Fine arts students prepare to compete in national competition
Mary Whitfill Features Editor Coppell High School sophomore Alex Smith will be competing the National Forensics League (NFL) competition this summer, representing Coppell ISD in the Oral Interpretation category. Performing “The Cult” by John Stewart, Smith is the only CHS student competing in the category. In order to qualify to participate in the tournament, students had to not only be registered members of the Speech & Debate Honor Society, but they had to place in the top two at their district competition. “It is very difficult to qualify for nationals as a sophomore,” CHS speech teacher Maleda Kunkle said. “He just started in the fall, but he has been to most of our tournaments and…
Senior debaters excel to National competition
Divya Kumar News Editor The Coppell High School debate team saw some of their busiest times this Spring Break. Attending two tournaments and working to prepare in between each of them, the strides made during the break have helped to propel these debaters further on to the national level. Two noteworthy senior debaters – Priyanka Krishnamurthy and Sarah Mithani – were the only two team members that attended the TFA (Texas Forensic Association) state tournament at the beginning of the break in Flower Mound. Each of these debaters had to acquire 10 points from local tournaments to be able to qualify to attend, and competed against similar talent from across the state. Both Krishnamurthy and Mithani…
IB students host Four-Letter Word Tournament to wrap up fundraising
by Divya Kumar News Editor As part of an ongoing process to raise money for their International Project, the junior International Baccalaureate class of Coppell High School hosted its final fundraiser on May 24 for the Three Cups of Tea Organization, which raises money to provide education for girls in Middle Eastern countries. Preceding this event, the students had held two fundraisers: a hot chocolate sale and a garage sale. Obtaining a mere $40 from the hot chocolate fundraiser, a rather spirit-crushing amount, the garage sale helped to improve attitudes, yielding $990.98. Though this number was far past the original $800 goal, which would help sponsor a teacher for one year, the International Project was…
CHS debate duo advances to Tournament of Champions
by Divya Kumar News Editor This weekend, debate partners, junior Priyanka Krishnamurthy and senior Joey Donaghy plan to advance to the Tournament of Champions (TOC) in Kentucky. This special debate duo, who has advanced at a series of tournaments over the course of the school year, have demonstrated their talent by being the only team from Coppell advancing. The TOC, comprised of 65 teams this year from around the nation, is essentially just a large tournament. Series of debate partners who have won at least 2 bids in each of the tournaments they participated at home – a difficult feat – will compete at the Tournament of Champions in order to claim their title as…
Debate team holds garage sale to send team members to the Tournament of Champions 
by Melsissa Brisco On April 10, the Coppell High School debate team hosted a garage sale in the CHS parking lot. The garage sale was held in order to raise money for the debate team members who qualified for the Tournament of Champions. Two CHS teams qualified for this prestigious tournament: junior Priyanka Krishnamurthy and her partner senior Joey Donaghy along with junior Sarah Mithani and her partner Sonali Kalvala. The Tournament of Champions is held each year in May and is the most prominent tournament in the “National Circuit.” The National Circuit is made up of an elite group of public and private schools that have a history of excelling in debate tournaments….
Debate garage sale this Saturday
by Melissa Brisco Staff Writer Saturday April 10, the CHS Debate Team will hold a Garage Sale to help send Priyanka Krishnamurthy, Joey Donaghy, Sarah Mithani and Sonali Kalvala to Tournament of Champions. The garage sale will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be held in the Coppell High School parking lot. Money raised from the garage sale will go help pay to send Krishnamurthy, Donaghy, Kalvala and Mithani to Kentucky for the Tournament of Champions. To read about how the debate team advanced to State, click here.
Coppell Speech and Debate teams advance to state
by Divya Kumar News Editor After months of intense practice and excelling at various local tournaments, the Coppell speech and debate teams have made it to their state level of competition. Taking place this week, starting from tomorrow afternoon till Saturday night, the teams will be driving to El Paso to continue competing. In order to have achieved this level, each group of debaters – competing in pairs as partners – was required to get 10 state points. These points were obtained during the local tournaments during which the teams first had to advance to be one of the top eight teams for finals, top six for semi’s and then top four for quarters. Eight…