Vol. 20 No. 3

the

Roar

A&M Consolidated High School

1801 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy. S., College Station, Texas 77840

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014

Vol. 20 No. 3

UNSTOPPABLE

Minority students break into diversity-lacking classes By 2050, minorities will become the majority in both the United States and Britain.

In 2013, only 17.3% of minorities took the AP tests, exams that count as college credit for high schoolers. “[The lack of diversity in honors classes] is something that I have found really disturbing during my entire time here,” English and AVID elective teacher Grace Stanford said. “It speaks to hidden expectations, and I think it speaks to the hidden curriculum, and I think it speaks to access.”

inthisissue

STRUGGLES AND OBSTACLES

Students in honors, pre-AP and AP classes are often funnelled into the advanced classes track at a young age, an opportunity that many minority students were unaware of in intermediate and middle school.

“We don’t have open enrollment, and people don’t understand that if you don’t get tracked in 5th grade because your parents didn’t ask the right questions, then by high school you’re out of the program,” Stanford said. “And I just think that’s really wrong.”

“diversity” continued on page 3.

news pages 2-4 viewpoints pages 5-8 snapshots page 9 student life pages 10-11 people pages 12-15 sports pages 16-17 entertainment pages 18-20

2 | news | the roar

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

Faculty mothers on being ‘dead last’, the struggle of balancing family and career shilpa saravanan | editor-in-chief Women make up half the world’s population and a similar proportion of the American workforce. Many women choose to have children, and these children are (quite literally) the future of humanity.

Why, then, is the United States so behindthe-times when it comes to helping these working women raise their families?

Under the Family Medical and Leave Act, passed by Congress in 1993, eligible employees who work for a covered employer may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to care for themselves or for a family member. District employees are required to take their remaining paid leave days, or sick days, before taking their FMLA leave.

“We are dead last,” history and government teacher Bobbi Rodriguez said.

“There’s no other developed country in the world that doesn’t offer paid maternity leave, and there aren’t even many undeveloped countries that don’t offer paid maternity leave.”

By the time each of her two children was born, Rodriguez had accumulated enough leave days (of which district employees are granted ten a year—five from the state, and five from the district) that she did not have to lose pay for the weeks she

stayed at home. However, Rodriguez points out that small children get sick often, and because the births of her children drained most of her leave days, she may eventually have to begin taking unpaid leave.

Rodriguez concedes that the school must pay for subtitutes to cover absent teachers and that the school has limited federal funds, so change must happen at the federal level—and perhaps on the level of the American psyche—to ameliorate the situation. Chemistry teacher Jill Faith believes for similar reasons that immediate change at the school level is “unrealistic.” “[The maternity leave policy] is kind of something you sign up for as a teacher,” Faith said. “I’m not angry about it. It’s just the way it works. Whenever you’re gone for that long of a time, it’s really, really hard.”

Faith, like Rodriguez, returned to school without using all of her maternity leave—not only because she wanted to use fewer sick days, but because she knew that each day she spent away from her students was a day during which things “weren’t going smoothly” at school.

“It’s hard to be at home relaxing when you know chaos is happening in your classroom,” Faith said. “I worked with my longterm subs, but as soon as I walked out of that room, things changed.”

Teen Living and Foods 101 teacher Jessica Gardenhire, who will have her first

If you ever need caring, confidential help, there’s always Hope.

the

child in March, worries about this: she began the process of training and choosing a long-term substitute over the summer.

Gardenhire has ensured that her substitute knows all the recipes (for her Foods class) and is “really good” at sewing (for her Teen Living class).

“You have to find someone whom you trust, and whom the students also trust,” Gardenhire said, “because the students are going to be with them for a while.”

More generally, the idea of women’s “having it all” has become something of a talking point in the last several years -- the argument being between those who argue that yes, a woman can have both a career and a family, or that no, a woman (due to societal constraints or otherwise) must prioritize one over the other.

Gardenhire, after much observation of successful career women throughout her life, is of the latter opinion.

“Our gift and role is to raise up our kids,” Gardenhire said. “We need to hold to our careers and pursue them with excellence, but ultimately, family is our priority.”

Rodriguez feels similarly in that women “should realize that [they] can’t do everything perfectly,” but that it is up to those in Washington to recognize mothers’ worth in the workforce.

“Mothers have a lot to offer the country, but if we expect women to act like men,

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and moms to act like not-moms, that’s not realistic,” Rodriguez said. “It’s better if we have protections [for mothers], but there are a lot of political obstacles.”

These obstacles, according to Rodriguez, come from both sides of the aisle: conservative politicians argue that provisions for paid maternity leave would be too expensive, and liberal politicians don’t find it politically correct to talk about working women wanting to stay home for twelve weeks and take care of their children, and then go back to work. Rodriguez hopes that the country will recognize that women should be in the workforce, but should also be “the moms they want to be.”

“We are still a bit behind in this idea of what it is we think women should do,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a little bit hostile towards the idea of working mothers in the first place.”

Faith doesn’t love the status quo, but she accepts it and enjoys her life as a working mother. Ultimately, she sees “having it all” as personal and, necessarily, relative.

“I sit back and I think about how I thought my life would turn out when I was a teenager,” Faith said. “I really do have everything in the world that I could ever want. I’m not the richest person in the world, financially, but I have a fulfilling job and an amazing family to come home to.”

the roar | news | 3

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

Lack of diversity in advanced courses creates concern, misconceptions Traditionally underrepresented students are not only hindered by exclusive academic programs but also by a lack of incentive and stimulus from home.

“I think it’s all a cycle,” senior and AVID student Grace Pedraza said. “A lot of the kids in AP classes have professors as parents, so obviously they have a chosen path for them—sometimes they don’t even have a choice. Sometimes as a minority student, your parents don’t know what’s going on. They’re not checking your grades, so they don’t even know what classes you’re in sometimes.

If you don’t start young, it’s really hard to move up because if you don’t have that [motivation] from your parents, where are you going to get it from?”

Racial stereotyping also adds another barrier for those in higher-level classes.

“People have come and told me, ‘I didn’t know you were in AP classes; I wouldn’t think that you would be in AP classes,’” junior Zacch “Bitty” Ransom said. “I couldn’t care less what other people say. I’m just going to push on and try my hardest.”

BREAKING DOWN BOUNDARIES While many minority students thrive under current circumstances, some students believe that certain changes in the school system can encourage students to form friendships and bonds with people outside of their usual circles.

“A lot of the time, AP kids have a feeling of superiority. They refer to kids in on-level classes as ‘regulars,’ and it’s a ‘us vs. them’ type thing,” Pedraza said. “[Academic Success Time] is the only time this year where you’re actually mixed with a bunch of different types of people, and it’s not just you and your AP friends. It would be nice to have other times where we’re not so segregated.”

Others think that the removal of the honors program is the key to creating

2013 TEXAS AP STATISTICS

more diversity in classes.

“Honors classes are behavioral segregations, class segregations, and I think it’s a real problem,” Stanford said. “I’m not sure what the percentage makeup of our school is, but it’s not represented in our honors and AP classes which are almost exclusively, in my personal experience as a honors teacher here for eight years, white. So if those are predominantly white, on-level classes are predominantly skewed as non-white.

However, if you create a two-track system, people are either challenging themselves academically and they want those ten points or they’re not. I think that you’ll get a really different mix if you don’t have that segregated honors section.”

And still others believe that it’s not the school’s role to encourage diversity, and that students’ motivation should come from home.

“I don’t feel like it’s the school’s job to get people in AP classes,” Ransom said.

“If they want to get into AP classes then they will. The school really can’t do much about it.”

In order to help students succeed, preparation courses like AVID have already been put in place to provide welcoming environments where students form tight-knit communities focused on learning the skills necessary to flourish in rigorous academic courses.

AVID: HIGH SCHOOL AND BEYOND “[AVID] is really about demystifying what we call the ‘hidden curriculum,’” Stanford said. “Kids who have been in honors and AP classes since 5th grade probably have books at home, have been reading a lot at higher levels and have a parent who understands what getting to college is going to require. There is a lot of hidden stuff you have to know going into college, so we try to demystify it, to name it.”

One goal of the class is to help students navigate the often confusing and hazy labyrinths of college applications.

0.6% of

American Indians/ Alaska Natives

“We’ve all applied to our colleges as a class, and right now we’re applying for scholarships,” Pedraza said “There’s this $40,000 one that we’re doing right now, and I think there’s been, like, two students that have received the Dell scholarship from AVID in the past two years. This one student has all of her college tuition paid for already, which is pretty good.

And after that, we’re just waiting for our acceptance letters.”

The class is especially helpful for first-generation college students who might not have family members familiar with the college process.

