Caprock's Real Class Act

Mr. Frazer's AP Government class has been selected by the Amarillo Globe News as the Class Act for November. These 35 senior students are being recognized for their work with Meals on Wheels of Amarillo. Each Monday morning, groups of three students deliver lunch to approximately eight homebound elderly residents in the Caprock neighborhood. These students are learning the importance of volunteering in the community and the role of social service agencies in Amarillo. The students and the Meals on Wheels clients all look forward to Mondays when they have a chance to see and talk to each other. Thank you Caprock AP Government class for making a difference in your neighborhood and in the lives of some very valued citizens.

Race Across the Finish by: Ray Barbosa

Cross Country is a competitive sport that takes the ability to stay at a
pace for long period of time for a great distance. Anthony Pequeno is the
top dog for the Caprock Cross Country team. He keeps himself at a fast pace and
maintains it. Not very many people can maintain that pace and keep it
like that for three miles.
Cross country is run on hills, flat surfaces, and tall grass. The
grass can affect the runner because it makes the runner raise their legs
higher to keep at the same speed. The girls cross country runners run at
least 2 to 2.5 miles. They usually finish in about fifteen to
seventeen minutes. The guys finish in at least fifteen to twenty-five
minute in a three mile race.
I guess you can say that cross country is a hard sport because you have
to be in top condition. Some people are just great at this sport, and
maybe people who have read this might join it next year.

CapROCK at the Pigeon Hole By: Shaniece Anderson

Most people don't realize just how big the underground music
scene in Amarillo is. They don't understand that we have more than one
venue for local and touring bands, and most would be surprised to hear
that one of these venues is owned and operated by high school students.
The Pigeon Hole began as a house on 7th and Harrison and was
transformed into a safe environment for high school aged children to see
underground bands. The Pigeon Hole's founders, Robbie Mitchener, Andrew
Boyd, Mike Gray, and Thomas Britain , originally opened it up to escape
the drugs and alcohol at the POD (another local venue). The four of
them didn't realize just how big the Pigeon Hole would become among the
students of Caprock, Tascosa, and River Road, but once a few good shows
had been played, the shows began to get bigger and bigger.
Now the Pigeon Hole is in danger of closing because they cannot
pay the rent. People have stopped coming so much, and the funds are
running low. We're hoping to bring more people to a show on Saturday,
October 21, so they can stay open for a while longer. Without the
Pigeon Hole, Amarillo students don't really have a drug-free environment
to experience live music.

The Pigeon Hole can be reached at www.myspace.com/pigeonholetx

"What Is AACAL?" By Amanda Alcala

AACAL is Amarillo Area Center for Advanced Learning. I really don't know
why everybody thinks AACAL is just a prep school for very smart kids.
Trust me, it is a school for anyone who is interested in Health Science,
Engineering, Computer Science, Animal Science, and AutoTech. All that is
required of you to join is to keep your grades above an 80 and to have
no serious office problems. I attend AACAL because I want to become a
plastic surgeon. I am part of their Health Science Technology Class.
This is a 4 year program. My freshman year all we did was really go over
medical terms and just learn the medical field. My sophomore year is
when we learned how to take blood pressure, CPR, body systems, and how
to work in the hospital setting. Right now as my junior year is
progressing, we work in the hospitals on Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday,
Thursday, and Friday we take Anatomy and Physiology class. My senior year,
hopefully, I will be a registered assistant nurse and EMT. Even though
that's not what I want to be, it is a really good start.

A New Year for Hard Work By: Shayle Bryant

This year is going to be a hard working year. We lost our director and
gained a new one. This year, our show is called "The Rise and Fall of
Rome." We had to come during our summer vacation just to learn our
marching fundamentals and to learn things for our show. It was kind of
hard to give up your summer just for band. I came because we got a new
director. We have worked on this show since the summer, so we have to
remember everything we learned. Everyone worked really hard, but it all
depends on how hard we work to get a one at contest. This year isn't our
year to go to area but next year will be. So, we really have to get down
to business. We perform at football games to get us ready for contest to
see what we need to fix in our marching , spacing , and the images on the
field. Last Saturday was our contest and come to find out our hard work
was not as good as we thought it was. But we have Area next year, and we
will be ready for it.

"She Says Yes!!" By: Mr. Jeff Frazer

Caprock graduate, Alexis Scott, got engaged recently at the New Mexico
Balloon Festival. Alexis, the daughter of Caprock teacher Ms. Jessica
Scott, is planning a June, 2007 wedding to Mr. Monty Nash. Lexie, your
friends at Caprock are very proud of you and wish you all the best
during your engagement and upcoming marriage.

Athletic Trainers for the Year of 2006 By: Morgan Clay

Most people think that athletic training is easy, but it's more than just
getting into games and hanging out with the athlete's everyday. It's a
lot of fun that requires a lot of hard work and long hard hours. It's a
lot of hard work when you care for an athlete. All of the S.A.T.
(student athletic trainers) and the L.A.T. (licensed athletic trainers)
work very hard to ensure everybody stays safe. There are six girls that
have very high expectations to learn new things everyday. There is one
junior, one sophomore, and four freshmen that are in the program. All of
the girls including myself are all first year trainers, and we all want
to stay with it until we graduate. I asked three of the girls what does
athletic training mean to you? "It means working hard with our athletes
and having fun, but it comes with being responsible," Brittany Jones and
Brittany Vallejo both said. Kristine West says," It means having
responsibility in the process and showing respect for the athletes and
the other trainers." This is what I had to say about being and athletic
trainer, "Being an athletic trainer means to me is having to put in long
hours and being responsible. Also, you have to show what is right when
you are down on the field." All of the girls plus Doc Urton and Doc
Maddox all hope that none of the athletes injure themselves playing the
sport that they love. I hope that all of the trainers have fun this
school year of 2006 to 2007.

