The tiny homes program provides a new future for veterans in the community. To help assist the veterans, the computer maintenance classes decided to make a project focused on building computers for the veterans to use.
“Every computer maintenance class will build a computer to donate with the tiny home so they have it from start to finish,” teacher John Nicholson said.
By Cara Helton Staff Writer
Congressman Dan Crenshaw inspired students when he visited campus to speak on the impact the Tiny Homes project has on veterans.
“Everybody wants to do something for veterans, there’s a million programs out there; but it’s important to do something that’s useful in filling a gap,” Crenshaw said. “When you’re doing something that actually has a clear result, I think that’s great. You should be really proud of it, and that’s what this is.”
Crenshaw spoke to the Tiny Homes students from Kingwood Park and Summer Creek, along with a few other CTE students, in the cafeteria on April 6. Afterward, he toured the newest home, which held its official completion ceremony on May 17.
As a former U.S. Navy SEAL, Crenshaw has a strong appreciation for programs like Tiny Homes. He talked about how difficult it is for veterans to adapt to civilian life after
being in the military and how Tiny Homes is helpful in making veterans feel at home.
“There’s some veterans that just have a real hard time transitioning out of the military,” Crenshaw said.
“That’s just the reality of the situation, I was in that situation.”
Along with his speech about the significant impact made by Tiny Homes, Crenshaw also answered a variety of questions from students.
“It means a lot to me being able to help out a veteran, as Dan Crenshaw said, kickstart their new life after the
military,” said senior Joe Stephenson, who has worked on the last two Tiny Homes. “It’s very nice and refreshing after putting in all our hard work seeing how it affects them.”
Stephenson said he really enjoys building the homes and was encouraged by Crenshaw’s talk. Architecture teacher Missi Taylor was also grateful for his appearance.
“I think it was very important that he took the time out of his day to come see the project and see what the kids have done,” Taylor said.
The students do everything themselves. First, they were given a budget of $1,000, which they must adhere to as they purchased parts. They had to research all parts of the computer, price comparing then having to come up with a business proposal. After being approved, the parts are ordered and the students wait excitedly as the parts come in one after another.
“Some of them have never built a computer before,” Nicholson said. “A lot of them learn and then go home and build their own computers.”
By adding this computer to the veterans’ homes, it opens them up to many more possibilities: online job applications, video games, streaming services. With the world becoming increasingly more online, having access to a computer is vital. Veterans are able to communicate with family members and much more.
The computer maintenance program isn’t stopping there. They want to take the project further by running an ethernet cable through the tiny homes community in Liberty.
Down the line, they hope to also open a workshop where students and teachers can bring their technology to have it fixed.
“Actually delivering it to the Tiny Home is always special,” Nicholson said. “It’s nice to continue to give students the knowledge of what it feels like and what it is to give back.”
HOSA students put together a good showing at the state competitions in Round Rock in March. The state qualifiers showcased their innovative and creative ideas in front of healthcare professionals.
Elm Grove Elementary opened their new playgrounds to the public on April 5 after much anticipation. The construction took six months from November until April. The playground features many different types of activities like swings, tall slides and other hands-on equipment.
“The new playgrounds provide opportunities for imaginative play,” Elm Grove principal Cassie Pfeifer said. “There’s additional types of equipment, such as swings and a pour in place play surface for fall protection and handicap accessibility.”
Installing new playgrounds was needed in order for the students of Elm Grove Elementary to have a safe, fun playground to play on during recess. The previous playgrounds had rust and various unsafe types of equipment. Because of a recent bond that was passed, every elementary school playground in Humble ISD is being rebuilt with safety and fun in mind.
“Students are enjoying the new features that are now a part of the playground,” Pfeifer said. “This is especially true of the swings. This is the first time we have had swings
at EGE in many years.”
With construction taking six months to complete, many students and staff had anticipated opening day. During this time, teachers had to buy their own equipment to keep the students entertained in a small environment. Because of this, the day the playground opened was a day full of excitement.
“I will never forget the way my fourth graders screamed like it was Christmas morning when they ran out the fourth grade doors in anticipation of seeing the new playground for the first time,” said Anita McKeague, a 4th grade teacher at Elm Grove Elementary.
“It had been five months that they patiently waited and I will always remember how their eyes lit up.”
The new playgrounds have brought the community together after school as well. Many people go to the playgrounds to have picnics or simply just to play with friends.
“I see so many families playing together after school, rather than being at home,” McKeague said.
“They are interacting more, which also helps form new friendships between kids and parents in the community. Our kids take pride in our playground.”
“We had a good group that went with us,” HOSA instructor Leanna Rockwell said. “I felt like we were going to do really well. Everyone was prepared for it.”
HOSA is an organization that allows students going into the healthcare field a chance to apply their interests and knowledge into reallife situations to better prepare themselves for the future. This year’s competition provided students with a variety of events from which to choose.
“Each competition is different, so they each have their own set of guidelines that they have to review and know in order to succeed,” Rockwell said. “There are both individual and team events. Some students prepared by studying for tests or practicing skills that they then have to display in front of a judge.”
Since the first day of her freshman year, senior Mchaley Kayfes found a deep interest and passion for HOSA. She has been in HOSA for four years and displayed her leadership skills as vice president of the club. Kayfes competed in two events this year: mental health promotion and medical art.
She placed 5th in mental health promotion and first in medical art.
“HOSA has so many different competitions,” Kayfes said. “You just pick one that suits you. I am very passionate about art. I can do art
all day long so I was like, let’s do it. Not going to lie, I wasn’t expecting to advance but that just made it special for me.”
Senior David Bell is the blood drive chair for HOSA. He joined his junior year after transferring from another school. He became involved and started volunteering as often as he could. Kingwood Park acquired the silver recognition for blood drive coordination.
The award is given out for collecting over 200 units of blood. This year alone, the school collected 273 units of blood with each unit having the ability to save three lives.
“State was really fun, I spent a lot of my time with Matti McDaniel, and we were courtesy courts so we didn’t really compete at state but we still helped run different competitions,” Bell said. “Our school is ranked one of the top for blood drives because we get a lot of donations through our student body.”
Senior Taryn Jones and junior David Gonzales both advanced to the international level in their separate events. Jones placed second in Medical Assisting and Gonzales was a finalist for Organized Leadership, allowing him to advance to be a voting delegate. The international competition will take place in Dallas from June 21-24.
Apart from pre-competition jitters, the students also managed to enjoy their free time at the resort with a range of water park and carnival rides provided by the hotel.
“One of my favorite memories from state is probably going on this big water ride with a giant dome opening,” said Kayfes. “I was absolutely terrified but everyone was rooting for me so I know I had the support.”
“We had a good group that went with us. I felt like we were going to do really well. Everyone was prepared for it.”
HOSA teacher
Leanna Rockwell
With a teacher shortage plaguing much of the country, Crosby ISD changed its school schedule to a four-day week in hopes of attracting more teachers. Crosby is one of almost 60 school districts making the switch to a four-day week in Texas alone.
“There’s a teacher shortage all over America,” Humble ISD superintendent Elizabeth Fagen said. “Some districts have it a lot more than others. And we’re fairly blessed.”
Crosby is the most recent and largest district in Texas to make the change. They are also the first in Harris County.
With 172 certified teaching positions available for the 2023-24 school year in Humble ISD, changing to a four-day week schedule has been contemplated by Fagen.
“I think it sounds like a tool that could be explored in some communities,” Fagen said. “I think our calendar that we have here is actually preferred and does help us with teacher retention.”
Fagen, who was hired in 2016, was instrumental in creating Humble ISD’s current calendar, where students have a week off in October, November, February and March, along with two weeks for winter break in December/January. The schedule was first implemented in 2018.
“Forney ISD started making changes to their calendar and parents started hearing about it,” Fagen said. “And some of my school board members started to hear about it and they asked us to look into it.
“The current schedule has been a great solution to attract more teachers to the school, and the reason I know that is because a lot of the districts around us are changing to our calendar because they’re losing staff to us.”
