The Shield volume 65 issue 2

the

shield McCallum High School / 5600 Sunshine / Austin, TX 78756 Volume 65 / Issue 2 / Dec. 12, 2017

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Boys basketball @ Hyde Park, varsity 7:45 p.m.

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Wrestling vs. Crockett @ Mac, 7 p.m.

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Fifth & sixth period final. School ends @ 1:10 p.m.

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First & second period finals. School ends @ 1:10 p.m.

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Third & fourth period exam. School ends @ 1:10 p.m.

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Seventh & eighth period exams. School ends at 1:10 p.m.

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Boys basketball vs. Travis @ MAC, varsity @ 8 p.m.

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Girls basketball @ Travis, varsity @ 8 p.m.

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December

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the issue

Our fair city is near the top of the list of 238 U.S. cities vying to become the next headquarters of Amazon.

Starting in January, every McCallum student will be issued a Chromebook for use at home and in the classroom.

a&e

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Senior Sarah Kay Stephens explains how she got into tech theatre, why she loves it and how it’s made her who she is.

In the annual Battle of the Bands, Status Loco and Frisk beat out six other bands to earn the right to play at set at Stubb’s.

sports

Winter break begins

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The 2017 team became the second to complete a perfect regular season. Meet the first team: the 1966 Knights.

Austin is the biggest U.S. city without a major pro sports team, but a potential move of an MLS team might soon change that.

feature

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We profile four students who have harnessed the power Instagram as a tool for social networking and self expression.

Math teacher, MCC sponsor, StuCo adviser, and soccer coach Stephanie Watson talks time management.

opinion TOP: The marching band season ended on Nov. 8 after they did not advance to the final round in the state marching band competition in San Antonio at the Alamodome. Photo by Madison Olsen. ABOVE: On the final play of the first half, senior Mason Bryant leaps and catches Max Perez’s Hail Mary pass for a touchdown that gave the Knights a 14-8 lead over the Alice Coyotes. Photo by Dave Winter. Cover illustration by Charlie Holden.

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Shield columnist learns the hard way how the attendance policy can turn a long medical absence into a prison sentence.

We will probably spend more time fretting over the design of a Starbucks cup then we will connecting with our families this holiday season and that’s a crying shame.

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EMMA BAUMGARDNER staff reporter

After the renaming of Robert E. Lee Elementary school to Russell Lee Elementary, AISD is taking action to change the names of other schools named after Confederate figures.

There are five schools in the process of being renamed—John T. Allan Facility (formerly known as Allan Elementary), Fulmore Middle School, Lanier High School, Reagan High School and Eastside Memorial High School at the Johnston Campus. According to the AISD Board of Trustees, the process of changing these names will take place over the next six months, culminating in March when the school board will vote on these changes. In January, the school board will form committees at each school to decide the best course of action. In February, suggestions for name changes will be open to the public. The AISD school board president, Kendall Pace, proposed name changes be brought to the attention of Superintendent Paul Cruz.

“Many believe it is most important to educate the public again on who these individuals were, why the schools were originally named after them, and what has happened in recent history,” Pace said, “specifically some egregious national events surrounding both the use of Confederate symbols and the removal of Confederate monuments.”

Julie Cowan, an AISD trustee board member, said that the public will play a major role in determining how this process will play out.

“There are many groups that the district will engage to learn of their thoughts: school CACs [campus advisory councils], current students, faculty, alumni associations,” Cowan said. “We [board members] are also hearing from members of the public. Ultimately, as long as the board does not violate policy or the law, it can make any decision. But, the opinions of other stakeholders is of utmost importance to me and my colleagues.”

Many members of the McCallum staff have ties to the affected schools and have opinions about the proposed name changes. Science teacher Elaine Bohls-Graham is a graduate of Reagan High School, which was named after

12 dec. 2017

No Gray Matter

Board of Trustees acts to rename schools named after historical figures with Confederate ties the Confederate Postmaster General John H. Reagan. Bohls-Graham was a student there when students were first bussed around the district during integration.

“I believe it was in 1970 that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans handed down the desegregation order and closed the original Anderson High School,” Bohls-Gahram said.

“That’s when a majority of the kids were bussed to Reagan and to McCallum. At Reagan, we tried to be inclusive with everything, but we still had a lot of bomb threats, fires and fights. We had riots at the school and for a long time, mostly during my sophomore year. You would hear announcements all the time saying ‘all male teachers to the new mall’ or ‘all male teachers to the old mall’ because there was some type of fight. Later, we found out a lot of the fires and the bomb threats that were called in were from outside of the school.”

Bohls-Graham keeps in contact with many of her fellow Reagan alumni via Facebook. They are discussing possible new names for Reagan, including ways to commemorate the past students and staff.

“We’ve talked about Coach Dennis Ceder,” Bohls-Graham said. “Dennis was a graduate of Reagan; he played on the football team in the ‘70s, and he came back and coached at Reagan. If you’re following some of what AISD does, they tend to name schools after former teachers or athletic personnel, and that would be an amazing if we renamed it to honor and memorialize Dennis.”

While Bohls-Graham is in favor of honoring Coach Ceder, she has questions about renaming the school in the first place.

“If you’re going to change the schools’ [names], it doesn’t take care of the fact that you have, for example, the John H. Reagan

State Building,” Bohls-Graham said. “Are you gonna change that? You have Reagan County in the state of Texas. Are you going to change that name? Where do you stop, and why are you only centering ... on the Confederacy? I see both sides, but why are you not double checking more, because Stephen F. Austin owned slaves. Are we going to rename the city of Austin? Why are we just focusing on this little snippet of time?”

Bohls-Graham and her fellow Reagan alumni are worried about the lasting repercussions of renaming the schools and how the renaming will impact athletics and school culture.

“Are we going to be changing colors?” BohlsGraham said. “Are we going to be changing the school mascot? Are we going to keep the traditions? Are we going to keep the Raider name? Those are the things that people are talking about.”

These traditions are important ways that alumni remember their high school experience and connect to and reflect on their shared past.

“I can only say that I know that it’s going to hurt us in the sense that we will no longer have a school,” she said. “The building will still be there, but it won’t be Reagan.”

It isn’t only former students who are apprehensive of the proposed name changes, AISD faculty have concerns as well. Melinda Von Rosenberg, who previously taught at Fulmore Middle School for five years, is also concerned with making these name changes in the first place.

“If you look back at some of the other people in our history, like Thomas Jefferson, he had slaves,” said Von Rosenberg, who added that Jefferson also wrote extensive literature about abolishing slavery. “There’s no way you’re gonna wean through every single person.

Everybody has skeletons in their closet, and every culture does too. The Romans had slaves,

and a lot of the Romans were black and had white slaves. We’re wasting our time instead of moving forward. We need to be trying to create something useful with the money we have; there’s a limited amount of money in the district. Enough is enough.”

Von Rosenberg is also concerned about the way Fulmore will be remembered after the name change. Fulmore Middle School was built in 1911 and named after Zachary Taylor Fulmore, a Travis County judge and an Austin Board of Trustee for 17 years (1880-1897). In his youth, Fulmore served as Confederate private in North Carolina. According to Von Rosenberg, changing Fulmore’s name will change the way the history and legacy of the school is perceived and how it will be remembered. “[The name of the school] wasn’t an issue,” she said, “nobody talked about it, but what was spoken of often was it was the oldest school [building] in the district.”

The cost of the name changes is another issue that raises concerns. The board estimates the name changes will cost the district $322,000.

“I feel like that’s money not well spent.” Von Rosenberg said. “We can use that money to do something better with our time.”

The Board of Trustees expects to take funding for the name changes from their general revenue and is even accepting donations from the public.

Advocates for the name change point out the reason the schools were named after prominent Confederate figures in the first place. With the exception of Fulmore and Lanier, most of the five schools built during the ‘50s and ‘60s were named during the civil rights movement. This timing, accompanied with recent actions to take down statues memorializing Confederate history, contributed to AISD’s decision.

According to Pace, the decision to rename AISD schools isn’t intended to change how citizens remember Confederate history but rather how they learn and grow from past mistakes.

“Times have changed, ideas always are evolving,” Pace said. “We should understand our diverse history and remember it, but shouldn’t have to be governed by decisions made under a different moral standard of the day.”

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Would Amazon be an A-plus for Austin?

Shipping giant would bring jobs, revenue, cost of living increase

Photo by Stuart Seeger/Flickr Creative Commons. Printed with permission. Photo illustration by Charlie Holden.

MAX RHODES staff reporter

This September, Amazon officials announced they want to build a second headquarters somewhere in North America. The company plans to invest $5 billion in the project and supply the city they choose with up to 50,000 jobs. The headquarters would be equal in size to the current facility in Seattle, and will supposedly bring tens of billions of dollars to the surrounding community.

Different sources have different opinions about which city Amazon might choose, but Austin and Atlanta have consistently been at the top of the list of cities mentioned in media reports on the subject. Some other cities include Boston, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Philadelphia. A total of 238 cities have applied to be considered as a site for the new headquarters. With all this competition, these cities need a way to stand out. Several cities have offered billions of dollars in tax breaks to entice Amazon to chose their location. Dallas proposed to build a bullet train for Amazon, and Tucson, Ariz., shipped them a saguaro cactus to try and appeal to them. Stonecrest, Ga., had the most interesting proposal: changing the city’s name to Amazon.

Amazon said in a press release on its website that it is looking for a city with at least 8 million square feet of office space, located downtown or within 30 minutes of the population center.

The company also wants the headquarters to be

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located within 45 minutes of an international airport and only a few miles from an interstate highway. In addition, company officials want the city to have a large enough population to support 50,000 potential new jobs.

The criteria could be good news for Austin, as the city fulfills most of these requirements, as well as offering a university that could supply candidates for jobs at the headquarters.

Amazon has some previous encounters with Austin, such as the purchase of Whole Foods, an Austin company last August. Amazon already employs thousands of workers in Central Texas, more than any other city in the state. Some are predicting that because Amazon has already invested so much in the city, they probably have bigger plans here.

Austin mayor, Steve Adler, said in an interview with The Austin American-Statesman that he thinks Amazon could “help the Austin area tackle some of its major issues.”

He also said “it could maybe be them being here to help us with new mobility technologies, or maybe them being able to help extend mobility services to parts of the city that don’t have that.”

When Amazon moves to its chosen city, the effects are expected to be felt widely, according to statistics that Amazon reported on its website. Amazon first set up headquarters in Seattle in 1994. Between 2010 and 2016, the company reported that it brought $34 billion to the city’s economy.

According to Amazon’s website, every dollar invested by Amazon in Seattle generated an additional $1.40 for the city’s economy. In addition, the company added tens of thousands of jobs, as well as millions of dollars to the city’s local businesses and public transportation.

There is, however, a downside to the addition of such a large company to an already prosperous city. McCallum world geography and economics teacher Michael Sanabria said that Amazon possibly moving to Austin could be great for the city but not necessary great for all of the city’s residents. If Amazon were to create 50,000 lucrative new jobs, it would make everything more expensive for residents who are paid less than the Amazon employees would be paid.

“These are very high paying jobs, and when people have six-figure jobs [$100,000 or more]and want a nice place to live, or a nice place to eat, that makes those things less affordable,” Sanabria said.

The other concern with building the new headquarters is the surplus of unnecessary jobs Amazon would create, which may not be able to be filled: “Amazon would supply the city with jobs, but the unemployment rate of Austin is very low,” Sanabria said. “We don’t really need all those jobs.”

Sanabria thinks that, on the positive side, Amazon moving here would “put Austin on the map,” along with the soccer team that has expressed interest in moving to the city [see page 19].

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austincc.edu/startnow 12 dec. 2017

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Blue Brigade officers dance in Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, both holiday football games While most students spent their Thanksgiving break overstuffing themselves with turkey and pie, juniors Karel Tinkler and Ellie Stites were dancing their way through the streets of New York in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“Being there and watching the floats and the parade live, not just on the TV, was a really cool experience,” Tinkler said.

“It’s such an iconic thing to be a part of.”

Stites and Tinkler received an award at Blue Brigade camp over the summer called “All-American,” which gave them the opportunity to participate in the parade.

Tinkler and Stites also braved a hectic schedule in order to make the trip to New York and both playoff football games scheduled before and after the parade. After the football game Friday, Nov. 17 in Castroville, Stites and Tinkler had to catch an early morning plane in order to make the eight-hour rehearsal the following day in New York.

“Friday night we got home [from the game] around 2:30 a.m. and I still had to pack, so I was up until 3:30 [a.m.],” Tinkler said, “and we had to leave for the airport at 4 a.m., so I got about 20 minutes of sleep.”

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, Stites and Tinkler split their time between rehearsal and seeing the sights in New York City.

“We got to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Broadway that night,” Stites said. “The next day we had a harbor cruise, and Wednesday we had a dress rehearsal.”

However, their time was well split between tourist attractions and dancer responsibilities.

“There was a lot of rehearsal time throughout the whole week, but just the fact that you’re going to be in the Macy’s Day Parade made it [worth] it,” Tinkler said.

The rehearsals were a tough process that included hundreds of dancers doing the same formations.

“We all learned [the] dance previously,” Tinkler said. “We all got there and it was 600 girls from all over the country, and doing formations for 600 girls is crazy. I was crammed up against a wall because there were so many girls in such a small area.”

The parade itself was no easy task for the dancers either.

“During the Macy’s Day Parade, it was 32 degrees outside, and you’re wearing your costume, and you’re freezing, but you have to keep smiling,” Tinkler said.

After the parade, Stites and Tinkler were in for another early morning flight. The next Friday morning, they had to be up early to catch a plane back to Austin to make the football game that evening in Rosenburg.

“I was dreading going to the football game at first because I was very tired,” Stites said. “But once we got there and once we were winning, I got very excited. I had my whole extended family there from Houston, so it turned out to be very fun.”

Despite dealing with cold temperatures, long flights and

News in a

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On Nov. 30 and Dec. 2, the TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) held its auditions, and many McCallum band members tried out. The results included a total of 52 students who placed in the district band, 39 in the regional band, and 12 in the area band.

Four of the students who made it to area also placed first chair.

Junior and trumpet player Chance Green made both area band and first chair, and wants to perform well at the next level of auditions.

“I hope that I’m going to do really well at the All-State competition,” Green said.

In order to qualify to audition to state, musicians must have made area-level band. Auditions for the All-State band were originally scheduled to take place at the University of Texas on Dec. 6, but they have since been moved to Akins on Dec. 13 due to a conflict on the university’s part.

Dan Thomas has been playing the bassoon and saxophone since sixth grade, and hopes that he will get to participate in All-State as a junior.

“It gives me an opportunity to hopefully make state this year, as I was one away from making it last year,” Thomas said.

Green is excited to experience the All-State competition this year, especially after securing the top spot in the Area-level band.

“I expected to make Area,” Green said. “I made it last year, but I didn’t know if I was going to make first or not, so it’s pretty good.”

Senior wind ensemble member Aubrey Rowan, who qualified for area band, says auditions are a familiar but pleasant experience.

“I’ve been going to these for six years so I’m super used to what it’s like,” Rowan said. “It’s always nice to hear everyone from other schools as well.”

