Communications Arts Newsletter Blog

Sophomore Erica Hylemon recently won third place in the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum Essay Contest, sponsored by Allegiance Credit Union.

The prompt for this essay contest was to write about a time you made an important decision. Erika wrote about when she was in middle school (living in Germany) and she turned down a cigarette that someone offered her. She found out about the contest through fastweb.com, a website where you create an account, then input your likes and dislikes. It finds essay contests that are specifically suited to your talents and characteristics.

Erika discovered that she won when the Dean of the Museum called her mom to tell her a diploma was being mailed to her English teacher, Mr. Scott.

By Brittany Leitner

“When trouble troubles you, the only thing to do is dance!” sang the cast of The Boyfriend, and dance we did! This year, the theatre department put on The Boyfriend, a musical spoof of the 1920s composed and written by Sandy Wilson. The Boyfriend is about girls at Madame Dubonnet’s finishing school for “perfect young ladies” who just have “got to have…that perfect thing called the boyfriend!”

We put together the show in about a month. Being newcomers to the theatre program this year, Molly James (who played Polly Browne) and I (Maisie) weren’t sure how the musical would come together in such a short amount of time, but Communications Arts theater veterans Cole Little, Mandy Belscamper, Collin Miller, Sarah Garza, Alma Harline, and Chris Rothbauer made us feel at home on the stage. About 15 members of the cast and crew were Comm Arts students. It was fun to be able to participate in an extracurricular activity at Taft and still have your “commie” friends around you.

Because the theatre department only puts on a musical once a year, we invite talent from all the fine arts departments to participate in the show. Choir student Taylor Vollmer, who played Madame Dubbonet, adapted to the stage after years of choral training, Carlos Landa played percussion in the pit orchestra, and the Highstepper dance team came in for a “synchronized swimming” number in “Sur La Plage.”

In the end, the show was a success and all of the “perfect young ladies” got their boyfriends! Audiences and cast members alike swooned for The Boyfriend!

by Brittany Leitner

Do you have a hobby? We have a club! This year Communications Arts High School offers more club choices than ever before. Due to the entire school having 5th period lunch, students can gather and meet for clubs at a time that works for everyone.
Classic Comm.Arts clubs like Helping Hands and Science Club are better than ever, and two new ones, World Cultures Club and Game Creations Club, are off to a great start.
If you want to have “that warm fuzzy feeling younget from helping people,” according to sponsor Mrs. Dehlinger, Helping Hands is the right club for you. In Helping Hands students participate in a large community service event once or twice a month. Currently they are working on the “Adopt-a-Family” project. Students have already collected $700 for gifts for needy families.
If building, creating, and experimenting is more your style, then come to Mrs. Betchel’s room Thursdays at lunch. Right now, Science Club is focusing on beating Comm.Arts rival St. Mary’s Hall High School in the San Antonio Science Bowl. However, you don’t have to be a science genius to join Science Club. According to Ms. Betchel, “all you need is a general interest.”
The two new clubs that have been added to the list are more on the creative side. World Cultures Club began when students at Comm.Arts who come from different backgrounds expressed a desire to get together and share their knowledge of other countries. During a Friday lunch meeting, members decide on a culture they wish to explore and then choose what aspect of that culture they wish to study. At the next meeting students present their research and choose another country. The World Cultures Club is a great way to become a leader and be involved. As sponsor Mr. Scott put it, it is “very student-run.”
If you visit the World Cultures Club, you might stumble upon the Game Creation Club right next door. The Game Creation Club is for students who have an interest in all gaming, from video games to board games. Students not only study and discuss popular games already available, they also spend time creating and coming up with ideas for their very own games. Since the Game Creation Club doesn’t just focus on one type or era of gaming, if you want to have a good time and get your creative juices flowing, the Game Creation Club might be your perfect fit.
From helping others to gaming mastery, Communications Arts has a club for you. Next time you’re sittin