Each Texas school is required to have 75,600 instructional minutes each year. To make the change to a four-day week, Crosby had to extend its days by 20-25 minutes to meet the minimum requirement.
If Humble ISD switched to a four-day week, Fagen said some of the week-long breaks would have to go and the days would be longer.
“I do think that when you add an hour to the day, you’re probably pushing the limit of how long students can be fully engaged in the learning process,” Fagen said.
English teacher Marissa Manfred has taught in the district for 25 years and loved the change made when the extra weeks off were implemented. She spends those
weeks focused on her kids, and she said the breaks seem necessary for her students too.
“I’m jealous that I didn’t have it when I was growing up,” Manfred said. “I look at all the things I’ve done with my family just in the past few years with the weeks off.”
While families often vacation during the October and February breaks since vacation destinations are less crowded, the extra weeks off have moved the first day of school up to early August. Next year, classes start Aug. 9. Teachers report July 31.
“It shortens the summer break a little bit so that the youngest students have less time between one year to the next and there’s less of that learning loss,” Fagen said.
Currently, students are required to be in school for 75,600 minutes each year. In the most recent Texas legislation, a House bill was proposed to ban districts from switching to four-day weeks by requiring districts to spread those minutes across 175 days.
The Crosby calendar for the 2023-24 school year has 163 instructional days. In comparison, Humble ISD had 174 instructional days this year, even with its unique October and February weeks off.
“I do always question the state or whoever says that we have to have so many school days,” Manfred said. “Is there any research that shows that results in optimal learning? Why does it have to be eight hours? I feel that going ahead, education is going to have to change.
“We are going to have to ask these big questions and think outside the box if we want to keep kids in school or it’s going to be a wave of kids going to homeschooling. It’s something that I feel very strongly about. I question a lot of why we do things the way we do.”
“There’s a teacher shortage all over America. Some districts have it a lot more than others. And we’re fairly blessed.”
Humble ISD superintendent Elizabeth FagenStudents pass in the halls between classes in May. They have adapted to the schedule where they have full weeks off in October and February, in addition to normal holiday breaks in November, December, January and March. Photo by Morgen Dozier.
Orren Wright still shows up to school. Inspired by his high school football coach, Wright knew exactly what he wanted to be.
He taught and coached for 34 years before deciding to substitute during retirement.
“Three reasons I still sub is you make extra money and I like working with the youth,” said Wright, who has now subbed for 30 years. “The third is if I’m not working, I’m sitting at home watching TV, so I’m doing it to keep myself busy.”
Wright is one of many subs who spend almost everyday here at Kingwood Park. Despite a nationwide sub shortage impacting Humble ISD, Kingwood Park has been lucky. Administration has worked to make a comfortable workplace so subs will continue to want to return.
“I think (it helps) having someone they can go to, especially when someone’s new to your campus,” said associate principal Tiffany Major, who oversees substitutes
on campus. “Then if they have a problem, knowing exactly, here’s AP’s numbers, here’s all the information so you don’t have that anxiety. I think that’s been helpful.”
Since COVID hit, statistics show 20 percent of substitute teaching jobs go unfilled each year. Humble ISD had issues too. Teachers were out sick because of the outbreaks of COVID, forcing them to quarantine.
Due to most subs being older, several of them didn’t want to risk getting sick.
“If our staff got sick, they were required to be out for long periods,” Major said. “And so that caused some issues just with our usual subs not being available.”
Substitutes noticed changes after COVID. The teacher and substitute shortage often made their plan-
ning impossible. Substitutes sometimes are required to fulfill duties for more than one teacher, despite only signing up for one.
“When a job comes available and notifies me, I can accept or decline the job,” Wright said. “What has changed because of the pandemic is there is a shortage of substitutes, so we sometimes don’t get to fulfill the job that we signed up for.”
In Humble ISD, substitutes must have a minimum 60 hours or more from a college or university and pass a background check. They earn between $120-$140 each day. Each day there are about 10 subs on campus.
The administration is continuously working to keep substitutes, like Wright, returning each week.
“I think you just have to continue to create a culture at your school where you’re welcoming to people,” Major said. “You make them feel, you know, like they have someone to go to and they’re going to be supported while they’re on the campus. I think if you do that, then you’ll continue to have your sub jobs filled.”
Orren Wright started substituting in Humble ISD after he retired from teaching and coaching. He has been in education for more than six decades. Photo by Jada Cassidy.ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence bot created by OpenAI. Since its creation in November of 2022 it has gained traction on the internet and in classrooms around America.
Some English teachers worry about the effect that ChatGPT might have on their classes since AI is able to create a convincing essay in mere seconds with only a few keywords. However, other teachers welcome the change as they look for more positives to this new piece of technology.
“I think that you’ll have students who use it as a means of not having to actually think critically, which in the end is just hurting themselves,” English 3 teacher Abby Wyllie said. “If your goal is to get educated and to glean an education out of being here every day, then you’ll do the things that actually mean you receive that education. But if you don’t want that, then people are going to learn how to cut corners in any way, shape or form.”
Because of its vast capabilities, English teacher Kimberly Villegas is curious to see how it might be used for good.
Villegas compared ChatGPT to math classes using ti-90 calculators after previously using pen and paper for calculations.
“It’s absolutely fascinating. There’s so much power there, it’s a lot to wrap your head around,” said Villegas, who has taught English for 16 years.
ChatGPT is already being used in many occupations such as computer programming, customer services, human resources and journalism.
Of course it is unlikely that AI
will completely take over these jobs. But humans might utilize a program like ChatGPT to increase their efficiency and workload in everyday life.
Villegas said she never thought of the possibility of Artificial Intelligence being able to create essays, but she welcomes the change.
“It already is an extremely useful and helpful tool in the work world and in people’s day-to-day life,” Villegas said.
“It does a really good job of giving a voice – a written voice – to people who maybe struggle with effective communication through the written word, or to people who are not strong writers, but maybe they can verbally communicate really great ideas. But I think that it’s only going to be effectively used, like to the degree that teachers are willing to change the way that they approach their classroom.”
Villegas has already started to use ChatGPT in her classroom to help her students proofread and revise their essays. But the students’ reactions are always mixed.
“I would say there have been plenty of assignments where I’ve said, ‘OK, we’ll try putting it through ChatGPT and see what it gets,” Villegas said. “‘Do you like it? Is it good enough to submit or not?’ And then I have students who are very strong writers and they are like, ‘Oh, it’s absolutely garbage.’ Well, it’s not, it’s not absolute garbage if you’re a weak writer or even an average writer.”
Senior Gbemisola Olaoya embraces the challenge ChatGPT brings. Olaoya writes poetry then puts it into ChatGPT to analyze it. She wants to make sure that it flows the way she wants it to. The AI will then proofread her poem and tell her what it thinks will work.
“Anything in excess is wrong, but I feel like if you’re using ChatGPT in the right way, you’re using it in order to add to your knowledge rather than using it to write an essay,” said Olaoya
Although students may think that using an AI platform to write their essay is an easy way to get
a 100, not everything the AI spits out may be correct information. The sentence structure is very similar, and the way that an argument is presented is straightforward. It doesn’t give specifics unless a student asks for it. And it tends to show both sides of an issue equally, which is not ideal if you are preparing for a debate or writing an argumentative paper.
“The other thing that it does is it makes up quotes,” Villegas said. “If you say you need to include quotes and you give it things to quote from, it pretends that it has quotes from those things. But the thing in the quote marks isn’t from the article that it says that it’s referencing. It just makes up a quote that sounds good and then puts quote marks around it.”
ChatGPT is not going anywhere anytime soon. The district will be holding classes for English teachers over the summer to better help them understand and differentiate the work of ChatGPT to the work of a regular high school student.
“I mean, it’s coming no matter what,” Wyllie said. “I think that technology continues to evolve and advance. You can either fight against it or you can embrace it and use it to its full potential.”
“It’s absolutely fascinating. There’s so much power there, it’s a lot to wrap your head around.”