“If you’re in AP Chem and your dad is a chemistry professor at A&M, then you obviously have that resource, so you can go ask him,” Pedraza said. “But my parents didn’t go to college, so it’s not like I could go home and ask my mom, ‘Hey Mom, how do you do this?’ My mom, she can’t even help my brother on his homework anymore, and he’s in sixth grade.”

AVID is generally perceived as a “diversity program” because it focuses on the “population of students who are historically underserved in that community,” Stanford says. This often causes teachers to jump to conclusions when working with minority students.

“It’s not uncommon for a teacher to come to me and ask me about a student that they’re having a problem with,” Stanford said. “Because a student is a minority and they’re in an advanced class, the assumption is automatically that they must be AVID, and when I don’t know the student, they still always say, ‘Oh, well then who do I contact?’ So my kids are frequently asked things like, ‘Oh, you must be in AVID because why else would you be in an AP class?’”

Despite this common belief, AVID instructors emphasize that it is, in fact, much more than a “diversity program” and is as rigorous as any other academic course.

“Our recruiting is really hampered,

9.0% of

African Americans

LOOKING FORWARD With valuable programs such as AVID, students are finding more and more sources of inspiration and motivation to help them succeed in high school. AVID students advise others to take risks, stay optimistic and be accepting.

“Take a chance,” Pedraza said.

“Sometimes you don’t think you can do it because you’re thinking, ‘Oh, this is so hard’ or you don’t want to challenge yourself by taking even an honors course.

So to minorities, challenge yourself and don’t just stop at being mediocre. And for AP students, don’t think that you’re superior to anybody, because you never know where you’ll be thirty years now.”

However, even with the increasing amount of beneficial programs, some foresee that the solution to the lack of diversity will be much more complex than most believe.

“If I had the answer [to the diversity problem], I could probably make millions of dollars, but I think it boils down to the way the district structures their programs,” Posey said. “I feel like that is a huge struggle, and that’s the silver bullet every school district wants.”

Statistics from The College Board and The Guardian.

49.9% of

36.4% of

Caucasian/ Whites

I think, by [this] misunderstanding,” Stanford said. “We do research papers and read; the work they have to produce for us is pretty rigorous. AVID is not a ‘diversity program’; it’s an academic program that benefits an entire school, not just a minority population.”

Other teachers also attest to the accomplishments of AVID, and how its difficulty has helped students push themselves and achieve their goals.

“The AVID program is a huge factor in getting kids in oftentimes low-income families and helping them get into upperlevel classes,” English teacher Daniel Posey, who teaches both on-level and pre-AP, said, “And those kids have a lot of drive already.”

42.5% of

Hispanics/ Latinos

Low-Income Students

. . . HAVE TAKEN AT LEAST ONE AP TEST BY GRADUATION

source: Collegeboard.org

“diversity” cont. from page 1

4 | news | the roar

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

Venture program enforces conformity, can affect future options elizabeth reed online & photography editor Have a metal detector passed over you.

Receive a pat down. Turn out your pockets.

Take off your shoes. Welcome to Venture.

“I think the closest thing I can think of is prison; I mean there’s nothing else in our society that mimics it to that extent,” junior Jennifer Bale* said. “We always talk about how it’s a pipeline to prison mentality.”

Venture is CSISD’s disciplinary alternative education placement center (D.A.E.P.).

“Venture is a place, in my opinion, if students can’t be successful on our campus for any number of reasons, or if there is a big safety concern then sometimes it’s best for the students to continue their education [there],” assistant principal Aaron Hogan said.

Students at Venture are required to wear specifically a heather grey shirt, tucked into belted jeans (no holes) with neutral colored shoes. This dress code is set in place because of gang activity, although students have additional ideas behind it. “[It’s] meant to break your individualism,” junior Christian Lawrence* said. “It’s your punishment, commonly referred to as Venture suffering—their way of saying ‘cause I said so’.”

After entering Venture, students “choose” from one option of what they want for lunch and have their schedule set up for the day.

“It’s a very clear set of routines and procedures at Venture,” Hogan said. “They start off in a very positive way, their days in a very positive way, with this idea that you can make as much or little of the day and comeback to an idea that my students and I often talk about—that there’s only so many things in life you can control and the biggest thing you can control is yourself.”

Venture students attend “Good Morning Venture” each day where they sit in a circle, do deep breathing exercises, read motivational quotes and work on social skills. After that they go to work in the sectioned cubicle desks, unable to scoot their chairs pass a duct-taped line. If students need anything from that point on it’s up to the teachers.

“Anytime you need anything—if you need to go to the bathroom, get your pencil sharpened, you raise your hand facing the wall and they’ll pick up your pencil and sharpen it for you or throw away your trash,” Lawrence said. “They get you whatever you need.”

The work students are given is completed without any help from the teachers from whom students are used to learning on campus.

“It was extremely difficult to keep up because the two teachers there, their degree is not in whatever course or subject area [you need], they don’t have a degree in English, they don’t have a degree in science or any history,” Lawrence said. “I really don’t like the way you’re punished academically. Yes, I made the mistake and

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that’s why I’m in the alternative learning environment, but I still need to be learning in the alternative learning environment.”

Along with the difficulty of keeping up with work, students must deal with distractions from the environment around them, which may involve physical and verbal attacks on teachers, gang initiation, a police officer escorting people out of Venture or suspicious activity.

“Someone wrote a threatening note and left it on the teacher’s desk and we had to be interrogated,” Bale said.

Students can be punished at Venture with the loss of recess (the only socialization allowed throughout the day), getting sent to the assistant principal of Timber, and even I.S.S. (i.e. solitary confinement).

“It’s punishment-based instead of rehabilitation-based,” Lawrence said. “People just keep going back to doing the same [stuff] because they learn they can take it,” Lawrence said.

However, students are able to lower the amount of days they are sentenced with good behavior.

“You’ve got equal parts: the system that’s put in place and the student’s desire to do something different,” Hogan said. “I can put consequences in front of anybody all day long and if they don’t want to make any changes then it’s not going to happen.”

After students serve their days they are able to transfer back on campus and continue with their normal schedule, but for some students life isn’t back to normal.

“There’s kind of like this alienation

thing that went on—a lot of people tried to avoid me,” Bale said. “I lost a lot of friends.

It was mentally hard. I had a stigma now, everybody knew [what I had done], and people were spreading around [rumors].”

Along with the social struggle, students encounter academic repercussions.

“The first day back I cried a lot because it was a lot of stress. Teachers don’t understand how Venture works sometimes,” Bale said. “It takes two days for stuff to get sent over and two days for it to get sent back and they would be like ‘you’re missing all this work, I’m just going to put in all these zeroes.’”

Time spent at Venture is kept on record, something colleges are able to look at.

“It allows one mistake to follow you,” Lawrence said. “The very last question on the Common Application is ‘check this box if you’ve been suspended or expelled.’”

Despite Venture showing up on students’ records, Hogan believes it won’t cause a problem for their future.

“I think what speaks more strongly to me, is not what the mistake was, but what the student does after the fact to walk clearly in the opposite direction of that mistake,” Hogan said. “It will be my privilege to go back and say ‘you know, he made a big mistake and he made a big recovery from that in a significant way.’” *names have been changed to protect student confidentiality

the roar | viewpoints | 5

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

Far-flung childhood ambition proves not-so-childlike after all wild dreams and aspirations I had had as a child started to seem unachievable; not because my interests changed, but because someone had put the wild notion in my head that I could no longer achieve these dreams. I turned my attention to ideas

rachel lamb staff reporter Broadway! That was my dream, my passion, and with hard work my five- yearold self would be ready for success in the near future! And who knows, if Broadway didn’t work out, I could always become the president, maybe an astronaut, maybe even a spy.

And then I grew up.

When I started elementary school, I had the mindset that the bad part of history was behind the world, and the world was open ahead of me filled with endless opportunity. History was done and the present was here. As I very slowly grew older I realized how naive my young self really was about the real world. Horrible stuff happened all over the world, all of the time. And as I “grew up” along with my gradual comprehension of the world, the

“

As I “grew up” along with my gradual comprehension of the world, the wild dreams and aspirations I had had as a child started to seem unachievable.

that seemed more reachable than the large dreams that looked so far away.

Children stereotypically dream big and think outside of the box humans tend to draw for ourselves. They have no trouble believing in themselves, adults often smile at the ideas that they have. As they grow older they start to doubt themselves more, dream less, and question the grand ideas they had years before. Yet growing up and maturing can’t be a bad thing. The reality

that comes along with adulthood is not evil or scary like the monsters under the bed.

Obviously, there is a president, and there are thousands of people who have achieved what they want in life. And in multiple interviews asking the same questions, to the same people, the people who accomplished the goals, their answers to “How did you do it?” is the same: don’t give up, and always work hard. Seems easy to do, but why isn’t everyone successful?

