Lucas White is a junior at CHS, who plays the guitar professionally.

When Lucas was four years old, his grand-mother asked him to pick an instrument he was interested in playing. Lucas’ first choice was the piano. “Playing the piano has helped me to better understand music theory, which has helped me communicate in a band situation.” Lucas said.

Since Lucas started out playing the piano, he can now play seven different instruments, guitar being his favorite which he has been playing for about five years now.

Highlands Crossing, Lucas’ band, is the num-ber one youngest acous-tic band in the nation. Previously, Lucas played as the lead guitarist with Mountain Heart for 2 years during the sum-mer. Other than play-ing with his band, Lucas spends most of his time traveling around the nation, playing at shows or performing in various competitions. Texas Flat-pick Guitar contest is one of the many competitions Lucas has participated in. In this competition Lucas won first place, naming him Texas State Guitar Champion. The con-test was held in League City, Texas on July 16th. Lucas will compete at nationals, in Winfield, Kansas, September 16th and 17th, hoping to add another win to his accomplishments.

Lucas has performed in front of an audience of about 150,000 fans at The Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, Virginia. He is num-ber six out of 319 guitar players from all over the world. When Lucas is on

the road traveling from venue to venue, he is on a tour bus with the rest of his band. Lucas says “It’s a lot of fun and there is a lot to learn while on the road.” The main destinations that Lucas plays with his band are Nashville, Tennessee and Galax, Virginia. In Nashville, Lucas was able to play twice at the Ryman auditorium with various Country, Bluegrass and Folk art-ist!

How did Lucas become so fortunate? Dave Jenkins (Lucas’ Grandpa), Clay Jones, Tony Rice and Jim Vancleve helped him become who he is today. Lucas’ grandpa has helped him by being a motivator and believing in Lucas. Clay Jones taught Lucas very unique tech-niques and helped get Lucas’ name out to the public. Tony Rice, Lucas’ biggest inspiration, is a great friend of his and he changed acoustic music which enthused Lucas because he is the only person to ever do that; he is an example of what Lucas wants to become. Jim Vancleve is very knowledgeable of music and he is the best pro-ducer, in Nashville which is a big encouragement to Lucas.

One of Lucas’ favorite parts of music is giving back. “People are always helping me to become a better person and musi-cian; it’s something I feel strongly I should do!” Lucas said. He loves to teach the younger generation about more in-depth parts of music, than just learning to play the instrument. He says “To play the instru-ment, you must know your instrument.” One of the main reasons Lucas loves music is because

“It’s always changing! The possibilities are end-less!” Lucas says.

When Lucas graduates high school, he would like to major in Sound Engineering. He loves music and wants to be surrounded by it the rest of his life. Check out a documentary about Lucas at

www.fanningthef i re.com

Volume 63 Issue 1 www.chsstudentconnection.com October 2011

“It’s a lot of fun and there is a lot to learn while on the road.” -Lucas White

Lucas White takes music on the roadBy: Sarah Dockery

Being a Varsity Cheerleader, I understand how hectic life can get. Between balancing practice times and games, to pep ral-lies and what uniform or bow to wear, it can get pretty con-fusing. Thank God for texts from our captain and coach reminding us of the next day’s details. Adding schoolwork, clubs, and other little extra-curricular activities to this mix raises the stress level to almost unbearable and leaves close to absolutely no time for your social life. So what hap-pens when you add in some-thing as big as being on the drill team? Payton Simpson spoke to me about her life as a “Cheerico.”

The first struggle is the lack of enough hours in a day. Calicos practice every morning from 7:00 or 7:30 until 8:30. Keep in mind the fact that the bell rings at 8:51, leaving about twenty minutes to get ready. Any girl would agree with me that twenty minutes is not nearly enough time to change clothes, fix your hair, and do your makeup at a relaxed pace. Guys, you might not under-stand the big deal of all this, (or at least I would hope you wouldn’t), but I think I speak for more than just myself when I say that if my hair isn’t perfectly straight or my mascara is smudged under-neath my eyes, it just starts my day on the wrong foot. The stress level has obviously been raised at this point. After Calico practice, Payton would carry on with her schedule but instead of having another elective or class for eighth

period class, Payton has yet another practice period. Cheer lasts from when the eighth period bell rings at 2:13 till 3:10-4:00, depending on the day, and consists of as much stunting, tumbling, jumping, and, of course, cheering as can be fit into that time period. By the time Payton leaves school, she’s beyond worn out and ready for a shower and a nap. Unfortunately, being in all Pre-AP classes, homework comes first, and by the time she completes her studying, there’s only a few hours left until it’s time to wake up and do it all over again.