—William Tyree

Karel Tinkler and Ellie Stites in costume at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Photo by Samantha Orteo. sleep deprivation, both Tinkler and Stites concurred that the experience was worth it all.

“I think the whole experience would be cool to talk about later on,” Stites said. “To be like, ‘I was in the Macy’s Day Parade,’ is something a lot of people don’t get to say.”

For Stites, the trip meant more than just a performance; it entailed family bonding.

“It was my dad and I’s first time in New York,” Stites said.

“We went and did the regular tourist thing. I was excited to spend the holiday with him.”

Along with her father, Stites was happy that she was able to be with Tinkler on the trip.

“Most of the time, [Karel and I] are just doing Blue Brigade, but it was cool be able to spend the [trip] with Karel,” Stites said.

—Madison Olsen

All 3 MacJournalism publications place in national Best of Show MacJournalism received some good news this November.

Two representatives from The Shield and two from The Knight traveled to the JEA/NSPA national journalism convention in Dallas. Co-editor-in-chief Charlie Holden won an “Excellent” rating in JEA Write-Off competition in the Copy Editing/ Headline Writing division, and yearbook attendees Kya Blount and Grace Brady learned that the earned honorable mention in the NSPA Design of the Year competition for the infograph they completed along with 2017 graduates Alana Raper and Tony Lavorgna. Diego Guiterrez earned honorable mention in the NSPA News Photo of the Year competition.

At the same convention, photography teacher Carey West and 12 of her current and former students were featured in the book, Best of Texas High School Photography.

Mac band members qualify for all-state competition

The book includes this description of West’s teaching: “West puts an emphasis on building relationships with her students, and she provides them with a contemporary vision, openness to unusual or challenging art, and she is accepting and supportive of what students want to create.”

Additionally, all three McCallum publications—The Shield, The Knight, and The Shield Online— placed seventh, fourth and ninth respectively in the NSPA Best in Show competition.

These were among the 10 winners selected in each category.

In related news, all three publications also received Gold Medal awards in their 2017 critiques from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. All three earned enough points in all three categories—Essentials, Visual, and Verbal—to earn the highest possible rating.

—Sophie Ryland

Pre-AP World Geography and AP Human Geography teacher Katie Carrasco accepts the Outstanding Teaching of Humanities Award. Photo by Lindsey Plotkin.

Carrasco wins Outstanding Teaching of Humanities Award Pre-AP World Geography and AP Human Geography teacher Katie Carrasco received the Outstanding Teaching of Humanities Texas Award from the 10th Congressional District recognizing her performance as a social studies teacher. This annual award is presented to 12 different teachers across Texas and includes a $5000 prize to the recipient and $500 to benefit the humanities department at their school. Carrasco was one of 11 awarded teachers out of more than 700 applicants.

“I appreciate the recognition, but I would do it all over again 100 times without it,” Carrasco said.

Principal Mike Garrison, Bernie Carrasco, Sarah Holloway from Congressman Michael McCaul’s office, AISD Board trustee Julie Cowan and former McCallum social studies teacher and Humanities Texas award winner Jim Ferguson were all present on Nov. 30 to witness the award presentation.

—Lindsey Plotkin

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New course discusses race, ethnicity

AISD pilots ethnic studies program; Texas legislators consider implementing statewide curriculum SOPHIE RYLAND assistant editor

“Is McCallum woke?” asked a poster in the main hallway that urged students to submit “the questions about race they were too afraid to ask.”

The poster was the work of Lucy Griswold’s ethnic studies class, currently in its pilot year as a social studies elective. The course is designed to examine history and politics from the perspective of minority populations.

“Young people right now are talking about race,” Griswold said. “It might be on Twitter and mostly memes, but still, people are talking about it.”

After Stanford University published a study that observed that students who took ethnic studies had better grades, attendance and graduation rates, the AISD Board of Trustees decided to create their own ethnic studies curriculum. Jessica Jolliffe, AISD’s social studies supervisor, brought together a team of teachers last summer to design such a program, now implemented at several high schools.

“Attendance is really important,” Jolliffe said.

“You want students to be invested in school, you want students to be making good grades, to feel like they have a connection with what they’re learning in class ... that people are discussing issues, history, experiences that reflect their own lives.”

Ethnic studies first appeared in the 1960s and 1970s, when universities began teaching Mexican-American studies in the wake of the Chicano movement. The demand for such a course at the high school level has accelerated in recent years despite stories like that of the Arizona legislature, which banned any course “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.”

The law garnered national attention but has since been struck down by a federal judge.

Jolliffe said that while it is too early to conclude that the ethnic studies pilot program has improved student attitudes toward and attendance at school, the early reports are extremely promising.

“Students do feel a sense of connectedness and belonging, and they see themselves reflected in the curriculum as a result of that culturally relevant pedagogy and resources that the students get in the class,” Jolliffe said.

As well as working with the district team, Griswold also helped to design an ethnic studies course as a graduate student at the University of Texas that Austin ISD later on used as inspiration for its curriculum.

“We have six themes that structure the semester,” Griswold said. “The first theme is the idea that race is biologically false but socially real. … The idea of race is quite a new idea; it started in the 17th century and changes historically as society creates it. The course has a contemporary focus, so we look a lot at current racial politics, current political issues, current events, just start from there and then go back historically and try to explain how we evolved to the current moment.”

Though AISD has been able to develop its own ethnic studies course, there has been significant discourse over the subject at the statewide level.

The Texas Board of Education rejected a proposal to create a curriculum for such a class in 2014,

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Social studies teacher Lucy Griswold works with senior Noah Phillips and sophomore Zion Flores during the third-period ethnic studies class on Wednesday. Photo by Tomas Marrero. but requested that textbooks be submitted on the topic, a request they’ve since repeated every subsequent school year.

There is dissent among the members of the state board over whether a statewide ethnic studies course should exist in the first place, as districts are free to create their own curriculum.

Debbie Ratcliffe, the director of media relations for the State Board of Education, said that the board intends to discuss the creation of an official ethnic studies course at its meeting in late January.

In a related decision, the board declined to adopt either of two proposed Mexican-American Studies textbooks. According to a boardsponsored study published on its website, the first proposed book contained such controversial statements as, “Mexicans were viewed as lazy compared to European and American workers” and that those participating in the Chicano rights movement of the 1970s were attempting to “destroy society.”

The second book was rejected after a committee ruled that it was riddled with factual inconsistencies. Last November, however, the board voted in favor of a memoir about the Holocaust, which they are citing as their first approved ethnic studies textbook.

Considering that Texas serves more than 5 million students in its public schools, it has significant clout in the textbook industry; their approved books sell in high numbers and are often adopted by other states.

The public affairs specialist for the Texas State Teachers Association, Clay Robison, says that it is imperative that the board create a statewide course for the sake of less wealthy school districts, who may not be able to afford finding and paying for their own ethnic studies textbook.

“It’s important that the state board continues to address this issue and come up with a fair, balanced curriculum and a book that includes

the points and standards in the curriculum be published that can be adopted and recommended for use in all the schools,” Robison said. “That’s a process that will a little time, unfortunately, but it’s a process that should’ve already been done.”

Robison urges parents and educators to convince the State Board of Education and the Texas Education Agency to continue working on developing a statewide ethnic studies curriculum.

“A majority of the students at Texas public schools are Hispanic, and they need to be able to read textbooks and other instructional materials that more accurately reflect the contributions their ancestors made to their state’s history and culture,” he said. “They should be able to read books and engage in classroom discussion, instruction and activities about that. It’s the only right thing to do.”

Of Texas’s 5 million public school students, 52 percent identify as Hispanic, 29 percent as white, 13 percent as African-American, and 4 percent as Asian, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Students in AISD’s course use A Different Mirror, written by Ronald Tataki, but Griswold says that the class is not structured around one book or resource.

“Textbooks can be nice because they provide a structure and a backbone, but teachers at this school are given the freedom to bring in a lot of sources,” Griswold said. “I think when you’re talking about something as politically charged and controversial as race, you need as many perspectives as possible. Even with a textbook that’s written ‘objectively,’ it’s still important to bring in lots and lots of ideological positions.”

Jolliffe agrees; she says that the loose requirements have given teachers a muchneeded amount of flexibility.

“We want to have a unit on civil rights, we want to have a unit on legal issues, we want to have a unit of economic policies, so teachers have

a basic frame for what they should be teaching,” she said. “[As] for [the] content they want to include, they can really tailor that to meet the needs of students that are in their classrooms.”

One unique project in Griswold’s class includes the posters that appeared in McCallum’s halls.

The students, who also designed a Snapchat filter requesting questions from the student body, collected more than 400 questions about race, which they will later answer on a website they will create as their final project for the course.

“One of the questions was, ‘Is Vicky black?’

She’s this Instagram celebrity who most people would read as a white girl, and she, in other ways, like culturally, appears black,” Griswold said. “It requires you to answer the question, ‘What is race?’ Is Vicky black? Well, she says she has black ancestry. Does that make her black?

Does being culturally black make you black?

Even though some of the questions seem really simple at first, they actually require having a pretty sophisticated understanding of race and ethnicity. So again, I think it’s important to start with how students are engaging with their questions in these everyday lives and then go deeper and think about how these connect to issues.”

Katie Carrasco, the social studies department chair, said that the main challenge has been recruiting students for the program, but those who have been in it have given her great feedback.

“It’s a benefit to the school, to the students,” Carrasco said. “I think it’s allowing for a structured platform for conversations to take place in a really constructive way; a lot of students, and adults for that matter, are wanting to have conversations but don’t know how to go about it, and so it’s a really exploratory way to look at the issues.”

Sophomore Charlotte Evelyn agrees; she gives nothing but praise for the discussions she’s been a part of during this first ethnic studies class.

“It’s a really open and safe space to learn about potentially sensitive topics and really gives everyone involved a new perspective on the world,” she said. “We also have focused heavily on intersectionality, which has brought many issues to light that I didn’t even realize were around me. Issues of inequality or injustice in my own community, city, school are so real, and looking into their causes and effects has made me a more well-rounded person.”

According the Jolliffe, the class will be taught at every AISD high school next year. In the future they plan to work on increasing enrollment in the ethnic studies program, and will potentially even develop a similar course for middle schools.

She stressed how successful the beginning of the program has been, and expressed hope for its growth in the future.

“The most common comment from those enrolled in the course this semester has been, ‘I can’t believe I haven’t already learned this, and I can’t believe no one’s ever talked to me about this, and I’m so happy I’m learning this information now,’” she said. “They felt like they were learning material that was really important, that was relevant to them, that teachers and students were discussing real issues.”

12 dec. 2017

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Chrome sweet Chrome?

New district initiative to brings school-issued laptops to every student on Jan. 11 EMMA BAUMGARDNER staff reporter

In January, all McCallum students are slated to get district-issued Chromebooks. The laptops themselves are touch screen and can be transformed into tablets. Students will be allowed to take these computers home and will be responsible for taking care of them. The initiative to give students access to computers at home stems from districtwide use of the program BLEND, which teachers have integrated into their classrooms since the beginning of the year.

BLEND, which is short for blended learning, was initiated in AISD high schools this fall in order to incorporate more technology in the classroom. The idea is to make student access to deadlines, grades and homework more streamlined, equitable and user-friendly. The AISD initiative that provided both BLEND and the new Chromebooks is called Everyone:1 and aims to spread internet access around the district.

Assistant principal Sophia Sherline is working to institute this program on McCallum’s campus.

“The district was trying to go 3 to 1, which is one device for every three kids,” she said. “We were able to do that about a year and a half ago; that’s the Chromebooks that you see in classrooms, but not every teacher had them.

Then, this past semester in the fall, half of Austin ISD high schools got the Chromebooks, and Mr. Garrison likes to wait to have the bugs worked out before we get them.”

Even though these computers are available to all students, not all students are required to accept them. Students can also bring their own personal devices to school but still must follow the Acceptable Use Guidelines and Internet Safety Plan. AISD internet restrictions will still be placed on these Chromebooks even when they are taken off campus.

According to Sherline, students with signed permission slips will be given their computers on Jan. 11 during their fifth-period class.

“Everybody in your class that has permission is gonna go with an ID barcode to indicate you have permission” she said. “You’re gonna go into the library, grab a Chromebook, then go to the guy with a scanner. You’re gonna give him your ID, he’s gonna scan it, scan the Chromebook, and then you’re off to the next table to get the charger and bag. Then you’re gonna sit down, open up your Chromebook and make sure it works with your student login.

You’re gonna get a name tag on to stick in your bag, then go back to class and learn appropriate use for Chromebooks.”

Along with giving students Chromebooks, Sherline is also helping implement the schoolwide lessons about how best to use the new computers.

“While you’re in class, teachers will have digital citizenship and digital literacy lessons to go over with the students,” she said. “There will be two lessons for teachers to go over and make sure you understand what a digital footprint is and know that everything you put on the internet is there forever and know our responsibilities as young people using the internet.”

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Sophomores Desaray Trevino and Aaliyah Cruz talk to AISD technology design coach Rita Fennelly-Atkinson about the Chromebooks students will receive Jan. 11. During lunch last week, Fennelly-Atkinson demonstrated the new laptops and how to use them. Photo by Maddie Doran.

Even though the process of every student acquiring a computer will be cumbersome, members of the Everyone:1 program are prepared to celebrate the occasion.

“Apparently in the library, there’s gonna be a big party,” Sherline said, “with a disco ball and music and foam hands. They’re gonna have a party in there while they hand out Chromebooks, so it’s gonna but fun.”

As a part of the requirements of the Everyone:1 initiative, teachers are encouraged to incorporate computer-based learning in the classroom and incorporate the new technology into their lesson plans. Science teacher Marion Jones is the campus innovation coach, which means she helps teachers implement the new technology in their classrooms.

“The district has several initiatives, one of which is being paperless by 2020,” she said. “As we purchased the BLEND student access learning system, we want everyone to have access to it, all the time. Purchasing the Chromebooks gives everybody more equitable access to school materials.”

As a classroom teacher, Jones is also excited to introduce the Chromebooks to her students.

“My hope is, specifically for my class, that everybody has access to a computer at home” she said. “Even though we do a majority of our work in class, if you don’t finish it, you still have

access to it at home. You have access to my class calendar, seniors can work on college papers.

It’ll be nice that people can do research at home.”

Other teachers shared Jones’s enthusiasm but also expressed concerns. Biology teacher Nicole Sorto is both excited and apprehensive for the Chromebook rollout.

“I think it’s a pretty cool idea” she said. “My worries are that kids will forget them, and how do you deal with that? So there are some logistical issues as far as I’m concerned, but I like the idea. There’s so much technology right there at your fingertips.”

As a part of her biology class, Sorto has her students create an interactive notebook in order to engage the material.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to do our interactive notebook using the computer,” she said, “and I’m not sure yet because the interactive notebook is based around actually physically writing and drawing, which is a really important aspect of learning.

“I’m gonna try to figure out how I can do notes on the computer, and do drawings in the notebook, but I’m not sure how I’m gonna balance that. I’m excited about it; I think it will be really cool [using the Chromebooks]; I just have to figure it out. I think it’s important to use your senses.”

Science teacher Amy Shin is also concerned

about the implementation of Chromebooks in the classroom and how teachers will incorporate the new technology.