Reality is a good place from which to start when coming up with goals. All goals need to be measurable and realistic (no flying purple unicorns, as adorable as that would be). Don’t expect to achieve a goal in a week, or even a year. Start slowly, and work in steps, and don’t dismiss small accomplishments as unimportant, because baby steps will teach you how to make giant leaps for mankind. Never forget what your dream looks like (even if it’s a dollar sign), nor the happiness that is guaranteed to come once you achieve your goal. And while maybe a crafty, artsy vision board to show your dream isn’t for you (it’s definitely not for me), seeing really is believing.

Always work for your goal. Never give up.

Because even though believing that the goal is achievable is important, the only way you can achieve it is through hard work, and a lot of it (like the amount of time you spend studying each year times a million).

“

Never forget what your dream looks like (even if it’s a dollar sign) nor the happiness that is guaranteed to come once you achieve your goal.

Maybe some dreams made up by five-year-olds are a little over the top (still wishing for my Hogwarts letter). But they have the right idea: adulthood is not the be-all, end-all. Your dreams will change and grow and prosper, but maybe everyone needs to rediscover the child in them.

Rachel is a staff reporter for The Roar.

Want to share any of your dreams with her?

Contact her at the.roar.lamb@gmail.com.

Sports transcend stereotype, worth watching for sentiment austin coats sports editor Not too long ago somebody asked me: “Why do you like sports so much?” “...I don’t know… it’s just what I grew up doing. ” But that’s not true. I did grow watching sports, but that’s not why. *** In Starkville, home of the Mississippi State Bulldogs, my older brother, Alex, is currently in public relations, and my oldest brother, Alan, got a degree in forestry and married his wife. My dad got a degree in agricultural economics and grew up nearby.

My mom simply married my dad but nonetheless drives like a maniac around a different SEC town with M-STATE bumper stickers on her back windshield. But all of this is context.

During football season, there are more retweets and favorites between my brothers and I than during any other span of time.

Over Thanksgiving break, I taught my family why Hugh Freeze is a genius and Dan Mullen isn’t necessarily stupid after our hearts broke from the Egg Bowl and State’s resulting fall from grace.

I don’t talk much during games, but that was a nice moment. *** As I’m watching State shut out Vandy, my dad walks in with a magazine. State’s then-Heisman candidate and quarterback Dak Prescott is on the front in what is not a particularly interesting photo, but it’s compelling enough if this is the first time you’ve ever

seen a State player on the front of ESPN the magazine or any major news publication. The kicker reads “THE DAYS OF WORRY AND HOPE IN MISSISSIPPI (BY WRIGHT THOMPSON).”

“

During football season, there are more retweets and favorites between my brothers and I than during any other span of time.

The photo on front really doesn’t do the story justice. Reading Thompson’s analysis of the state of Mississippi’s emotions as their football teams ranked among the best in the country, I realized why my dad really bought the magazine.

Earlier in the year I had the same sort of experience. I found a copy of Sports Illustrated with a picture of my childhood heroes, the Core 4 of the Yankees (Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera), and an article by Tom Verducci. It sat in our newspaper lab ready to be cut up by students in the prerequisite journalism class. I had to have it, my childhood revolved around those guys; I had watched the careers of these moral men climax and end in fanfare and I took pride in the fact that they received attention from such a notable source.

So I took it. I asked for permission, of course, but I took it. *** Over 17-plus years, I have heard many stories mostly about sports. But the compelling stories aren’t the “Casey at the Bat” or Babe Ruth’s called shot. It’s when two brothers push through

the boundaries of communism to pursue a better life through baseball or a cheerleading squad from a professional football team collectively shaves their heads because their team’s coach has cancer. Sports have meaning beyond who scored the most points, who has the greater stats, or how many teams should be in the college football playoff.

Sports bring families together, create pride in a whole state, and ease the pain.

That’s why I like sports so much.

Austin is the sports editor for The Roar. Do you want to discuss either type of football? Contact him at the.roar.coats@gmail.com.

6 | viewpoints | the roar

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

Let’s talk about sex.

Abstinence-only curriculum ignores problem, fails to protect students TEEN PREGNANCY: THE NUMBERS

In 2011 , the percentage of high school students who did not use any method to prevent pregnancy during their last sexual intercourse in Texas was 20% .

In 2013 , there were 26.6 births for every 1,000 adolescent females ages 15-19, or 274,641 babies.

In 2011, the percentage of high school students who used a condom during their last sexual intercourse in Texas was only 54%.

SOURCE: The US Office of Adolescent Health

alex coopersmith

opinions editor

On Wednesday, November 12, the senior class filed into the auditorium to hear a moving talk about drunk driving. Yet, the speaker, Sean Carter, never spoke a word.

He had been injured in a car crash because of drunk driving, although he was not the one driving, and will spend the rest of his life paralyzed, unable to stand on his own.

Sean was lucky, though.

In 2012, 10,322 people –30 a day—were killed in car crashes due to drunk driving according to the Centers for Disease Control. That number, sadly, hasn’t decreased by much in 2013 and into 2014.

Drunk driving kills, and our school has made a very concerted effort to instill this knowledge in us, even though no high school students can legally drink because they are under 21.

That is because many high school students drink right now, and most students in college drink as well. The school recognizes that high school students will drink, and focuses on preventing unnecessary deaths and injuries from drinking. This very worthy goal shows our school is serious in reducing the harm from illegal drinking.

However, this direct approach to preventing drunk driving is largely absent when

talking about a separate issue: sex.

I acknowledge that there are several differences between drinking and having sex. Many more teens drink than have sex, but approximately 3 out of 10 girls become pregnant before they turn 20.

Drunk driving can kill.

Teenage pregnancy can bring a child into being and forever alter the path of a child’s, and their parents’ life.

Let’s put an unplanned pregnancy in perspective. By having a child in high school, that teenager and the father change the future trajectory of their lives, and their child’s life as well. Only three percent of teen mothers end up getting a college degree. And if the parents are in poverty, that problem just duplicates.

This is not just a school or a statewide issue, but a national problem. On average, an American teenager becomes pregnant every minute, and 82% of teenage pregnancies are unplanned. In contrast, European teenagers, who are just as sexually active, become pregnant at far lower rates.

This is because American high school students don’t know where babies come from.

I’m serious. Do you know where babies come from? (“When a mommy and daddy love each other very much…”)

With that covered, did you know there are ways to have sex but avoid producing a new human in the process?

If you didn’t know that, you are not alone. Texas has an abstinence-only sex education program that has proved to

be so effective that Texas is ranked 47th out of the 50 states in terms of the lowest teen pregnancy rate (77 out of every 1,000 teenage girls every year comparted to the national average of 57 and a German rate of 19) according to the National Campaign to prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Because our school follows state curriculum, and our state of Texas, while supporting efforts to stop drunk driving, continues to stand by a failing abstinenceonly curriculum, many students have had no sex education. While our school does offer a form of sex education in the Health, Child Development and HST classes, these are electives, not mandatory classes and thus do not reach all students.

In fairness, sexual abstinence does prevent unplanned pregnancies. You can’t get pregnant if you don’t have sex. But an abstinenceonly curriculum does not prevent teens from copulating with each other. We accept the fact that some teens will drink, so the school tries to limit the damage and thus preach the dangers of drunk driving and smart decision making. By the same token, our state should realize that teens will have sex, so they should try and prevent as many unplanned pregnancies as possible by adopting an actual sex education curriculum.

Some religions view drinking as a wrong. Yet, when we had a senior assembly about drinking and driving

(where the message “don’t drink” was not emphasized) there were no protests. People who find drinking wrong were not offended.

Imagine if the school held a senior assembly about safe sex. There would be protesters outside our school, parents would pull their children out of the assembly and we might make the news. Obviously, there are more cultural and religious stigmas about sex than there are about drinking.

But just because some people find contraception wrong doesn’t mean that the school should not talk to any students about it. Your personal viewpoints should not cause others to unwillingly or unwittingly become pregnant due to a lack of education.

Even if you think contraception is wrong, unplanned pregnancies affect you as a taxpayer. Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist, points out that Medicaid, a government program that provides health insurance to low income families, pays $12,770 a birth. Meanwhile, only $8 on average is spent per teenage girl on programs that avoid pregnancy. As a result, Texas spends over $1.3 billion a year on teenage pregnancies.

With just a little education, the same amount provided about the dangers of drunk driving, Texas and the rest of the country could substantially decrease their teen pregnancy rates to the betterment of society overall and young girls in particular.

