With 2011 behind us, game developers are already trying to come out with the next best game to compete with games like Battlefield and Modern Warfare 3.

Some of the biggest news in the gaming community is the release of Halo 4 expected for sometime this spring or summer. Also Mass Effect 3, the follow up to one of the best games of 2011, will be releasing this year which will end the trilogy. Along with these franchise games Assassins Creed will be releasing another game and of course Call of Duty is sure to have one or more games being released but as of right now there has been no speculation on where the franchise will be heading next.

Besides just franchises and first person shooter games being released gamers can expect many more game developers creating more and more role playing games. I say this because of the recently released game Skyrim and LA Noire which has been a huge hit and is purely a role playing game. One role playing game that gamers can hope for to be released sometime this year is the highly anticipated Diablo 3. This game has undergone years of development without an actual release date but it is expected to be ready for play sometime this year for PC.

“Im really excited for Grand Theft Auto V which is coming out this year because its the only game that lets you do whatever you want,” said senior Max Green.

2011 has been a huge year in gaming with many franchises coming to a close and record sales in the first person shooter category but don’t worry 2012 has the potential to be even better.

In honor of Veterans Day, which falls on Friday, a week from today, students will have the opportunity to record personal thank-you videos that will appear on KCBY. Those with friends or relatives who have fought in a war or are fighting in one can show their gratitude towards their loved ones.

The deadline for the thank-you videos is November 7 – so students have to act quickly in order to show their thanks via video. Thank-yous are not all that can be said, those who are wanting to participate will also be able to honor veterans lost in the midst of war.

This is a very cool opportunity that should be taken advantage of. To those whom it interests, videos will be recorded in A-108.

Video by Jordan Hagan

When current University of Alabama student and Coppell High School 2007 graduate Morgan Lenoir was taking shelter in the basement of a friend’s house, she had no idea that when she emerged, the town she called home would be hardly recognizable.

“I remember being in the basement and a guy coming down and saying that he had been listening to the radio and the weatherman said something like ‘Oh this is big’ and then the radio cut off. We didn’t know how bad it was until the next day when my friends and I went to try and volunteer,” Lenoir said.

Thousands were left homeless across the state and hundreds were missing among the wreckage. Towns were destroyed and little was left of homes and buildings that once stood.

“We walked a little less than a mile away from my house and saw the destruction. Words can’t describe what it looked like,” Lenoir said. “All you could see for a long way off was rubble.”

During the months of spring, the states located in tornado alley are always on edge, anticipating the news of the next big storm to roll through. This tornado season has been particularly vicious and one of the hardest hit states is Alabama, where homes were wiped out and the death toll rose above 300.

It was April 27 when the tornadoes swept through the South, and during the 24 hours of destruction, a total of 226 tornadoes touched the ground. One of the worst was a mile wide tornado that ripped through Tuscaloosa, Ala., home to the University of Alabama. While the university was spared damage, much of the city did not fare so well.

President Barack Obama visited the state, assuring the people that they would have their town back and the government would help. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) pledged $500,000 to UA in order to help students and faculty at the school who were victims of the tornado.

Federal aid has been promised to the damaged areas and residents have joined in the help as well. It’s only been a little more than two weeks since the tornado hit, but Alabama is slowly starting to pick itself back up again.

“[My friends and I] worked with a church that was accepting donations. We went back to Coppell four days after the storm and a friend and I started to collect donations from our friends and family to take back to Tuscaloosa. We were surprised at how much people were willing to give,” Lenoir said.

Current students were sent home early this year after classes were cancelled.  UA graduation was moved from May 7 to Aug. 8. Though incoming fall students weren’t significantly affected by the tornadoes as far as preparing for classes goes, the tornadoes definitely changed the experience they’ll have.

“I’m pretty sure the first day of classes and moving in will be the same, but it’s unfortunate that a lot of the restaurants and fun places around town were destroyed,” senior and future student at the University of Alabama Danielle Herubin said.

It is not just people that are suffering; hundreds of cats and dogs were left without homes and some were separated from their owners when the twisters cut through the state. Some animals are in shelters around the state while others have been sent to shelters in regions unaffected by the weather.