“I think it’s a weird gear shift in the middle of the semester,” she said. “You have to change the curriculum a little bit, and focus on a different kind of engagement. When they [students] have computers, it’s like managing another entity almost because we used to have to fight for them to put their electronics away, but now it’s an essential part of the classroom.”

Around the school, students are divided on whether or not personal Chromebooks are a good idea. Junior Piper Wiest isn’t completely in favor of the initiative because of it’s move to make McCallum paperless.

“I really prefer actual textbooks and hard copies of assignments” she said. “The whole introduction of Chromebooks makes me a little worried that we’re for sure moving away from paper completely, and I really hope we don’t.”

As the district moves forward with this new initiative, McCallum staff and administration remain open to the new opportunities that all students having access to technology will bring.

“For me, that’s the biggest benefit I see,” Jones said. “It’s opening up more possibilities to kids who didn’t have them before.”

To read Kristen Tibbett’s column about the new Chromebooks, please see page 24.

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Looking back on band’s time to shine Marching season culminates on Nov. 8 with celebratory send-off, appearance at State in Alamodome 10:48- Seniors Lily McCormick and Aubrey Rowan walk through rows of cheerleaders and family toward the buses. “Running through the banner was the best thing about the morning,” McCormick said. “I’ve always seen the football players doing it, and I’ve secretly always wanted to.” Photo by Madison Olsen.

8:59- The drum line rehearses before leaving for the Alamodome. “I was nervous, because it’s not often McCallum gets this opportunity,” Keane Sammon said. “I wanted to make sure we all represented McCallum in the best light and came out and showed the state what we can do.” Photo by Joseph Cardenas.

8:59

10:06- Pedro Najar, Nicholas Applewhite, Jordan Pearson, Dexter Canning, Clifton Pike, Jimmy Reyes, Jonathan Forbes, Aly Candelas, William Critendon and Henry Stanford bleached or shaved their hair to honor the band making it to state. “The best part was being able to share a moment

of intensity and focus everyone worked so hard for,” Reyes said.

Photo by Madison Olsen.

4:28- Emily Freeman joins the color guard in rehearsing in the Alamodome parking lot before the performance. Photo by Joseph Cardenas.

10:06

10:48

4:28

4:09

4:09- Sarah Schneider, Lily McCormick, and Andrea de Poo participate in their last section huddle before warming up in the parking lot outside the Alamodome. Photo by Madison Olsen.

5:38- J u n i o r C l a i r e Ru d y p e r f o r m s t h e band’s show ArtPop at the Alamodome during

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the preliminary round of finals. “Performing in the Alamodome was such an incredible experience,” Rudy said. “Getting the chance to perform in such a huge stadium and in front of that large a crowd was really a once-in-alifetime opportunity. We finished the season on the best note possible.” Photo

by Joseph Cardenas.

5:05

6:28

5:05- The band is led through the tunnel and onto the field by director Carol Nelson.

Photo by Madison Olsen.

6:28- Senior Aly Candelas holds her breath as the finalists are announced.

McCallum placed 22nd out of 35 5A bands that qualified. “I’m proud of the band for making it this far,” Candelas said. “We’ve done a great job this season.”

Photo by Madison Olsen.

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This month: MB E E D C E

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Some shows to watch this winter

Wishing you an ‘Atypical’ holiday season this year With such a large number of shows on Netflix and the freedom of a couple weeks for winter break, binge-watching a new show or finishing one you already started is basically a required holiday activity.

If commitment is hard for you, then watching a Netflix original show is a nice option because they usually consist of one or two season with about 10 episodes per season. A really great Netflix original to check out is the Atypical, which follows the life of Sam, a teenager on the autism spectrum who faces the struggles of high school and home life while exploring his love life. Atypical does a great job of shining a serious light on autism while also being a feel-good comedy guaranteed to make your mustwatch list this holiday break.

Another show worth mentioning is Freaks and Geeks. This classic ‘90s comedy has gained popularity in the past five years. Starring numerous household names before they were famous, it’s a season and a half of hilarious high school realness. The main character, Lindsey, played by Linda Cardellini, is trying to find her place in high school and joins a group of outcasts lead by James Franco and Seth Rogen’s characters. The show focuses on Lindsey’s little brother, Sam, who is struggling through freshman year with his nerdy friend group.

While the two mentioned series are similar, both have a different style and will leave you wanting to watch more. Atypical is renewed for another season (coming out in 2018) while Freaks and Geeks has not aired since 2000. Winter break is a perfect time to lay in bed with a dog and some hot chocolate and check out these shows.

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Essentially Austin If you are a true Austinite, there are a few classic traditions that you simply must attend over the holidays. These help the winter months feel a bit more winter-y even when it’s 75 degrees and sunny. If you’re looking for a few fun things to do with your friends, here is a checklist.

Whole Food Ice Skating Open from Dec. 5 through Jan. 1.

Cost: $10 Ballet Austin’s Nutcracker Open from Dec. 8 through Dec. 23.

Cost: $15 and up Mozart’s Lights Open from Nov. 17 through Jan. 1.

Cost: free Austin Trail of Lights Open from Nov. 26 through Dec. 26.

Cost: $3

Taverna a perfect winter restaurant With the holidays on their way and family in town, it can be fun to dress nice and paint the town red with out-of-town relatives. A restaurant worth checking out is located on Second Street is a cozy Italian place called Taverna.

Although it’s fairly pricey, the pizza is fabulous and is customizable or can be ordered right off of the menu. The pasta and salad is also noteworthy. Another great thing to try out is the appetizer order of foccacia bread.

Nestled in next to Jo’s and other little restaurants, the location is very nice and a good area to hang out around. There is also an outdoor patio that is perfect for the summer months. In the winter the patio is screened in and has heaters so people can still enjoy the setting outside.

Inside, the setting is upscale with a touch of a home-style folksiness. There are many old paintings and a view of the kitchen. The service is fast and helpful.

Next time you’re in the area, check it out! The address is 258 W 2nd St. It can get fairly busy during the holidays so a reservation is always a good idea. Visit their website for more information: http://tavernabylombardi.com/.

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The light of her life

Photos and interview

by Charlie Holden

Senior technical theatre major shares how life behind the curtain has helped her find her way

The Shield: What made you get into tech theatre?

Sarah Kay Stephens: In eighth grade I was building a trebuchet for a physics project, and I got to pick up a drill for the first time, and the power behind it was awesome. I’ve also been sewing since fourth grade, so I thought originally I was going into tech theatre to do costumes, but shortly after I found the saws, I decided [costumes] were not for me.”

TS: What does tech encompass?

SS: Tech is all about the elements of a theater show. There’s lights, sound, set, costumes, props makeup and projections. It’s everything that goes into a show to make it have a little extra.

TS: What is your specialty within tech?

SS: My specialty is lighting, but I also do set construction. Lighting is my favorite, and it’s a fun thing that has kind of crossed into my everyday life because I love lights so much. But, I still enjoy and can do any other element of tech.

TS: Why do you like lighting so much?

SS: It’s the art that brings out the beauty in other styles. It’s in the background, and if you can notice it, it’s not done well, because it’s supposed to showcase the talent of others. I think it’s beautiful how turning on certain lights can bring out different colors in paintings, or showcase how a dancer’s body moves.

TS: Are you going into tech in college?

SS: I want to go into

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engineering, but there are some programs I’m looking into where I [could] do lighting as a minor. I think that there will always be a part of me that wants to keep doing tech theatre, so I’ll find small community theaters to volunteer at. I think tech has impacted my decision [to pursue engineering because] I want to get inside of things and figure out how they work. Especially in lighting, if something’s broken, you have to take it apart and reconstruct it to make it work again. I want to become an engineer because I want to see how things work and want to help improve current structures and ways that we create things in our everyday lives.

TS: What has been the most difficult show you’ve worked?

SS: The most difficult show was Love’s Sacrifice because it was the first show I ever did the lighting design for, and it was hard trying to conceptualize all the different elements of it. I failed horribly on that show because it was a hard show. A lot of time you couldn’t see [the actors’] faces because we were trying to go for such a conceptualized look that we lost the actors along the way.

TS: What is the most rewarding part of tech theatre?

SS: The most rewarding part of tech is getting to see the show at the end. During Cyrano last year, there was one scene after the main character dies. The lights in the backdrop faded to a red, there was this haze everywhere and there was this single beam of light, and I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t tear up a little there.

There were so many emotions being evoked by this art that these actors were creating, and it was just awesome to be a part of the team that created that.”

TS: What advice would you give to anyone starting out in tech?

SS: A lot of times, even if you don’t know what you’re doing, you just gotta go for it because there’s really no right way to do any of it. Just do your own thing but follow the guidelines.

TS: What is the Texas Thespians Festival?

SS: We’ve been going for the past three years to the Texas Thespian Festival, [which] is a three-day-long [event] where we get to go take workshops, compete and listen to keynote speakers who have had success in theatre along with 8,000 other students from Texas. For thespians, it goes state, nationals,

then finals. We have about five students who progressed to nationals, so there’s still opportunity to compete at the finals level.

TS: What are your main responsibilities in tech?

SS: I organize a lot of other technicians, so it’s rewarding when I see it click in their brains, like ‘Oh, this is how that works,’ or ‘Oh, I understand this now.’ The most rewarding part is getting to pass down information I’ve learned throughout the years to underclassmen and still learning.

TS: What do you think makes tech a unique major at McCallum?

SS: Tech is the most interactive major that interacts with all the other majors because we’re there working their shows and helping them put on the best show that they can do like choir cabaret. We have technicians work [everything] from the dance shows to Mr. McCallum.

TS: What is it like to be a leader within the tech department?

SS: I’m the academy ambassador for technical theatre ,and I’m also the president of the thespians society over all the acting and musical theatre and tech students. It’s just a lot of understanding and helping people understand what we’re doing in theatre and how we can get as much out of the process as possible. Last year, I was selected by the previous officers and technical directors, but the year before I was the only junior officer because I was elected by the students. I love the theatre and I love organizing fundraisers and helping people get through theatre because sometimes it can be kind of rough, but it’s very awesome to see all of the talented people in our program.

TS: How do you think your high school experience would be different if you weren’t in tech?

SS: I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have tech theatre. It has kind of become who I am.

See the full interview at macshieldonline.com

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Eight bands stick their necks out Status Loco, Frisk earn right to play at Stubb’s after winning the Battle of the Bands

Avi Hurwitz raps the first verse of “Red 16” during Status Loco’s set at the Battle of the Bands.

The band, which includes Hurwitz, Matan Bos Orent, Jason Brady and Nate Culbert, won the popular vote, which earns the band the right to perform at Stubb’s in February.

Photo by Madison Olsen.

Signi Johnson sings the Sia classic “Chandelier.” “I was nervous people might not enjoy the performance,” Johnson said, “but looking out to see everyone was enjoying [it] was an amazing feeling, like my hard work had paid off.” Photo

by Madison Olsen.

Lo Gomez and Austin Rummel of Frisk, which garnered the most paid votes, perform an original song. “We were most nervous about presenting our original material for the first time,” Rummel said. Photo by Madison Olsen.

Max Darlington of Bellbirds plays “Some Kind of Blackout.”

“We are definitely still developing a consistent style and it might be a while before we choose one to write in,” Darlington said. “We have a pretty rock ‘n’ roll vibe when the drummer writes and a more poppy chill vibe when I write.”

Photo by Jasmine Barrera.

Matan Bos Orent and David Soto play each other’s instruments during “Papaya” during Cape Ivory’s set. “We all have diverse musical upbringings,” Bos Orent said.

“But eventually we agree on what we want our desired effect of our song [to be].”

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Matthew Cain of Bonehead reacts to the audience during his set. “Being in a band means learning to express yourself with other people,” Cain said. “Being able to combine my skill with Louis pushes me to be the best I can be.” Photos by Madison Olsen.

Rowan Stout of Parker Clone performs at Battle of the Bands in the Fine Arts Building Theater. “I’m lucky that the two other members have been my lifelong

friends,” Stout said. “When we play, it becomes more than just three people; we come together and create this massive energy.” Photo

by Madison Olsen.

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25-5A Roundup 25-5A Roundup Photo by Charlie Holden.

Knights complete perfect regular season then win three playoff games to get to 13-0 In winning their final regular season game against the Reagan Raiders, the 2017 Knights joined the 1966 Knights as the only other team in school history to finish the regular season with an undefeated 10-0 record. Due to a pair of 70-yard-plus touchdown runs, both Knight quarterbacks had 100-plus yard rushing games. Max Perez ran for 113 yards on only five carries, and backup quarterback Cole Davis ran for 109 on three carries. Perez scored two first-quarter rushing touchdowns, the second from 77 yards out. Davis scored the team’s last two touchdowns, the second from 73 yards out. The Knights also scored through the air when Perez hit Deron Gage with a 36-yard touchdown for the Knight’s only completion of the game to make the score 27-0 at the end of the first quarter. Gage also ran one in from 53 yards out in the first quarter. The defense scored a touchdown for the third time in four games when senior Jack Masters scooped a Reagan fumble and ran for a 67-yard touchdown. In addition to running for two touchdowns and throwing for one, Perez was also named homecoming king and was crowned at halftime alongside queen Sophie Cheesar.

The host Medina Valley Panthers scored their second touchdown with less than a minute to go in the first half. After the Panthers converted the point after, they led visiting McCallum 14-13 at halftime of the bi-district playoff game between the 25-5A champion Knights and the No. 4 seed Panthers from District 26-5A. McCallum responded with a completely dominant second half, outscoring the Panthers 24-0 thanks to an overpowering three-headed rushing attack and a stingy defense that created three game-changing second-half turnovers. McCallum took over at its own 32-yard line and drove the ball within range for Ian Carson’s 24-yard field goal, which gave the Knights a 16-14 lead they never surrendered.

The Knight defense made another big play in the next Panther drive, forcing a fumble that put Knight offense back in business at the Panther 42-yard line. After a punchless Panther drive ended in a punt back to the Knights, Max Perez made another Knight scoring drive with a 16-yard touchdown run to make the score 3714. Jack Switzer sealed the score with a fourthquarter interception with three minutes left in the game. In total, the Knight defense created four turnovers, two fourth down stops, a fumble recovery and an interception.

The Knights led the Rosenberg Terry Rangers 28-17 at halftime of the Region IV quarterfinal at Navasota High School. After Alexander Julian’s 11-yard touchdown run made it 35-17, the Rangers clawed their way back in the game on Amon Byar’s 5-yard touchdown that cut the Knights’ lead to 11.

After pinning the Knights inside their own 10yard line on the ensuing kickoff, the Rangers forced a McCallum punt, and Terry started its next drive on its own 30, poised to pull within one score. That’s when the defense made the play of the game. JB Faught identified that Terry was running an option play, so he shifted with the movement of the quarterback and running back to the short side of the field. As the play unfolded, Faught saw an opportunity and sprinted through the hole, disrupting the timing of the play and impeding the progress of wildcat quarterback Leandre Davis. His premature pitch bounced high off the turf about waist high, where Gabe Williams grabbed it and dashed 44 yards for the game-breaking touchdown that extended the Knights’ lead to 18 points. Perez finished the offensive onslaught six minutes later with a 17-yard touchdown that made the final score 52-24.