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

the roar | letters to the editor | 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR When College Station High School was opened, and there was a big drop in student population, Coach Salerno expected the soccer program to take a hit. Usually, less students equal less soccer players, but surprisingly that has not been the case. “In years past, we usually have 65-75 kids try out. With there being two high schools, we expected those numbers to drop; however, this year we had over 90 kids try out!” coach Salerno said.

Yes, you read that correctly, there were over 90 students that tried out for the soccer team this year. “We didn’t even expect to have a JV-B team this year, but not only do we have one, we had to make cuts because we had so many kids try out,” Coach Salerno explained.

Word has spread that student-athletes in this program are respected and are provided with the opportunity to play the sport that they’re really passionate about, while building lasting relationships with their coaches and teammates.

So what’s the key for maintaining the growth of a program when you have less potential athletes? According to one of the captains, senior Clayton Gage, “It’s because it’s an extremely organized fun way for high school students to pursue their interest in soccer. Throughout my years on the team, the coaches have taught us several values such as discipline, hard work, and honor.”

FROM: the men’s soccer team

Clayton is amongst the six returning varsity players this year who hope to lead the team to a long-awaited district championship.

Coach Salerno isn’t the only one reaping the benefits of a fantastic showing for tryouts; Coach Fox and Coach Hollis also were pleasantly surprised. “I really couldn’t believe the numbers, when I looked at the tryout signup sheet. As a JV coach it is my responsibility to prepare the kids for the varsity level. More kids at tryouts equal more kids who can potential contribute on varsity.” One of those kids making the transition from JV to Varsity this year was junior Kyle Painter. “The soccer program instills accountability, diligence, and brotherhood in the players. I love how every guy has the opportunity to play, yet, there are standards for each us that dictate our participation,” junior Kyle Painter said.

A big part of the 90 kids that tried out this year were freshmen, with many of them landing on JV-B and JV-A with Cade Williams being the only freshmen currently to make Varsity. JV-B Coach, Mark Hollis, said “freshmen are always fun. They’re excited to be able to play at the high school level and are anxious to show you what they can do.” Certain aspects of being a freshman, like knowing your way around school or making your way through a crowded hallway can be intimidating; however, Tiger Soccer has made

it a point to make this transition from middle school easier. Freshman Michael Fink says, “All of the players here accept each other and always help one another. The older kids accept the freshman and make friends so they don’t feel left out.”

With teams set, and the season underway, players are gearing up for a hard-fought season in hopes of making their mark on the Tiger Soccer Program. One person that has already made their mark and hoping to increase his imprint is current leading goal scorer and captain Daniel Zivney, with 48 goals over the last two years under the guidance of Coach Salerno.

“I hope my last season is also my best. Being a part of this family will be one my greatest memories. Our goal is to reach the state tournament and I think we have a great group of guys who can get us there.”

8 | viewpoints | the roar

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

OPPOSING FERGUSON Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson stopped Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014 for jaywalking. There was a physical confrontation at Wilson’s SUV. Brown then ran. Soon after that, Wilson shot

and killed Brown.

Police and eyewitnesses gave

contradictory accounts of the shooting and the events leading up to it.

Ferguson is a majority-black city with an overwhelmingly white police force and city government.

On Nov. 24, a grand jury decided not to press charges against Darren Wilson for the shooting of Brown.

Supporters of Brown have protested regularly since the shooting, which they view as an example of police

brutality against black youth. An indictment of Wilson had been one of their primary demands.

ERIC GARNER Eric Garner, unarmed at the time of his death, died after New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a chokehold as multiple NYPD officers tried to detain him for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.

A Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo, even though there was video evidence of the death, and Garner saying “I can’t breathe.”

Source: Vox News

Race Relations in America

the roar's consensus Cooperation, dialogue necessary for progress The recent developments in Ferguson have clearly shown that we do not live in a post-racial world. We have an AfricanAmerican president and a more open society than ever, but race relations remain a topic that too many people don’t want to address.

After the indictment of Darren Wilson, many people were angry and protested throughout the country. Ferguson, coupled with the case of Eric Garner in New York City and 12-yearold Tamir Rice in Cleveland, has resulted in a large number of protests in reaction to perceived police brutality against young black men, police use of military-grade equipment and tear gas against protesters, the belief that the grand jury that didn’t indict Darren Wilson was biased and the tensions that stem from a predominantly African-American city policed by a majoritywhite police force.

However, we must let calmer voices prevail. All lives matter equally. There should be restrictions on what actions police are allowed to undertake and when they can use deadly force. In addition, we should do more to understand why America’s jails and prisons are full of minorities and what can be done to stem the school-to-prison pipeline.

Finally, we should realize there is no hero in any of these cases. Michael Brown is not a model citizen, but neither is Darren Wilson. Our solutions to these problems must lie in the middle, not on either extreme.

We shouldn’t have two nations, one white and one not.

Instead we should have civil dialogue and come together as one nation, the United States of America. Race is still a prominent issue in today’s society, and there are still many steps forward we must take.Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson stopped Brown The Roar 2014-2015 Staff Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Executive Editor Senior Editor Online & Photography Editor News Editor Opinions Editor Sports Editor Entertainment Editor Staff Reporter

Faculty Adviser Assistant Adviser

Shilpa Saravanan Rojas Oliva Annie Zhang Stephanie Palazzolo Elizabeth Reed Aaron Ross Alex Coopersmith Austin Coats Zach Kluver Vi Burgess Sydney Garrett Rachel Lamb Haley Mitchell Michael Williams Chauncey Lindner

The Roar Editorial Board

Shilpa Saravanan • Rojas Oliva • Alex Coopersmith

STUDENT OPINIONS ON FERGUSON “I think what is going on is all really awful, and could all be avoided if we could all just get along together.”

sophomore ALEXIS GIROUARD

“I’m very upset.

[Wilson] should have been found guilty.

He shot [Brown] eight times who had his hands up. I feel like it’s based on race.”

junior JASMYN PRICE

“I think it’s kind of crazy and out of hand. The way people are reacting and the protests and the violence is really bad.”

junior MADELYN HOUSE

The Roar is produced by the Advanced Journalism class at A&M Consolidated High School, 1801 Harvey Mitchell Parkway S., College Station, Texas, 77840. The opinions expressed are those of the writers and are not reflective of the administrators, faculty or staff of the College Station Independent School District.

Submissions to the editors are welcomed but must be signed and should not exceed 300 words. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions in the interest of clarity and length or to not print a letter at all. Letters containing obscene or libelous material will not be considered. The Editorial Board consists of the editor-in-chief, managing editor and opinions editor.

The Roar is a member of the Interscholastic League Press Conference (ILPC), the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). The Roar is a winner of the CSPA Gold Crown, the 1997, 1998, 2000-2014 ILPC Award of Distinguished Merit, the CSPA Gold Medal Award, the NSPA All-American distinction and 2005 & 2014 ILPC Bronze Star and 2007-2013 Silver Star.

College Station Independent School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex or handicap in providing education services. Glynn Walker, Director of Human Resources, 1812 Welsh, College Station, Texas 77840 (979-764-5412) has been designated to coordinate compliance with the nondiscrimination requirements of Title IX. Catherine George, Director of Special Services, 1812 Welsh, Suite 120, College Station, Texas 77840 (979-764-5433) has been designated to coordinate compliance with the nondiscrimination. requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

the roar | snapshots | 9

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

Consol’s club fair welcomed incoming students to the variety of clubs Consol offers. Freshmen explore the different clubs available. PHOTO BY AUSTIN COATS

Orchestra performed at the annual Christmas concert. Senior Samuel Raiser plays the bass. PHOTO BY ANNIE ZHANG Students gather to support the volleyball team. Seniors Derrick Dick and Dominic Adams cheer on the girls volleyball team against rival College Station High School.

PHOTO BY AUSTIN COATS

CELEBRATE Cheerleaders perform during a pep rally. Senior Makayla Baudoin along with junior Kayla Brock lead school spirit. PHOTO BY ANNIE ZHANG

the

Robotics members take a course in power tool safety. Senior Sam Suh shows how to use a table saw.

PHOTO BY ROJAS OLIVA

The Belles perfom a dance with teachers at a pep rally. Coach Warhol dances with senior Kyla Drake. PHOTO BY ANNIE ZHANG

The football and volleyball team enter the gym.

Both teams prepared to play against College Station High School. PHOTO BY ANNIE ZHANG

W 10 | student life | the

tuesday, dec.

roar

NOTHIN’ BUT A

High school party culture can create memories, destroy lives It was Steve Green*’s dream to party.

“I went to private school from kindergarten till seventh grade, and from about fourth grade and up I had begged my parents to get me out of private school because I had always wanted to party,” Green said.

“And about junior year is when I started partying and [since that summer] it’s been steady going.”

For Green, it’s always been clear why some teenagers choose to party.

