Today, February 7th marks the first of the three day long 8th grade shadow days.

For the next couple of days all three middle schools will be visiting the high school for a tour around the school. Not only will they get a complete tour, the middle school students will also get a chance to visit some of the elective and academy classes on the visit. Red Jackets and Ready. Set. Teach! members will be conducting the tours throughout the day in two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The seniors will also have a Q and A session at the conclusion of the tour because we all know the 8th graders will have questions.

Not only is this a great opportunity for the 8th graders to be able to see the high school first hand on a normal operating school day, this is also a unique experience for seniors leading the tours. As a Red Jacket I will be leading a tour of West 8th graders tomorrow afternoon and I took a chance to reflect on what my biggest questions were when I was on this very tour back five years ago.

These are just a few of the questions I came up with that I thought I might have to answer. Will I survive the landing when getting thrown off the senior bridge? Does anyone have a map of this enormous school? Why are these large humans you call seniors looking at me like I’m fresh meat in a lions den?

Dont worry 8th graders, all of these questions and more will be answered at the conclusion of the tour but as of tomorrow, stay close behind me because I don’t you getting trampled.

Getting to school on time is hard enough for teen drivers who have to battle the roads in order to make it in time for the bell; unfortunately, the usually trek to school is going to meet a new challenge.

One of the busiest roads in Coppell, Belt Line Road, will have its southbound lane north of the Dividend will be closed due to street repairs.

The past couple of days have presented continuous construction delays and  inconveniences for citizens; especially during the heavy traffic time, before school. It has been a challenge for students to work around construction, but thankfully, the worst is over and the road is to be finished by the morning of Feb. 8.

There is still one more day left of construction, and the city of Coppell is urging its citizens to be more aware of the traffic signs and take safety precautions when driving in the morning. It’s better to be late to class then to be injured.

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Officer Harr is a representative for the self defense class and took sign ups from participating senior girls. Photo by Jodie Woodward

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 the officers make sure the course is fun and playful, the underlined importance is very apparent. When the officers begin to read off the facts that one in four college women is a victim of rape or attempted rape, and in the first six weeks of college, girls are most vulnerable to being attacked, the severity sinks in fast.

This course has been offered for 10 years at CHS and cannot only help girls in college but in many aspects of their lives. It gives girls the confidence of knowing they can protect themselves if danger ever emerges.

“It gives girls assertiveness in knowing that they can defend themselves and that they can do something if a crisis arrives,” Harr said. “Also, they are able to help others in need.”

This class is very interactive and gives girls the opportunity to learn hands-on styles and moves in order to develop muscle memory so they will not forget what they learned in a crisis situation.

“People think it might not happen to them, but there are always ‘what ifs’ and danger that surrounds us,” senior Jennifer Hwang said.

The cops reiterate this point by saying the most common phrase they hear from victims of an attack is “I thought this always happened to someone else. I never knew it could happen to me.”

But the statistics prove it could very well happen to anybody. As a victim, however, according to the National Victims’ survey and Justice Department, if a woman fights back, she has a better chance of escaping rape compared to those who only plead and cry in defense.

By being physically and mentally prepared for these situations, Senior Girls’ Self Defense gives the class of 2012 a chance to bond with one another while learning skills that could be useful in the future.

“Whenever I go off to college, instead of having to ask for an escort to take me back to my dorm room, I’d like to be able to kick butt on my own,” senior Lauren Cruz said.

Although this class should be taken seriously, there is also a large aspect of fun to it. It is one of the last times all of the senior girls will have an opportunity to get together, and is a great way to create memories as the school year comes to a close.

“I was nervous, thinking it may not be very much fun, but it was actually very interesting and interactive,” senior Alexis Pentecost said. “The police made learning fun by being supportive and helping us accomplish each move.”

The Coppell Police Department encourages all senior girls to start coming to the class each week in order to be prepared and ready for whatever comes there way.

With the course registration beginning, students have started the process of deciding which classes to take along with deciding whether or not to be in Duel Credit, IB or AP classes.

Though it may seem scary, it can be less stressful to decide which classes to take by talking to your counselors or even asking your current teachers what level would be best suited for you.

Another way to decide which classes to take is to talk to upperclassmen that have already taken the class. Their opinion will probably be more beneficial to you since it’s from a student’s perspective.

Course registration papers are due next Wednesday. Counselors will be meeting with students throughout the month of January and February.

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 Restland Coppell Funeral Home. The funeral is to be at Libbie’s church, Valley Ranch Baptist, at 2 p.m. At the funeral, attendees are to wear hot pink and/ or animal print in remembrance of Libbie.

The music comes to a stop and the students’ hearts quicken as they realize they have only a minute until class starts – now it is a race against time. As they quicken their pace through the halls, they are fast-walking to their class praying they will not be tardy.

As the classroom door comes into sight, the late bell rings throughout the halls, signaling the students’ defeat and their tardiness.

As part of a large high school, it is likely that most students will become tardy at least once in the course of their four-year stay at CHS. It is to be expected when a student has to journey from their speech class in H hall all the way to a digital graphics and animation class in D hall.

Excluding the occasional legitimate excuse, most tardies are a result of the lack of motivation for a few students. Some students are concerned with the time allotted to get to their classes. If students were allowed more time during passing periods, it would hopefully result in students getting to class on time. Unfortunately, this change is unlikely.

“[The reason why] I am tardy is because frankly the food at Coppell isn’t good and I can go to someplace else [during lunch] for cheaper,” an anonymous junior said. “That is why I am late to my class.”