Amid all the destruction, Alabama is able to find a silver lining. The state is looking at this as an opportunity to rebuild its cities. Celebrities, such as country singers Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift, are donating money from single sales to helping with tornado relief.

Celebrities aren’t the only ones that can help though. The Red Cross and FEMA are taking donations to help with the relief efforts and there’s always a need for volunteers as well and hopefully, with some the help, Alabama can recover from the storm.

“Alabama can definitely bounce back,” English teacher and former Alabama resident Brynlea Taylor said. “With all the relief coming in and the communities coming together, Alabama can pick itself back up again.”

Features Editor

Chris Reagen

KCBY

Finals week is known to bring caffeine binges, study sessions, large amounts of money spent to support the Starbucks franchise and the realization that high school isn’t always a walk in the park.

With the additional stress and workload coming with the last week of the semester, many students are forced redesign their study habits and figure out a way to manage everything that is suddenly placed on their shoulders.

As a student at CHS, I am no stranger to cram studying, late night essay writing and three hour class study sessions at Starbucks on a Sunday afternoon. I am used to watching my fellow students try to memorize 50 years worth of history in 50 minutes and panicking when they find a mistake in the essay they printed out at lunch and are supposed to turn in by the end of the day.

While these procrastination habits are never encouraged, students are forced to face the reality of their own lack of preparation when finals week triples their workload.

“I usually don’t study for finals at all, but freshman year taught me that finals were crucial to my grade,” senior Caroline Lowry said. “I had to figure out which finals I really needed to study for and which ones wouldn’t affect my grades that much.”

Final exams are worth one seventh of a student’s semester grade in a class. With seniors being the only grade level that is exempt from first semester finals, a majority of CHS students begin to realize how important their final exam grade is to their semester average. This realization tends to be accompanied by a desperate need to revise study habits and manage stress in a more productive way.

“Finals week is always the time when the apathetic suddenly begin to care about their grades,” English teacher Matthew Bowden said.

Students are not the only people of CHS who are forced to handle an intense amount of stress during finals week, with teachers and administrators also feeling the pressure of schedule changes and important grades.

“As a teacher, the most stressful part of this week is grade crunching and working with those students who are on the bubble between exemptions and having to take the final or between passing and failing,” Bowden said.

As students discover the most effective way of studying for finals, grades go up and stress levels go down.

“I have to prioritize,” Lowry said. “I also have learned to study in order of the tests being taken. You study harder for the tests that are sooner and then you move down the list.”

While some students have been known to find this form of organization helpful, others find refuge in more long-term types of preparation.

“I just begin decently far in advance with reading and re-reading the material I need to know,” junior Jahnavi Udaikimar said. “The more I familiarize myself, the easier it is to remember.”

In addition to veteran test takers, freshman slowly adjust to the changes high school brings, adapting to the heavy workload and figuring out how to study for these types of all inclusive tests. Most middle schools lack tests that are equivalent to finals, making the concept foreign and intimidating.

“Coming back from Christmas break, I dreaded having to take finals,” freshman Elliot Tostrud said. “They have thrown off my whole schedule and completely stressed me out.”

As finals week comes to a close, students are discovering what tactics work best for them. Be it writing and re-writing, recording CDs of history facts or meeting up with friends to exchange notes, students are innovative and original when it comes to the best studying strategies.

Original Video – More videos at TinyPic

The movie includes actors such as Jeff Bridges, who recently won an Oscar for his performance in Crazy Heart, alongside Garrett Hedlund (Four Brothers, Troy), Olivia Wilde (House), Michael Sheen (Underworld movies) and many others.

Not only is the cast amazing, but a while back it was revealed that the French techno duo, Daft Punk, would be doing the score for the movie. Earlier this week on the 8th, a new trailer was released and the best part about it is… there happens to be a bit of Daft Punk’s score for the movie playing in the background. The last studio album the band released was in 2005 with “Human After All” so the score for this movie is a treat for fans of the group. Along with doing the movie score, fans also have their rumored upcoming tour to get excited about.