Creek Drama pg. 9
Trooper School pg. 15
Creek Waterpolo pg. 19
October 2009- Volume 84, Issue 2 2305 E. Main, League City, TX 77573
Clear Creek High School
Mix-It-Up Day coming to a cafeteria near you Chelsea Huebner On November 10, 2009 Mix It Up Day will be coming to Creek. It’s a day when cafeterias all over the nation are invaded by organizations whose goal is to promote tolerance and encourage students to meet someone new. On this day the students of Clear Creek High School can come together and “break down the walls of intolerance.” Schools all over the nation will be “mixing it up” and providing an atmosphere where students come out of their shells to meet new people. This mission will be accomplished at Creek by the journalism students and teachers. Hours of planning and hard work are put into this event in the cafeteria. On November 10 as students go to lunch, they will be greeted by members of the HiLife staff who will hand them a Jolly Rancher. With candy in hand, students will go into the main cafeteria where the tables will be covered with colored paper. Students will find
the table with the same color as the candy and sit there. As other students come in, the usual cliques found in high school cafeterias will be divided and broken up. This will give students a chance to talk to people that they would usually talk about but never talk to. With other activities planned in the cafeteria, students have something in common, something that they can talk about, something that unifies them. “It’s so much fun seeing people act outside of themselves in front of everyone,” Creek junior Laura Salkowski said. According to Tolerance.org, the website that sponsors Mix It Up Day, 97 percent of students who participated in Mix It Up Day 2008 said that the experience was a positive one and 83 percent said that the event had helped them to make new friends. While many students walk into the cafeteria, take the candy and still sit with their usual friends, they are still able to reap the benefits of the day. By participating in the activities or watching the activities, students begin to one is forced to interact with other people.
“ We never change our table but it’s always fun to watch people in the cafeteria because it’s definitely not something you see everyday,” Creek senior Alyssa Schaefbauer said. Mix It Up 2009 will be the Creek HiLife staff’s ninth year putting on the event and every year it has increased its success. Following the success of last year’s Mix It Up Day, there will be both dancing and beatboxing competitions. Students can sign up for these in room D136, and those participating in the dance competition need to bring a copy of their music for approval the week before the event. Students will also have an opportunity to sign up in the c a f eteria. If students are dancing they will have to use one of the songs
provided by the HiLife staff. Routines for the dance competition should be one to two minutes long to give everyone a chance to compete. The winners of the competitions will receive a prize.
took place one year ago. Almost every family in Galveston County suffered some kind of damage from Ike, some worse than others. Flooding caused extensive damage to homes, and every yard was covered in tree branches and other debris. A great deal of homes needed minor repairs, but some homes were completely destroyed by the hurricane. The damage from Ike affected every home, business, and building in the area, including the former Ninth Grade Center at Creek. Damage to the roof caused flooding in the school and carpet had to be replaced as well as a number of ceiling tiles. Because of the damage, many teachers lost supplies, student work and projects, and personal items kept in their classrooms. Repairs to the school have been completed at the school, which is now Clear Creek Intermediate. “I can’t even tell that there was damage done to the school because of Ike,” said Amber Griffith, a sixth grade student
at
grades and attendance. “Not having a home had an impact on the kids,” said Ms. Latulippe. Other students had to move in with friends because they had nowhere else to live. “I recently talked to a parent last week who had just moved back into a house,” said Ms. Latulippe. Ernie Artiz, a senior at Creek, lost his home in Nassau Bay as a result of the storm. When he evacuated, Artiz was only able to bring a few personal belongings and his home to find damage to the outside and roof of his house and the inside of the house completely torn apart. The cost of rebuilding ended up being more than the cost to build anew, so Artiz and his family had to move into a rental home. Now, over one year later, Artiz and his family still do not have a home. The new home is currently under construction and is expected to be finished around the winter holidays. It has been one year since Hurricane Ike swept through Texas leaving destruction in its path. Homes have been rebuilt and communities put back together, but there is still repair and recovery to be done.
Photo by HiLife Staff
Clear Creek remembering Ike one year later Tracey Griffith September 13, 2009 marked the oneyear anniversary of Hurricane Ike, a storm that left extensive damage to the coast of Texas and Galveston Island. Ike is said to be the “costliest natural disaster in Texas history.” The storm was a category four hurricane at its worst, but hit the coast as a 900-mile wide, category two hurricane with 110 mile per hour winds. The storm cost the state of Texas $29 billion in damage and was responsible for the death of 37 people. The rebuilding of Galveston Island and the Texas Coast has progressed greatly, but there are still signs of the destruction that Photo by HiLife staff
the Intermediate. Creek teacher Glen McWhorter returned after evacuating to find three feet of water in his house. Coach McWhorter said he lost appliances, lawn mowers, and golf carts, as well as personal items like photographs that cannot be replaced. Repairs for the house took seven months, during which he stayed in an apartment. “Now we’re back and up and running,” McWhorter said. Another Creek teacher, Sara Spinks, was living in Galveston at the time of the storm. She was displaced from her home for over a month because the electricity was out. After the storm, when school resumed, Mrs. Spinks did not have a house.. Spinks moved to League City in January, hoping to never have that problem again. Ms. Latulippe, the Student Activities Director at Creek, said that there were more kids affected by Ike than anyone realized. After the hurricane M s . Latulippe noticed a drop in students’