The six minutes in the hall is the time for socialization between students, where students can interact and have a mental break from classes. It would be nice to have a longer time to talk with friends, but it is not possible for the administration to lengthen the time allotted for passing periods.

This is because 52 minutes is the limit amount of time required for classes, so if Coppell were to lengthen passing period it would also have to lengthen the school day.

“The point of the music in the halls is to give students a warning,” assistant principal Steve Glover said. “Those who are late are the ones that are unaware.”

Those students who are consistently late to class are not able to receive the full amount of education. When they are late, they are missing out on part of a lesson that could be vital. The reason for school is to allow students the opportunity to receive an education, and when a student misses part of a class, they are missing a bit of what is being offered.

“The students who come in late disrupt the class, and it disrupts the flow,” foundations for college math teacher Wendy Levell said.

This year, the student handbook has been updated, and the assistant principals visited every fourth period class to inform students of the new changes.

“The only change that occurred was the students’ third tardy,” Glover said. “The teacher can now give a teacher detention instead of an office detention.”

The new rule has had some effect on students but has not completely reversed the problem of tardiness. Some students are not intimidated by the teacher detentions and continue to come in late to class.

Graphic by Brian Hwu

“[My idea is] the parents have to show up for a morning detention [when the student reaches three tardies], then maybe they would make sure their kids were responsible,” Levell said. “They are still the parent of the kids and they are still in charge of making their children responsible.”

If this were to be instated, Levell thinks teachers would definitely see a change in the attendance of their students. However, it would be unlikely that the administration would allow this to pass or if the parents would even show up to their detentions in the first place.

The only way to permanently eliminate problems related to tardiness would be if students managed to arrive on time to their classes. Until this is possible tardiness will not go away. In high school there is no such thing as “fashionably late.”

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 make it more interesting to watch,” sophomore Mikki Hoffman said. “Even though the marching season was over we were still working because we wanted to do well at Lone Star. The results could have been better, but we did our best and that’s all that matters.”

“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 it used to.

When you were a little kid you probably shared secrets with your friends, and you “pinky swore” to each other that you would never tell. And most likely, you never did tell. Because life was so much simpler when you were 6. You just wanted to be friends with everybody.

In high school, everything is different. High school is a testing point for many friendships. Maybe that girl you’ve known since first grade starts to change. Maybe you change. Whatever the reason, people will change. Friends may grow apart and new friendships are born. And it gets harder to distinguish true friendships from fake ones.

Some people mistakenly still believe that secrets define a friendship. But now we live in a world where nap time is non-existent, pinky promises don’t mean anything, and telling secrets are no longer a past-time but a potentially dangerous decision to make. 

Everyone has done it at one point. Maybe you heard something about Jack and Jill’s relationship. Maybe you heard about Ellie and Billie’s fight. Maybe you heard about what was going to be on that AP U.S. History test. “Oh, I’ll just tell Jane. She’s my best friend, she won’t tell anyone,” you say to yourself.

But before you know it, word has gotten everywhere, and everyone knows.

Secrets are like viruses. Once it is started, it cannot be stopped; it is contagious. Mary tells Kelly, Kelly tells Anna, Anna tells Petunia and so the virus has begun. At the time, it may seem like an OK idea. But if you couldn’t keep it to yourself, what makes you think your friend can?

We all know the temptation of secrets. It is like getting a drink from the vending machine, and it is all shaken up. You wait for all the bubbles to go away, but you get impatient and you open the bottle. Sometimes it is OK and it does not explode, but other times you are not so lucky.

Secrets are the same way. You can keep it inside of you for a while but more often than not you end up telling someone. Sometimes, if your friend is a good friend he or she won’t say anything. But more often than not they will tell someone. And before you know it, the soda is everywhere.

So what is it about a secret that makes it so hard to keep? Maybe it is the thrill of knowing something that other people do not. Or maybe it is a tidbit about something that “everyone has been talking about.” It is tempting to want to tell someone.

But this is how rumors get started, how the never-ending game of “he said, she said” begins. Because once you say something, you have put yourself out there as the initiator. Maybe what you were saying is actually true, but you cannot say the same for the 589 other people this information will go through.

It is like that old game telephone; the information being passed changes every time it is repeated. And when the subject of this asks where this information is coming from, all fingers will point to you.

So the bottom line is: keep it to yourself. A secret is a secret. And by definition, a secret should be hidden and kept concealed. There is no need for the world to know what is going on between Jack and Jill or Claire and Mary. Think about it this way, life is so much better when that soda does not explode everywhere, because then there is no mess to clean up.

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 visual contest, which sometimes is not in our favor due to that we enforce highly on marching rather than visuals.”

The band placed 7^th at the Duncanville Marching Invitational that was held last Saturday.  Since then they have been adding new visuals to pull up the show to BOA standards. The CHS band has never qualified for finals before but both the members and directors have been working to change that this year.

The band will be leaving tomorrow to head out to San Antonio and will be performing in Preliminary competition on Saturday November 5.

To learn more about the band program, click here.

“I am so ready for Thanksgiving break,” Junior Lizzie Bell said.

She is by no means the only student who feels this way.

As the school year persists, now into the month of November, many students are beginning to “hit a wall” when it comes to school.  Naturally, most students would say that the solution to this problem is the highly anticipated Thanksgiving break.  Thanksgiving break is coming up soon on the Coppell ISD Calendar.

“School starts seeming longer and harder the longer we go without a break, so I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving break for that reason, plus I love Thanksgiving as a holiday too,” Junior Courtney Echerd said.

With an opportunity to rest and refresh over the break in several weeks, students will be thankful for more reasons than one this Thanksgiving season.