And then there’s game day, when the stress level goes through the roof. Cheerleaders are required to be on the field an hour before the kickoff to warm up every-thing that they’re planning on showcasing during the game, which doesn’t seem too chal-lenging until you realize that Calicos are required to be there at the same exact time to rehearse their halftime per-formance. Remembering multi-ple 8-counts and their motions for cheer alone is strenuous to begin with, and combining that with a whole dance full of counts and motions can

get pretty confus-ing. More chaotic than their pregame rehearsals though, is what happens seven minutes before halftime. To save a few sec-onds, Cheericos have their Calico makeup, excluding the bright red lip-stick, already done

before they begin cheering, which gives them just enough time to change from their Cheer uniform into their Calico one, run down to the field, briefly review their routines, and perform, only to reverse this process and return to their chant line before the third quarter begins. At this point, I’m pretty sure I would have passed out or my head would have exploded if I were in their

position.There’s only one

method behind this madness. She’s got to be crazy, right? Wrong. She actually loves it! Dancing since she was two, and cheering since age four, Payton has developed a passion for both activi-ties, and says that choosing a favorite of the two would be impossible. According to

Payton, “It gets pretty crazy. I have to work really hard to stay focused and keep my priorities straight. At the end of the day, I’m beyond exhausted, but when I think of the cause of this and real-ize that it’s the things I love, it’s definitely worth it to me.” With that being said, the life of a Cheerico may be tough, but it’s certainly rewarding

The life of a “Cheerico”

“It gets pretty crazy, I have to work really hard to stay focused

and keep my priorities straight”

-Peyton Simpson

By:Caroline Means

Jungle Beast Journal

3October 2011

Mercedes Bugg

Some people ask what trainers are, or why would anyone would want to be a trainer. Valeria Garcia Junior at CHS, sat down with me and answered some questions. “I like being a trainer because I like helping people and I like being with the football players when-ever they need help”. When I asked what some pros and cons are about being a trainer Valeria said, “Some good things about being a trainer is that I feel useful and worth something when they get hurt because I ‘fix them’. Also because we go with them when they have an outside game and we get to experience new things.” Valeria also explained “Some bad things are that we have to be with the players at all times, we have

to be with them outside when it’s really hot and we get a sunburn and in the very cold weather, standing there with the water but were not ‘water girls’ we’re trainers.” She said, “Some things that we need to do and know about being a trainer is that we need to have everything packed, organized and ready to go. We also need to know how to rap their ankles for when they get hurt and if we don’t do it right they can get blisters.” “Kasey Jessie is our head trainer and Doc. Is the main trainer and they help us out when-ever we don’t know how to do something. This is not a hard job as long as you know what to do. It’s worth it because as I said we feel useful and worth something even if some players don’t say thank you, some do appreciate what we do for them.”