Boys basketball wins 3 of 4 games at Marble Falls On Friday November 17th, generations of MAC athletes gathered in the gym to celebrate a fixture of the McCallum sports program, Coach Don Caldwell. To commemorate his dedication to the basketball program, Caldwell was presented with a basketball signed by the alumni he had coached before retiring last year and a certificate from Texas Gov. Greg Abbot that renamed the Mac gym in his honor. A Texas native, Caldwell taught and coached for 45 years, 43 of which he had spent at McCallum.

“He did a great job of getting these kids ready for life,” Coach Daniel Fuentes said, “and I think that was one of the traits that made Coach Caldwell so special.”

McCallum’s basketball season is now well underway.

In the Marble Falls Subway Classic, the McCallum varsity team won three out of the four games played. The Knights beat Elgin, 59-41, Edison, 64-49, and Hendrickson, 6963. They lost a tough game against host team Marble Falls. The Knights have won four games

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this season including their only home game against Lehman, which they won on a late free throw by Norman Boyd.

“We started really slow at 0-2, and those were really close games,” senior guard Asa Brown said.

“Then we turned it around with last weekend’s tournament, which we went 3-1 and got third place in, and we were able to get back on track.”

Something that contributed to the team being able to get back on track was the amount of players that they gained once the season started.

“Once we got all our players back from ineligibility, I think we started to bond well,” Brown said. “I think we have a chance at getting second or first in district.”

Part of the team’s success is the return of senior point guard Kenneth Hall.

“It’s nice having him in the lineup because he helps other people,” Brown said. “He’s a scorer, he’s a passer, he’s a rebounder, he really pushes the team to do better.”

—Greg James, with reporting by Bella Russo

The McCallum Knights football team won their 13th game, continuing their perfect season.

They won the game in the Alamodome in San Antonio with a strong performance against the Alice Coyotes, winning 33-8. The last time the two teams met in the playoffs was 51 years ago where Alice won 16-12 in the 1966 playoffs. The Knights’ defense allowed only one touchdown and a two-point conversion in the first quarter and shut down the Alice offense for the rest of the game. The McCallum scoring was opened by a 62-yard rushing touchdown by Max Perez.

For the rest of the first quarter and most of the second quarter, the game was at a standstill as a series of three and outs led to no scoring. A late second quarter Hail Mary by Perez for 46-yards to Mason Bryant ended the half with Knights leading the Coyotes, 14-8. Thanks to a pair of rushing touchdowns by Alexander Julian and Ian Carson’s field goals from 27 and 33 yards, the Knights pulled away. McCallum finished out the third game of playoffs with 241 yards rushing and 167 yards passing. The Knights played Corpus Christi Calallen on Saturday, but the game occurred after we went to press. See our website, macshieldonline.com, for full coverage of the game.

1. Coach Fuentes presents coach Don Caldwell with a plaque from Gov. Greg Abbot.

2. Junior Kenneth Hall goes for a layup during the alumni game in the Don Caldwell gym.

Photos by Bella Russo.

25-5A BASKETBALL

1.

2.

School Wins Losses Reagan

8

1

Austin

6

1

Crockett

4

1

LBJ Austin

6

2

McCallum

4

3

Lanier

4

3

Travis

1

10

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THE ORIGINAL

undefeated knights Fifty-one years ago, the 1966 Knights became the first McCallum football team to run through the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record.

Fifty Knight teams tried and failed to match that standard, but this season, the 2017 Knight equaled the feat. To honor both teams’ sustained excellence, we look back on the 1966 season with several of the team’s key players.

Top: The 1966 team runs out before a home game at Nelson Field. Photo from 1967 Knight.

Bottom: The 2017 team breaks through before defeating Akins at House Park on Sept. 21.

Photo by Madison Olsen.

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story by Julie Robertson

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Safety Will Loewen

Three-way player, tri-team captain Bill Zapalac

T

he McCallum Knights headed into their 13th season of varsity football in 1966 with great expectations.

“I believe we can start 11 boys who can stay on the field with anybody else in the state,” Coach Curtis Shiflet told Austin American-Statesman football writer Fred Sanner just before the season started. The team had lost a few key players from the 1965 team that tied with Travis for the District 13-4A South Zone title the year before, foremost among them All-State tackle Tommy Rohrer, along with several other seniors who had made the all South-Zone team.

Despite these significant departures, Sanner boldly predicted that McCallum was clearly the team to beat for the zone title.

“I think it was the first time McCallum had been ranked preseason in the top 10 in the state,” said Bill Zapalac, the 1966 co-team captain. “We all expected to win a lot of games.”

And win a lot of games they did. The 1966 team went undefeated throughout the regular season, just like the 2017 varsity team did this season.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN 1966 AND 2017 Zapalac said that the 1966 team shares many characteristics with the current Knights team, beginning with the two teams’ reliance on a deep and talented senior class.

“We had a lot of depth,” said Zapalac, who played defensive end, wing back and punter. “We had two senior quarterbacks who both played. We had two premier running backs … as a junior, one of them had led the district in rushing, and he got hurt, and as a senior, his backup led the district in running.”

Quarterbacks Steve Chrisman and Rick Nabors, both seniors, alternated as the team’s Max Perez.

In addition to teams being chocked full of talented seniors, the 1966 and 2017 teams also shared an embarrassment of wealth at the running back position and superior offensive line play.

The AJ and Deron of the 1966 running corps were two seniors, who battled each other for the zone rushing title all season long. Tailback Mike Robinson, who ran behind crushing strongside blocks of Zapalac, led the team and zone for most of the season, but his running mate John Dodgen ran for 161 yards in the final district game of the season to edge Robinson for the rushing title.

They had a third option: running back David Mueller, who was so successful at the position the previous year that he earned the team’s best nickname: Daz, short for dazzling. “[The nickname] came from the first game I

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started in my junior year; we were playing Temple, who was a district opponent, and I had a pretty good game. The offensive line’s blocking opened holes for me,” Mueller said.

Mueller’s version of the story is modest. As Dodgen tells the story, the nickname came after an amazing punt return that he still remembers vividly.

“Mueller, who was a defensive back and a half back, fielded a punt and was running up the middle, and he ran into a huge pile, and we’re standing there on the sidelines waiting for the officials to blow the whistle, and all of a sudden we see David backing out of this pileup,” Dodgen said.

“No one had a hold of him; he just backed out of the pileup and took off around the end and scored a touchdown, and he made some good plays. …

The newspaper … mentioned that ‘dazzling David Mueller did [them] in,’ you know, or ‘was awesome that ball game.’ And from then on his nickname was Daz, and very seldom did he get called David; it’s always Daz. Even now.”

ROUTE ‘66 According to Nabors, another senior who also played a lot at quarterback, many of the team’s players played both sides of the ball.

“Zapalac played both sides,” Nabors said. “David Mueller was a running back and a defensive end. Tom Radley played right end and defensive end. Drake Farmer played tackle. Pretty much everybody was going both ways a whole lot. There were only a few guys that specialized on just defense or offense.”

Dodgen started the 1966 season playing exclusively as an offensive player. Starting quarterback Steve Chrisman also played only on offense. Mueller said that the 1966 team needed to improve in places it had been weak the year before in order to achieve an undefeated season.

“We knew we had to get a little bit better at everything we were doing,” Mueller said. “The team was the same as the year before. We had a very experienced line to protect the quarterback.

We had Coach Shiflet to lead us; he got us fired up, especially when we played some tough teams out of San Antonio and Corpus Christi.”

The team started out with three nondistrict wins, edging Corpus Christi Miller, 8-6, and Arlington Heights, 7-6, and then cruising by Victoria, 28-7.

Defensive back, quarterback Rick Nabors

Fullback, tri-team captain John Dodgen

Running back Alexander Julian

The team then doubled its win total by blanking district opponents Killeen, Waco University, and Lanier by an aggregate score of 98-0. In the team’s seventh game of the season, McCallum played one of its biggest rivals, Travis, the team that at the time possessed a certain Victory Bell; they had upset the favored Knights the year before in a game that came to known around McCallum as the Mud Bowl. The torrential rain slowed McCallum’s vaunted rushing attack and kept its talented defense from controlling play on the slippery field.

THE MUD BOWL “You couldn’t get any footing,” Dodgen remembered. “Travis comes out with, back then, something new called the shotgun, and they’re throwing the ball 20-30 times in a rainstorm, and the receivers know where they’re going, and the defenders don’t, so it’s hard to make cuts and stay with them.”

The combination of talented skill players and pouring rain proved lethal. “[Travis] had a really good quarterback [Tommy Cox] who ended up being the athletic director at AISD for many years later,” Zapalac said. “It was a big disappointment for our seniors the year prior because our loss meant not going to playoffs.”

Heading into the rematch with the Rebels, Zapalac said the team had only one goal.

“Just to win,” he said. “Travis had a better team in ‘65 than they did in ‘66 and we had a more experienced team. We got the bell back, though.”

“We got a good feel that night,” Dodgen added.

“It was dry, and we took care of business.”

A week later the team defeated Johnston High 28-0, a game in which Nabors broke his leg, bringing an end to his season. The easy victory, however, set up another huge rivalry game against the team that at the time was the McCallum’s No. 1 rival: Austin High.

now you can’t tell it in the annual, but they had a photograph that they had printed in the paper … he had his eyes closed when he catches the ball.”

Center Kegan Aleman

Quarterback Steve Chrisman

THE COACH Their coach, Curtis Shiflet was celebrating his best season yet, much like Coach Charles Taylor is today with the 2017 team.

“He was a special guy,” Zapalac said. “I think, just from memory, the ‘66 team was the best of his career. He had never gone undefeated, never had a state-ranked team. He was just really good to us.”

Mueller agreed that Shiflet was more than just a coach to many of the players, including himself.

“Like head coaches are, he was a guide, he was a teacher, he was a mentor,” Mueller said. “He expected us to come out and play hard every day, and the guys respected that. Everybody worked hard. It was a really great team that had a lot of camaraderie, and he and the coaches were the ones that were able to get that together.”

According to Nabors, Shiflet was an excellent motivator, and he called the plays, keeping it simple for the players.

“He knew what he was doing,” Nabors said.

“We ran probably six or eight plays, probably like they do now, and you run the same one to the left as you run to the right, but it’s just a matter of execution. We didn’t throw much. I think I threw one touchdown pass my senior season.”

To illustrate the team’s reluctance to throw, he relayed a memorable story of one of the few touchdown passes he recalled throwing.

“It was fourth down and 1, and I looked to the sidelines to Coach Shiflet and he gave me the signal,” Nabors said. “Well, I didn’t think we wanted to pass because he didn’t do that, but I looked back over there again, and he gave me the same signal.”

Nabors remembered that he faked a handoff to the fullback then stepped back a step and threw it over the safety’s head to his tight end. Against a defense geared to stop McCallum’s running attack, the tight end found no resistance in the 60 yards he ran for an easy touchdown.

“When I ran off the field, Coach Shiflet said, ‘What were you doing?’ and I said, ‘Well, you called it, and I looked back and you called it again.’ And he said, ‘Well, that’s the best call that I never made.’

He didn’t get mad at me about it because I told him what I saw and I said, ‘You gave it to me twice.’”

According to Dodgen, Shiflet kept throwing to a minimum because of the risks that came with it.

“We didn’t throw the ball that much,” Dodgen said. “We only threw when we had the other team

Wide receiver Davis Roe

MORE THAN A RIVALRY “You generally know everyone on the other teams, growing up with them over the years,” Zapalac said. “Austin High was undefeated in the district when we played them, and we played them in the second or third to last game of the year, and we won 7-0.

Dodgen explained that the Austin High game was the tightest district game of the season.

“Our closest game was with Austin High,” Dodgen said. “They had us kind of bottled up until right there at halftime. Right before halftime, Chrisman hit Robert Morgan with a touchdown;

1966 McCallum varsity football team.

Photo courtesy of Sharon Duncan.

Tailback David “Dazzling” Mueller

12 dec 2017

Defensive end and placekicker Ian Carson

Most of the 2017 varsity seniors.

Photo by Madison Olsen. sucking eggs so that they were too close to the line of scrimmage. Like [legendary Texas Longhorn coach] Darrell Royal used to say: if you pass the ball, there are three things that can happen, and two of them are bad.”

Zapalac suffered an injury in the team’s 27-7 district championship win over Cleburne, leaving the team virtually out for the team’s bi-district showdown against Alice the following week.

“I got hurt at the end of the 11th game, we were playing Alice [next, but] I hurt my knee,” Zapalac said. “I was going to punt, that was all I was going to do, but I wanted to try to sneak into play, but he wouldn’t tape my knee [so I could play] and told me I wasn’t ready to play. This was at a time when this season was the biggest thing for his career. I’ll always admire him for that. He wouldn’t sacrifice someone else’s injury for his own gain; he was a special guy.”

He also had a special knack for motivating his players. On the eve of the team’s district finale against upstart Reagan High School, only in its second year of playing varsity football, Shiflet reminded his team that it had not been scored upon in district play.

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“No one had really paid attention to statistics in those days,” Zapalac said. “But we were unscored on in the district; no one had scored on us, and Coach Shiflet just happened to mention it that week at practice, and at the game they got inside to the 20 on us, just because he had brought it up during practice. We won 23-0, and it probably wasn’t as much of an incentive to create stops if we had not known that fact.”

The closing series of the game revealed how motivated Shiflet was to put the last goose egg up on the board.

“We had the game in hand, but they were getting ready to score down there,” Dodgen recalled.

“They’re down on about our 3-yard line, and coach put in some of the bigger guys,” said Dodgen, who entered the game at linebacker. “We were running a goalline defense, which was an 8-man, everybody had a gap. All I did was stuff a hole, and then [suddenly] I saw this ball go rolling past me into the end zone. And here’s Daz falling on the ball in the end zone to snuff out that drive. I was sure happy to see David fall on that ball because I didn’t want to see a 7 go up in the last game. After that, we had it pretty much under control.”

After the Reagan game, the Knights were headed to the playoffs and, according to Zapalac, it was one of the proudest moments of the season.

“We didn’t make playoffs the season before, and getting to playoffs was a big deal,” Zapalac said. “At the time we were ranked No. 2 in the state. I think we started at No. 8, and each week we would inch up as other teams got beaten.”

was cut short, however, during the team’s district championship win in its first playoff game versus Cleburne. Zapalac wasn’t the only one that was out for the season.

“I got hurt in the Johnston game,” Nabors said.

“I made a cutback on a punt return, and my leg got slammed between two guys, and then I got bowled over.”

According to Nabors, several other McCallum players got hurt in the last couple of games, resulting in a big hole in the team.

“I was out, Zapalac was out, two of the starters, and that team we were playing (Alice) was a good team,” Nabors said. “The further you go, the better the teams and the athletes that you’re playing, and then of course, going from junior high to high school is a step up; going from high school to college is a major step up because there’s just not that many kids, you know, moving up to that level of play. It’s a lot faster.”

The final matchup was between McCallum and Alice. It was a heartbreaker, with Alice only winning by four points. Dodgen remembered that there was no rule that the playoffs be played at a neutral site like there is today. Instead, the 11-0 Knights boarded a bus and drove 10 hours to arrive in Alice, close to the Mexican border.