English teacher
Kimberly VillegasAs students learn new ways to use ChatGPT, teachers and students alike are divided on if it is a good addition to the classroom or a concern. Photo by Allie Jorgensen.
The Hunger Games has been a favorite series of millions throughout the years, both the books and movies alike.
“The casting was amazing,” junior Maddie Glenn said. “The chemistry between Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence is just so good. It’s beautiful. And they also stuck very well to the book.”
The first novel of the Hunger Games trilogy was released in 2008 and has had waves of popularity since then.
“When the books first came out we could not keep them on the shelves,” librarian Jessica Castille said. “And then, after about four or five years, they died down for a short amount of time. When the movie came out, any time a book is made into a movie or remake, it always becomes popular again and people want to read it again.”
People have returned to this series time and time
again.
“[I like rewatching the movies] because then you don’t really pay close attention to the finer details,” Felix Barr said. “It’s much more interesting when you know what you’re looking for. I really appreciate that.”
After the release of the Ballad of Songbirds and
Snakes, many Hunger Games fans swarmed back to the series. The book is a prequel to the original trilogy.
“I really liked it,” sophomore Olivia Brenner said. “I thought it was really good people. A lot of times the prequels to books are very good, but I thought that one was really well
done.”
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes will have a movie adaptation that will come out on Nov. 17. The trailer and proportion for the movie has been unique with interactions with fans through Instagram with fans being able to ask questions about the adaptation and its trailer, and
providing fans 16 clues about the new movie.
“[Since I haven’t read the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes] I didn’t know what was going on,” Glenn said. “I was like, oh, that’s so awesome. That’s so cool. Also, the parallels in the trailer get me really excited about the main character and the battle and everything. I’m super excited.”
The newfound resurgence of the book series has been supported by the series’ popularity on TikTok.
“It’s just fun to see on my page and seeing all the different content that different creators make about it,” Brenner said.
Social media has a large impact on book popularity, with many books reaching record heights with the help of TikTok.
“I think that [social media’s hype is] a double edged sword,” Castille said. “In the sense that, if we only read what’s trending and what’s popular, we’re probably missing a lot of other really good books out there.”
When I was younger, I remember I would stay up past my bedtime with a night light just to read the Hunger Games. I would read in the car at night and wait for everytime we passed a streetlight just to catch a glimpse of what happened next. The joy I would get from that stupid streetlight was foolish, but nonetheless it was joy.
sance. It’s what they crave to find. Right now, everything’s expensive and getting jobs is difficult. Balancing school and sports and whatever else we have signed up for is a challenge. Each day, we have to wake up and do it all again. Finding happiness in something so small like a new Hunger Games movie can help someone feel so big.
it’s one of my favorite trends.
Now that the Hunger Games prequel came out, fans have something to look forward to. For many, this series was a major part of their childhood. It might have been the strong main characters or the emotional roller coaster of a plot, but it was oddly soothing to read.
The new prequel is supposed to conclude the series and give an explanation to the Hunger Games fans.
By Abigail NietoThat’s the feeling people want to get from the Hunger Games renais-
This is one of the first book series I read and fell in love with, which is why a Hunger Games renaissance is no surprise. The renaissance trend is meant to bring back those feelings of comfort and nostalgia. I don’t think it is a bad thing. In fact,
The odds are in our favor with the author and director, Francis Lawrence, in charge. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy. Eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow sees a change in fortune when he mentors the female of district 12.
From the moment the franchise came out it, became a worldwide phenomenon. I wonder will the Hunger Games renaissance continue? Or will it end in a couple of years and become a distant memory just like our childhood? Nobody will realize change until we look at how far we’ve come.
Whether we let go or hold on tight, there’s no denying the impact the series has made on people.
Artwork by Fallon HeadCounselor Gina Sanchez watched her husband as his doctor gave the diagnosis. Cancer. Stage 4 colon cancer.
To Gina, everything stopped – and Hugo stopped listening.
Gina instantly noticed the change in her husband’s behavior. She realized she had to focus to learn what was next.
“I just had to go full force and say, ‘All right, I need to take control because he can’t do it,’” Gina said. “When you hear anything like that, you’re unable to process it. So for me, it was like, I have to figure out how to do the next step.”
Gina was back at work at Kingwood Park the next day.
It was 2018 and the first couple of days after the diagnosis Gina struggled to talk about it. The support she received from her colleagues, the administration and the counseling team helped her open up about the situation.
At home, she avoided crying to maintain her strong front, but at school with her friends she was able to shed needed tears.
“Of course she was scared, but she never showed it at home or at
work,” English and debate teacher Aline Theriot said. “She never wavered with her positive outlook.”
Gina and Hugo’s son, Alejandro Sanchez, was a 17-year-old senior at the time and telling him was stressful. His shock turned to anger because the family had already been through so much. Gina’s mother had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, her father had West Nile virus and the family had just moved to Texas.
Gina realized she had to be strong for her family. ***
At school, Gina continued to dive into work as the at-risk counselor, primarily helping the kids who needed the most support.
At home, everything was changing.
Hugo had to retire early from his career in law enforcement. Alejandro decided to enroll at the University of Houston to stay close to his dad instead of pursuing his dream of studying aerospace engineering at Embry-Riddle in Arizona.
Hugo’s long hours of overtime had kept him out of the house often, but all of a sudden father and son found time they never had before.
“I finally got to know him,” Alejandro said. “It’s a completely different dy-
namic, and I love hanging out with him.”
Hugo and Alejandro bond over TV, and Hugo made it a priority to start teaching Alejandro life skills, like working on cars.
“He’s doing it all now,” Gina said. “He doesn’t know how much more time we have. None of us do.”
The family creates as many memories as they can. They go on road trips to New York and California. They go to the beach or Lufkin to spend a day in nature. Movies and family dinners are now part of their routine.
***
In between the adventures, dealing with the diagnosis is a constant.
Originally, Hugo had a golf ball-sized tumor in his intestine. Doctors were able to remove it, but not before it metastasized, which
“I see the lives that she has affected. I want to be like that one day. I want to be able to help people the way she has.”Alejandro Sanchez on his mom Gina Sanchez Gina, Hugo and Alejandro Sanchez take a photo at the hospital together in January 2021. Photo submitted by Gina Sanchez.
means it spread to other organs.
He currently has six nodules in his lungs that doctors are trying to remove. Radiation treatment was not an option, so every two weeks Hugo must undergo chemotherapy treatments which are intended to kill cancer cells, but come along with a multitude of side effects.
The morning of his treatments, Gina asks for prayers on Facebook. She has counted every round of chemo. Last week was No. 109.
The replies to the Facebook posts help keep Hugo going as every cycle hits him hard. His wife or son drive him to the treatments. He becomes nauseous just in anticipation of each biweekly treatment.
When the chemo ends, his body is tired.
“Mentally you want to do stuff,” Hugo said. “But physically, no matter how much you want to try, you can’t.”
A couple of days after treatments, Hugo slowly regains his energy. Then it’s time for another treatment.
***
At work, Gina has been referred to as “an angel on Earth.”
The first day she met Theriot in 2017, Hurricane Harvey had just hit. Theriot was far away from family, at a new job and devastation was everywhere in Kingwood. Sanchez opened up her home to Theriot. It was a gesture that shocked her at the time and one she has never forgotten
Theriot quickly came to realize that Sanchez was simply doing what she does – helping others.
Gina, Hugo and Alejandro have become Theriot’s Texas family. Gina still tries to take care of Theriot when she’s sick, because she
knows the teacher’s mom is in Gibson, Louisiana.
“Gina has been a rock in my life since I’ve moved,” Theriot said. “She helps me through my problems, talks me through tough decisions.”
Sanchez’s support for her students and colleagues has been unwavering. Many have no idea what her home life entails as she counsels the most at-risk students, while also helping provide clothes and secure food for kids who need it.
Many times she stays after hours or skips lunch. Outside of school she does private counseling three days a week to reach more people with her former colleague Caren Barnes. ***
At home, Hugo enjoys his family time, but has struggled being unable to work.
