October, 2006
H I L IFE
Vol. 81/Issue 1
2305 East Main League City, Texas 77573
Clear Springs High School joins the pack TORI WYCOFF Clear Creek High School is growing and bursting at its seams. When Clear Lake opened in 1972, its student population came from the overcrowding at Creek. The same thing happened in 1988 when Clear Brook opened, and next year Creek will again be divided to populate the fourth high school of the district, Clear Springs. This yearʼs freshmen at Creek will soon be receiving letters in the mail informing them of a parent meeting in late October about the new school. Current eighth graders will also be invited to the meeting which will include information from Clear Springʼs principal, Gail Love, the district athletic director, Bill Daws, and representatives from the Fine Arts Department as well as the Career and Technology Department. These students will makeup the student body of Clear Spring High School, and the current ninth graders will be the first graduating class of the new school. Last year, Mrs. Love visited junior high campuses asking the students to vote on their own mascot and school colors. The colors selected were royal blue, black and silver. The final choices for the mascot were the Chargers and the Jaguars, and due to its local affiliation, the Charger won the vote. A charger is a horse that is ready for battle, and Palamino horses were raised on the property that is now CSHS. The actual mascot of the Charger was designed by CCHS alum Jeffrey Jones.
The new school is high-tech and exciting and is being built by the same project manager and company as the new Clear Creek High School. The new building includes some of the same new features as Creek, like the career center, but also some very new and different things like a stateof-the-art School of Culinary Arts. An exciting aspect of the school is its six bay automotive shop where local car
DEBORAH BETHEL GOBEL It was 30 years ago this season that I first walked up into the stands of what was then known as Wildcat Stadium as an eighth grader dreaming of my high school years ahead. I was very unaware of how much the Friday night high school football game would come to mean for me over the next three decades. Little did I know that this was only an eighth graderʼs preview of heartaches, heartbreaks, wins, losses, love and laughter for decades to come. My freshman year at Creek I fell in love from a distance with a sophomore football player. That was the beginning for me. However, my Dad had planted the seed many years before by taking me to years of high school playoff games. I started off my freshman year by attending all the
sophomore and varsity games -- home and away. Football became my life, for it was his, too. I still remember my pride at seeing him play so well in his #41 or #42 Maroon and White jersey, hearing his name called out on the loud speaker when heʼd done something brilliant like only he could do. I remember that flash of blonde hair glistening in the lights as heʼd remove his helmet to wipe his brow. I remember his stance on the sidelines, the long firm thighs and the tight rear end that I loved to see in his football uniform. For him, it was all about winning. For me, it was all about him. Being there, supporting, cheering for and loving him. The next two years got only better as he started off on JV and progressed to varsity. Iʼll never forget the 1st pep rally
dealerships will donate cars in need of repair. The building also has an outdoor art patio for students to create art based on the landscapes as well as a media tech center and a television studio. CSHS will have an eight-lane
natatorium with a wooden ceiling similar to the one in the Butler Gymnasium. The entire building is wireless and has the same LCD projectors in every classroom as we have here at Creek in the new classrooms. The layout of Clear Springs is set up in smaller learning communities and has a huge lunchroom with circular tables. Currently, there will not be block scheduling at Clear Springs . The new school has another great asset, its principal, Gail Love. Mrs. Love worked as a principal in La Marque for two years at an elementary school and eight years at a junior high. She was an assistant principal at Creek for five years and the principal at League City Intermediate for four years. She has been a school administrator for nineteen years . She received her Bachelorʼs and Masters Degree from the University of Tennessee and an additional Masters Degree from the University of Houston at Clear Lake. Many students have been wondering what will happen with the athletic programs
at the new school. The first year that Clear Springs is opened, there will only be junior varsity team sports. Individual sport athletes, however, will be able to letter in sports such as track or tennis. The second year of CSHS, all sports will compete on the 5A Varsity level, but the oldest athletes will be juniors. The opening of Clear Springs will cause a lot of change at Creek, but it will also be very helpful. The new high school will alleviate parking problems as well as lower the large number of students enrolled at Creek. The opening of CSHS demonstrates how rapidly our area is growing. As League City and surrounding municipalities grow larger, CCISD must adapt and build more schools to educate the increasing number of students. This dilemma can be assessed by approval of the CCISD bond that provides for new schools and campus renovations. More information on the bond can be found on the districtʼs website. The Chargers may become the main rival for the Wildcats in the future, but as of now, both CCHS and CSHS are closely linked. Students at both schools will enjoy a brand-new building next year full of wellqualified administrators and educators. Any student lucky enough to attend Clear Springs, as well as those students who are staying at Creek, are in for an amazing high school career. Photo by CCHS alum Jeffery Jones
A view from the stands: three decades of family tradition (we had one for every game!) when he got to wear his Maroon #41 jersey and sit in the bleachers with the varsity football team. I was a sophomore, he was a junior. I waited through the school song, the fight song (Dixie was allowed back then!), the battle cries and the cheers until the moment I had longed for was arriving. The traditional Creek Varsity walk through with the cheerleaders and drill team on each side. The football players would walk one by one and wipe the back of our stuffed Willie the Wildcat (I believe it was really a Bobcat) for good luck before the game. There he was. My #41! My heart was in my throat, my face was flushed with pride and love, for I knew how proud this blonde haired young man was to be a part of the team. How hard he had worked for
2006- 2007 Homecoming Court page 8 and 9
Varsity football triumphs in district play
page 14
Photo by Fallan Drago
School shootings resurface in the U.S. page 5 Photo by AP/CCISD
years to be doing this, and how grateful I was to just be a part of it by watching and supporting him, although he probably never knew I was even there. I donʼt think I missed a single varsity game his junior or senior year. It helped that my younger sister was in the band, and my Dad, being such an avid football fan, made sure I got to go to every game. Back then, the school even provided school buses for student fans to attend away games for a very small fee. #41 was my world and football was his world so it truly became our world to me. His senior year he fell in love and my heart was broken, but it did not break our football world. I was still there in body and soul, supporting, cheering for, and loving him. Continued on page 15
Photo by Sarah Poore
“Mums” the word for Texas tradition page 13 Photo by Lauren Pourghan
Clear Creek HiLife