“I think people do it just to have a great time and have memories,” Green said.

“Memories are one of my most valuable things in my opinion.”

THE COP

School resource officer Joe Alaniz’s memories are decidedly different. “[People flee from] the front door, the back door, through the windows, I mean any which way they can get out,” Alaniz said.

“They climb over fences—privacy fences, chain link—doesn’t matter. They get out.

Those are good times.”

Then, standing in near-empty rooms, surrounded by discarded red solo cups, Alaniz surveys the unlucky few who didn’t make it out. These few certainly don’t have

a good time. As a College Station Police Officer, Alaniz has seen his fair share of parties, and, living in a college town, he’s simply no longer dazed.

“They’re all the same,” Alaniz said.

“They’re all crazy.”

For senior Donna Austen, partying was nothing but a disappointment.

“Before my junior year I was straight arrow, I mean I wanted to do stuff, but now [that I’ve gone to parties], I’m just like ‘what’s the point? What is the point? What are we really doing it for?’” Austen said.

“And I feel like a lot of people are really doing it for nothing.”

For her, parties, outside of providing empty opportunities to craft an image, simply destroy innocence.

“Partying makes monsters of children,” Austen said. “That’s all that it is.”

Her disgust goes further.

“The culture we’ve been brought up with de-emphasizes the problems that can come later if you start so early,” Austen said.

“There’s so many things that can go wrong in a party. So many. You can get black out drunk. You can get raped. It’s disgusting.

It’s awful. Across the board people are tak-

ing advantage of one another, and exerting power that they know that they have in this situation but wouldn’t have in others.”

Where then is the intersection of all these experiences? It’s important to make a distinction between the types of parties Green throws and the parties Austen attends. The most common partying avenues for high school students, including Austen, are the countless frat and other college parties thrown in apartments throughout College Station. These obviously ramp up the contact with an assortment of illegal substances.

“My goal when I go to a party is to make sure the people I am with get out of there alive,” Austen said.

Relative to these experiences are the more secretive and relaxed all-high-schoolstudent-house-parties. Parents are gone and while Green makes it clear that he’s never provided or asked for alcohol, it (somehow) arrives. The aims of Green’s parties, while still reveling in dangerous and illegal activities, are also steeped in adolescence.

“To have a bigger girl to guy ratio, that’s always the main goal,” Green said. “[I want people to] socialize and have fun. I don’t

want people sitting on the co them to play games.”

These ‘games’ all involve th tion of alcohol. His parties see i ties as a means by which to ma as opposed to college-age pa they are presented as the end themselves.

“There’s such a heavy emp fact that you have to do someth have a ton of fun,” Austen said. “ have no idea what’s in some of t you don’t know where they go from. The lack of control makes Whether parties are frig borderline evil, or an edgy wa memories, both, with their fo derage drinking, put teenagers they’re simply not ready for.

“You see people and they ju far,” Austen said. “We’re so yo knows what their limits are in It’s the whole construct of the t vincibility: you have it so dead heart that you’re not going to di All versions of partying th legal activities find their comm in this potential for serious r being ignored in order to fulfil goals.

the roar | student life | 11

16, 2014

COURTESY OF SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER JOE ALANIZ

If you decide to throw a party, let your neighbors know that you’re going to have a party. Give them a week’s notice and say “hey, we’re having a party Saturday night.” Let them know what the party is for. That way they don’t think you’re having a party just to have a party.

Let your neighbors know about the parking. Also, give them your phone number. Preferably, you can give those neighbors two or three numbers—because at a party, you may not hear your phone.

The main thing is using common sense. by rojas oliva, managing editor

ouch, I want

he consumpillegal activiake memories arties, where ds in and of

phasis on the hing illegal to “[But people] those drinks, ot the drugs s it scary.” ghtening and ay of making ocus on uns in positions

ust take it too oung, nobody high school. teenager’s ind set in your ie.” hat involve ilmon ground repercussions ll short-lived

Minors who choose to drink can face citations for minor-in-consumption or inpossession of alcoholic beverages. However, according to Alaniz, College Station officers typically only write the minor-in-possession citation. An MIP is considered a class C misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $500, community service of not less than eight hours and a suspension of the offender’s driver’s license. If a minor has two prior convictions, the fine can be up to $2000, and they can face a jail term of up to six months.

These life-destroying repercussions are put on hold for an activity that, for all of its bombast, if party goers miraculously make it through high school unscathed and alive, can only end one way. As Green, the diehard party lover, puts it: “Around after college, I’ll settle down.” *Names have been changed to protect the identities of the sources.

illustration by rojas oliva

We get the initial loud party call from a complainant. Usually for a loud party, we’ll send two officers, just because there’s going to be a large number of people.

Most of our officers are trained to not park right in front of the house. We usually park four or five houses down, if not at the corner of the block, and then we make our approach on foot.

The first thing we do is we turn on our audio recorder. That way when it’s time to go to court—if they want to fight it—then we have audio saying “hey, we were three houses away and we could hear the [party].”

And then we try to make contact at the front door. If we make contact, then we’ll usually ask for whoever lives there. If it’s at a house or at an apartment it’s at our own discretion to write that ticket. With 65,000 college students in our area, we don’t write warnings during football seasons.

12 | people | the roar

GREEN

8,0

S TO NEPAL E L I M 00

14 million applicants from around the world 50,000 GREEN CARD WINNERS Prasmit is one of them.

PH

Family wins permanent resident visas in diversity lottery, face hardship

because, with a population of almost 30 they had to furnish to pay for the onemillion people, Nepal is only about the way trip, the Devkotas quickly realized size of Arkansas. that there were only more barriers for “There are opportunities there, but them to overcome on the other side of the not like the U.S. Many people from Nepal world. are now in the States through various “When I first entered Consol, I felt programs,” Devkota said. “Everyone like there was too much freedom and wants to come to the U.S. for better not enough discipline. In my country, we opportunities and a good future.” don’t choose our courses. Everyone has to With four million Nepalese currently study the same thing,” Devkota said. “We residing in the States, the family easily aren’t allowed to talk to girls, we have to acquired more information regarding wear our uniforms and we have to respect their potential home. our teachers. It’s very “I am here for conservative.”

“We often contacted the [Nepalese people] in Prasmit, for his better For Prasmit’s America to ask, ‘How parents, who had already future. My son [has] established their lives is the United States?

How is it different many hopes in his life.” around the Nepalese from Nepal? How are community, the culture the opportunities?’ shock was even greater.

Devkota said. “They [said] there is more “In this new place, everything is importance in being a student; they are different—the language is different, the given more priorities. The one who can people are different, the way of thinking do better can do anything here.” is different,” Gautam said. “I miss our So when the letter of confirmation Nepali culture and my relatives.” arrived, the Devkotas immediately began And the biggest difference? The preparing for their departure. people. “[Although] we can come to any “The [Nepalese] people are very place in the States that we want, we kind, very brotherly, very helpful, very chose [College Station] because my uncle open. Even when we are in a different teaches at Texas A&M and he knows what country, we will meet together and the place is like,” Prasmit said. “I talked help each other,” Devkota said. “But in to him and asked him to describe what I America, even though the people are had to do to graduate to get into a good very polite and cooperative, that doesn’t college. He told me about the SAT, so I seem to happen, because people don’t started preparing for it back [in Nepal].” have enough time to talk to each other.

But lurking in the shadows of their Everyone says that America is the land of joy remained the prospect of leaving opportunities, but here, it’s every man for family, friends and familiarity. himself.”

“It’s very hard to leave your other life Additionally, this land of and your family members. In distance, opportunities seems quite paradoxical: we are far, but in memory, we are not,” while Devkota is here for a brighter Devkota said. “Everyone felt bad when we future, his father, Prakash Devkota, has had to leave, but [we’re] coming to a place experienced the exact opposite. of opportunities, so we had to overcome “My dad was a principal of a college in it.”

[Nepal]. He was in a respected position— With their new green cards and $3000 everyone respected him—but now he

TO O

O

annie zhang | executive editor A lottery—that’s how junior Prasmit Devkota and his family came to the United States three months ago.

“The moment that [I] knew we won, I felt wonderful, like, ‘Man, we’ll really be in the United States,’” Devkota said. “I felt like somewhere in my dream world.”

Eight months earlier in Nepal, Devkota’s mother, Shanta Gautam, had decided to try her luck with the lottery.

Not just another multi-million dollar lottery, but one in which the prize was a green card to the United States.

“I have always wanted to visit the United States once in my lifetime. It was one more opportunity to go to a better place for a better future,” Gautam said.

Known as the Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery, the event is conducted yearly by the U.S. government. Applicants must be at least twenty years old, disease-free and have had work experience.