“Sometimes I feel I don’t have a purpose or anything,” Hugo said. “Just all the unknowns put together,
it was life-changing.”
He started looking at his regrets. In the 1980s, Hugo was 15 hours away from earning his bachelor’s degree when his dad fell ill to cancer. His seven older siblings were spread out across the country, so he left school and stepped in to help his parents.
Life kept moving forward, and quitting school became his biggest regret.
Last summer, he enrolled in Lone Star College. This month, he graduated with honors with a 4.0 GPA, earning his associate degree. That same day, Alejandro graduated from Lone Star with two associate degrees.
“I think one of the reasons I’m doing what I’m doing is so that [Alejandro] could see ‘Hey, you know, my dad did it,” Hugo said. “Education wise, I need to make Alejandro proud of me too.”
Alejandro is proud. As his name was called on
the stage at the Lone Star graduation, he waited for his dad at the end of stage for a photo.
“[Gina] was integral in getting them to the finish line. She’s the little motivator behind them,” said Barnes, who attended the ceremony with the Sanchez family. “She pours herself into those around her, like her husband and her son.”
On the day of graduation, Gina updated her Facebook with a video of Hugo and Alejandro crossing the stage. She could be heard whooping and cheering. With the video she commented: “These are the moments we live for!!
Congratulations to Hugo Sanchez and Alejandro Sanchez!!!”
***
Alejandro is also proud of his mom. He nominated her to be named a “Viva Babe,” which recognizes impactful women by the brand Consuela.
In his nomination state-
ment, Alejandro referred to his mom as the pillar of strength for his family. She is, he wrote, “so ridiculously awesome.”
Gina received the recognition in April.
***
Now, Alejandro wants to make sure his parents are proud of him. He plans to go back to UH to get a bachelor’s in education.
This year, he has been carpooling to work with his mom and subbing at Kingwood Park. He wanted some extra money and, in turn, found his passion.
For years, Gina has walked into school and heard students call out her name to say hi. Now, as she and Alejandro walk into the building, students shout out hello to Mr. Sanchez and she smiles with pride.
“I see the lives that my mom has affected,” Alejandro said. “I want to be like that one day. I want to be able to help people the way she has.”
The Holmes family originally opened Catfish Cafe, a restaurant located in Atascocita, in 2000. The family attached a trailer to the outside of the restaurant to handle overflow when the restaurant was at full capacity. Due to rising popularity in the food truck industry over the past 21 years, the restaurant and its overflow trailer have evolved into a popular food truck business. Now located in Homestead, the family works together to run and operate the food truck Bayou City Catfish.
“I hope for continued growth among the community and food cost levels to plane out,” owner Joanna Holmes said. “It’s been challenging throughout the pandemic.”
The hard work is split among the family to keep up with the rush of customers. There are so many important roles such as writing out orders, accepting payments, cooking and packing the orders. Workers also have to make sure customers return to the window when their food is hot and ready to go. All
are essential tasks that must be done efficiently to keep the operation flowing.
Senior Edwin Holmes said the most effective way for his family seems to be that while his mom cooks, he plates the food and his sister Madison Holmes communicates with the customers.
“I think the family aspect adds a strong bond to our work ethic and we all try to help each other out whenever we can,”
At the UIL Academic State Meet, seniors Ryan Eckerty and Constance Streitman won state titles.
Eckerty finished first in the state in Physics and 4th Place overall in science.
Streitman won the gold in Copy Editing. She also placed 1st overall out of all the conferences 1A through 6A.
Edwin said. “With it just being our family that runs the business, knowing that this puts the food on our table, it makes everyone work together as a tightly bonded team.”
As for the customers, the Holmes family attracts many regulars to their window because of the work they put into the food they make and into the relationships with their customers. Between call-in orders for family gatherings and walk-up orders, customers are taken care of “the Holmes way.”
“We have a very close relationship with our customers,” Edwin said. “We have over 50 customers who just have to call in and say their name for us to know their go-to order. And the whole neigh-
borhood looks out for our family.”
Getting to know as many people as the Holmes family does in the community makes their job even more meaningful. They hear the inside scoop on customers’ lives and are treated as friends. A good story is always bound to come up at the window.
“We know everyone by name and some people have been eating with us every week since 2002,” Madison said. “I love getting to know the community.”
The workload may be extensive, but the secret to getting it done successfully starts with family.
“The best part about working on the food truck is the gratitude of helping my mom,” Edwin said.
Meet the Top 10 academic students in the Class of 2023. They share what their journeys have been like and what they are planning to do next year. They also talk about the teachers who impacted them the most during high school. Senior Ryan Eckerty is valedictorian and Iman El Attar is salutatorian.
“Knowing this is what puts the food on our table, it makes everyone work together as a tightly bonded team.”
Senior Edwin Holmes
“I’ll miss the holiday parties and just how easy everything used to be before, but I’m excited to see my former elementary classmates’ futures.”
Delaney
EspinozaGoing into the procedure, he knew it was a gamble. Senior Thaine Cook was told there was a 25 percent chance the operation would permanently blind him in his left eye.
He knew the risk. But he took the gamble.
“I miss watching memorable childhood shows and movies as a family.”
Jeremiah Woods“What I’ll miss most about school is definitely my friends. Going off to different colleges with the people you’ve grown up with is really hard but exciting to see what everyone accomplishes.”
Aubrey Loftice
“What I miss most about my childhood is the lack of stress and anxiety.”
Daniel Spear“The thing I will miss most about my childhood is all the naps I wanted or didn’t want but still got.”
Cadence Whiteside
Early in his life, Cook was verbally diagnosed with Asperger’s and ADHD. By the age of 2, he was nonverbal and struggled communicating with others. His eyesight was already a problem, but he did not know how to tell anyone.
“If the surgery had happened at age 3 or 4, they said they had a 90 percent success rate,” said Richard Cook, Thaine’s father. “But the problem was he was uncommunicative about it at that point. He didn’t know how to explain what was wrong with his vision. He didn’t know what normal was.”
As Cook began to get older, his vision worsened. When his left eye started getting weak and forming what is called a “lazy eye,” Cook first started wearing an eye patch when he was almost 8.
In addition, severe migraines set in when he looked out of both eyes at the same time since the images he saw did not connect. Double vision was a constant.
Cook said the vision in his right eye started having “a mind of its own.” A birth defect caused a disconnect between the eye and his brain, so he switched his patch to the right eye.
At age 15, Cook realized surgery was his best option if he wanted to have standard eyesight. It was 2020, however, and so COVID protocol made the already challenging surgery even more stressful for him and his family.
“He had never had surgery or anything like that,” his mom Malinda Cook said. “So as a mother, it was very scary to not be with my
child during something like that. I’ve always been there for him.”
After the surgery, Cook was in excruciating pain. Doctors had cut the muscles on the inside of the eye to try to make one closer to the other.
“He wasn’t allowed to have many pain killers because they had to be able to test his eye and we had to be able to put antibiotic drops in his eye,” Richard Cook said. “So he was in pain for a week. Bleeding out your eye socket is not a fun thing.”
Cook’s eyes stayed relatively fixed for only three weeks before they went back to focusing separately, which ultimately caused more pain. Doctors offered to do another surgery to try again, but Cook declined.
“It was a stupidly expensive surgery, and the surgery was ultimately unsuccessful, causing even more pain in the eye,” Cook said. The doctors also tried various
eyeglasses that would to work together. No thick they were, they He went back to wearing patch.
Depression started Cook tried to focus sions. He loves gardening started raising rabbits add structure and everyday life. He spends minutes to an hour the 17 rabbits he owns.
Cook also runs Dungeons Dragons with his friends Saturday for about
“It is my main social gives me creative freedom,” said.
Growing up nonverbal, used his keenness to express what he to others. When he taught himself how computers. By age known to his family guy.”
together during computer maintenance class in first period. He hopes to work in informational technology
would force his eyes
No matter how they didn’t work. wearing his eye started to set in, so focus on his pasgardening and rabbits as a way to routine in his spends about 30 hour a day tending to owns.
