1. Double Victory
There will no longer be 177 days of school. House bill 2610
was passed in the summer and now changes the requirement
to 75,600 minutes per year. It took effect immediately. That
means they are counting the minutes of instruction now; 420
minutes per day.
Every year there are two snow days for if weather
gets bad. After those days are used, if any other weather in-
terrupts school days, the district looks at extending the school
year or taking away the student holidays such as Good Friday
and Memorial Day.
Seniors are often affected because adding more days
to the year means their graduation has to be moved too, and
they don’t have a certain date till almost the end of the school
year.
The bill also says that lunch is considered an intermission and
will be counted toward meeting the minute requirement.
With the new law the district might not have to add
any days. The school can just add minutes to the half days
already assigned in the calendar.
“I think this is great,” Senior Barbara Torres said.
“There are times when me and my family have trips planned
for after the last day of school and we usually always end up
having to move it to another day since the district adds days
to the school year. With this new law they won’t have to add
days, just minutes.”
In a presentation given by the HB2610, people have
pointed out that most of the school district already go over
the 75,600 minutes required. Yes, North Side is one of those
schools.North Side already goes 15 minutes each day over the
420 minutes required. Students are going for 76,995 minutes
a year and that’s 1,395 minutes over the requirement. That is
equivalent to 3 days more than needed.
“I think that we should have a longer lunch,”Barbara
Torres said.” Since were already going over the requirement
we should get more time, when I go out to eat I barely have
time to get my food and come back. If we had 15 more min-
utes I could even stay and eat there.”
Principal Martinez has another idea.
“For me as Principal, I see it as there is not going to
be a change,” he said. “The only thing they did was change
days to hours and it’s going to stay the same. Since I’m in the
principal level, there’s not really something I could do. It’s a
district policy and I just follow what they tell me.”
According to the bill, the district can add minutes
to days remaining in the school year to make up for an un-
planned event.
“We have eight periods a day & my vision for eight
periods a day for the future is for you guys to have study pe-
riods or better said free periods,”Martinez said.“For example
kids will have the opportunity to go to the library or anywhere
else that you can study because you have done your job in
getting all your credits to graduate.That’s kind of like college
is about and I want to create a college feel for North Side in
the next couple of years.”
Counting the minutesBy Yarizeth Sanchez
JROTC takes win in First
Brigade Raider Stakes Competition
By: Maria Gomez
LARIAT
NEWSPAPER
A A
A Student Publication of North Side High School
December 16, 2015
Volume 3
Issue 1
2211 McKinley Ave.
Fort Worth,TX
76164
With army combat boots fixed
deep in five inches of thick water, North
Side’s Raider Team anxiously stood before
the 80 pound tire, 100 pound sandbox,
and the muddy, sand-filled obstacle course
they had to carry their partner through.
Their faces fatigued but alert, the first pair:
brother and sister Kassandra Serrano and
John Burgos stepped up to the line and
anticipated the countdown that would begin
the strenuous logistics event.
On Tuesday November 17th,
North Side’s JROTC Co-ed Raider team
competed and won for the second time in
the Raider Stakes Competition after win-
ning first place on 4/5 events, second place
on one event and taking the overall victory
last year.The female team took home three
trophies including the overall first place for
female teams.
The teams practiced for weeks
in order to compete in five mentally and
physically challenging training events: a first
aid/ litter carry, rope bridge construction
and transportation, push ups, curl ups, and a
2.5K run.
The teams are composed of 8 mem-
bers; The Co-ed team, commanded by Cadet
Second Lieutenant Edward Ahumada, and
the female teams; the A-Team commanded
by Cadet Sergeant First Class Maria Gomez,
and the B-Team commanded by Cadet First
Lieutenant Yesica Sanchez.
North Side competed against six
schools in Dutch Branch Park.The location
of the competition was moved in order to
allow the competition to be on a school day
and not on a weekend as it was previously
planned.
The competition began with the PT
portion. One minute of push ups, one minute
of crunches, and an individual mile run. All
the teams lined up and impatiently awaited
the one minute that would decide their place
in the PT event.