Supporting the home teamBy: Viridiana Catalan

Excelling at Nationals

Jungle Beast Journal

2October 2011

They stepped onto the plane bound for LAX with a mixture of excite-ment, anxiety, and, of course, their suitcases. A week later, they stepped back off in the DFW airport with a sense of accomplishment, four med-als, and memories to last a lifetime. This past summer, Cecilia Lopez, Jennifer Garcia, Kimberly Hidalgo, and Sharon Paredes had the chance to compete in the national STAR (Students Taking Action with Recogni-tion) competition through FCCLA in Ana Heim, California. AteammustfinishinthetopthreeatregionalsinWaco,thenpro-ceedtowinfirstplaceatstateinHoustontoqualifytocompeteagainstteams from all over America in Ana Heim. Keeping this in mind, simply qualifying for a competition as prestigious as this is a great accomplish-ment. Jennifer competed in the Chapter Showcase Manual contest, and brought home a bronze medal for her scrapbook. Cecilia, Kimberly and Sharon competed in the Promote and Publicize event, winning silver medals. In this event, they were required to inform the community about FCCLA and present their results in a creative way. After advertising on the Sonic, Dickey’s, and YMCA letter boards, placing an add during the previews at the movie theater, and having La Pradera serve their drinks in cups endorsing the organization, they exhibited their information in a humorous “Date Night With FCCLA” skit. Aside from these that the girls participated in, there are hundreds of other contests, ranging from those that are community service- based to those where one creates something, suchasacraftorafashionoutfit. Though the thrill of competing and coming out on top alone was enough fun, it didn’t stop there. The girls, along with Mrs. Salai, had the opportunity to go to Disney Land and Universal Studios, and tour LAforaweek.Butwait,itgetsbetter.Notonlydidtheygettoflyonanairplane, stay in a nice hotel, and experience the attractions of California firsthand,alltheyhadtopayforweretheirpersonalexpenses,asCISDpaid for their transportation and boarding accommodations. After all of this, it would be pretty hard to pick a favorite part of the trip, but when asked, the girls unanimously narrowed it down to the perfect weather, the trip to Disneyland, and the opportunity to have such a great experi-ence with their best friends. Mrs. Salai agreed with them and added that “it was a lot of fun to see the students go somewhere they had never been before and to see all of their hard work pay off.” The girls would like to give a special thanks to Mrs. Salai, Mrs. Curl, Mrs. Mills, and Mr. Bower for their support and let them know that “if it weren’t for them, they wouldn’t have been as successful as they are.” If you are interested in joining FCCLA, pay your $20 dues to Mrs. Salai in room C106 or Mrs. Curl in room C104. You can only compete in one event per year and the number of students they can take to these competitions are limited, so if you are interested in participating in a STAR event, listen for the announcement of when the meeting for that will be, or feel free to see them. They would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. The discovery the girls made from this experience was that “if you set your mind to something, you can go pretty far,” so don’t hesitate to get involved in activities such as these! You never know where they may take you. By: Caroline Means Jazz Williams

Maria Zuniga

Twitter is a social network-ing site. A website used to stay instantly connected to what’s most important to you. Follow your friends, favor-ite celebrities, and read about breaking news.

Aaron Cantu, Kirstin Richardson and Joe West are a few students from Corsicana High School that use twitter. What got Aaron started on this site is he wanted a way to keep up with sports. “I saw on ESPN that they used twitter a lot so I decided to get one. Now I can keep up with sports, in a fast easy way and get play by play!” Kirstin decided to get a twitter because it was new and not many people had one! Joe thought “random people got famous from twitter, Why can’t I?”

Once they started using Twitter they realized this is fun and always up to date! On Twitter, you can follow and keep in touch with your friends in a faster easier way other than Facebook! Also, you can follow celebrities and athletes, see what is going on in their lives, and know about upcoming events they’re performing or playing at. Sometimes famous people fol-low you back or they might even

retweet one of your tweets! Joe was recently retweeted by rapper Roscoe Dash. “I tweeted about one of his new

songs, he saw it, and retweeted me.” said West. “It really makes you feel cool that people of that

stature actu-ally see and appreciate what you’re saying.” When someone retweets you, it boosts your confidence. It is cool to see other people

having the same thoughts as you!While using Facebook some-

times you feel obligated to add people because they have sent you a request, twitter is different. On twitter, you have followers, people that want to see what you post. If you do not want to see what they post, you simply do not follow back!

Kirstin says “the more follow-ers the better.” You can meet new people that have the same interest as you! When you follow celebri-ties they tweet “Crazy, entertain-ing, funny and informing” says Aaron.

Twitter is an exciting website that is uprising, set up your twitter and follow your fellow tigers!

Aaron @AaronCantu3, Kirstin @KIRSTINleeRICH, and Joe @Joe_West10 at

www.twitter.com

Photo Credit 1

Follow Me

“Random people got

famous from Twitter, why

can’t I?”-Joe West

By:Sarah Dockery

Jungle Beast Journal

4October 2011

Kayla Parker