Softball season pg. 18
CCTD performs The Crucible pg. 8
PALs and Best Buddies go to APE Field Day pg. 9
CCISD debuts District Challenger Columbia stadium By Anna Scheuring Reporter
On March 11, the new Clear Creek ISD Challenger Columbia Stadium opened its gates to the public after nearly two years of construction. The multipurpose stadium will serve as the home for CCISD’s five high schools. The stadium was originally planned to debut before the 2015 football season with the hopes of hosting games, but the constant rain showers delayed the grand opening. “There’s not much you can do about Mother Nature. Every time we had a shipment of concrete delivered or needing to be delivered, that’s when the big rains came,” Bill Dawes, CCISD Director of Athletics, said. The Challenger Columbia Stadium stands for the purpose of not only facilitating sports and activities in CCISD, but also honoring the fourteen fallen heroes of Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia. The deaths of the astronauts in 1986 and 2003 had a strong impact on the CCISD community, as students and faculty in CCISD knew the crew-either as a friend or a family member. The stadium will stand in honor of the explorers so current and future students will always remember the legacy that the brave men and women astronauts created on their final missions. At the opening ceremony, the five
CCISD schools walked on to the field through their school mascot inflatable tunnels, represented by their athletic team
as the Clear Springs JROTC presented The Colors. Senior Mariah Pardo, former Clear Creek volleyball player and Dart-
and band. Hundreds of people Photo by Katie Rodriguez mouth commit, welcomed the gathered in the stadium seats to audience. The CCISD Board watch the introductory video for the stadi- President Dr. Laura DuPont then added um. The video highlighted the phenomenal to the introductory ceremony, calling the progress from dirt to a beautiful stadium. new stadium “just right for CCISD”. More The Clear Creek High School Symphonic speeches followed from JSC’s Center DiChorale opened the event with a flawless rector Dr. Ellen Ochoa and from Astrodeliverance of the Star Spangled Banner naut Mike Fincke, who spoke on behalf
of NASA. In a touching and memorable moment, the Clear Brook Celebrities performed a dance while the voices of George Bush and Ronald Reagan echoed the stadium with their well-known speeches that confronted the Challenger and Columbia mission disasters. Many family members of the fallen astronauts were present at the ceremony to watch their loved ones be honored. They were given a Legacy Brick as a token of remembrance of the crew, and an identical of the brick was laid into the wall of the stadium. The stadium can hold up to 10,000 people. The press box includes a film deck and a control room that will be entirely student-run for the purpose of further educating the film and production students in CCISD. Football plays and track events can be watched on the new scoreboard, a 34-foot by 19-foot LED screen. The stadium also includes air-conditioned restrooms, a field house that can act as a banquet and lecture venue, and an expansive concession area. The facility will accommodate soccer and football games, track and field meets, graduations, robotic competitions, local community events, band competitions, and a district wide Science Fair. The Challenger Columbia Stadium hosted the District Track meet on April 11 and April 13, and the Region III Track Meet on April 29-30.
Annual Pink Bow Classic football game ends in tie By Emily Ruthven Around Creek Editor
The class of 2016 battled the class of 2017 in the annual Pink Bow Classic football game at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, April 13. The game ended in a 6-6 tie. Both teams were given an after school practice for the game to determine positions and practice plays. On game day, all participants of the Pink Bow Classic were fed Chick-Fil-A, cookies, and fruit. Then, the teams took the field. In the first half, both teams held each other off decently, keeping the scoreboard at zero until there were 7 minutes left in the half. Then Mackenzie Pruitt, a junior receiver, scored a touchdown. Juniors in the audience cheered. The half ended with a score of 6-0, juniors. At half time, the junior and senior boys dance team, dubbed the Swagaliers, put on an elaborate show. Songs from their three-minute performance include Price Tag from the movie Pitch Perfect, Drool, Single Ladies, Whip/Nae Nae, Fergalicious, Hit the Quan, and Run the World. “I was excited to show the world our dance,” Hunter Kim, senior co-captain, said. Kim was quite excited to perform the dance. “I bedazzled my shirt with pink and clear diamonds,” he said. “Pink Bow is a boy’s one and only chance to
act like a girl and be praised for it.” Each Swagalier wore a cavalier skirt, leg-
sic started but only continued for about 15 seconds before cutting out. The boys,
Photo by Leo Solis
gings, pink or purple socks, the Pink Bow Classic official t-shirt, and pink ribbon on the shoulders of the shirt. Junior and Senior lieutenants and captains wore the official cavalier maroon and silver sequin hats. “Its fun to put yourself out there and do something that isn’t traditionally done,” senior co-captain Drew Huddleston said. When the boys first took the field, the mu-
however, continued their dance regardless. The crowed cheered in support of the team. The Swagaliers were more than half way through their dance and the music still had not returned, so they stopped. The crowed chanted for “music!” After a few dead minutes, the music finally returned and the team was able to complete their dance. “Its really fun to do something like this.
Everyone tried really hard and we all cared a lot. I danced my little heart out,” junior Swagalier Jordan Better said. Dance moves included, The Whip, blowing kisses, a kick line, and imaginary hair flips, which made them feel “fabulous.” “My favorite part of the dance had to be the kick line,” senior Swagalier Tyler Ashorn said. Some dance moves were certainly more elaborate and difficult than others, according to the Swagaliers. “The hardest dance move is the ‘human centipede’ in Hit the Quan,” Robert Gonzales, a senior Swagalier, said. The human centipede dance move is essentially The Worm, but with multiple people. Each Swagalier completed a push up directly after the preceding Swagalier had completed theirs. “Being a Swagalier means being a part of the best dance team this side of the creek,” Gonzales said. At the start of the second half, the senior running back Anna Scheuring scored a touchdown. However, the juniors held them off from any further scoring. At the conclusion of the game, the senior and junior teams met in the middle of the field, begging for overtime. However, administrators decided it was best to end the game in a tie. The junior-senior competition will have to wait another year before it can be settled once and for all.