“Keep pushing through it!” North
Side cheered on the runners as they zoomed
past. “Finish strong, don’t give up!”The teams
cheered each other as they ran their mile
against the other high schools.
Afterwards, the teams took their
guide-ons and marched to the One Rope
Bridge event.
While the
female team
felt the pres-
sure of having
to transport
everyone in
the least time
as possible,
the Co-ed
team faced the
tedious task of
constructing
the rope, trans-
porting the
members, and
taking it down
again.
The female team lost points after
one of the members touched the ground, but
ended victorious upon discovering they had
the fastest time for the event, even with the
penalty.
The logistics obstacle race is always
the event with the most yelling from specta-
tors hurrying the competing teams to finish
quickly. Many teams tumbled to the ground,
dropped their gear, or received penalties for
not finishing the obstacle completely.
The Raider Teams will compete
again on Saturday, March 5th 2016 with the
same determination to keep the champion-
ship trophy here at North Side.

2. This school year students are
now allowed to wear t-shirts
from their favorite bands,
and ripped jeans. Students
can express themselves in
their clothes like they nev-
er could before. Last school
year students were required
to either wear a college, spir-
it, or collared shirt, but now
this year students are allowed
to wear whatever they’d
like, though it still has to be
school appropriate. “Well we
kind of decided that as long
as it wasn’t over the top, then
it was more important for
kids to be in class,” Assistant
Principle, David Trimble
says. “As long as the dress
code wasn’t ultra revealing
or a distraction, then it was
more important for kids to
be in class getting instruc-
tion and learning, than it
was fighting for a t-shirt.”-
Students really like this new
idea too. Students can now
be in class getting instruction
rather than being in in-house
because of a shirt that didn’t
have a collar.
“I feel very good about this
idea,” Junior, Christian Ban-
da says.“I agree because some
students aren’t able to attend
school because of dress code,
therefore this new idea al-
lows students not to worry
about dress code.”S p i r i t
shirts and school shirts sales
have gone down because of
the new dress code howev-
er. The class of 2016 sold 50
percent less shirts than last
year for homecoming.
“Yes, it’s
a huge difference,” class of
2016 sponsor, Jessica Arre-
ola says. “ A lot of students
are not really buying spirit
A third of the students who
attend FWISD don’t have in-
ternet access.In October,Us-
baldo Martinez, a junior, was
given a hotspot device to test
to see if it would be a good
option for those students. He
gave them feedback on prob-
lems he was having and they
fixed them.
“It makes me feel like I can
be trusted,” Usbaldo Marti-
nez said. “That I can be re-
sponsible enough to handle
College tuition is expensive.
To attend TCU one year is
$40,630; UTA’s is $23,522;
and TSU’s $21,920. People
that want to go to college
may find themselves apply-
ing for many scholarships
or preparing to drown in
student loans if their family
can’t afford to pay for them.
U.S Senator and presidential
candidate, Bernie Sanders,
believes that anybody in the
United States who has the
FeaturesPg. 2
Fashion
police
less strictBy: Alma Cossio
shirts anymore, but I think
we still have enough school
spirit that students still want
to wear North side shirts.”
“Last year I used to
buy spirit shirts so I wouldn’t
have to wear collard shirts,”
Junior, Joanna Chavez says.
“Honestly, this school year I
stopped buying them since
we can wear whatever we
would like to wear.”
Although dress code isn’t en-
forced this school year, hats
are still never allowed to be
worn at school.
“My personal feeling is you
don’t wear hats inside any-
where, and that’s just my
opinion,” Trimble says. “It’s
disrespectful, you just don’t
wear hats when you walk in
to a building.You should take
your hat off, that’s just sort of
the problem. The dress code
says no hats, so no hats.”
Some students don’t like
the fact that they can’t wear
hats.“I really don’t like how
we are not allowed to wear
hats,” Junior, Jose Gomez
says. “I feel like we should
be able to wear them. I per-
sonally don’t think there’s a
problem with wearing hats,
but that’s just my opinion.”