Dodgen remembered arriving at the main drag, where they were greeted by the local population.

“They were waving their hands, and they weren’t using all of their fingers,” Dodgen said. “And these were the adults.” continued on next page

PLAYOFF TIME The district was organized into two zones, and only one team from each zone made the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs was essentially a district championship game between the two zone champions. To advance to the state championship game back then, a team would have to win three games. The fourth game of the playoffs would be the title game.

Zapalac’s perfect season

Cornerback and wide receiver Tyrell Washington

Defensive end Tom Radley

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Safety Will Loewen

Three-way player, tri-team captain Bill Zapalac

T

he McCallum Knights headed into their 13th season of varsity football in 1966 with great expectations.

“I believe we can start 11 boys who can stay on the field with anybody else in the state,” Coach Curtis Shiflet told Austin American-Statesman football writer Fred Sanner just before the season started. The team had lost a few key players from the 1965 team that tied with Travis for the District 13-4A South Zone title the year before, foremost among them All-State tackle Tommy Rohrer, along with several other seniors who had made the all South-Zone team.

Despite these significant departures, Sanner boldly predicted that McCallum was clearly the team to beat for the zone title.

“I think it was the first time McCallum had been ranked preseason in the top 10 in the state,” said Bill Zapalac, the 1966 co-team captain. “We all expected to win a lot of games.”

And win a lot of games they did. The 1966 team went undefeated throughout the regular season, just like the 2017 varsity team did this season.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN 1966 AND 2017 Zapalac said that the 1966 team shares many characteristics with the current Knights team, beginning with the two teams’ reliance on a deep and talented senior class.

“We had a lot of depth,” said Zapalac, who played defensive end, wing back and punter. “We had two senior quarterbacks who both played. We had two premier running backs … as a junior, one of them had led the district in rushing, and he got hurt, and as a senior, his backup led the district in running.”

Quarterbacks Steve Chrisman and Rick Nabors, both seniors, alternated as the team’s Max Perez.

In addition to teams being chocked full of talented seniors, the 1966 and 2017 teams also shared an embarrassment of wealth at the running back position and superior offensive line play.

The AJ and Deron of the 1966 running corps were two seniors, who battled each other for the zone rushing title all season long. Tailback Mike Robinson, who ran behind crushing strongside blocks of Zapalac, led the team and zone for most of the season, but his running mate John Dodgen ran for 161 yards in the final district game of the season to edge Robinson for the rushing title.

They had a third option: running back David Mueller, who was so successful at the position the previous year that he earned the team’s best nickname: Daz, short for dazzling. “[The nickname] came from the first game I

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started in my junior year; we were playing Temple, who was a district opponent, and I had a pretty good game. The offensive line’s blocking opened holes for me,” Mueller said.

Mueller’s version of the story is modest. As Dodgen tells the story, the nickname came after an amazing punt return that he still remembers vividly.

“Mueller, who was a defensive back and a half back, fielded a punt and was running up the middle, and he ran into a huge pile, and we’re standing there on the sidelines waiting for the officials to blow the whistle, and all of a sudden we see David backing out of this pileup,” Dodgen said.

“No one had a hold of him; he just backed out of the pileup and took off around the end and scored a touchdown, and he made some good plays. …

The newspaper … mentioned that ‘dazzling David Mueller did [them] in,’ you know, or ‘was awesome that ball game.’ And from then on his nickname was Daz, and very seldom did he get called David; it’s always Daz. Even now.”

ROUTE ‘66 According to Nabors, another senior who also played a lot at quarterback, many of the team’s players played both sides of the ball.

“Zapalac played both sides,” Nabors said. “David Mueller was a running back and a defensive end. Tom Radley played right end and defensive end. Drake Farmer played tackle. Pretty much everybody was going both ways a whole lot. There were only a few guys that specialized on just defense or offense.”

Dodgen started the 1966 season playing exclusively as an offensive player. Starting quarterback Steve Chrisman also played only on offense. Mueller said that the 1966 team needed to improve in places it had been weak the year before in order to achieve an undefeated season.

“We knew we had to get a little bit better at everything we were doing,” Mueller said. “The team was the same as the year before. We had a very experienced line to protect the quarterback.

We had Coach Shiflet to lead us; he got us fired up, especially when we played some tough teams out of San Antonio and Corpus Christi.”

The team started out with three nondistrict wins, edging Corpus Christi Miller, 8-6, and Arlington Heights, 7-6, and then cruising by Victoria, 28-7.

Defensive back, quarterback Rick Nabors

Fullback, tri-team captain John Dodgen

Running back Alexander Julian

The team then doubled its win total by blanking district opponents Killeen, Waco University, and Lanier by an aggregate score of 98-0. In the team’s seventh game of the season, McCallum played one of its biggest rivals, Travis, the team that at the time possessed a certain Victory Bell; they had upset the favored Knights the year before in a game that came to known around McCallum as the Mud Bowl. The torrential rain slowed McCallum’s vaunted rushing attack and kept its talented defense from controlling play on the slippery field.

THE MUD BOWL “You couldn’t get any footing,” Dodgen remembered. “Travis comes out with, back then, something new called the shotgun, and they’re throwing the ball 20-30 times in a rainstorm, and the receivers know where they’re going, and the defenders don’t, so it’s hard to make cuts and stay with them.”

The combination of talented skill players and pouring rain proved lethal. “[Travis] had a really good quarterback [Tommy Cox] who ended up being the athletic director at AISD for many years later,” Zapalac said. “It was a big disappointment for our seniors the year prior because our loss meant not going to playoffs.”

Heading into the rematch with the Rebels, Zapalac said the team had only one goal.

“Just to win,” he said. “Travis had a better team in ‘65 than they did in ‘66 and we had a more experienced team. We got the bell back, though.”

“We got a good feel that night,” Dodgen added.

“It was dry, and we took care of business.”

A week later the team defeated Johnston High 28-0, a game in which Nabors broke his leg, bringing an end to his season. The easy victory, however, set up another huge rivalry game against the team that at the time was the McCallum’s No. 1 rival: Austin High.

now you can’t tell it in the annual, but they had a photograph that they had printed in the paper … he had his eyes closed when he catches the ball.”

Center Kegan Aleman

Quarterback Steve Chrisman

THE COACH Their coach, Curtis Shiflet was celebrating his best season yet, much like Coach Charles Taylor is today with the 2017 team.

“He was a special guy,” Zapalac said. “I think, just from memory, the ‘66 team was the best of his career. He had never gone undefeated, never had a state-ranked team. He was just really good to us.”

Mueller agreed that Shiflet was more than just a coach to many of the players, including himself.

“Like head coaches are, he was a guide, he was a teacher, he was a mentor,” Mueller said. “He expected us to come out and play hard every day, and the guys respected that. Everybody worked hard. It was a really great team that had a lot of camaraderie, and he and the coaches were the ones that were able to get that together.”

According to Nabors, Shiflet was an excellent motivator, and he called the plays, keeping it simple for the players.

“He knew what he was doing,” Nabors said.

“We ran probably six or eight plays, probably like they do now, and you run the same one to the left as you run to the right, but it’s just a matter of execution. We didn’t throw much. I think I threw one touchdown pass my senior season.”

To illustrate the team’s reluctance to throw, he relayed a memorable story of one of the few touchdown passes he recalled throwing.

“It was fourth down and 1, and I looked to the sidelines to Coach Shiflet and he gave me the signal,” Nabors said. “Well, I didn’t think we wanted to pass because he didn’t do that, but I looked back over there again, and he gave me the same signal.”

Nabors remembered that he faked a handoff to the fullback then stepped back a step and threw it over the safety’s head to his tight end. Against a defense geared to stop McCallum’s running attack, the tight end found no resistance in the 60 yards he ran for an easy touchdown.

“When I ran off the field, Coach Shiflet said, ‘What were you doing?’ and I said, ‘Well, you called it, and I looked back and you called it again.’ And he said, ‘Well, that’s the best call that I never made.’

He didn’t get mad at me about it because I told him what I saw and I said, ‘You gave it to me twice.’”

According to Dodgen, Shiflet kept throwing to a minimum because of the risks that came with it.

“We didn’t throw the ball that much,” Dodgen said. “We only threw when we had the other team

Wide receiver Davis Roe

MORE THAN A RIVALRY “You generally know everyone on the other teams, growing up with them over the years,” Zapalac said. “Austin High was undefeated in the district when we played them, and we played them in the second or third to last game of the year, and we won 7-0.

Dodgen explained that the Austin High game was the tightest district game of the season.

“Our closest game was with Austin High,” Dodgen said. “They had us kind of bottled up until right there at halftime. Right before halftime, Chrisman hit Robert Morgan with a touchdown;

1966 McCallum varsity football team.

Photo courtesy of Sharon Duncan.

Tailback David “Dazzling” Mueller

12 dec 2017

Defensive end and placekicker Ian Carson

Most of the 2017 varsity seniors.

Photo by Madison Olsen. sucking eggs so that they were too close to the line of scrimmage. Like [legendary Texas Longhorn coach] Darrell Royal used to say: if you pass the ball, there are three things that can happen, and two of them are bad.”

Zapalac suffered an injury in the team’s 27-7 district championship win over Cleburne, leaving the team virtually out for the team’s bi-district showdown against Alice the following week.

“I got hurt at the end of the 11th game, we were playing Alice [next, but] I hurt my knee,” Zapalac said. “I was going to punt, that was all I was going to do, but I wanted to try to sneak into play, but he wouldn’t tape my knee [so I could play] and told me I wasn’t ready to play. This was at a time when this season was the biggest thing for his career. I’ll always admire him for that. He wouldn’t sacrifice someone else’s injury for his own gain; he was a special guy.”

He also had a special knack for motivating his players. On the eve of the team’s district finale against upstart Reagan High School, only in its second year of playing varsity football, Shiflet reminded his team that it had not been scored upon in district play.

12 dec. 2017

“No one had really paid attention to statistics in those days,” Zapalac said. “But we were unscored on in the district; no one had scored on us, and Coach Shiflet just happened to mention it that week at practice, and at the game they got inside to the 20 on us, just because he had brought it up during practice. We won 23-0, and it probably wasn’t as much of an incentive to create stops if we had not known that fact.”

The closing series of the game revealed how motivated Shiflet was to put the last goose egg up on the board.

“We had the game in hand, but they were getting ready to score down there,” Dodgen recalled.

“They’re down on about our 3-yard line, and coach put in some of the bigger guys,” said Dodgen, who entered the game at linebacker. “We were running a goalline defense, which was an 8-man, everybody had a gap. All I did was stuff a hole, and then [suddenly] I saw this ball go rolling past me into the end zone. And here’s Daz falling on the ball in the end zone to snuff out that drive. I was sure happy to see David fall on that ball because I didn’t want to see a 7 go up in the last game. After that, we had it pretty much under control.”

After the Reagan game, the Knights were headed to the playoffs and, according to Zapalac, it was one of the proudest moments of the season.

“We didn’t make playoffs the season before, and getting to playoffs was a big deal,” Zapalac said. “At the time we were ranked No. 2 in the state. I think we started at No. 8, and each week we would inch up as other teams got beaten.”

was cut short, however, during the team’s district championship win in its first playoff game versus Cleburne. Zapalac wasn’t the only one that was out for the season.

“I got hurt in the Johnston game,” Nabors said.

“I made a cutback on a punt return, and my leg got slammed between two guys, and then I got bowled over.”

According to Nabors, several other McCallum players got hurt in the last couple of games, resulting in a big hole in the team.

“I was out, Zapalac was out, two of the starters, and that team we were playing (Alice) was a good team,” Nabors said. “The further you go, the better the teams and the athletes that you’re playing, and then of course, going from junior high to high school is a step up; going from high school to college is a major step up because there’s just not that many kids, you know, moving up to that level of play. It’s a lot faster.”

The final matchup was between McCallum and Alice. It was a heartbreaker, with Alice only winning by four points. Dodgen remembered that there was no rule that the playoffs be played at a neutral site like there is today. Instead, the 11-0 Knights boarded a bus and drove 10 hours to arrive in Alice, close to the Mexican border.

Dodgen remembered arriving at the main drag, where they were greeted by the local population.

“They were waving their hands, and they weren’t using all of their fingers,” Dodgen said. “And these were the adults.” continued on next page

PLAYOFF TIME The district was organized into two zones, and only one team from each zone made the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs was essentially a district championship game between the two zone champions. To advance to the state championship game back then, a team would have to win three games. The fourth game of the playoffs would be the title game.

Zapalac’s perfect season

Cornerback and wide receiver Tyrell Washington

Defensive end Tom Radley

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#88 Robert Morgan hauls in the game-winning TD catch versus Austin High in 1966. #84 Mason Bryant hauls a TD pass versus Seguin on Sept. 14. Photo by Madison Olsen. continued from previous page Despite the hostile environment, McCallum’s defense played well, holding the home team to 16 points. The McCallum offense took the field late in the game with a chance to score a touchdown and win the game.

“We had [99 seconds] to go, and we got the ball,” Dodgen said. “We ran it all the way down, I think to the 9-yard line,” said Dodgen, who added that from there the team tried to pass three times for the winning score. After incompletions to Rick Denbow and Robert Morgan, the team faced fourth down with its season on the line. With 8 seconds left, a final, promising pass attempt from Chrisman to David Johnson fell incomplete after defenders stripped the ball from Johnson’s hands.

Just like that, McCallum’s season was over.

To this day, the loss is a troubling ending, because the game was so close and because McCallum was playing at less than full strength.

Zapalac explained that multiple players were hurt in the Alice game, adding to the list of those that were out of play.

“As it turned out ... we had two or three people get hurt during the game and that really turned out to be the difference,” Zapalac said. “One of our players had a shoulder separation, one of them had a concussion, the only thing I was going to do was punt, but we did not punt in the whole ball game, and we lost. So, I never got in, and that was really disappointing. We were inside the 10 or 20 to score and we just couldn’t. That was the end of the ballgame.”

It’s inevitable for the last football game of the year to be an emotional one, but for many of the players, it was just one chapter ending and another one beginning.

“It was a disappointment,” Zapalac said. “Most all of us played multiple sports; some us didn’t, but most did, and so for the most part, it was the end of one sport and almost the next day you went to the next sport. There were three or four of us that played basketball.”

Several players from the 1966 team went on to play big-time southern college sports. “Then, they didn’t call it Division I college,” Zapalac said. “You went to the Southwest Conference: it was the

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top thing. Out of our class, we had five in the Southwest Conference schools. [John Toungate and Drake Farmer went] to TCU, John Dodgen went to Baylor, Andy Tewell went to A&M, I went to Texas, and Rick Nabors went to junior college then joined me at Texas his junior year.”

Zapalac explained that his decision to even come to Texas began with his family; his father was an assistant coach for the football team.

“I was the oldest child; I had a brother and sister,” Zapalac said. “I was around college football all my life. My dad was coaching at A&M when John David Crow was the Heisman Trophy winner, and I was around that. College football was a big part of our lives, and I really enjoyed what he gave us, the experience around football.”

So when it came down to deciding between Bear Bryant’s Alabama and Darrell Royal’s Texas, Zapalac said that the decision was not an easy one.