Throw for it... By Diana Chatman

Last year, our girl's throwing team was small but efficient. This year, I
think we are going to be good. We are stronger and have more experience.
The varsity is usually just Brandi Wilkinson who made regionals last
year, and either Courtney Bashaw or myself. Our JV is usually the ones
who do better because we are at that level. This year, I do not think
that we will have any trouble placing in meets. We usually fare well
against Tascosa and most out of town teams. Last year, we had one person
make it to regionals (Wilkinson) and one more place in district
(Chatman), and this year our goal is for everyone to either place or make
it to the top six. This is our goal every year. Since this year our
throwing team members are juniors, and if any freshman tryout and make it we may
have up to six people on the team. With Coach Conway and Coach Frazier
helping us, we are bound to have a good year. The shot and disc team is
usually looked over but contributes greatly to the team score.

Miss Out of the Box by: Trent Lermon

Beginning teaching at 21 years old, Miss Morgan is one of the most fully
rounded teachers that I have ever met in my opinion. Come on she's as old
as the dinosaurs; she's got to know something. I'm just kidding of
course. Her out of the box teaching styles set her apart from most
teachers. Her deskless classroom consisting of tables with chairs, bean
bag chairs, a sofa, and chairs of all shapes and sizes make up her
classroom, and it's not just her classroom that is out of the box . It is
her teaching methods and the way that she wants you to think. She does
not make you follow any certain method when writing but instead helps
you form your own method to become a better writer. She is also one of
the sponsors for the Spoken Word program. Along with Miss Vandenburghe, she helps run and maintain Spoken Word and set up events to perform at.
Spoken Word is the slam poetry organization that started up slam poetry
in Amarillo. I think we should all give Miss Morgan a big pat on the
back for breaking away from traditional teaching styles. I hope to be
able to count on her teaching countless others the same that she has
taught me.

A Step Towards Success By: Edward Barrientez

K-ROCK is a class most students do not even know about when they come to
Caprock. K-ROCK is a class also known as Broadcast Journalism in which
students here at Caprock High School are allowed to go out and about and produce
various films or interviews on certain projects with very expensive
filming equipment. Mrs. Larkan, the teacher of this class, show students
how to effectively film an event and how to correctly get an interview
from the students as well as the teachers and staff.
As I went around and interviewed a few of the students about how they
feel about K-ROCK, the response I got most was, "K-ROCK is a great
class being able to have the privilege to use expensive cameras and run
around the school interviewing people makes us feel as though we are
more than ready for the real world of broadcast journalism."
So for all you kids who are looking for a life in broadcast journalism,
K-ROCK is the class for you.

New Teacher, New Year ,New Opportunities! By: Ariel Duran

Ms. Thompson is one of the many new teachers here at Caprock
High School. She teaches Algebra II and may begin to teach Algebra I.
Thompson grew up here in Amarillo; she attended Caprock and was
a graduate of the class of 1999. Out of high school, she began attending
Amarillo College. She stayed there for two years then transferred to WT
for her remaining two years of college. Due to her finishing
college, she now has her Bachelors' Degree in teaching and is a certified
teacher in the state of Texas. She got into college through scholarships
which she received from being a member in AKADEMIA and other academic
clubs. Before teaching at Caprock, she was a student teacher at Tascosa
High for one semester; she worked with freshman. Her plans for the
future are to go back to college and get her masters degree in teaching.
I really enjoy being a student in her class because she makes
things easy to understand and she will work with each individual if they
need extra help. It is obvious that she is new at teaching because she
is still catching on to things, but for the most part I think she is an
excellent teacher, and I truly do believe she will go very far in her
career. I can honestly say Caprock and I are blessed to have Ms.
Thompson teaching for us here at Caprock High.

66 people...one heart By: Jennifer Williams

Without us the band doesn't have a pulse. What are we? We're the
drum line. The band must memorize the show music and stand tunes. We do
the same plus cadences, which are the "songs" that just the line plays.
Cadences pump up the team, the crowd, and the band of course. This year
we had two guys who were on the line write cadences.
Being on the drum line takes a lot of time. We have practice
with the band every Monday from 4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m., and each drum
section has a practice another day of the week aside from that. Snares,
which are just the single drum, have practice on Tuesdays from
4:00-5:00. Tenors (a.k.a. quads), which is four drums with two gawks,
have practice Wednesdays from 4:00-5:00, and basses, which is a single
drum but splits notes between each drum has practice on Thursdays from
4:00-5:00. There is also what we call the front ensemble or better known
as pit, which is a bunch of different types of percussion instruments.
Being on the line takes dedication, teamwork, sacrifice, and
hard work. Each of these traits fall hand in hand with each other to
form four snares, two tenors, four basses, one big pit, and Mr. Woolsey
(the drum instructor) who holds it all together.