Even though students may
not like the fact that they
can’t wear hats, or other spe-
cific things, they still have to
follow the rules. “I just think
our students have done a
great job with rising to the
occasion, which pretty much
all the students here when
we give them rules they do
what they’ re supposed to,”
Trimble says. “It’s great to
have such good kids at North
Side.”
Success for all
By: Ana Renteria will to go to college should
be able to go regardless of
their or their families’ in-
come. “Higher education
should be a right,” U.S Sen-
ator Sanders stated on Huff
Post Live. Sanders explains
that free education shouldn’t
stop at high school.
“There are today hundreds
and thousands of qualified
young people who want to
go to college but can’t go to
college for one reason alone,”
Sanders explains in an inter-
view with The Washington
Post. “That is their fami-
lies’ lack of funding.”
Bernie Sanders also says that
it is absurd for people to talk
about the need of the Amer-
ican economy and it’s future.
“We need to have the bright-
est people possible getting
the best education possible,”
the 2016 presidential can-
didate adds in the interview
with The Washington Post.
“So that we can grow the
strongest economy possible.”
There are many
people that see how much
good can come from this. “I
support it,” Junior Luz Gar-
cia says.”It would put college
at the reach of many that
wouldn’t even think about
college because of the cost.”
Sanders intends to help any-
body who actually wants to
extend their education but
there will be those people
who will not take the op-
portunity. “ S o m e
students will most likely not
care,” Luz further explains.
“However those that truly
and deeply want to go to col-
lege to make themselves and
their families proud would
be ecstatic because they can
make their dreams come
true.” The U.S Senator’s
plan will not only benefit
the person wanting to go to
college but their parents and
families too.
‘’Parents will have a
weight lifted off their shoul-
ders,” Freshman Karla Rent-
eria says. “They won’t have to
worry about paying for their
child’s college expenses.”
Many see that Bernie’s plan is
beneficial but people still are
wondering how he will come
about it. He says
that if the government were
to cut military spending by
less than half and invest that
money in educational oppor-
tunities for today’s college
students, it could cut tuition
by 55 percent.
College tuition is expensive
now but with Bernie Sanders
running for president it may
not be that way forever.
Fire up the hotspot
By: Salvador Lopez
the job, for someone to trust
me to give them feedback is
very important.”
Like many North Side stu-
dents, he doesn’t have Inter-
net at his house and struggles
to get his homework turned
in.“I take AP classes so doing
work at home is hard,there is
no way around that,” he said.
“If you forget something like
a link or a picture, that can
make a difference between
an A or a B just because you
don’t have internet. ”Usbaldo
contacted the school board
president Jacinto Ramos Jr
because of his internet situ-
ation at home. They got the
Chief Technology Officer
Kyle Davie to help him out
as well.“He reached out to
our school board president
Mr.Ramos,he connected the
two of us and we wanted to
get his feedback to see if it
was a viable option,” Kyle
Davie said.There is a require-
ment for students that need a
hotspot .“It’s based on need
at home, if people don’t have
internet access we will have
an option for them to be
able to have internet access
at home.”
Even though the hotspot is
a great idea for students to
have, it does come with some
problems that the district has
to fix.
“The problem right now is
that when I try to open spe-
cific sites like FWISD Focus
or Google Drive they won’t
open,” Usbaldo said. “Since
the hotspot signal is provid-
ed by Sprint it is completely
different from the signal at
school.”Usbaldo has gotten
in contact with the team
responsible for the hotspot
and they worked out the
problems it was having. It is
now working properly and
they are planning to move
forward with the project
to other schools and stu-
dents.“Now that the hotspot
is working, I felt so produc-
tive at home,” he said. “I got
two assignments turned in
last night.”

3. Go to this link to suggest
the prize for Binder Bingo
at the end of the year.
(Poll ends January 8th)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PGH-
BQXK
Students are expected to keep a
three inch binder for all their classes
as a requirement in order for them
to learn how to stay organized.“The
purpose of the binders is to help
you guys understand the power and
the importance of being organized,”
Assistant Principal Poullard said.