“Out of the billions of people [who] can apply, only 100,000 are selected,” Devkota said. “After eight or nine months, they send out a letter notifying winners.

Once we are selected, we get all the rights of any United States citizen.”

Those eight months were spent in a perpetual state of anxiety, as the Devkota family constantly worried about that letter.

“I felt very exhausted. Every time I thought about it, I wondered, ‘When is the interview? When will I [be able] to come?’ I was very stressed and I didn’t give proper attention to my studies,” Devkota said. “All my family members were always thinking about it too, whether we would be selected or not. It created tension and our minds didn’t go much further than the visa and the flight to the United States.

We got distressed every time.”

Moving to America was crucial

-PRAKASH DEVKOTA

NG

WINNING

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

FP

RAS MIT DEVKOTA BY

HA E Z works I N at a gas AN

station, which does not satisfy him. So that’s the problem,” Prasmit said.

“He was a math teacher, but we need the degrees of this country to be able to teach here and to work here. But we don’t have anything; he’s still searching for a nice job and working very hard to take a degree.”

Still, Prakash Devkota does not regret his decision.

“It’s natural that when we leave our good positions we feel bad, and I am not satisfied with my job here and I am searching for a [better] one,” Prakash Devkota said. “[But] I am here for Prasmit, for his better future. My son [has] many hopes in his life.”

Among those many dreams is the desire to pursue a career in physics.

“People here can invest a lot of money in anything, so if you have to do an experiment, you can easily get the necessary apparatuses [that] are not available in Nepal,” Prasmit said.

However, Prasmit’s own venture is not without its share of obstacles.

“It’s my junior year, and I haven’t appeared here for my freshman and sophomore year. I don’t know how I’ll graduate, since there are requirements like four years of English, two years of a foreign language,” Prasmit said. “I have a problem, because I still do not know how [I can] fulfill that.”

Despite the setbacks they face, the Devkotas remain confident that with time and hard work, they can change their current circumstances.

“My parents came here because of a desire for me to have better opportunities,” Prasmit said. “I know I’m in a good place, I have good opportunities and if I do good, all of our lives will be good. And happy. That’s life.”

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

the roar | people | 13

MOVING ON

Student loses family, home, name, gains new future aaron ross | news editor Cody Giles is impulsive.

“I was really mad. I punched a door but accidently aimed a little higher, punched the window, and the glass stabbed through me,” Giles said. “I was pissed.”

Ten-year-old boys are stronger than we give them credit for. Strong enough to punch through quarter-inch glass windows. Strong enough to deal with the fact that their father just died of leukemia.

“My dad was pretty much a high schooler but older. We had a lot of fun.

He liked to [ride] dirt bikes. We would mess around and do stupid stuff with him,” Giles said. “We found out in February 2007. My dad got cancer and died of leukemia in 2008. October 12. His birthday was October 17.”

Giles had lived with his father and sister in Pismo Beach, California for all of his life.

“Then my mom called and said ‘I’ll pick him up,’ and we moved to Fresno,” Giles said. “I didn’t want to go, but they forced me to go. I didn’t want to live there.”

Giles hated the new school.

“Everyone thought I was different than everyone else, so they would bully me about my dad. I would start fights,” Giles said. “They would say ‘you’re lying.’

They’d say ‘he’s not from here, he sounds different.’”

Moving to Fresno meant not only a new home but also a new family for Cody.

“I had met my step-dad before when I was six with my mom on a date. That’s also when I first met Mikel [Giles’s step brother],” Giles said. “That’s where they showed me lacrosse. My step-dad played

PHOTO BY STEPHANIE PALAZZOLO

it in college. He got a scholarship to USCB.” Cody’s step father practiced lacrosse with Cody and Mikel, taking them to play with a local team, hoping that a lacrosse scholarship would be a way to college.

Then Cody’s step father received an offer he knew he had to take.

“He went to a nursing convention and people from College Station talked to him,” Giles said. “They offered him a job here and he took it because lacrosse scholarships are a lot better [here]. They pay a lot worse. He came down here for me and Mikel.”

Cody’s parents split up before they moved. Both decided that it would be better for Cody if he stayed with his new father.

“I changed my name. It didn’t need to be. [My step-dad] asked me, and I thought about it,” Giles said. “I saw him as my dad, and he acted like it. He was always there for me.”

So Cody Nelson became Cody Giles. “[Before] my dad died I didn’t care about anything. I just wanted to have fun all the time. Then I started looking at things differently,” Giles said. “I’d stop and be like, ‘Why I am doing this? It’s stupid.’ It’s probably what kept me alive.”

Cody’s new father expects more out him than anyone else has before.

“He’s has a high work ethic and high standards. He wants more out of me,” Giles said. “He’s helping me reach my potential.”

Cody reflects on how his old dad would feel about both his new name and new life.

“I thought about my old dad and what he would want me to do. In my old last name no one ever succeeded at anything,” Giles said. “He’d want me to succeed.”

14 | people| the roar

worth weight ITS

IN

GOLD

Art teacher pens romance novels, describes publishing process zach kluver entertainment editor

F

or most students, writing is a laborious process that requires significant time investments for even just a page of words. For prolific e-pub author, art teacher, and EPIC award winner Jami Bevans, it’s... well... exactly the same.

“I have one book right now that is at about 80,000 words, and I cannot get myself to write the end.” Bevans said. “And I have been working on it since 2007.”

Bevans started authoring romance novels in 2004, and her first book was published in 2006 under the pseudonym ‘Ciara Gold’. To this day, she has had twelve books published, the most notable being her debut, “Celestial Dragon”, and a historical fantasy book titled “The Keeper of Moonhaven”.

Recently, Bevans has hit a little bit of a roadblock in regards to consistent writing, finding it hard to get a lot of writing done at one time.

“I’ve got five books going on at one time. So if the inspiration strikes, I may write, but only about one page. When I was writing more steady I would go home, and even when I was tired, I would write. If you’re a true writer you know that you have to write every single day to keep it alive and going,” Bevans said. “And so you may only get a paragraph written or only one sentence each day, but at least you wrote. [Writing is] like playing guitar. You have to practice those chords every single day, just to keep your fingers limber.”

In fact, Bevans wrote the most steadily when she was working three jobs at once: as the artistic director of Flair magazine, as an art teacher, and in her spare

time, an author. Even though she now has a love for reading and penning novels, it wasn’t always that way.

“I hated to read in high school. I wouldn’t read at all, unless it was required reading,” Bevans said. “I somehow got ahold of a book by S.E. Hinton.

It was kind of a coming of age teenage conflict book, but for whatever reason, that resonated with me, and that was kind of the first time I thought ‘OK, reading’s not so bad.’”

‘‘

You have to write every single day to keep it alive and going.

JAMI BEVANS

After college, Bevans became a teacher, and has worked for 29 years at Consol, almost the entirety of her teaching career.

Before she became an art teacher, she taught geometry, but has surprisingly never taught English.

“I have a degree in math, but when the opening came up for an art teacher, I applied for it and got it,” Bevans said. “I only know the structures of sentences intuitively.

I can tell you where the noun and the adjective are, but aside from that, I’m not great.”

Finding a publisher to accept a new writer’s books has always been renowned for its difficulty, and it was no different for Bevans. She eventually chose the publisher Champagne Books, a small e-publishing firm based in Canada.

“Publishing is a painful process. They say that Stephen King has like 20 rejection letters stapled on his wall. You have to

draft your letter that catches their eye, and then you have to send them three sample chapters.”

Bevans said. “Then they give you their rejection letters. If it’s a form letter, you know you haven’t hit the mark. When they start sending you personalized letters saying ‘I really liked this, but this part doesn’t work’ then you know you are on the right path, because they’re taking time to write you a personal letter.”

Of course, to even begin thinking about getting published, an author has to refine everything, from the plot to the characters, and to really bring the story to life, novelists often pull from their own experiences.

“A lot of traits of my characters come from my family members,” Bevans said. “They say be careful how you approach a novelist. If they like you, you may become the hero, or if they dislike you, you might become the villain.”

Though the characters may be based on those around Bevans, they soon seem to become more important to the reader and novelist than they may be in real life.

“By the time I finish a novel, my characters are real. They exist in their own world, but they’re real to me.” Bevans said. “The most difficult part for a novelist usually is writing the end because then they have to say goodbye to the characters and move onto a different story.”

But moving on may not always be a story. For Bevans, art can take multiple different forms.

“It doesn’t matter how you manifest your creativity.” Bevans said. “If you’re an artist, you have to manifest it some way, or you’re letting a part of you die inside.”