Dungeons and friends every about four hours.
social outlet and freedom,” Cook
nonverbal, Cook for computers he couldn’t convey he was little, he how to fix and build 12, he became family as the “tech
“Because of the way my brain works due to my Asperger’s and ADHD, I can just hyper focus on the I.T. work,” Cook said. “It’s always been kind of like second nature to me.”
During his senior year, he has spent three hours a day in Jonathan Nicholson’s computer courses working toward a career in computer maintenance. Through Nicholson’s classes, Cook will receive his CompTIA A+ and TestOut Pro certification. He is preparing to take the certification test on May 30.
“Overall, he does what he’s asked,” Nicholson said. “He tries and he fails and he tries again, then he gets it right. That’s all I can ask for.”
Throughout his life, his passion for computers helped him grow into the person he is today. While he continues to learn more about computers, his love for it continues to flourish.
“Computers was an outlet for him
in school,” Malinda said. “He had dyspraxia, so that was a way for him to communicate. He just really thrived on computers.”
He loves the challenges offered by Nicholson’s classes. He hopes to work in Informational Technology while taking classes at Lone Star College in the fall.
“Everyone needs an I.T. guy at some point,” Cook said. “Even your local Taco Bell has a computer after all.”
Despite the many barriers he had to overcome in his life, he made the best of his situation and his parents could not be more proud.
“There is no perfect human. Everybody has to do things differently,” Malinda said. “He is a loyal, kind person that never gives up and keeps on going. All the challenges he has in life, he just continues –which I think is pretty awesome of him.”
Victoria Goncalo’s love for ballet all started because of her grandmother, who was a ballerina in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and wanted Victoria to follow in her footsteps. Ever since she was 2 1/2 years old, her grandmother would sit her down in front of a TV and make her watch Barbie ballet and shows about ballet.
“I’ve pretty much been raised in ballet,” Victoria said, “and I just don’t know my life without it.”
Goncalo dances at Rowland Ballard and also with a pre-professional ballet company called Kingwood Dance Theater Group. She also has a side job teaching ballet to little kids from ages 3-8.
“I just genuinely love teaching and seeing the kids grow as they go on,” Victoria said.
From teaching, she has learned and grown as a dancer. It really helped her figure out how her own body understands things because she interprets it to kids and can then interpret it to herself.
Victoria Goncalo’s parents have helped her navigate through life and push through hard times. They have really supported her in lead roles and busy schedule. They have also been there for her in her college dance decisions. Despite the sometimes high expenses, she is grateful for her parents’ help.
Her ballet teachers have also been critical in her success. She said they have been her number one support system – on her good days and her bad days.
“I would not be here without them,” she said.
Goncalo said her biggest accomplishment is getting into Texas Christian University’s ballet program. She is excited to do a lot of different performances and improve her dancing skills in college. Currently she does not plan on dancing professionally, but she will take the opportunity if it comes. She plans on going into law school after college and then continuing to teach dance.
“Hopefully one day I can open my own studio or work at a studio,” Victoria said.
Senior Trent Burningham captured third place in the State Championships in the 800 meters on May 12, finishing with a time of 1:52.29. He broke his personal record and the school record that he set earlier this year.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy race,” said Burningham, who also earned bronze in 2022 in the 800. “I knew it was going to be tight, and I knew it was going to be tough, but I thought I would be able to pull through and get first.”
Burningham felt a mixture of emotions after the results came out. He was proud of his time and his third place finish, but he had spent all year with his goal being to capture gold.
“My initial reaction was disappointment if I’m being honest, but I mean it was just a tough race,” Burningham said. “It’s hard to describe because I did PR, but I know I could have done so much better.”
Burningham said that he felt completely prepared for the race, physically and mentally. At the finish, he told coach Chris Elliott that he still had energy in his legs, and he should have started his final push earlier.
“With 300 meters left I was feeling great,” Burningham said. “I could have started my kick then, and taken the lead, but I talked myself out of it; and that ultimately led to my downfall, because two people with just faster leg speed were able to out-kick me in the last 200 meters.
Before the race, Elliott told his runner to trust his training and enjoy the moment.
Senior Trent Burningham competes at the Barbers Hill meet earlier this season. He set a school record this year and earned a bronze at the State Meet in the 800. Photo by Derriq Young.
Both Elliott and Burningham said they prepared as best they could since last year’s State Meet and in the days leading up to the race.
“It’s pretty nerve wracking because he didn’t run until 5
p.m.,” Elliott said. “You want to try to keep it as normal as possible, but at the same time you realize the significance of the meet.”
Elliott said the mental aspect of Burningham’s track
that have a lot of talent, but Trent’s mental strength is really good. He’s kind of like that elite athlete for high school.”
Burningham, who also ran cross country and played basketball this season, was initially disappointed he didn’t finish higher than third place, especially because only .34 seconds separated him from the gold medalist. However, Elliott considers the achievement a huge accomplishment and said Trent has made a great contribution to the program and left behind a legacy.
“The other guys see that he works extremely hard, and that in turn brings success,” Elliott said. “I think he’s leaving a huge legacy, because he’s done things that he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to. For example, going from the 400 to the 800 was a huge step, and running cross country his senior year was a huge step. And all these things he did because he wants to run at the next level.”
Burningham plans to embark on a two-year mission trip to Manchester, England, after graduation. Upon his return from the mission, he hopes to run track at BYU. During his trip he will have an hour of exercise time each morning to help him keep up his track fitness.
Burningham leaves the program with two state bronze medals in the 800.
performances and training are a big part of what sets him apart from his competitors.
“He works harder than anybody out there,” Elliott said. “There are a lot of kids
“Not many people can say they did that, but you know, I’m not satisfied with two bronze medals, I like to win,” Burningham said. “But I’m still thankful that everything was able to go well, because it’s a thing that not many people get to experience.”
During the Magnolia track meet this season, freshman Emilee Smith set a new school record for pole vault with a height of 11 feet, 6 inches. She won the district and region titles.
Q: When did you start pole vaulting?
A: “I started pole vaulting in seventh grade. I technically did it in seventh grade but I didn’t start doing club work until eighth grade. [The summer] before eighth grade is when I started doing club meets.”
Q: Can you describe your outside training?
Three-sport athlete Courtney Daniel has been an essential part of the track and field team the past two years. On May 12, the sophomore competed at the State Championship in the shot put at the University of Texas-Austin.
She took sixth place after throwing a personal record of 40-7.75.
“I could hear my family cheering and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, how great is this?’” Daniel said. “I went over to coach [Sean] Bright and he had the biggest smile on his face. They announced 40 feet 7 ¾ inch and I was like, ‘I just PR’d at State!’
“Then I got to watch some of the best throwers in the state and I was like, ‘This is so motivating. I am going to be there. I’m going to keep working. I got it and I can do it.’”
During the year, she battled through injuries to become a firsttime state qualifier.
During warm-ups of a soccer game in February, Daniel hyperextended her right elbow of her throwing arm. She was out for the first half of the track season.
“My first meet back, I threw 32 feet,” Daniel said. “I hadn’t thrown 32 feet since seventh grade, so it was kind of troubling to find that all this work I’ve been putting into something and now I have to restart basically – which luckily, I didn’t totally have to, but it was definitely a big stressor.”
This setback didn’t hold her back for long. She came back with intense determination. She threw 37 feet, 7 inches at District and 38 feet, 11 inches at Area, winning first place at both meets.
Following multiple personal records, Daniel’s chance to qualify for State seemed to be just out of her grasp during the Region meet.
“I threw the first day and I got third,” Daniel said. “In order to qualify, you had to be in the top two. So for lack of better words, I was kind of devastated, not in a good mood, and not happy about
it. It just felt like all the work you put into it was just kind of stripped away.”
Daniel used this disappointment to fuel her during day two. It ended up coming down to the final throw.