“Too many times we see students
get a piece of a paper or take a note
and can’t find it again.”The school
found a way to encourage students
to participate. They created ‘Binder
Bingo’ which is game where every
student will receive a bingo card and
will get a signature from a teacher
if they had their binder and were
organized. ‘Binder Bingo’ will take
place every Friday in the students’
2nd
period.“We are encouraging you
guys and encouraging your teachers
to get credit for having your bind-
er,”Poullard adds.“At the end of the
year, Avid who’s sponsoring ‘Binder
Bingo’ and every single person that
has a signature from a teacher ac-
knowledging that you have your
binder and you’re organized, all of
Features Pg. 3
English teacher turned authorBy: Javier Alva
“As Trevor journeys further down the rabbit hole, he finds
himself challenged by multiple parties in a dangerous game of
corporate espionage,” Sean Strange writes in his book Cross.
“Struggling with the demons of his past, conflicting ethical
choices of the present, and an uncertain future, Trevor must
ultimately choose the trajectory for his life after the cross’hid-
den secret shifts power into his hands.” Mr. Strange is proud
of writing and publishing his first book.
Sean Strange is an English teacher at North Side he
has been teaching for twenty years. One of his life-
long goals was to write and publish a book. It took him
three years to complete his book and get it published.
“It’s always been a personal goal to write a book,” Mr.
Strange says. “I finally got serious and began writing.” His
first thoughts of planning the book started ten years ago, but
with teaching he couldn’t get much done during the school
year. Instead he dedicated his summers to writing his book.“I
found out that there’s not a lot of free time during the sum-
mer with training and other work related things,” he says. “I
realized how short summer vacation was.”It is a very long and
difficult process to create a book, from coming up with the
characters to developing a good solid plot.“The first thing I
did was to start with the characters, get them developed to
make them feel realistic,” he says. Then I developed the plot
which was a difficult process.”After a rigorous beginning, he
started writing every day for a little bit at a time until he got
it complete. After he was finished writing his book he needed
to revise and edit the book to send it to a publisher.“I got a
good friend to copy edit my book I helped out a lot to find
mistakes I didn’t get and gave me ideas to work with,”he says.
“The first thing I did was to write a query letter in which
you tell the publisher about your book. It took me a month
to write the letter. After Thanksgiving of 2014, I got a letter
saying that they accepted my book.” When he received that
letter he was very proud of himself but publishing the book
has cost him more than it has given him.‘It has cost me more
to make the book than it is to sell it, but I didn’t write the
book to make money. I wrote it because it’s always been a
goal of mine,” he says Mr. Strange is very proud of his book
especially of the cover which was made by one of his good
friends; but now after completing his first book he is making
a sequel to it.“I’m already in the process of making my second
book,” he says. “The ideas started while I was administrating
a test. My second book will continue the same story of the
first.” Following the release of his book Mr. Strange has had
people purchase the book and they have given him good re-
views on Amazon. Reviews said that it had a ‘clever storyline
that moves along as smoothly and stealthily as the likable pro-
tagonist.’ Another review said it was a ‘really good book and
recommended for anyone can’t wait till the next one.
Enforcing organization
at schoolBy: Ana Renteria the those students will be invited to
a party.”Students that can’t afford
to get a binder can be provided one
by some teachers and staff.“There
are several teachers who collect
binders over the years.” Poullard
said. “The purpose behind asking
you guys to pay 25 cents, anytime
you guys pay for something we can
take that money and put it in an ac-
count that we can turn around and
spend on you.”In addition, some
students struggle with doing their
schoolwork let alone keeping up
with where they put it. Therefore,
the school made the binders a re-
quirement for all students. The stu-
dents will also be expected to keep
a binder for the rest of their lives to
continue to be organized after high
school.“When I was a student no
one encouraged us to be organized,”
said Principal Martinez. “That’s
why we decided to make it a little
easier for you guys. If I was more
organized I think I would’ve done
a better job when I went to col-
lege.”Of course, there’s a downside
to everything.“They are heavy, es-
pecially the three ring binder when
they have a lot of stuff in it,” Avid
teacher Ms. Holms said. “But over
time we tell them that they’ll build
their muscles and it’s nothing that’s
going to hurt you. It’s just about
three pounds.”Students then begin
to like having the binders because
they know it helps them.“Over
time they learn to love it.” Hol-
ms adds. “Because they know that
without it they will be lost. I hope
that students outside of Avid will
learn to love and appreciate the
use of a binder. It really relives a
lot of stress.”Some students aren’t
too happy with this requirement.“I
don’t like the idea of it,” 9th
Grader
Karla Renteria said. “Imagine the
weight that it’s just going to add
on to us and then we have to car-
ry the laptop bag around.”Though
some students don’t like to carry
the binder around, many do see the
good side of it.“I do think some
students will be more organized
with the binders,” Karla adds. “Es-
pecially since some students like to
throw their stuff in their backpack.”
