the Carolina Panthers traveled to Glendale, Arizona to battle the Cardinals. Arizona won, 28-21, but wasn’t all for naught. Panthers rookie quarterback and University of Auburn alum Cameron (Cam) Newton passed for 422 yards and 2 touchdowns, both rookie quarterback debut records. The Buffalo Bills, believed by many to be irrelevant in their division, surprised a lot of people with their win over the…