“It’s either now or never,” Daniel said. “I had to get over a 40 foot throw to go [to State]. I just started getting hyped up and threw. My final throw was a PR of 40 feet, six inches.”
She is one of only two sophomores competing at the State meet in the shot put. Daniel said a key component will be making sure she is mentally strong.
“A lot of it just comes down to my mentality and making sure I’m not spreading myself too thin,” said Daniel, who is also a two-year varsity member of the soccer and golf teams. “A lot of times what will happen is I want to do so well, I’ll work and work and work until I have absolutely no energy left. And then I’ll get to the things that I was working for and I have nothing left to give.”
A: “I practice three times a week [with Don Arnold at Arnold’s Aviators.] Most of the time I just go for like two or three hours and work. He’s an amazing coach. I also try to do some abs stuff at home just for work.”
Q: Describe your record-breaking jump?
A: “That meet was absolutely awful at first. (But) my jumps just started getting increasingly better. I cleared 11 feet. And that’s when I was like, ‘OK, I’m still kind of in this’ and that’s when I knew I was top three.
“I took one attempt to 11 feet, 3 inches and I had crazy hip height over it, but I came down on it and I was like ‘OK, this is a possibility.’ I was on a new pole, so I was really scared. But then I went up on my next one and I cleared it 11 feet, 3 inches, so I was super duper happy. Then I was really stressed because everyone was like, ‘Are you gonna break it?’ and I was like ‘I don’t know.’ But then I went into my 11 feet, 6 inch jump even better than my 11-3 jump and it just felt good. It was crazy. In the video you can hear everyone screaming in the background.”
In 2014, coach Brendan Adams was just a junior at Texas A&M. Adams, with only so much experience, tried out and made it to the school’s frisbee team. Adams played his junior and senior year.
“We made it to Nationals, which is like the biggest college tournament pretty much,” Adams said. “I’ve played against tons of other colleges. There’s probably about 600, 700 teams in the nation, at nationals only the top 25 make it. I got to that level my junior and senior year.”
After that experience in college frisbee, Adams decided to go play club frisbee. He was on a team out of Austin called “Double Wide.” On that team, Adams’ success in the frisbee world continues as his team makes second at nationals. With that victory, they qualified for the “Worlds” tournament.
“The following summer, we went and played ‘Worlds’ and got third in the world in that tournament.”
After the Worlds tournament, Adams played for a couple other teams, one of them including the Houston Clutch.
In 2018, Adams tried out for a pro league called the American Ultimate Disc League. He made it, and played for the Austin Sol.
Adams played with people from different areasincluding some of his old A&M teammates.
After going back and forth between Austin and Houston, Adams thought the pro league wasn’t for him, and he decided to go back to club level. However, someone came in contact with Adams for a chance
to try out for Houston’s brand new team - the Houston Havoc.
“At tryouts there were over 100 people at trials and we had a lot of throwing drills, a lot of cutting drills,” Adams said.
“Then just a lot of just playing and seeing how you play together with certain people.”
When Adams made the team, he once again made it with old
teammates from Texas A&M. Also, he made it as one of the captains on the team.
“I actually got a phone call from the general manager, telling me that I made the team,” Adams said. “I was just super excited because, I mean, I hadn’t played at the pro level in five years, so I didn’t even think I had a shot.”
His practices are on Wednesday and Sunday nights, with a few Saturdays. Usually it doesn’t interfere with teaching or coaching, but every once in a while, his practice will bleed into a track meet.
“They sent us workouts and stuff to do on our own throughout the week, so as long as I keep up with all of that and am consistent with all of that, I’m pretty good to go,” Adams said.
The first game for Adams was on April 29 at AVEVA Stadium. Sophomore Brad Garcia and
junior Jaydon Moyer went to the game, just to name a few.
“Coach Adams is a really big role model to me,” Moyer said. “Even outside of school at church camp and everything. He supports us through everything. So I decided, why not? Let’s go get some of our friends, and let’s go watch him play.”
Adams has a tight-knit relationship with a lot of his students such as Moyer. Moyer even got to play frisbee with Adams and some of the other Houston Havoc team members.
“We’re very close,” Moyer said. “It’s like a big brother, little brother type of bond. He’s someone that I can go to if I’m struggling with something.”
The Houston Havoc’s next home game for the season will be held on June 3 at AVEVA Stadium.
“The first game we’re playing is Austin Sol, so they’re one of the top teams in our division,” Adams said. “So really our goal for that first game is just seeing how we all play together because we haven’t really seen that yet.”
Coach Brendan Adams throws the frisbee during a match with his old team. He got his start playing frisbee at Texas A&M. Photo courtesy of Brendan Adams.“I was just super excited because, I mean, I hadn’t played at the pro level in five years, so I didn’t even think I had a shot.”
Brendan AdamsCoach Brendan Adams jumps to grab the frisbee during a match with his old team.
Every two years, UIL changes the district alignments.
Some years, the realignment can result in schools playing a seemingly random assortment of teams from throughout Texas.
“Last realignment, (the football team) was going to Santa Fe and Texas City, but also Port Neches Groves and Nederland,” football coach and athletic director Clayton Maple said.
The latest redistricting in 2022 placed Kingwood Park in District 16 and Region 2, meaning teams would have to travel farther than before for playoff games. Additionally, this also meant they would play Dallas-area schools in the opening rounds of the playoffs instead of Houstonarea schools.
Girls soccer and softball are the only two teams to make it past the first round of the playoffs in the newer region. Both were eliminated in the second round, compared to a year ago where four teams won a combined total of nine playoff games.
“We’ve missed a lot more school than we’ve had to in the past,” girls soccer coach Jess White said. “We
did over 700 miles of travel for two playoff games.”
In addition to players missing a lot of class time to travel, long playoff trips also make it difficult for some parents to see their kid play. A team doing this much playoff traveling comes with a big downside for the parents trying to make it to their kid’s game.
“It does take its toll,” White said. “Families may want to attend games and that adds transportation costs.”
Coaches will have one more year in their current district, which only includes six teams.
The next alignment will come in a year, and coaches are eager to see where UIL places Kingwood Park for the 2024-2026 seasons.
“It’s almost like March Madness,” Maple said. “Before realignment, everybody starts making their predictions.”
The coaches guess where they may land by how they compare to other schools on things like enrollment size. Each year teams are either bumped up to 6A or dropped down to 5A depending on how many students they have enrolled. That helps coaches exclude some teams as they guess who
Kingwood Park might be aligned with, but the rest is just speculation among themselves.
“How the UIL does it?” Maple said. “I don’t know. It’s like a big secret that never gets leaked to us coaches.”
With one more year of long road trips ahead, the coaches at least
hope for shorter drives and more district opponents.
“I would like to see maybe a slightly bigger district, you know, maybe like eight teams I think would be perfect,” White said.
“How does the UIL do it? I don’t know. It’s like a big secret that never gets leaked to us coaches.”Athletic Director Clayton Maple Junior Bailey Kee celebrates after a teammate gets a hit to advance Kee to third base in the final home game of the season. The softball team was one of only two Kingwood Park teams to advance past the first round of the playoffs this year. Photo by Maya Ortiz.
Chuck Leierer sat and listened as his 8-year-old daughter Hannah begged to pitch. The intense college football coach looked at the little girl and could not picture it. His first instincts were to dissuade Hannah.
“You have no idea what kind of commitment that is,” Chuck told her.
She persisted. Hannah had already tried figure skating, basketball, cheerleading and soccer. But she kept asking to pitch.
Eventually, Chuck took Hannah to a softball camp at the nearby college where he coached. She was terrible at pitching, he remembers. Chuck tried to steer her to other aspects of the game.
Hannah posed the question again, however, when the family moved from West Virginia to Kingwood in 2013.
“She wouldn’t let it go,” Chuck said of the girl who grew to become Kingwood Park’s ace pitcher. *
Hannah joined the Kingwood Girls Softball League. Soon after she started pitching lessons with coach Annie Castle at age 9.
“At an early age, I saw how competitive she was,” said Castle, who continues coaching Hannah. “She listened very intently and really wanted to do things correctly.”