Page Layout/Design for the
Lariat made possible by:
CTE Graphic Design and Illustration & Arts AV program.
Advanced Graphic Design Students:
Semaj Gadlin
Jesus E. Gonzalez
Angel Munoz
Javier Perez
Jesse Rodriguez
Alejandro Salazar
Luis Vazquez
Jordan Matthews

4. GETSCHOOLED
LARIAT
NEWSPAPER
A A
North Side
High School
2211 McKinley Ave.
Fort Worth, TX
76164
The Lariat Staff:
Javier Alva
Emyly Arguello
Mariela Avila
Alma Cossio
Maria Gomez
Salvador Lopez
Ana Renteria
Stephanie Sanchez
Yarizeth Sanchez
Advisor:
Andres Bentley
Principal:
Antonio Martinez
The Lariat is the
official publication of
North Side High
School. As a public
forum, we will pub-
lish letters to the
editor as space
allows. Letters must
be signed and
names may be with-
held. Opinion
columns represent
the opinion of the
Lariat Staff Newspa-
per at North Side
High School. The
Lariat will not accept
advertisements for
products or services
that are not legally
available to
students.
Flaunting their moves
An ensemble of teachers and students danced to “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé.
Impressing the audience
Barbara Kuba, amazingly dancing on stage to “Hello” by Adele.
Striking a quick pose for the camera
Eric Delgado shows off his casual wear on the red carpet.
Standing tall
Ms.Reyes strikes a quick pose for the audience while wearing
leopard print casual outfit.
Mrs.Taylor
She walked off sta

5. DINFASHION
By: Mariela Avila
Brianna Rodriguez steps
on to the stage with a gray kimono
like dress with flower ruffles at the
bottom and on the back.
“When I use to sit down
and sketch at a early age, I always
wanted to see my sketches become
alive on a live silhouette,” Dedric
Davis said. “I like curves so I would
always sketch clothing with curves.
When I started making the cloth-
ing myself I would cut and sew it
by the models measurement.”
Dedric never thought
his dream would come true
about designing. He has been
designing with Mrs.Capelton
for 10 years now.
“For high school students
it’s helping them get inspired for
their future,” Dedric said.” Every-
body is not going to be a designer
but to be able to be a role model
and let high schoolers know that
whatever your talent, dream, and
gift is use it to your advantage.”
Although he was young
when he started sketching he al-
ready knew what his future looked
like.
“I love clothing and nice
looks, I love to see others look
good and feel good in what they
are wearing. “ Dedric said. “When
you look good you feel confident, I
feel good to know I help out in that
process.”
After all his ideas came
from his mind, he would see all the
shapes and different forms of fash-
ion.
“This is a gift,” Dedric
said.” When you have it, no one
can take it from you.”
Fifteen North Side high
school students modeled Ded-
ric Davis design’s on December, 3,
2015.
By: Emyly Arguello
It was a red carpet affair that
Mrs.Capleton’s Versa Style
team organized. North Side’s
2nd annual fashion show, it was
held on December 3,2015 in the
auditorium to a packed house.
“We have a little red carpet we will
try out,” Mrs.Capleton said. “So
we will make it as close as possible
to the theme, we can only go so
far with formality.”
There are three segments for
clothing. Models either provide
their own clothing which has to
be clothes they have never worn
before, clothes someone else
created for them or that some-
one else brought in.
“We have a size and body size
sheet,” Mrs.Capleton said. “For all
different people so that the clothes
will fit them properly the day of
the show.”