by Nik Kelly

“¡Hola, chicos!” Señora Reynosa cries as students walk into her classroom. They warm up, twirling and dipping each other gracefully, spinning around the room. The Comm. Arts Latin Dance Club meets every Tuesday and Thursday after school in Señora Reynosa’s room, C224. The members learn new moves and present dances as well as perform and compete with the Taft Latin Dance Club. President Leslie Miranda describes the club as a place where kids can come and focus on the moves and on the form, a place “to dance away the world.”
Every Wednesday during lunch, one can walk into Ms. Dehlinger’s classroom, C119, and see a large gathering of self-proclaimed eco-warriors. These students are members of Comm. Arts’ Environment Club, sponsored by Ms. Dehlinger. The club focuses on making Comm. Arts “greener”, by recycling paper, cans, and plastic bottles, collecting pull-tabs for the Ronald McDonald Charity House, and architecting the annual Grassroots Café, a night of poetry and performance. When asked about the goal of the club, President Hannah Haworth states, with a shy smile: “To save the world.”
Every other Tuesday, during the second half of fifth period lunch in the Comm. Arts Lecture Hall, the seats are filled with students actively involved with Student Council. Sponsored by Mrs. Driggers, Student Council works diligently on year-round projects and fundraisers such as Homecoming, the winter fundraiser, Turkey Fest, Earth Day, and the end of year Banquet. Mrs. Driggers describes the club and its efforts as “a way to serve the school. We want to make it look good, keep it clean, and just make it better for the student body.” Like all clubs, membership in Student Council is open to every student at Comm. Arts.
After school every Wednesday, like clockwork, students congregate in Mrs. Swoboda’s classroom, C220, for the weekly meeting of the Creative Writing Club. The meetings begin with a discussion on writing, sharing pieces written by the students, or just jumping into the newest piece. The Creative Writing club, one of the newest clubs at Comm. Arts, is quickly  growing in size, popularity, and involvement. Collaborating with the Environment Club for Grassroots Café and assuming the task of the Literary Magazine are not easy responsibilities, but the club is taking to their new assignments with ferocious dedication. “It’s very student-run,” says Mrs. Swoboda, smiling brightly. “We come together and try to build a community of writers.”

by Caitlin Stives and Liseth Vazquez

The smell of hot tamales filled the air so quickly, you’d swear you tasted it as soon as you left the building. With so much food, most people didn’t even know where to start. From donuts and caramel apples to chili dogs and nachos, the outdoor classroom was taken by surprise as Comm. Arts students of all ages poured in.
As new freshmen, we had no idea what to expect. Never before did the words Turkeyfest have any meaning. When asked how Turkeyfest was in the past upperclassmen simply said, “fun” or “great” but those answers didn’t explain enough. But as it finally rolled around we all realized it was so much more. The sight of the overpacked outdoor classroom with the variety of food was so overwhelming, we concluded it was definitely worth the wait.
Not only did Turkeyfest represent eating until we couldn’t stand, which was very easy to do. It also had a much deeper meaning: having fun with friends and being thankful for all that we have.

by David Rodriguez and Martin Caldera

Years of fierce fundraising (with the help of Senior Class Sponsor Mr. Craig Rendon) finally paid off for the class of 2009 in the form of our  Senior Trip to Austin in December.
After the two-hour bus drive, of course the first thing most of us wanted to do was eat. Luckily, the Bob Bullock State Museum, our first stop, features the “Story of Texas Café,” where we fueled up before embarking on our tour. The relatively new State Museum (opened in 2001) has three floors, each with its own Texas exhibit theme: Encounters on the Land, Building the Lone Star Identity, and Creating Opportunity. After perusing the educational yet entertaining exhibits, we watched Star of Destiny, an interactive presentation that uses special effects like wind and smoke to evoke hurricanes, oil gushes and space rockets.
Next we strolled over to the nearby Capitol building for a photo-op before returning to the museum to take in another movie, Grand Canyon Adventure 3D: River at Risk, which convinced us of the importance of conserving and protecting our nation’s rivers.
To round out the Austin experience, we ventured across the street to the University of Texas, where we discovered first-hand what the campus is like. Since eating is always a priority with us, it was necessary to grab a quick snack in one of the UT cafeterias before piling back on the bus.
Since some of us will be making a more long-term commitment to Austin in August, this was more than just a field trip, it was a glimpse of our future lives.