Hannah learned the mechanics of pitching. She learned how to practice on her own at home. Once she got confident in what she was doing, she progressed quickly.
Most importantly, Hannah loved to pitch.
Chuck was a college football coach. He was often away from his family in West Virginia.
“When I was home, I was tired and cranky like a lot of dads,” Chuck said.
He admits he and Hannah weren’t very close.
When the family moved to Texas,
Chuck took a more active role in Hannah’s athletics. He switched to coaching high school athletics, allowing him a more flexible schedule. He made himself Hannah’s go-to catcher.
“Part of it is the coach in me,” Chuck said. “I wanted to make sure I was doing my part with my background and my experience to give her the opportunity to succeed.”
The first couple of years, his shins were constantly bruised from balls he could not dig out of the dirt.
He also struggled maintaining a coach-parent balance. As a football coach, Chuck is intense. That intensity occasionally left Hannah in tears.
“They can joke around now because he knows she’s going to work and do the right thing,” Castle said. “He’s still intense, but she matches that intensity and makes it fun now.”
Now, fun banter is a part of their
pitching routine.
“You still can’t catch a ball,” Hannah tells her dad when he misses a pitch.
“No, you can’t pitch a ball,” Chuck responds.
They also used to battle about Hannah’s chattiness. Usually practice was the first time they would see each other after their days at school. Chuck would try to get Hannah to focus on her pitches. Hannah would want to talk.
That seeming lack of focus used to drive Chuck most crazy at their weekly practices. Now it is what he is going to miss the most when it all ends.
At home, Chuck will ask Hannah how school went and she will say, “Fine.” He’ll ask what she learned. She will respond, “Nothing.”
“When she starts her pitching workout she’ll fill in the pieces of what ‘fine’ meant,” Chuck said. “That’s what I will miss most.”
Hannah’s mom Melissa will miss watching her husband and daughter from the bleachers.
“He spent so much time on that bucket with her coaching her and helping her tweak mechanics,” Melissa said.
Hannah’s older brother, Christian Leierer, helped catch her while he was in middle and high school. Melissa did not. Her reflexes were not quick enough for Hannah, though she did step in as a pretend batter once, which ended in her getting nailed by a pitch in the leg.
* * *
Ten years after deciding she wanted to pitch, softball took her to all over the country for club tournaments.
Hannah became a starting varsity pitcher at 14. Despite being 5-foot-8 as a freshman, she was scared when she took the mound. She channeled her fears and she found success.
As a junior, she helped the team
to round four in the playoffs. At the end of the season Hannah had broken three school records and was named District 20-5A Pitcher of the Year.
She holds the school record for most strikeouts, wins and innings pitched.
“She always had the talent,” Castle said. “But in the last two years or so, she has really found confidence on the mound.”
In the midst of high school success, Hannah had a dream in the back of her mind. She was determined to play Division I softball. Hannah braced for calls on Sept. 1, 2021. It was the first day college coaches were able to contact the junior class.
A couple calls came that day, but overall communication was slow.
“To some degree [the lack of calls] affected her play,” Chuck said. “She felt like she was doing something wrong because people weren’t paying attention to her.”
As time went on the Leierer family practiced a lot of patience as they waited for offers.
Hannah received interest from Division III and junior colleges, but she held onto her goal of playing Division I.
In early August of her senior year, that dream fell into place. Campbell University in North Carolina reached out needing a pitcher. The stress and wait were over. Hannah was going to be a Camel.
Now, Melissa and Chuck brace themselves to become empty nesters.
Melissa will miss being a short drive away from watching Hannah’s excitement on the field.
She and Chuck will be glued to the TV every time her games are streamed.
And when she comes back to visit, Chuck will have a glove and a bucket waiting to catch her.
By Luke Cavallo
There was a time that I dreaded the end of my third period class. As I considered what could happen in the next class period, my teeth would often begin to chatter, and I could feel the cold sweat seeping from every pore. When the bell rang for passing period, my feet would drag me unwilling to my destination, as if in the midst of a nightmare. As I took my seat, very intentionally chosen in the back corner of the room, I braced myself mentally and mouthed a silent prayer for survival. My AP Spanish 4 class terrified me, and it would take the entire year and much of Spanish 5 for me to realize that the intensity that Señora Quiñones infuses into her lessons was not something to fear, but rather a manifestation of the passion and true benevolence with which Senora Quiñones approaches teaching.
Until the first day of my sophomore year, I had considered myself a Spanish virtuoso. Spanish 1, 2,
In recognition of Teacher Appreciation Week in May, journalism students wrote about some of the teachers who have impacted them the most. Scan the QR to read about these teachers and more.
and 3, had been no harder than any other class, and I signed up to take AP Spanish 4 with a sense of cocky self-assurance. My delusion was shattered quickly. I remember one instance in particular, when Señora Quiñones asked me a question regarding a textbook reading that our class had been working on. Naturally, the question was in Spanish, and at the
time, I had a better chance of understanding Latin. My default response to this situation was to pretend that I did not realize that I was being addressed, and when this failed, I would stare at the textbook, as if in deep contemplation, all the while praying that a more able Spanish-speaker would step in to deliver me from my torment. Rather than accept responsibility
to better my situation in Spanish, I attempted to sink further away from participation in the class, and would even physically cringe under my desk to avoid being called on. But Señora Quiñones is too passionate a teacher to allow even one of her students to cheat themselves of the opportunity to learn.
Señora Quiñones encour-
aged me to participate in class, whether that be by reading from the textbook, answering the simple questions that I could understand, or working on group projects with classmates that could lend a helping hand. Throughout my sophomore and junior year, her room has always been open during flex, and no matter how behind I was or how inept, Señora Quiñones would always greet me with a smile and make certain that I was making the most of my time.
Today, I can confidently say that I feel excited to leave the cafeteria after flex, and enter my sixth period AP Spanish 5 class. This drastic change in attitude is undoubtedly the sole credit of Señora Quiñones, who has guided me to become a student that is open-minded, humble, and willing to take academic risks. I have been incredibly fortunate that she has provided me with skills to succeed and grow not only in the Spanish classroom or even academics as a whole, but in life itself.
Iwoke up a couple of weeks ago ready for school and realized for the first time in four years, I didn’t have to pack my athletic bag because I wasn’t going to practice. With a loss the night before in the area round of the playoffs to Lucas Lovejoy, my soccer season was done.
My entire athletic career at Kingwood Park was over. No more basketball. No more soccer. I started playing both basketball and soccer in second grade. Going into high school I wanted to try out for both teams and simply see what would happen. I cannot imagine what my last four years would have been like without running between the basketball court and the soccer fields.
As I plan to earn a sports communication degree in college, it’s the memories here that I will never forget. I know they made me into the person I am today. These are just a few of my favorite moments.
On the first day of school, former girls basketball coach Leighann Wolfe looked at me and said, “Oh, you’re a soccer girl too.” I nodded my head, and that was that. She got in contact with soccer coach Jess White, and I was a dual-sport athlete from day one.
During the offseason, I split days going to basketball or soccer practices. In season, the days got more complicated – and sometimes exhausting. This year, during the Humble Classic Soccer Tournament, I went straight from basketball practice to play in our Thursday game. On Saturday, right after the soccer game I walked over to the gym, changed and headed to the court for basketball practice.
Missing half of the soccer season was always hard, but that first day after basketball season was always loaded with mixed emotions. The soccer girls were happy to see me,
but also sad because they knew I was there because we just lost in the playoffs. After being in a gym for so long, I loved standing in the heat all day. I could finally get some tan lines.
The father-daughter challenge
Sophomore year, I would not shoot the basketball to save my life. I was told by coaches multiple times that I had the green light from practically anywhere on the court. It seemed like too big a task actually to work up the confidence to take a shot.
My dad came up with the genius idea to pay me to shoot. We agreed every shot was $1, and if it went in $2. Free throws were $.50. A 3-pointer was $3, and if it went in $5. To most, this would lead to kids shooting the ball every chance they get. Yet, I think the most I made in one night was $18.