Many people usually panic or have
stage fright before performing in
front of a lot of people, a lot of
things run through their mind.
“The one thing I was most scared
of,” Junior and model Leslie Es-
peleta said, “Was walking out into
the stage and tripping, that would
have been so humiliating.”
Dedrick Davis designed Leslie’s
dress and many more of the mod-
els make up and clothing.
“I have worked with my designers
for 10 years now,” Mrs.Capleton
said, “ they were willing to come
and donate their time to the
students with no fee so they were
doing it out of their own pockets.”
Organizing something like this is
never easy.
“This fashion show was a little
tough for the team,” Janet Vasquez
said, “But we got the job done.”
52 models started their stuff along
with the participants performing
their dancing and singing skills.
Barbora Kubu danced to Hello,
assemble of teachers and stu-
dents danced to Single Ladies, the
cosmetology did demonstrations,
Alejandra Calzada sang Like I’m
Gonna Lose You, the Mariachi per-
formed and finally a showstopper
with Mrs. Reyes.
Our 2nd year sponsors this year
include Whataburger, Barse Jewerly,
Gordon Boswell Flowers, Riscky’s
Bar-B-Que and Sam’s Club along
with out fashion designer Dedrick
Davis and our partners the Fort
Worth Women’s Association of Feder-
ated Women’s Club.
They hope to have another one and
keep the tradition going.
Strutting Into the Spotlight
Jessica Ruvalcaba walked down the runway showing off a Dedric
Davis original red ruffle dress as she showed the crowd her stuff.
Malik Williams
shows off his casual wear
He wears a black shirt with dark green pants.modeling her left wing
age with her one sleeve dress.

6. SportsPg. 6
“No matter how
good you do, there’s always
more to do,”Head Coach Jo-
seph Turner says. “And it de-
pends on how good you want
to be. If you want to be the
best, then you’ll do whatever
it takes to be the best. If not,
you’ll just become comfort-
able with where you are and
won’t work as hard.”
Former TCU Run-
ning Back, Joseph Turner,
took on North Side’s Foot-
ball team as the new head
coach over the summer.
Turner came from
a single parent home in
East Austin, Texas. As one
of three boys, he helped out
his mother while he went to
school, and later enrolled in
TCU- becoming the team’s
Running Back.
“Playing at TCU
was tough,” Coach Turn-
er says. “It was a job. It was
fun many times and then it
was stressful, but you know,
you spend 8-10 hours a day
in the football complex, so
that’s a full time job.”
Also while in col-
lege, Turner met his future
wife.
“I met my wife
freshman year of college,”
Turner said. “And we hated
each other, but two oppo-
sites attract sometimes and
we’ve been together going on
10 years, we’ve been married
for almost five. I have two
beautiful daughters, I have a
six-year-old, and I have a 10
-month-old.”
He affirms that
everything he knows, he
learned from playing at TCU
Joseph Turner
F r o m T C U R u n n i n g B a c k t o H e a d C o a c hand that is one of the reasons
he is now able to be North
Side’s head coach. One
of Coach Turner’s closest
friends, Jerry Hughes, made
a $15,000 donation to North
Side’s Football program that
will now be an annual gift.
The 15,000 dollars
from Hughes’ donation and
the $5,000 from the NFL
will be used for weight room
gear,game gear,cleats,and all
sorts of other equipment for
the football program.
“I think [Turner] is
a great part of our program,”
Linebacker and sophomore
Raphael Carbajal says. “He
is a big inspirer, great moti-
vator. He shows us character
and how to be out there. He’s
a good coach on the field and
off the field. He teaches us to
be a great person and indi-
vidual. He motivates us every
day in practice, in games, af-
ter games, every time we see
him. He always tells us to be
better than you were before.”
The new million
dollar football field is a great
new addition; the easy main-
tenance is allowing the foot-
ball players to practice on
the field no matter what the
weather. But besides the new
field with North Side’s name
centered on each end of the
field, cement on the outside,
and the vibrant white yard
lines marked on the artificial
turf, Turner does not deviate
from his goals for the team.