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

ALSO BY

CiaraGold THE KEEPER OF MOONHAVEN

Noreen Willshire opens an ancient book and finds a pathway to a Faery Realm where all manner of mythical creatures reside. In her naïveté, she summons the Keeper before his scheduled time in the human realm. In that brief moment, the mysterious wizard touches her soul with more than magick.

A NOBLE SACRIFICE Fen Tared Charst has betrayed his brother, and his people. To right the wrongs he’s done, he suffers the horrors of the zeel pits only to find himself a captive of the Temi tribe.

In Yalfar, he discovers that leading the Temi princess and her warriors from their dying world is the key to his redemption. But losing his heart to Princess Joyella will be the key to saving his soul.

TEXAS FORGED Blacksmith, Galin Walker has an uncanny knack for predicting the weather, but he can’t predict the storm about to invade his heart. Telegrapher, Aubrey Caine’s search for her absent husband leads her straight into the arms of a man with a shady past and secrets that haunt him. Together they forge a bond that will endure the forces of nature and a con man’s cruel swindle.

Scan to read about another Consol author, junior Allison Shaffer, and her book: Tiny, the Small Christmas Tree.

the roar| people | 15

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

THE FINAL STRETCH whether you’re exempting or not, The Roar’s got you covered

sa

TAKING

EXEMPTING?

THE

Bring something to do.

sleep.

ONE FINAL

read.

listen.

The Catcher in the Rye No Country for Old Men A Wrinkle in Time The History of Love Death on the Nile A Briefer History of Time

Serial This American Life Radiolab StarTalk Fresh Air The Moth

MANY FINALS

sleep.

read.

watch.

War & Peace The Wheel of Time The Stand Infinite Jest The Hobbit or LotR Gravity’s Rainbow

Rocky (I-V) Cosmos Snowpiercer City of God The Usual Suspects Breaking Bad

FINAL?

We’re sorry. Here are a few tips to ease your suffering.

SLEEP. no, not during your final.

DO THE REVIEW(S). sometimes they’re worth bonus points!

Hone

ARRIVE ON TIME. you have to be there, anyway.

Do

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16 | sports | the roar

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

MORE

“THE VET” senior tori carraway

“THE TUTOR” senior monica hanna

THAN A TEAM

“CRAZY NEIGHBOR” sophomore aerial starks

“GRANDMA” junior alexis oaks

PHOTO BY STEPHANIE PALAZZOLO

“MOM” senior beth ashley

Basketball players discuss team bonding, sports, academics balance haley mitchell | staff reporter Hoping to follow in the footsteps of A&M Consolidated’s volleyball athletes, this year’s girls’ varsity basketball team has set its sights on the same lofty goal every team hopes to achieve —playoffs and beyond. But beyond this team’s potential for greatness, the girls of Consol’s varsity basketball team like to challenge themselves on and off the court.

“Besides school, basketball comes before other stuff, so I plan my work schedules and other events around my basketball schedule,” senior Tori Carraway said.

“Once I get over not sleeping very much, it’s not that hard.”

In addition to basketball, Carraway also works at Ninfa’s, volunteers at College Hills Veterinary hospital, sings in her church choir and is involved in Brazos Valley Symphony Belles. Carraway and several of her teammates, such as senior Monica Hanna, have achieved a balance between books and basketball.

“I’m in a lot of tough classes, and we miss school a lot, [but] I have learned to

manage my time a lot better than I did my freshman year,” Hanna said. “I do my homework on the way to games.”

While Hanna and others work diligently to coordinate schoolwork with practices, many members of the team also participate in other sports.

“Almost everyone on our team plays another sport,” Carraway said. “A lot of us go to track, but we had a girl come from volleyball and cross country, and a few other girls go to softball after.”

Freshman Mckenzie Dimery is one of these multisport athletes. While the basketball program is intense, the coaches are very open to their players participating in other activities.

“I’m debating whether I should play softball or run track,” Dimery said. “When I’m not in practicing basketball, I’m practicing for my other sports.”

Dimery was also on the varsity volleyball team, which made it to the state volleyball tournament in November. Head coach Karen Heintz draws inspiration from the volleyball team’s success.

“We have a very good example set for

us,” Heintz said. “I was very pleased with the job Coach Zora and those girls did. I’d like to see this team achieve its absolute potential, meaning, to make a long playoff run.”

Although they are already on the path to victory, every player strives for improvement.

“I play inside my head a lot,” Carraway said. “My coaches always get on me for being too hard on myself.”

Senior Myeisha McCalister faces a similar problem.

“If I make too many mistakes in a game I get discouraged and lose focus,” McCalister said. “And as a team, we’re overcoming adversity. We’re learning that if someone isn’t having a great game others have to step up and find a way.”

Their cohesive attitude is obvious in every setting and situation.

“They’re a great group of girls,” assistant coach Wendy Hines said. “They work hard for each other; they like each other on and off the court.”

The team has even taken the family dynamic to a new level, coming up with

names and roles for every player.

“Beth Ashley started that,” Carraway said. “She made up this whole family with a cook and a crazy neighbor, and everyone has different names. It’s hilarious.”

Not only do the players get in on bonding, coaches enjoy the shenanigans as well.

“Beth has created a make-believe family; all the kids on our team have nicknames like ‘Piper’ and they just have fun with it,” Heintz said. “They have a grandma, they have a counselor, they have [pretty much everything].”

Despite its unusual nature, the bonding the team undergoes ultimately strengthens their dynamic with each other and with their coaches. Although Heintz has been a coach for 36 years, she seems particularly enthusiastic about this team.

“It’s all about the kids. It’s not about coaching,” Heintz said. “If it was about coaching we’d probably have only 100 wins in 36 years. It’s all about the kids in your program. Trust them, they do work hard, they do care about each other.”

the roar | sports | 17

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

SHORT, NOT SHORT-HANDED

Team refuses to let height differential affect play, attitude austin coats | sports editor There’s this stereotype going around that tall people are the perfect fit for basketball. And while a traditional system contains post players, the boys basketball team here at A&M Consolidated does it a bit differently. And they don’t seem to need any help.

Consol’s tallest player, Trey Pulliam, stands at 6’2”. According to sports database Maxpreps, every other team in Consol’s district has a player taller than that.

But as in any sport, strategy is key to overcoming physical challenges.

“In our defense we double team the other team’s post players so they can’t score inside, [and] we put pressure on the ball handler so they can’t make direct passes to open players,” head coach Richard German said.

While the team has had success so far, Coach German believes they have more work to do in order to reach their peak.

“Not only are we small, we’re young, so it’s going to take a little while for this team to gel and to come together and do more positive things,” German said.

Senior Stevie Little agrees, and thinks the team is well on their way to the summit.

“We’re making progress,” Little said.

“And I think as the season keeps going, progressing, we’re gonna keep getting better.”

Little continued that sentiment, better describing what exactly their peak is.

“I think we’ll be able to go head-tohead with some of the best teams in Texas,” Little said.

In order to get to that point, and to help their chances despite their lack of height, repetition in practice strengthens the team’s ability to compete.

“We work every day so we get where we need to be,” German said.

Watching them play, the team seemingly has little trouble with the physicality aspect. They are extremely aggressive on rebounds and get a healthy percentage of them, and they do a great job on locking down post players on defense while recovering against opponents on the perimeter.

Past the necessary adjustments they have to make, the players don’t really think about their height issue.

“We really don’t care because we might not be six-five, six-seven, but I guarantee you...when we step on the court, we play like we’re six-five, six-seven,” Little said.

It’s all about having the right mentality, Little continued.

“If a team comes out and looks at us and says ‘Oh, we’re gonna kill them cause of height,’ were gonna hit them right in the mouth and take that game,” Little said.

After all, this team is sending a message.

“Don’t underestimate us because we’re small,” Little said.

2

4 3

1. Senior guard Derrick Dick leads a break during the Tigers’ Dec. 9 game against Temple.

2. Senior guard Dominick Adams reaches up to stop a Temple player from scoring.

3. Sophomore guard Tre Flowers attempts a 3-pointer as junior cheerleader Maddie Sears looks on.

1

4. Junior guard Garrett Peters yells out in tandem with head coach Richard German.

PHOTOS BY AUSTIN COATS

18 | news | the roar

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER COD the total scrub. vi burgess staff reporter

In the true newspaper tradition of throw-the-reporter-into-the-deep-end that inspired last year’s visit to Santa’s Lap, I found myself figuring life out about two minutes too late (as usual) while attempting to play “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare”.

To be clear, I’ve touched a Wii twice in my life and each time promptly vowed to never touch a video game never again; I don’t even think I’ve seen people play somewhat-violent video games like, ever.

So the thought of playing a videogame that has a reputation for being violent and complicated prompted the oh-mygod-I-should-run-right-now feeling.