Over the course of the season, though, my dad would keep track of how much he owed me. At the end of the year, my payout was well over $100. While this didn’t necessarily cure my tendency to not shoot, it did make me a little more comfortable.
In a game against Lake Creek this year, I made a career-high six 3-pointers. Afterward, my Dad in-
stantly said, “I would’ve gone broke tonight if I were still paying you.”
The number of times the girls basketball team yelled at coach Kyle Dray when he was driving the bus is simply too many to count. We do it with love and also fear for our lives.
This year, he managed to get the bus stuck in mud after the Huffman game, resulting in a delay going home. He pulled into the wrong parking lot at Huntsville and got so mad at us that he kicked us off the bus right there. Curbs hide in fear when Dray gets behind the wheel.
This yellow vehicle of transportation is about more than just the driver, though. The stories shared here are unmatched. Forced into close proximity, games are played for all to hear. Pictures are taken while snacks fall on the floor, and the air conditioning unit leaks water.
This year especially, buses are the unsung heroes. The charter buses spoiled us. It eliminated the fear of our bus breaking down on the way to a second-round playoff game in soccer. Nothing will better prepare you for a game than having to get transported off the side of a shady back road to a Subway, just to get
away from the bus (soccer playoffs 2022).
This vehicle is there with you through the drive to the first scrimmage and the drive home after a playoff loss.
The senior nights
Freshman year, I remember all the hype around senior night. Every year from then on it only seemed to build. You know what none of the upperclassmen told me though, it is literally a blur.
Ask me what moments I remember from basketball senior night, and they’re pretty much only of the ones I have pictures. I couldn’t hear anything Dray was saying as he read my paper. Granted, I might have been too focused on my mom crying. Anything else special about that game, I don’t remember.
I at least have memories of my senior soccer night game, because I didn’t play. It was totally my fault though. I was suspended. I got my first red card the game before. It was definitely a highlight career soccer moment, but it did mean I had to sit out the next game. Watching your fellow seniors all start together on the field while I had to be on the bench was a different type of pain.
I still don’t remember anything about walking out though. Honestly looking back it all kind of feels like a fever dream. I’m sure at the moment it lived up to the hype, but it all seems foggy now.
Seniors are told to cherish every moment because they will fly by. With all other important senior year moments approaching it seems the end of high school is finally coming around.
We spent all year talking about how this was our last home game, last practice, last break out. The pain and tears came. Yet, no one prepares you for the firsts - the first time your name is no longer on the roster, the first time you don’t have to go through another offseason, and the first time you turn in your jersey knowing you won’t get it back next year.
ChatGPT has changed the known capacity for artificial intelligence. It has received 5s on almost every AP test, predicted stocks, written essays and so much more. All of these features are currently being abused and used unethically.
ChatGPT introduces a new type of plagiarism. It is able to write complete and unique essays by using patterns from other people’s work and combining them in a different pattern every time. This becomes an issue for students, especially when people are using ChatGPT for summative assignments, scholarship opportunities and college entrance exams, especially those meant to be based on personal
May 2023
Volume 9, Issue 6
Kingwood, Texas 77339
Maya Ortiz, editor-in-chief
Fallon Head, web editor
Derriq Young, sports editor
Jacob Valcarce, news editor
Kaitlyn Sitton, design editor
experiences. Students who are using ChatGPT for these features are stealing opportunities from other students who are working hard to create their own work.
ChatGPT may become a necessity in classrooms someday, but instead of using it to provide equal opportunities for weak writers, maybe we should focus more on teaching kids how to write stronger essays themselves and how to use ChatGPT in other ways. Writing is a life skill, and people should value it as such and help those who are struggling with it.
ChatGPT can be used as a valuable assistant to students instead of as a creator. It could be used as part of the revision process, similarly to
Grammarly. It can also be used as part of the brainstorming process as a way to get ideas and some alternative points.
Soon there will be software to predict ChatGPT. If people could create it, people can create something to detect it. We should be working to learn how to use this software tool as just that: a tool instead of an author.
It’s important to know someone’s work is their own. ChatGPT isn’t something that should be used as a new way to have AI do work for people, but should instead be used to help authors without controlling their work.
- Write the whole essay.
- Rely on it to do your work for you.
- Use for any merit-based competitions
- Use it as a way to get inspiration or points.
- Busy work that isn’t a grade or doesn’t require unique thoughts
- Use it as a tool for revisions
- Learn about writing styles
- Fix formatting and grammar issues
- For entertainment
KP Media is the official student-produced media of news and information published/ produced by KP Media students. KP Media has been established as designated public forums for student editors to inform and educate their readers as well as for the discussion of issues of concern to their audience. It will not be reviewed or restrained by school officials prior to publication or distribution. Advisers may – and should – coach and discuss content during the writing process.
Camille Blair, Khiya Dixon, Krista Edwards, Bailey Hall, Emerson Harris, Yusra Hasan, Cara Helton, Ramiro Hernandez, Ana La Rosa Grillo, Ryder Lowery, Garrison Moritz, Taylor Nethery, Exa Nix, Aidan Oakes, Elizabeth Piquette, Daniel Spear, Shelby Townsend.
Luke Cavallo, Katie Gerbasich, Zach Ford, Abigail Nieto, Jordan Hutchinson, Krisslyn Boyles, Alice Allison, Emily Smith, Jada Cassidy, Madlynn Morris.
Adviser: Megan Ortiz
Cover Photo by Derriq Young.
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Ending Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Trilogy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 finishes with a heart aching bang. Last seen in their own Christmas Special on Disney Plus, the new movie looks into Rocket Raccoon’s past and viewers get to see how he was brought up in this galaxy.
A common theme among Guardians of the Galaxy movies is a great soundtrack. Songs from the Flaming Lips, Radiohead, and the Beastie Boys create the perfect ‘90s ensemble. The movie uses clever ways to implement the music into the film: through the speakers of their town on Knowhere, Star-Lord’s headphones, or a radio in a suburban home.
The third addition to the trilogy yearns for the tears of its audience. There was consistently a tone of sorrow carried throughout the film, seeing as these characters have changed and gone through so much. The absence of present Gamora serves as catalyst for Star-Lord’s pain. The fight for Rocket causes similar turmoil in the rest of the group.
Yearbooks
Yearbook staff slayed
Summer Films and TV
Finally a good summer for movie theaters
Hydrating
Hydrate or diedrate
Hot Girl Summer
Be you, be confident!!
Graduation
Seniors out Banquets
Celebrating a year of good work
Goldfish
The perfect summer snack
Asian & Pacific Islander
Heritage Month
Shining a light on Asians & Pacific Islanders around the world
College Board
How does the AP exam rubric even work??
Spring Allergies
Why does Mother Nature hate us?
Littering
Love the environment, yo Fast Fashion
I miss the Adam Sandler style clothes
Summer Dual Credit
Can we enjoy our summer a little?
Hurricane Season
It’s the scariest time of the year
End of the year summatives
It’s hard on our senioritis, junioritis, sophomoreitis, and freshmanitis
Mosquitos
Do they have a purpose besides being annoying
A tough path taken in this movie is the uprising of Bradley Cooper’s, Rocket Raccoon. Heartfelt flashbacks of his past play throughout the movie, revealing the ways he was malnourished and experimented on. Various images and scenes of harm to animals are played throughout the narrative, creating some disturbing parts for younger viewers.
With all of these darker themes, this movie was not entirely a tear jerker. Coming from director James Gunn, it was expected this movie was going to be full of comedic relief. Characters like Mantis and Drax have their own turmoil, but continue to add humor to the cinematic mix.
With the recent downgrade in production and writing in the MCU, the final Guardians of the Galaxy completely broke that pattern. Marvel’s more timely projects haven’t carried the same quality as most of their movies; some fans even went to say the superhero franchise was dying. James Gunn’s writing and pure bliss with these characters may have revived the genre.
By Khiya Dixon
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