“[The season is] not
going the way I want it to,”
Turner said “We’ve lost to
three teams that we should
of beat because we beat our-
selves by making mistakes.
We have a young team and
have a lot of bad habits we
need to change. So until we
go undefeated and win dis-
trict it will not go the way I
want it to.”
The 2015 sea-
son record was 3-wins and
8-losses. North Side was able
to defeat Diamond Hill, at
Homecoming with unbe-
lievable score of 38-7. They
also beat Dallas Sunset and
Western Hills. The team
didn’t have the best record
but under coach Tuner, they
still remain one of the hard-
est working teams in the 5A
region.
Ashley Aviles, Lizbeth Rodriguez,Karina Aragorez and Brenda Salgado running at a meet.
sleeping to run long distanc-
es. It’s a team made up of
hard working competitors.
They race 3 miles in a very
short amount of time.
“Running relieves
me from all the stress I have
with school,” Senior Ashley
Aviles said. “Running gives
me a nice feeling. You are
out there having fun run-
ning long distances with
your team. I run cross coun-
try because it helps me get
things off my mind.”
Both the boys and
girls showed rapid improve-
ment throughout the season.
Also the junior varsity boys
team as well.
“That’s the thing
with Cross Country, are you
willing to work daily, work
weekly and eventually those
results will then come off to
when you stop training and
do something else. It’s like
I’m not improving as much
as I want to,” Coach Brigge-
man said.
The cross country
team competed in 8 meets
but each individual is al-
lowed 7 plus the district and
regional meet, so some ran 9
meets in total.
“I was so nervous,”
Ashley said. “It was very
nerve-racking to see all these
nice runners and feeling like
STEERS MAKING HISTORY
After taking a three
year break from coaching,
Garth Briggeman took both
the girls and boys to the re-
gional meet. A total of 14
students from North Side
High School qualified for
the regional meet on Octo-
ber 26, 2015 in Lubbock,
Texas.
“When I first start-
ed coaching I took the girls
in 2000 and 2001 to the re-
gional meet,” Cross Country
Coach Briggeman said. “The
girls haven’t qualified since
then, 14 years something
crazy like that. I was real-
ly excited for them. Going
into a district meet you need
to finish in the top three to
qualify.”
North Side Cross
Country runners are com-
mitted to their sport. They
get up early in the mornings
while most people are still
By: Stephanie Sanchez
By: Maria Gomez
you are going to be last is a
good motivation for me. All
I thought in my mind was I
could do it and all I needed
to do was finish strong and
not let my team down.”
Cross country is not
only an individual sport but
also a team sport. All the
runners are judged on indi-
vidual times and teams by a
points-scoring method.
“I was surprised
I thought maybe the girls
had an outside shot when
we were there,” Coach Brig-
geman said. “Coach Busta-
mante was coaching them
the entire year and I got the
privilege in coaching them
at the meet. I thought may-
be we could finish fourth,
but you know when I got the
results and they announced
third by just three points,
it was like wow! It was this
close as I thought it was. I
was really excited.”
This years North
Side’s cross country teams
qualified for the regional
meet. All the runners gave it
their all at the meet but came
up short at the end.
“Since [Hughes]
donated money, now the
NFL wants to donate mon-
ey as well,” Turner says as
he chuckles when mention-
ingthat the NFL said they
would match Hughes’ dona-
tion.
PhotobyJocelynnMosqueda

7. Editorials Pg. 6
This year, the principal decided to
add one more period to the day.
Instead of seven, there are now
eight periods. So far in these past
few months, the 8 periods have not
been a student’s best friend. In fact,
it has become a student’s worse
nightmare. Having an 8th period
was not a good idea.
Students have been complain-
ing about getting too much
homework and being more stressed
out than they already were from last
year with just seven periods. They
8 Periods?By Maria Morales
Special to The Lariat
have been complaining about hav-
ing too much homework and not
having free time for themselves.
Students say they
are more stressed
because they don’t
have enough time
to comprehend a
subject and still
be accountable for
it. They get at least one more hour
of homework each night so there
is less time for any extra-curricular
activities if they want to complete
all the work.