“It was football, and with my dad being in the football business and being a college coach, it was really kind of difficult in a way because there were some college coaches that would stay away from me because they knew my dad was a coach at UT,” Zapalac said. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. Frankly, the cheerleader that I married here at McCallum [Michelle Vilcoq], she was going to Texas, and that was probably more reason to go to Texas than anything else.”

But as it turned out, he said signing with Texas was the best decision he could have made.

“My time at Texas was absolutely unparalleled with anything,” Zapalac said. “Alabama was down a little bit when I was in college in the early ‘70s, and I was on a team that won 30 straight games at Texas. Two national championship teams, three conference championship teams; it was a tremendous era.”

Zapalac thrived at Texas and was starting game after game, perfecting skills he had been working on his entire life.

The back-to-back national champion Texas Longhorns wore burnt orange, but the team also had a dab of McCallum royal blue.

“Three of us were on the team from McCallum; Jeff Zapalac, Bill’s brother, came on in after us,” Nabors said. “He came straight from McCallum to Texas, and he was the starting center there.

Bill played defense. He started out at defensive end and then he played outside linebacker and he played a little bit of rover.”

Zapalac remembers his UT years as special.

“I did have the opportunity to start for 33 straight games at Texas,” Zapalac said. “Every one of my games I would start, and I got to do that because of injuries. If a senior ahead of me, as I was going to be a sophomore, got hurt in spring training and wasn’t ready to go, I got to play and because of that, I got the opportunity to play.

One of my teammates [Bob McKay] was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, which is very special.”

Zapalac’s talent at Texas was enough to earn him a spot in the fourth round of the NFL draft with the New York Jets.

“My college roommate was drafted in the seventh round by the Jets,” Zapalac said. “We had known each other for years before college and then we both got recruited to play at Texas, and we were roommates for three and a half years. Then we were both drafted by the Jets. In my senior class, we had four or five drafted in the NFL.” Zapalac spent three years with the

Seconds after his Knights won the 5A Region IV semifinal at the Alamodome with a 33-8 victory over Alice and gave him a well-deserved Gatorade shower, he ran over to meet the 1966 lettermen who attended the game. Taylor accepts a congratulatory hand shake from 1966 coach Oscar “Pete” Peterson. Photo by Dave Winter.

Jets, then retired and had knee surgery. At that point, he was married to the same cheerleader from McCallum and had one child. He went into the construction business and has been in it ever since.

Zapalac describes the NFL as being something completely different from what it is today as there would only be a couple of NFL games a week, depending on where you were. The draft was also never televised as it is today.

With decades of football under Zapalac’s belt, he says that one of the most important things the 2017 McCallum team can do for the playoffs is to just try and enjoy it.

“You will never have that whole group of people together again after you finish high school,” Zapalac said. “Try to make the best of playoffs; it is an enjoyable part of life. You’re constantly thinking what’s going on next, not dwelling on what’s happening then. As far as the team, moving into playoffs, make the most of what you can. It won’t be duplicated again. There will be one time, and there are some miracles that go on in high school playoffs. Many times, the underdog wins. But it’s not because you happen to stumble into something; the people who are best prepared and the individuals who want to win the most will.”

Nabors explained that the best advice he could give to the 2017 team would be to focus.

“We’ll start with the guys that are nonstarters,” Nabors said. “If they’re in the game as much as the starters are, and they are learning

every day where they’re supposed to be and what they’re supposed to do, if somebody goes down and you have a guy that can step up or take over, then you don’t really lose that much.”

It is also incredibly important to stay tuned as to how your body is, Nabors said.

“I’ll also tell them that focus and being in shape are two of the main points of winning,” Nabors said. “If you’re focused on what you’re doing and you don’t make mistakes, then you’re still going when the other team is starting to fall back. If you think about it, you see the records of the guys you’re playing and you think, ‘Oh we beat these guys handily,’ and all this, and then you don’t get ready and you don’t focus, that’s when you get hurt or that’s when you get things that happen to you from an offense of defensive standpoint, but you still gotta keep the pressure on and doing what you’re doing and make that go forward for you when you get to the playoffs.”

Dodgen also stressed the important of focus and playing within yourself. ”Just be prepared and do what you’re supposed to do. Don’t get lackadaisical because all they have to do is play way over their heads, and I’ve seen it done before. Don’t get too overconfident. … Just go out, take care of business.”

LEFT: Alexander Julian pushes past two Austin High defenders on Oct. 5. Photo by Gregory James. RIGHT: Mike Robinson pushes through five Austin High defenders during the Knights’ 7-0 victory over the Maroons in 1966.

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High Hopes: The Shield: When did you start playing basketball and why?

Cordeja Hopes: I started playing when I was about 10, and I guess because I always saw my brothers playing, so I guess I just started to do it.

TS: How did your brothers help you learn your basketball skills?

CH: When I was little, they helped me by making me dribble the ball without looking down, and they would also make me shoot from inside the paint.

TS: What teams have you been on while at McCallum?

CH: My freshman year, I played on freshman but also on JV. If freshman only had one game that week, I would end up playing both.

TS: What has being a captain this year been like?

CH: Being captain this year, some of my jobs are to make sure that everyone has all their stuff and make sure that everyone is accountable for their actions. I like it a lot.

TS: What did you learn from the people who were captains last year?

CH: They were always super positive, which definitely affected how I lead the team and makes me want to help the underclassmen with whatever they need.

TS: How has the varsity changed over the years that you have played?

CH: This year we are more on top of it. We just go out there and do what we need to do. We know how each other play more this year, so I think we are just way more together.

TS: What team do you think will be your hardest game this season?

CH: Austin High for sure. We just need to slow down and not try to play at the same speed as them. We need to keep the pace slow and just do what we can.

TS: How do you want to remember your last season at McCallum?

CH: I want to remember that I went out there, left my heart on the court and played the best season that I could with my girls.

When not driving her coach crazy, senior brings calm confidence to her team

TS: What do you think you will miss most about basketball?

CH: I don’t know, I guess just going places with my team and the bus rides. We just have so much fun and get on Coach’s nerves.

One time Coach Campbell was trying to be super serious, and she was saying, “I’m not crazy; I know what I’m talking about,” and I just looked at her and was like, “Are you sure you aren’t crazy?” I guess just little stuff like that.

TS: How do you prepare for a game?

CH: We always give each other pep talks and then just warm-up and shoot around.

TS: What is some advice that you give to a freshman basketball players that looks up to you as a varsity player?

CH: Some of them already look up to me, like they told me that they do.

TS: How did that make you feel?

CH: It felt so good to hear that. I guess I just want to prove to them that if I can do it, so can they.

TS: So, what would you tell them?

CH: I think I would just tell them to stay calm and have patience. When you do that, that’s when everything comes.

Interview by Maddie Doran

Photo by Maddie Doran

LEFT: Forward Cordeja Hopes boxes out Taylor player Elysia Robles during McCallum’s 54-22 home loss to the Ducks on Tuesday.

RIGHT: Hopes catches a rebound for the Knights during the first quarter of the game. Photos by Madison Olsen.

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Effort to spare

Junior Bourda aims to qualify for state this year The Shield: When did you start bowling?

Anthony Bourda: I started bowling freshman year. I just found something that interested me in the beginning of high school.

TS: What made you want to start bowling?

AB: It just interested me, I just had an appreciation for it. I don’t have any family members who were into bowling and just somehow on my own got into it.

TS: What was the highest score you made?

AB: 267 so far.

TS: How did you feel when you bowled a 267?

AB: I was just taking my time and wasn’t getting too far ahead of myself. It was pretty good, though. I wasn’t excited or anything at that moment; it kind of just kicked in after the game that I realized that I bowled that high.

I wasn’t thinking of the score when I made it.

I would normally go for an average of 180, but 267? I wasn’t even thinking of the score when I made it. When I bowl, I don’t really pay attention to the score, I just focus on the shots.

TS: Do you have a bowling bag, if so what’s in it?

AB: I have a bowling bag. In it, I have two balls so far and a couple of accessories like tape to help adjust the thumb hole and some shoes.

TS: How do you spin or curve your ball?

AB: I normally start with my arm straight out then I finish with my arm out and tilted to the right, since I’m a right-handed.

TS: Have you experienced difficulties when bowling?

AB: When I first started, the hardest thing was getting used to the equipment.

TS: What’s your favorite strategy when trying to get a strike or knock down any pin?

AB: I just make a couple of adjustments and see what’s right for me and go with it.

TS: How have you improved from when you first started to today?

AB: It takes a lot of time and a lot of focus and a lot of commitment because it has gotten me pretty far.

TS: How does the team get along?

AB: We are kind of friends. We stay calm and try to help each other out and motivate each other.

TS: How does bowling as a team work?

AB: Practicing on some things and see what needs improvement. Before a big match we don’t think about it, but we are at least like, “We got this. We will do great.”

TS: How does practice work?

AB: We practice at Dart Bowl. I normally just work on adjustments when we practice, I don’t focus on making strikes because it’s not just about making strikes. Other than that for me it’s finding what angles work for me. I practice two or three times a week.

TS: What are you hoping for this season?

AB: Just staying in the moment and influencing each other because we seem to influence each other, and I don’t know sometimes I just want that motivation to carry over.

Interview

by Abigail Salazar

Junior Anthony Bourda practices at Dart Bowl on Oct. 10. Bourda is part of a strong corps of juniors who hope to lead the bowling team back to the state tournament this year.

Photo by Dave Winter.

“I practiced a lot to get here,” Bourda said.

“Coach was telling me the other day that I used to be intimidated by the experienced bowlers at Georgetown.

Now that I have gotten better, I know I can compete at a high level.”

Words from Coach Cannon

Photo

by Dave Winter

As a player: “Anthony is one of the most dedicated athletes I have had the pleasure of coaching. Not only does he work hard to be the best he can be on the lanes, he is becoming a leader and inspiration to not only the team but the bowling community in a whole.”

Statistically speaking: “As for stats we have not started any school competitions yet, but he is currently leading the youth program at Dart bowl with an average of 172. He has bowled several games thus far in excess of 225 and a high score of 267. I look for Anthony to continue to gain skills, knowledge and confidence in the game and help lead the team this year to another run at the state tournament.”

For the season: “We will be having several district matches held at Dart Bowl this season and hope that some of the students and teachers can attend to see these athletes in action.”

Cioci, Bolton each bowl a 234 to lead team to 8th place finish at Ebonite State Challenge The McCallum bowling team traveled to New Braunfels on Saturday, Dec. 2 to compete in the Ebonite State Challenge.

Max Cioci led the team with season-high game of 234 and a personal-best series of 675, Coach Randy Cannon told the Shield. Gordon Bolton nearly matched Cioci’s score with a high game of 234 and a three-game series of 645.

Based on his high scores, Cioci ranked No. 3 on the all-tournament team. As a team, the Knights, finished the qualifying round ranked No. 6 good enough to qualify for the next round.

“In the second round of qualifying the team

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ran into a number of bad breaks and a few missed opportunities to finish the event in eighth place.

No. 8 of 22 is not bad for only the second major event of the season,” Cannon said.

Cannon expressed pride in the team’s effort and progress thus far in the young season.

“This was an awesome outing for the team and they are showing a lot of improvement,” Cannon said.

“We have entered this season with a goal of returning to the state tournament and improving on last year’s effort.”

—Maddie Doran

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MLS TO ATX?

Columbus Crew owner might move his team to Austin STEVEN TIBBETTS staff reporter

Major League Soccer, or MLS, could finally be coming to Austin.

This fall, MLS owner Anthony Precourt named Austin as a possible relocation city for his team, the Columbus Crew.

“This club has ambition to be a standard bearer in MLS,” Precourt said in a news release. “Therefore, we have no choice but to expand and explore all of our options. This includes a possible move to Austin, which is the largest metropolitan area in North America without a major league sports franchise.

Soccer is the world’s game, and with Austin’s growing presence as an international city, combined with its strong multicultural foundation, MLS in Austin could be an ideal fit.”

The news both shocked and excited many soccer fans in Austin.

“I was surprised because [people] had been talking about [getting a MLS team] for a long time, [but Austin] hadn’t come through with it,” freshman soccer player Daniel Brice said.

The future of soccer in Austin took a big step forward with Precourt’s announcement.

“I was really happy and surprised,” freshman Blake Steckel said, “because Austin isn’t really a soccer city. It’s more about football.”

An incoming MLS team wouldn’t have to worry about competition from other professional sports in Austin. Austin is the largest city in the United States that doesn’t have any of the four major professional sports leagues: the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL. The Crew, who could be coming to Austin as soon as 2019, would help fill the void of professional soccer in Austin left behind by the departure of the United Soccer League’s Austin Aztex. The Aztex disbanded after their home stadium, House Park, was damaged by the Memorial Day floods in 2015. The Aztex’s MLS affiliation was with the Crew. Austin has not been home to another professional soccer team since.

“I was excited [about the possibility of a MLS team moving to Austin] because I was sad that the Aztex went away, and I was hoping there was going to be a MLS team coming,” freshman Jake Anderson said.

If the Crew came to Austin, they wouldn’t be the only new soccer team in town. A new United Soccer League, or USL, team is expected to come to Austin in 2019. Although this new team does not have a name yet, they do have something the Crew has yet to find in Austin: a home stadium. The USL team is going to play their home games at Circuit of the Americas. Options for where the Crew would play their home games, meanwhile, are still being discussed. Precourt, the Crew’s owner, has mentioned Mike A. Myers Stadium, the University of Texas’ track-and-field and soccer stadium, as a potential home stadium for his team. Building a new stadium in Butler Shores Metropolitan Park is another viable option for Precourt and the Crew. Securing a stadium for the Crew is a vital step toward bringing the team to Austin. In fact, the main reason Precourt is debating a move is because the Crew’s request for help from Columbus in building a new stadium was denied. Precourt believes that playing in a better stadium than MAPFRE Stadium, the Crew’s current stadium, is key in

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Infographic by Maddie Doran

bringing the Crew’s declining attendance levels up.

If the Crew does move to Austin, the team would likely be more popular than the USL team because of the high popularity of the MLS among soccer fans.

“The MLS is a big deal, and it would be cool to have a home team that you could support,” said sophomore Josh Betton, who also said he would go watch some of the Crew’s games.

Steckel agreed that watching MLS games in Austin would be fun: “[Having a MLS team] would be really cool, and I would watch every game,” he said.

Sophomore Isabella Wilson says that her enthusiasm for the MLS would hinge on the success of the potential new team in Austin. “[My interest would] depend on how good [the new team was], and if they were really good, I would definitely get into

it,” Wilson said.

Luckily for Wilson and soccer fans around Austin, the Crew is currently one of the more successful teams in the MLS. The Crew qualified for the MLS Cup playoffs and went on to beat Atlanta United FC and New York City FC before losing to Toronto FC in the semifinals this November. The Crew’s recent success is even more reason for Austin soccer fans to be excited about the future.

It is possible that the Crew and the city of Columbus will decide to work together to keep the team in Columbus, but for now, soccer fans in Austin are holding on to hope.

“I think it’s a good possibility [that Austin gets a MLS team], and I think it would be awesome if we had a MLS team,” Anderson said. “It would [mean] a lot more [fans] in Austin, a lot more fans and a lot of people who love soccer and enjoy it.”