It might have helped if I knew what the

During my eighth grade year at AMCMS, and my freshman year here at Consol, I played a significant amount of “Call of Duty: Black Ops”. Though I did play a lot (three days total online) I was never really that good (I had a negative kill to death ratio). I haven’t played “Black Ops”, or any other first person shooter games within the past few years.

But the funny thing about “Call of Duty” sequels is that the game itself has barely

green button was for. Or the blue. Or the red. Or for that matter, how to hold the controller in the first place. After spending entirely too long attempting to learn how to walk in the game, I came to the conclusion that the whole first-person thing they have going on was a little too complicated for my inexperienced handeye coordination.

I probably should have started with “Mario Kart” or something where I can’t accidentally blow myself up and where they don’t have ladders that, despite two minutes of intense concentration, have managed to elude my video game character. Even though I played against somebody almost as inexperienced as

changed at all. Though this version of CoD is more graphically intense and has more geographically diverse maps, the fighting and shooting is exactly the same as previous versions of the game.

You shoot with guns of different appearances to previous games, but aside from that they seem very similar to guns from “Black Ops”, as antiquated as it is. The last significant difference is that “Advanced Warfare” has a four-hour long

campaign narrated by Kevin Spacey.

I can say without a doubt that this “Call of Duty” game is exactly like the previous versions.

Unless you are a serious “Call of Duty” fan, a Kevin Spacey fanboy or you don’t have a single first person shooter game, I would advise against getting this game, as you are spending sixty dollars to buy new maps, guns and Kevin Spacey’s voice.

But, it is a great voice.

the noob. alex coopersmith opinions editor

me (our illustrious editor-in-chief) and got help from the best player on staff (whose shouting and arm-flailing is really cute but also kind of useless), the only way I got my two kills was by hiding and a corner and shooting at whatever moved.

In a weird way, though, it was really fun; I understand now why one of my childhood friends once spent an entire week in just his underwear playing video games (his mom was appalled). So even though I was glad to hand over my sweaty controller to the next player after a sad 3-2 loss, I probably will play more video games that are a lot more beginner-friendly than CoD.

“Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare” is trying. However, beneath all its futuristic shine, for better and for worse it’s just another “Call of Duty” game. To call it a glorified DLC (downloadable content) pack for an earlier game wouldn’t be too far from the truth.

The campaign is typical, the plot predictable, the characters one dimensional, and the gameplay tedious. It was so mindnumbingly bland the game began to seem

the roar’s various opinions on the eleventh installment of call of duty.

like it was actively trying to hurt my feelings.

While in game I was killing baddies, in the real world the game was doing the same to me. Those seconds I spent playing the campaign are seconds that I will never get back.

Thank goodness people buy it for the multiplayer.

As for multiplayer: The hovering device and the addition of the double jump make online play a bit more exciting. It takes a minute to get the hang of it,

but once I did I was zipping around the maps and generally having a good time. Of course that’s when I wasn’t being yelled at by 12year- olds, or forced to restart the game due to a strange glitch, or killed by hackers.

In short, buy this game if you greatly enjoy playing with friends online (only 2 player split screen), and you don’t have any previous CoD games.

Otherwise, save yourself the effort.

the veteran. aaron ross news editor

IMPERIAL CHINESE & SUSHI

the roar | entertainment | 19

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

I

mperial Chinese and Sushi, located near Premiere Cinema on Earl Rudder Freeway, replaced Tony Roma’s.

After eating there, I decided that that was fine by me.

The brick entrance is impressive, and the interior is elegant. The room is divided into two sections, one by the sushi bar and the other supplied mainly with plush booths.

Separating each side is a huge projector screen that shows anything from sports to music awards, but not loud enough to overpower table talk, compared to that of many sports bars.

Illuminating light fixtures hang above tables, placed high enough that it’s nearly impossible to hit your head.

Those who sit in the outer edges of the room can look out the large windows that line the restaurant.

My group was seated practically the moment we enter the restaurant.

Our waitress brought us menus and drinks right away.

Opening up the menu, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of options available. For those who aren’t big fans of sushi, there are many other options available, like Sweet and Sour Chicken, Sichuan and many other options often found in Asian restaurants.

As for actual sushi, Imperial Chinese and Sushi has Atami beat. There

are options upon options for any fan of sushi, whether it’s cooked or raw: anyone who has a place in their stomach for sushi will have problems deciding what they want to eat.

We decided on an appetizer of calamari, which was soon brought out, piping hot and beautifully arranged.

After stuffing that down, we all placed our orders. I don’t think I even waited ten minutes before my meal came out. I ordered the El Diablo and not only was it placed to perfection on my plate, but it tasted as good as it looked.

Looking over at my friends’ meals, I could see their eyes widen at the size of the portions on their plates.

Every meal ordered could easily feed two people, and no one could entirely finish dinner that night. To-go boxes were passed around and our waitress kindly asked if we wanted drinks to go (yes, please). I left Imperial stuffed but eager to come back for more.

Imperial Chinese and Sushi’s pricing ranges widely depending on the section of the menu. They are perfect for a lunch or dinner out, but if you don’t feel like actually stepping outside, they do deliver, which is a plus.

If you’re in the mood for bubble tea or maybe some raw fish, Imperial Chinese and Sushi is a great option.

review & photographs by

ELIZABETH REED

online & photography editor

20 | etcetera | the roar

tuesday, dec. 16, 2014

shoot thrill to

Marksmen maintain shooting tradition, compete in events

vi burgess | assistant editor

H

appiness is a warm gun, as the Beatles say, for many teenage marksmen. Though many students hunt, these marksmen bring back shooting in the most uncomplicated sense--at a paper target. “[There is] the adrenaline rush from shooting; you don’t have to shoot at anything to feel the gun. It makes you feel powerful,” sophomore Cannon Coker said. “It feels good; you sit there, and you’re getting ready to shoot, and then there’s that second where [it feels like] when you’re little and you’re afraid to shoot because you don’t know what’s going to happen with the kick of the gun, but eventually you get over it and it becomes natural.”

Though Coker’s given name of “Cannon” has little relation to his shooting skills, Coker has been shooting since he was a child.

“My grandpa asked me to go out hunting with them one day and I was like ‘Alright cool, sounds like fun, sounds manly’ so I decided to go with them,” Coker said. “[My first gun] [didn’t] have as much kick and [was] really not that

powerful at all, [but] that’s how I got over you and there’re two of them so you good at shooting because you have to shoot two times; it’s really fun when you get a perfect shot.” see both of them turn to smoke.”

Like Coker, junior David HildebThrough 4-H, many people comrandt began shooting at a young age, pete in various events, often matching also taught by his older relatives. For their skills with friends.

Hildebrandt, shooting is merely a part “It was definitely more fun when of life. you’re shooting “I’ve always with your friends,” grown up shooting You don’t have to shoot Hildebrandt said. and always thought “[When you shoot at anything to feel the with friends] it’s [for] ‘Why stop? Why stop shooting now, gun. It makes you feel bragging rights, just I’ve been shooting so you can say ‘Hey, . since I was three,’ ” I shot better than sophomore you.’”

Hildebrandt said. “[The first time I According to shot something] I Hildebrandt, some of was really excited, the best marksmen [so] I was shaking; I didn’t know what to are girls, though boys tend to hunt more. do, so I pulled the gun up.”

Sophomore Mckean Matson, who began Hildebrandt used to shoot recre- shooting relatively late in 8th grade, is ationally through a program called 4H, one of the girls who found her passion which stands for head, heart, hands and through 4-H, not through family tradihealth. 4-H has a shooting division pro- tion. moting young sportsmanship among “I felt great; I never thought I could Texas children. shoot well, but once I put my mind to “Shooting at the range, there’s some- it, it just felt amazing. Like I just want to thing kind of special about that,” Hildeb- keep doing that forever,” Matson said. randt said. “[The clay pigeons] fly right “I’m the only one who ever really shoots

powerful

Cannon Coker

[in my family]. Since I liked it, [my parents] encouraged it, but it’s not like they encouraged me to go out and shoot every weekend [like other parents].”

Like many others who shoot for sport, Coker, Matson, and Hildebrandt each own multiple guns. Though none are traditional gun collectors, each has developed distinct opinions on gun control through their unique hobby.

“I’m not big on gun collecting, and my opinion might be different if I was, but I think we should have the right to have self-defense, like [keeping] pistols at our house and hunting rifles and all that,” Hildebrandt said. “You don’t have a need for anything automatic. That’s a little too dangerous and it’s not really needed for the uses the common American has in life.”

The three marksmen hope to continue shooting in the future, inside and outside of the range.

“Shooting is a big part of everybody’s heritage,” Hildebrandt said. “It’s something people should be openminded with and it’s a great skill to have.”

Photo of Mckean Matson by Vi Burgess.