Although the 8 periods are allow-
ing students to catch up with their
in class means there is less time for
teachers to be able to teach their
lectures and for students to be able
to learn the lectures in 45
minutes.This would make stu-
dents not fully understand the
lecture and have trouble on
their homework or any work.
North Side would have to have
a “Block Schedule” for the
students to be able to learn more
things.This would mean that in one
day, the students would go to their
first 4 classes and the next day go to
their last 4 classes.This would allow
students to have approximately an
hour and half in each period. North
credits, the students who are caught
up don’t think it is fair to them.
Those who are caught up believe
that it is just adding on to their
homework and it is not necessary
for them to be taking an extra class.
Even though some students and
teachers say the days go by faster
now that there are eight periods,
there is less time in class. Less time
Side could also carve out time for
a longer lunch. So instead of lunch
only being 30 minutes, it would be
45 minutes to an hour. This would
make students not have to eat in
such a hurry.
In order for getting the proper ed-
ucation that the students at North
Side need, they would need more
time in their classes to be able to
learn more. This Block Schedule
would help the students achieve
that and maybe even finish their
homework so they can have free
time at home. 8 periods all in one
day is not the answer.
“...they don’t have enough time
to comprehend a subject and still
be accountable for it.”
OneMorePeriodDoesn’tHurtBy Chris Gomez
Special to The Lariat
More like 8x the stress
Cheers & JeersCheers
To no dress code.Now we don’t
have to worry about getting in
trouble.
Jeers
To not being able to use our
phones during lunch. It’s
basically our break.
Cheers
To having a new field. It looks
nice and beautiful.
Jeers
To attendance recovery. We
only have specific Saturdays,
and not everyone can attend
those days.
Cheers
To only being able to miss
8 days. Students now attend
school more.
Jeers
To not being able to wear hats
inside the building.
Cheers
To the Go Center. It helps stu-
dents with college
preparations.
Jeers
To the cafeteria food, it’s not
that good so not many people
eat lunch. They should make it
better.
Cheers
To a long Christmas Break.
During the 2015-2016
school year, North Side High
School implemented a new sched-
ule where there would be 8 periods
in a day instead of 7 periods. The
8 periods is possible by cutting
down each class by 5 minutes and
making students come in 15
minutes sooner.
It is best if North Side
High School continues the 8 period
schedule approach because of the
positive ways it can help students.
The 8 periods are helpful because it
helps student make up credits or get
them quicker than usual. The more
classes per year mean that stu-
dents are able to finish their classes,
especially electives, much earlier in
their high school years than if they
only had 7 periods.
The 8 periods also gives
students the opportunity to take
different classes that they normally
wouldn’t try because of the limited
schedules. This especially works for
freshmen because by the time they
are seniors they can try many differ-
ent classes because they would have
most, if not all, of their credits.
If the students are able
to complete most of their required
credits by senior year, then they will
be able to have free periods in ei-
ther the morning or afternoon so
they will be at school for a shorter
amount of time. The school wants
to reward those students who went
above and beyond the expected
number of credits by giving them
free periods but, the ultimate prize
is the fact that students can start
early with their college credits.
Although most students
agree to the 8 periods, there are
still a handful of kids who dis-
agree with it. The shorter class
times means that students may not
be able to finish all their classwork
which they now have to take home
to complete. The 8 periods also
means that students and teachers
need to start coming to school 15
minutes earlier than last year. The
extra class may also add additional
stress to the students due to the ex-
tra work they are responsible for.
The extra work that may be
giventostudentsonlyhelpsthemstay
involved with their school work
and the shorter classes forces
students to stay alert and focused
while class is taking place because
if they don’t then they will not
understand the material.The earlier
time doesn’t impact the amount of
students that get to school on time
because students will find an excuse
to be late whether class starts earlier
or later than usual. The stress also
shows students what they may have
to deal with whenever they become
adults and have to juggle many
tasks at once.
The 8 periods does noth-
ing but helps students achieve their
goal of graduation and also helps
them explore new classes that they
otherwise wouldn’t participate in.
The students that truly take their
education and their future seriously
will have no problem adjusting and
welcoming the 8 periods with open
arms.

8. 2016
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