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A picture speaks a thousand words

@christineehurd

Four Mac students reflect on the benefits and the drawbacks of harnessing the power of Instagram

A

picture speaks a thousand words. These words can say, “talented photographer,” “look at how much fun I’m having on vacation,” “feeling myself” or just about anything in between. For this generation, rolling over to look at your phone first thing in the morning is an all-to-common habit. Pressing the home button triggers the countless notifications that were delivered to your device while you were sleeping.

So-and-so liked your Instagram post and so-and-so snapchatted you. Increasingly in today’s smartphone society, social media has become the way to show your face, your talents and even your insecurities. But more than anything, photos and photography has become a primary way we communicate. For four McCallum students, this journey with experimenting with Instagram started years ago.

Photo by Christine Hurd

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JULIE ROBERTSON editor in chief

ANNA COMPTON assistant editor

Photo by Joshua Tsang

Photo by Christine Hurd

Senior Christine Hurd created her Instagram in middle school to have fun with her friends. Something that was just created for fun, has turned into something greater.

“I think I’ve had it since sixth grade,” Hurd said. “I got it because my friends all had it, and we just posted like bad memes and stuff, and that was all we did.”

Hurd feels that although Instagram can be fun and mostly harmless, she does have mixed feelings about it.

“I like that it’s a way to express yourself,” Hurd said. “But I also think that it becomes like a life in and of itself that can consume you and just overtake your priorities and stuff and encourage you to compare yourself to other people.”

In August of 2017, Hurd used her Instagram to come public about her transition of gender.

“The main reason I did that was just because I wanted it out there, and I wanted everyone to know without having me to continuously come out to different people individually,” Hurd said. “And I just mainly did it so I could get the word out and so that I could sort of be done.”

Although Hurd felt that this was something she needed to do, she felt hesitant about making it public to all of her followers.

“I think I definitely feel that it was what I needed to do,” Hurd said. “But I also feel like somethings, especially that stuff, is like private in a way, and I kind wondered if it really necessarily mattered. But then I thought I don’t want to run into people that I haven’t seen in like a year and have that be a problem.”

Hurd feels as though there’s an expectation of how you’re supposed to be and act after posting something like that on social media.

“The reaction of that, even though it was all positive, has definitely put me in this place of like not even wanting to share any other pictures now,” Hurd said. “I feel like people tend to expect you to be at this like perfect happy state once you go through something like that, and I’m not necessarily there, and I think it’s just like pressure to uphold a certain image or a certain attitude.”

Although it made Hurd not want to post for a while, she is gaining confidence and comfort with herself and is starting to become more comfortable with the idea.

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@sauce.girl.sophi @joshua.tsang

Senior Sophia Bastidas first started Instagram in middle school with the intent to connect with friends and have fun posting what other middle school girls did at the time.

“I created it just to kind of reconnect with my friends,” Bastidas said. “I thought of it kind of like Facebook but for younger people, so I used it kind of like to express myself to my friends.”

Bastidas states she has mixed feelings about Instagram.

Sometimes after spending so much time on it, she believes she needs to take a break from all of it, but other times she just enjoys using it to post whatever she wants.

“It can be really time-consuming and pointless, and I just need to take a break from it,” Bastidas said. “But at the same time, I’m just here to express myself.”

Bastidas’ once pink-themed Instagram, is something she likes to look back on as artistic. Now she uses her Instagram as a start to her hopeful makeup career.

“I’m definitely really into makeup and one day I hope to be a makeup artist,” Bastidas said. “I feel like you gotta start somewhere, and so like building up your Instagram feed is a good start. I also use it to promote stuff, like events. If the fashion show is happening, I’ll advertise it on my Instagram, or like if I got my hair done I’d be like ‘This is who did my hair.’”

Bastidas has witnessed some of her friends feel the bad effects of Instagram. She says her friends and others tend to compare themselves to people on Instagram, but the people who they are comparing themselves to are fake and not real. Bastidas tries to ignore what she believes to be fake, and just be herself.

“I don’t really care what people think about me,” Bastidas said.

“I’m not afraid to post something because it makes me look stupid or ugly, edgy, weird, or different. I enjoy being different.”

Senior Joshua Tsang created an Instagram in middle school, mostly because it was a family affair.

“I created it mainly because my parents were on Instagram,” Tsang said. “It was just a thing for my family to do. I just kinda liked taking pictures. It was how I started photography.”

His Instagram photography caught the attention of many people. Tsang now has more than 1,100 followers and gets compliments on his photos often.

“It’s just happened on it’s own,” Tsang said. “People see my work and are like, ‘Oh, you’re a really good photographer.’ I’ve never really put much work into trying to get my name out there; it has kind of just comes with posting a lot of photos. I try to post at least once a day, but it varies. The most I’ll post is three photos a day.”

Tsang shies away from changing his photos from their original state to what is seen on an Instagram feed.

“I try to style away from the hyper-edited, surreal photos,” Tsang said. “But there are photos that I put a lot of work into when I edit them.”

Instagram has become a platform for Tsang to showcase his passion, and has since taken numerous photography classes in high school and expanded his talents.

“When I really started getting into photography in high school, it was kind of a platform for me to put my art on and also get inspiration,” Tsang said. “It was a place for me to dip my feet into the world of photography.”

When it comes to the pressures of Instagram and what to post, Tsang never lets it get to him.

“I feel like it’s just for fun,” Tsang said. “I could still post like once a week and be OK with it. I don’t usually think of my followers when deciding what and when to post.”

@weathclare

Sophomore Weatherly Giblin has had a presence on Instagram since fifth grade when she started her Instagram just for fun. Ever since then, her Instagram has grown into something she is much more passionate about.

“Definitely when I first made it, it was just for fun,” Giblin said. “I definitely wouldn’t call myself a photographer, but I love taking cool photos and sharing them and taking cool photos of my friends and sharing those.”

Giblin has more than 2,000 Instagram followers at this point, she says her following can be attributed to her creative photographs and the lack of structure in her account.

“I feel like I did at one point but I feel like the whole, ‘Don’t post more than one time a day,’ is stupid,” Giblin said. “I just post whatever we want, and I don’t have a specific set of rules that I feel like I have to follow.”

Giblin sees Instagram as a place to get photography inspiration too, and find new places to explore.

“It’s cool to see other people’s photography ideas and see what other people are sharing,” Giblin said. “I also like to find cool places to go in Austin because there are some Instagram accounts that post cool places to go and cool things to do. I like to use it for that.”

Some teens, however, still feel a pressure to post sometimes, or get caught up in the perfect lives portrayed in Instagram. Giblin says that can be an easy hole to fall into.

“When I’m at home by myself and a bunch of people are out, I just have to take a step back and be like, ‘Wait, Instagram isn’t my life, I am having fun right now I don’t need to worry that much about what other people are doing,’” Giblin said. “I definitely feel like it is easy to spiral into the fear-of-missing-out mentality, but I feel like you just have to realize that the world around you is what is happening in that moment, and it isn’t social media. Just taking that step back is something that everybody should do once and awhile.”

Photo courtesy of Sophia Bastidas

Photo by Joshua Tsang

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Photo courtesy of Weatherly Giblin

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Versatile Watson juggles many roles Math teacher, MCC sponsor, StuCo adviser adds head girls soccer coach to her list of Mac duties LINDSEY PLOTKIN guest reporter

Most McCallum students know who Stephanie Watson is.

Watson, formerly Stanley, is known by many on campus for everything she participates in. Some people know her as their soccer coach, others as their math teacher; she is a student council adviser to some, and a leader of the McCallum Christian Community for others.

“We tell students to participate in activities, and that will make them love McCallum, and I feel like it is the same for teachers,” Watson said. “If I didn’t do so much, I wouldn’t enjoy teaching as much, and I wouldn’t have the same connection with my students.”

While she has no regrets about leading so many activities, she says that it can be stressful to have so many balls in the air.

“Sometimes I feel like teaching is the least of my worries,” Watson said. “I often feel like I am prepared for class, but I am worried for practice.”

Those students who have her as a math teacher praise Watson’s commitment to her student’s achievements.

“She is a really good teacher, and she will help you even if you are not her student,” freshman Molly Odland said. “She is a teacher who truly wants you to succeed.”

Other students who see Watson in the classroom and in extracurriculars say Watson is equally involved in both arenas.

“I see her at MCC, soccer and for geometry, and I like it because she is good at everything she does,” freshman Lily Morales said. “She is a great teacher and coach, and just a great person to look up to.”

Junior varsity soccer player Ellie Stites says Watson works hard

Beside student council co-adviser Katie Carrasco, Watson sells tickets to the homecoming dance. Photo by Amurri Davis. to make sure everyone is on the same page, in class and on the field.

“She is really approachable as a teacher and a coach, which I think is her best quality,” Stites said.

Recently, Watson became the head soccer coach, taking over the responsibility from Coach Nancy Honeycutt Searle.

“I feel more responsibility to be prepared for class and for practice,” Watson said. “There were a lot of small details that I didn’t realize being the assistant coach. I just showed up and had fun.”

Coach Searle has offered Watson help, showing her how to order equipment and get the schedule set. Because the girls soccer

program does not receive that much funding, Watson organizes many fundraisers. On football game days during lunch and during the game itself, a few members of the team met to sell McCallum temporary tattoos. At the beginning of the season, the girls will also took part in a juggle-a-thon, getting pledges from anyone who is willing to pay for them to help girls soccer. Participating in the fundraisers helps the team buy real soccer socks.

Having real soccer socks is a big deal to many returning players because in previous years, the girls have worn softball socks, baseball socks, or tube socks that didn’t last for the entire season.

As the soccer season approaches, Watson has set her goals for this coming season: beating LBJ, Anderson and Austin High. She would also like for the team to win a playoff game this season.

Watson says that one of her favorite memories from soccer was beating LBJ, and that she is looking forward to the bus rides filled with loud music and dancing, where she sees the girls come together as a team and get excited to play.

“I am always looking forward to beating LBJ, because we beat them last year, and we are going to beat them this year,” Watson predicted.

But win or lose, Watson is sure to be busy as always with no regrets about leading so many activities.

“Being overly-involved is the best way to make teaching fulfilling,” Watson said.

While she confessed that she often feels like she has too much to do and not enough time, she also says that she is the type of person that thrives on being busy.

“I often feel like I have a lot going on, but being involved in everything makes me feel more connected to my students,” she said. “The ones that participate in everything with me become my go-to people, and those are the people that make me sad when they graduate.”

ABOVE: While helping to set up the 2016 Mac prom, the former Ms. Stanley descends the staircase at the Blanton Museum. Photo by Grace Brady.

knmanagement.com/careers

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Absences of Malice Attendance policy should encourage students to make up missed work not just recover lost hours ANNA COMPTON assistant editor

At the beginning of my sophomore year I fractured my jaw and suffered a severe concussion; as a result, I was in-and-out of school for more than six weeks, dealing with the unfortunate complications of my brain injury. It took months for me to fully recover, but during this time I was determined to catch up on my schoolwork and make up for the weeks I missed. Around this time, AISD implemented, and McCallum started enforcing, a new attendance policy. Little did I know it would soon have a drastic effect on me.

In the days after my injury, I attended school, but only for halfdays after my doctor released me to do so, and with weekly visits to my doctor and concussion clinic, I was slowly getting back on track. I was determined to finish all my make-up work, without having to go to Saturday school, or fill out any tutoring logs. To organize my make up work, I had a folder for each class and printed out what I was missing, so every time I finished something, I would check it off the list. I also talked to my teachers about everything that was happening, and kept them updated about my health, and any work that I finished. With a lot of hard work and

Photo illustration by Charlie Holden.

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effort to stay organized I was able to catch up with my school work on my own time.

One day on the morning announcements, an AP was discussing how to calculate how many hours you needed to make up in order to have credit for your classes. If you had more than four hours, the AP said, you should attend Saturday school or complete tutoring hours to clear your NC (No Credit). I decided to add up my absences, and was soon devastated with my result. I had a total of 63 hours to make up in order to receive credit for my classes. Because I did not have documentation for every single day I missed, the hours added up. A lot of my recovery required me to stay home, and rest, so I didn’t have a doctor’s note for those days, which were the absences that affected me the most in the end.

The State of Texas requires that all high school students must be in attendance for 90 percent of all class days each semester to receive full credit for their classes. The state policy says that when a student’s attendance drops below 90 percent but remains at least 75 percent of the number days the class is offered, the student may earn credit for the class by making up absences as approved by the principal such as Saturday school and tutoring hours.

I talked to my AP as soon as I added up my hours. My AP told me my options, and I was really frustrated to say the least. I didn’t understand why I needed to make up 63 hours of tutoring just because I had a concussion, which, was not my fault. It was doubly frustrating because I had already logged countless hours of my own time getting caught up on my work, but my AP was just following AISD policy and couldn’t do anything about it.

I ended up talking to Mr. Garrison about clearing my absences, and though not all were cleared, after we talked, he cleared the ones that I could follow up with documentation. I also decided to reach out to Ms. Jackson, McCallum’s attendance specialist, to better understand the attendance policy, so I could take the necessary measures to make sure this never happened again. I understood that I should never leave school without a pink slip, because even if you were to have documentation for your absence, and didn’t sign out, it can’t be cleared.

Something that I also learned this year is every day a student is absent from class, it costs AISD $45 in revenue from the state. In theory, if all students attend 100 percent of their classes in a year, the school district would receive $50-$60 million in additional state funding.

Considering that the school loses revenue every time a student is absent from class, it’s understand able why

Confused about your absences?

Here’s a guide to help you understand: BA: Board Approved CRT: Court (No probation) DC: Dual Credit HB: Homebound HD: Holy Day HSS: Home Suspension ILH: Illness with Health Care profession note MNT: Mentorship CIT: Citizenship NAT: Naturalization Ceremony OTH: Other Circumstances UNX: Unexcused Absence VST: College Visit-2 per year UT: Unexcused Tardy FLD: Field Trip MED: Medical Appt-Partial Day Attendance MU: Made Up ILP: Illness w/ parent/guardian note EC: Election Clerk SCH: School Office T: Excused Tardy ENL: Enlistment ER: Early Release: Reqs suprtnd aprv ISS: In School Suspension IM: Imm Non-Compliant TAP: TAPS-TX Military Funeral TST: Testing UIL: UIL MIL: Mil Deploy GRD: After graduation use ... : Attendance Not Taken **: All-Day Not Applicable - : Class Did Not Meet

schools strictly enforce this policy, and urge all students to attend their classes.

I believe this policy does more harm than good. The hours that I had to make up became more about actual time spent at McCallum than actually learning and doing anything productive.

While I feel very strongly that the policy is misguided, I am also well aware that it is extremely unlikely that we students will be able to do anything to change this policy, but there are ways to prevent the policy from wreaking havoc on your life if you have an extended absence beyond your control.

I believe there’s no guide to cheating the system. You just have to voice your concerns and seek help from the administration to find out how to resolve your absences.

Reach out to your teachers or other administrators if you don’t understand the policy, so you can take the necessary measures to insure that you receive credit for the classes where you have done the work but haven’t been able to attend the required number of class hours.

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Photo illustration by Dave Winter

Chromebooks will hurt, not help

Online education is the latest thing but not the greatest thing KRISTEN TIBBETTS guest reporter

Chances are, you are well aware of a systematic shift that schools across the country are participating in: switching from traditional classroom resources to online tools, such as the infamous Blend project that has been implemented at McCallum this year. There has been an obvious increase in online homework, assignments, tutoring and other schoolwork in the past few years, and it is expected to continue growing.

As we all know, starting in January, all students at McCallum will receive a Chromebook. To some, this is exciting, and to others it is annoying, but what can be agreed upon by all is that these Chromebooks will lead to even more computerbased assignments. AISD is strongly encouraging teachers to use these new Chromebooks in their everyday lessons in hopes of “keeping up with

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the modern world.” So far, there hasn’t been an overwhelming amount of feedback from the student body on the matter. For myself and others like me, however, it’s clear that these “modern classrooms” aren’t all that they’re cracked up to be. They may seem like the future of education to school boards around the nation, but online classwork is unfavorable and even damaging to students and our learning in many ways.

It’s true, of course, that some students don’t have a problem with this different style of learning; they may even appreciate it. They don’t want to keep track of papers or simply prefer typing to writing, and that’s wonderful.

Not everyone, however, is happy with these changes. For example, there are many problems that nearly everyone can relate to that are caused by working from behind a computer screen. A miserable headache, nausea and some degree of eye strain are some of the most typical symptoms. After talking to my classmates about it, I realized that I’m not alone in feeling overwhelmed by an influx of Blend assignments or other computer work; operating over a screen for long periods of time has been proven to increase anxiety and stress.

That alone was enough reason for me to

“Modern classrooms may seem like the future of education to school boards around the nation, but online classwork is unfavorable and even damaging to students and our learning in many ways.” always ask my teachers for a paper-copy of assignments and to even start drafting an email to the school board to petition for physical textbooks. After I learned about every student being issued a Chromebook in a few months, however, I realized that my avoidance of technology-based schoolwork is going to get more difficult.

Personally, I’ve always known that it’s easier for me to concentrate when I’m working with a pen and paper. It wasn’t until I decided to back my beliefs with research that I discovered that paperwork significantly improves my grades and studying comprehension as well. Writing

by hand has been proven to activate specific regions in our brains that are important for understanding information, remembering facts, and improving creativity. But that isn’t all. It may seem like writing out assignments takes longer than typing, and in a way that’s true.

But doing schoolwork online increases the risk of distractions, which ultimately wastes even more time. I know that I’m not the only one who has turned on their phone to check the Blend app, and a few minutes later be lost scrolling through Instagram pictures. Of course, these Chromebooks will block sites that aren’t AISDapproved, but that won’t take away all of the many possible distractions.

I don’t deny that some people might not experience the same things that I do, and that the Chromebooks might even be a relief for people without a computer at home. These computers will undoubtedly increase our online workload, however, which is very harmful for many of us. Hopefully in the future there will be a way to modernize schools and classes in an easier, healthier and more productive way.

But, until that day, the good old-fashioned penand-paper schoolwork is the right choice to incorporate the needs of everyone.

12 dec. 2017

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“Somewhere in my memory” Take time to remember the spirit of the holidays

The cup designs starting from 1997 [bottom row right side] to 2017 [top row left side]. The different designs changes can be noticed as the designs decrease the amount of Christmas spirit included. Photo from Starbucks Newsroom. Reprinted with permission.

A festive fiasco Arrival of Starbucks holiday cups causes unnecessary stir

ABIGAIL SALAZAR staff reporter

Starbucks, founded in 1971, has been distributing specialty holiday cups since 1997 to mark the arrival of the Christmas season. Each cup included Christmas holiday symbols, such as snowflakes, snowmen, ornaments and reindeer.

That is, they did until 2015, when the Starbucks cup first became plain red.

Many Starbucks customers were angry that their Christmas cup featured a plain red design without the holiday symbols from cups in past years. Those against the design felt that Starbucks was trying to dismiss Christmas, creating an anti-Christian atmosphere.

Starbucks responded by saying their reason for having a plain red cup was to “usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.”

2015 wasn’t the only year when Starbucks received negative feedback about the holiday cup’s design. Not everyone is happy about the 2017 cups, which feature a design that is meant to be colored-in. Whimsical illustrations of presents, Christmas trees and hands are the main focus on the cup.

Though many designs for previous holiday cups were submitted by customers, this year they have rejected the idea of coloring and personalizing the cup. Some say they don’t have the time to color the cup, and simply think having a color-in cup was a stupid idea.

This whole issue about the Christmas cup has been taken out of proportion, and people are getting upset over nothing. Starbucks was merely testing out a new design and approaching the idea of the holiday cup differently by taking into consideration the option to add personal holiday stories to your drink.

To resolve this dispute, Starbucks should have their customers vote on the design beforehand.

12 dec. 2017

The best part about winter break in elementary school was cuddling up on the sofa every night with my sister, my mom and my dad and watching all of the Christmas movies we had on DVD. Each film came with its own sugarcookie-frosting-memories: my dad singing along to ‘You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,’ the view from behind the couch as I hid from the roar of the abominable snowman, and my sister and I eating bowls of syrup-drenched spaghetti like Buddy the Elf all come to mind. For the Holdens, those lazy days were all about being together. It didn’t matter what happened, just so long as we allowed ourselves to slow down long enough to enjoy it.

The best part about winter break in middle school was sitting in my room with a book and a box of candies, guarding myself against the cold and the deadlines swirling outside. Christmas was a time of peace, but I was aware of the tension around me. My dad would play John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” and dance around the kitchen while cooking the turkey and the ham, and the lyrics would wash over me: “A very Merry Xmas, And a happy New Year, Let’s hope it’s a good one, Without any fear.” It was a song I had been hearing every year for my whole life, but the words has only just began to sink in.

The holidays in high school aren’t easy. What presents am I going to get for my friends? What about my mom? I don’t have the money for that... What if they think I don’t care? I think my extended family is coming over next week.

What if they ask me about college? What if they talk about politics? What if, what if? Constantly being in stress-mode because of my schoolwork made it harder for me to turn it off during the break. My lazy days became flooded with worries of every sort, worries that were made worse by the ultra-consumer-based environment around me. The Christmas DVDs stayed in the attic and my family listened to John Lennon each in our separate rooms of the house. Lennon’s sleepy voice asked me: “So this is Xmas, And what have you done?” What had I done? It made me realize that I hadn’t truly felt the magic of the holiday season in years, and it wasn’t because my sister told me Santa wasn’t real or because the evils of capitalism had suddenly destroyed the concept of holiday cheer—it was me. Without me realizing it, my attitudes about Christmas had changed into something I could hardly recognize.

The best part of my winter break, starting in little over a week, will be cuddling up on the sofa with my sister, my mom and my dad and watching some of our favorite DVDs. I’ll eat candy and be merry, but more than that I will be aware. I will be aware of all of the love and the happiness which surrounds me, and I will work every minute to make sure I don’t take it for granted. The season of gifts is coming, but remember that time is the best gift of all. Give your time to your parents, to your siblings, to your community and to yourself.

-Charlie Holden

How can you give back to your community this holiday season?

The design for 2017 is Starbucks’ first ever white holiday cup, featuring a pair of hands connected with swirling ribbons and splashes of red and green. Photo by Liliette Rodriguez.

Starbucks could allow customers to take an online poll choosing between multiple designs, then select the winner based off of customer votes. By doing this, there is a better chance that the company will not receive negative feedback about the design of the cup.

If Starbucks wants to create a new design, they should at least have some small elements of Christmas in it and not completely take away the Christmas spirit from the cups, but they cannot make the cups more Christmas related.

If they want to try something new, they should include some snowflakes or a Christmas tree in their new design.

If you can brave the needle, donate blood; visit weareblood.org to schedule an appointment.

It sounds scary, but the blood you donate could save the lives of those in your community, and you get cookies afterwards.

At Mobile Loaves and Fishes, volunteer to prepare and deliver meals to men and women who are living on the streets. For more information, go to mlf.org.

If you feel like giving back to children in need, consider volunteering at Partnerships for Children, which provides support for caseworkers and children in Child Protective Services.

Volunteers help sort donations and stock the 24-Hour Resource Center, and can also donate presents based off of a foster child’s wish list. Email marcus@partnershipsforchildren.org for more information on volunteering.

Love animals? Volunteer with Dog Enrichment, which lets volunteers exercise and give dogs waiting to find permanent homes all the attention they need to stay happy and healthy. Visit the Austin Animal Center website for more information.

At home, you can assemble “manna bags” to keep in a car to pass out to homeless people. All you need is a bottle of water, a new pair of socks, a protein bar, feminine hygiene products and a toothbrush.

If you leave town and stay in a fancy hotel, make sure to grab all the extra mini shampoos you can get, because the Free Store will take them. The Free Store is a charity in East Austin that enrolls “members” from guidelines based on family size; every item is offered free of charge. You can also donate a huge variety of items to the store, including the ugly sweater your aunt gave you. Check out the Free Store website for a list of items you can donate and other ways you can get involved.

-Madison Olsen

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Let the present take precedent Texans can remember their past, but should not be defined by it

Five schools in the Austin Independent School District are facing the repercussions of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that cost a life on Aug. 12. Shock waves were sent throughout the country, prompting the removal of monuments and buildings with Confederate connections.

AISD Board President Kendall Pace tweeted after the August rally, “Schools named = monuments. The time is now.”

The Allan Facility (formerly Allan Elementary), Fulmore Middle School, Lanier High School, Reagan High School, and the Johnston campus are all named after men who fought or supported the Confederacy; Allan after an officer in its army, Fulmore after a private, Lanier after a poet and soldier who fought for it, and Reagan and Johnston after generals.

AISD has only seen this action once before, in May 2016, when the school board voted to rename Robert E. Lee Elementary to Russell Lee Elementary after a Depression-era photographer.

Schools being renamed because of their Confederate ties have shown us that a school’s identity and its community are strongly aligned. Every school that might lose its Confederate name has a student body composed more than 75 percent of minority populations. To have to step into a school every day, walk by countless signs and statements of school pride, all which revolve around a historical figure who fought for the Confederacy, can be stifling to anyone, especially to students of younger ages who have only recently become aware of the stances for which those people fought. Every student deserves to attend a school named after someone they can look up to, and any Confederate is not that person. We are not for continued prejudices or misplaced “Southern pride,” but at the same time, renaming schools is a BandAid solution to a much more deeply rooted issue.

Dedicating a building to someone, especially a place of education, is no small deal. It calls attention to them in a permanent manner, elevates their status, and envisions them as a role model; people who took part in the Confederacy do not deserve that attention. These names send the wrong message to communities surrounding Austin: the idea that the actions and prejudices of these people have left an impact on our community and continue on in tradition and legacy.

Those against renaming the schools argue that there is too much unnecessary cost. They don’t see the names of the schools as having any significance, and to them the idea of renaming them seems

shield staff

that should be shrugged off. In the way that the Hollywood sexual assault allegations put controversy in center stage to encourage more action, this first step could prompt us to tackle deeper issues embedded in AISD. The current names spread ideals of intolerance, discrimination, and narrow-mindedness. This is not what we want to associate our schools with. These people are not who students should look up to. Wiping the names away could offer a larger, more supportive platform to put programs in place and ideas that benefit Austin schools in the long-term. Simply changing the names and moving on, however, would do nothing for the schools or the students themselves.

A.N. McCallum High School 5600 Sunshine Drive Austin, TX 78756 (512) 414-7539 fax (512) 453-2599 contact.macshield@gmail.com

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wasteful, because the cost and energy spent changing signs and other decorations could’ve been used better elsewhere.

Although there is validity to this argument, renaming the schools would not be the one and only change made. If that were the case, there would be slim lasting benefit from the somewhat hefty costs.

Removing the Confederate names would break the surface of a much deeper issue, enabling the school district and Austin in its entirety to discuss and make way for more lasting, meaningful change. To truly see benefit from the name changes, it would have to be the first step of many.

The possibility that replacing these names would open doors to resolve issues that remain in present day Austin is not something

editors-in-chief CHARLIE HOLDEN AND JULIE ROBERTSON assistant editors ANNA COMPTON

MADDIE DORAN

ZOE HOCKER

MADISON OLSEN

SOPHIE RYLAND

adviser DAVE WINTER

reporters EMMA BAUMGARDNER, JOSEPH CARDENAS, GREGORY JAMES, MAX RHODES, ABIGAIL SALAZAR, KELSEY TASCH, STEVEN TIBBETS, WILLIAM TYREE The Shield is published by journalism students in the newspaper production class. Although students work under the guidance of a professional faculty member, the student staff ultimately determines the content.

Students may not publish material that is obscene, libelous or that which will cause a “substantial disruption to the

26 opinion

educational process.” Content that may stimulate heated debate is not included in this definition.

The Shield operates as an open forum for exchange of ideas. Opinions expressed in editorials are the ideas of the staff. Opinions expressed in the columns are that of the writer’s alone.

Letters to the editor are encouraged

and must be signed. Positive identification may be required when a letter is submitted. Letters may be edited. Letters that are critical of the newspaper staff’s coverage of events or that present information that may stimulate heated debate will be published.

Letters that contain malicious attacks on individual reporters, the adviser or the prin-

cipal will be rejected.

Anyone interested in purchasing an ad should contact adviser Dave Winter at (512) 414-7539. The Shield is a member of the Interscholastic League Press Conference, the National Scholastic Press Association the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the Southern Interscholastic Press Association.

12 dec. 2017

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by Isabella Hernandez

Photo by Charlie Holden

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what’s new

Photo galleries for each of McCallum’s playoff games Junior wins ATPI contest with ‘Women of my World’ portfolio 12 dec. 2017

online preview 27

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Mac advances to 5A Region IV final

By avenging 1966 loss to Alice, 2017 Knights boldly go where no Knight team has gone before BELOW: Deron Gage helped to ignite a struggling Knight offense with a 25-yard reception and some key runs.

Photo by Charlie Holden. Senior Will Loewen’s tackle was part of a stout D that shut out Alice for the game’s final three quarters. Photo by Ian Clennan.

ABOVE: Alexander Julian scored his second TD on this acrobatic five-yard leap into the end zone that provided the game’s final points. Senior Ian Carson also kicked two second-half field goals as the Knights pulled away for a 33-8 win. Photo by Dave Winter.

RIGHT: 1966 teammates John Dodgen, Bob Sours, Marc Arbon and Dennis Kerwin, clutch pinkies for the traditional playing of the school song on the sidelines before the game.

Photo by Madison Olsen.

28 photo essay

As the final seconds ticked off the clock at the Alamodome, the football team gave Coach Taylor a well-deserved Gatorade shower, but Coach Taylor’s quick reflexes kept the shower brief. Photo by Ian Clennan.

ABOVE: Sophomores Amanda Moore, Lina Coleman and Mary Roe cheer on the Knights to victory over Alice. “Photo by Dave Winter.

LEFT: McCallum took a 14-8 lead it never surrendered after Mason Bryant pulled in this 47-yard half-ending Hail Mary from Max Perez despite triple coverage. Photo

by Madison Olsen.

12 dec. 2017