The Lamar JV team may be young, but that doesn’t mean the team doesn’t have anything to offer for the future varsity team with Duque being an example of what’s to come.

“I’ve seen him practice all day on his pitching, to the point where I would try to make him stop since I could see how tired he was but he never let me,” said Jacob’s close friend Javier Robles. “ I don’t think the teams are prepared for him. He might not look the part, but if you are ever batting [against him], you will rarely hit the ball.”

The junior has been playing for more than five years and has switched around positions. Once he was placed as a pitcher, he never switched to another position and started to train harder to be the best.

“I do not want to let my coach or my team down when I play. That’s why I train as hard as I do, so they can believe in me when I step up on that plate,” Duque said.

“At this point, I play every game like my last just so I put in my all and not slack off when my team could need me for the win.”

During the Lamar vs Arlington game, Duque had whispered into his glove before almost every pitch, and for the next pitch he made a strong throw to the plate. It appeared that it was too slow and Duque said the possibility for it to get hit had startled him. Luckily, a clap was heard and the ball had reached the catcher’s glove.

“I like to tell the ball the pitch I’m about to do just for good luck, but for some reason that pitch just felt off once it left my hand,” Duque said. “My stomach just dropped.

Duque said he could feel that something was off and the thought of the team hitting a home run made me shake.

“I just closed my eyes and started waiting to see what noise the crowd would make, but the excitement I felt after I saw that the batter was slowly walking off the base could never be matched,” he said.

Head coach Paul Kino said he is proud of all of his teams.

“The teams are relentless and will grind out all they can just to be at the top,” Kino said. “ Every year a new varsity team forms so I’m excited to see what the players have to offer.”

The placement of these detectors was the right idea and it needs to continue in the near future.

With it, students won’t even try to sneak a weapon into the school because they know it can be automatically sensed. This will help the school become increasingly safer for everyone.

The detectors are also very quick and easy to use. When coming into the school all you have to do is remove your binders or anything that has metal from your backpack and hand it to the security officer. After you walk through the detector without setting off the alarm you will receive your stuff back and continue on to your destination. The probability that you will be late to class because of this process is pretty low because it moves at such a fast pace.

Keeping the detectors is something that shouldn’t even be up for debate because not only has anxiety decreased since they were brought in but it really has been efficient in detecting anything that could cause bodily harm. 

This year, there were only three seniors on the entire team, compared to previous years where the team was primarily made up of senior students.  The seasoncame to a close with Senior Night on April 14, and the team’s final game of the season was at South Grand Prairie from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m on April 21. 

“It’s been challenging,” Evans said.  “We are a fairly young team, we only have three seniors, so our record isn’t quite what we want. However, we are improving and we did win our last game, so you can see the work we are putting in as a team.” 

A few of the students did experience injuries during the season that Evans said would have played a significant role in the team. Despite this, the softball team did win their previous game on Tuesday, April 11.  To prepare for the games, the girls spent time lifting in the weight room, hitting in the batting cages, and performing an in-and-out circuit.

“I feel like, at least for this year, spending time getting ready for the games and prepping have made us improve a lot individually and as a team,” sophomore and team member Ainsley Moseman said. 

Some of the girls, specifically Moseman and senior Colleen Gladback, look forward to attending practice and seeing one another improve their skills.  Evans said he enjoys the time he spends coaching them as all of the girls are unique with fun personalities and it’s special to see them grow as a unit.  

“I try to continuously give them positive reinforcements and be on their side when it comes to problems and issues in the building,” Evans said.  “I try to be a voice for them because sometimes they don’t know how to say what they need to say, and sometimes they don’t say it very well so I just try to help them with that.”

This competition took place all day, but the call time for Lamar students was approximately 2:15 p.m. In front of judges, students performed to receive scores in a variety of categories that  ultimately determined their placement at the competition. Theater Coordinator Patrick Holcomb primarily wished to accomplish a good performance to the best of everyone’s ability.

“We had seven minutes to set up our stage, 40 minutes to do our show, and seven minutes to do our strike… and if we go over that at all we get disqualified,” Holcomb said. “So for us, it was the experience of going there and conquering those things. Like doing the seven, 40 and seven minutes… and then doing it successfully. That’s a lot of it.”

Although placing at a decent level was an achievement, it wasn’t  the main focus of the event.

“Advancing was wonderful but that’s not why we did it,” Holcomb said.

Other students, such as Rafael Payne who plays the lead character in the play, did hope to place while also hoping to receive recognition for his and everyone else’s hard work. 

“I wanted our accomplishments to be recognized,” Payne said. “I wanted our hard work to be recognized and to have something to prove for all these hours that I’ve put into the play.”

Junior Daziah Knox played Aunt TP, a strong-willed woman who doesn’t submit to men. When she learned of her team’s advancement, she was completely startled.

“When we first got there, there were like all these schools and it seemed kind of intimidating.  Their sets seemed bigger than ours and all these things,” Knox said. “But toward the end, we all had to pull our part and luckily we did, I’m so happy that we did,” Knox said.

Naturally, this required much preparation, and Knox is no newcomer when it comes to one-act plays.

“I’ve done one act-play before. I did it last year so I kind of already knew what to expect when I went into it,” Knox said. “I think we were very prepared set-wise. We would go over how to strike the set, how to put up the set, back to back with no breaks. We had rehearsals every single day, we were very prepared. It just came down to everyone putting in their part and doing their part.”

Sunny Soeun, the head boys soccer coach, has been employed at Lamar High School for 10 years.When he first started out, the culture was very different, but one thing that has stayed consistent is the students that keep coming back every season for the love of the game. Soeun said this is a large part due to the fact that boys soccer is a successful program at Lamar.

“I think a lot of times when kids see success they want to be a part of it,” Soeun said.

However, that’s not the only reason boys soccer is booming. Senior Pedro Alvarez said boys soccer can also act as a stress relief toward any negative emotions students may be going through.

“I mean, whenever I’m feeling down or anything, I go to a field. I come to Cravens and I just practice,”  Alvarez said. “I just grab some soccer balls, take some shots, and just  run and practice till it clears my mind.”

According to senior Bryan Guijarro, the boys soccer team is not restricted to individuals who are the best soccer players. It offers so much more than that.

“I would recommend soccer to other individuals, even if they don’t know how to play soccer, because I mean why not, just play, make friends and  have fun,” Guijarro said.

Boys soccer also provides a support system, both inside the team and in Soeun, who has acted as a mentor toward the students despite his own personal struggles.

“Coach Soeun is such a great person. He’s been there for me in my best, and he’s also been there for me in my worst,” Alvarez said. “He’s given me multiple chances and he’s gone through a lot himself, he’s gone through so much and that makes him such a good person.”

Soeun pushes the team to set goals and strive for the best. 

“We all love him,” Guijarro said. “He’s a great coach, and he always sets up goals for us.”

When the season began, one player sprained his ankle causing him to be benched for District.  One other player was out for the whole season due to ankle injuries. 

“Before the season started, we already had our key player injured, so it really hurt and our point guard was also injured as well,” said senior Dmarian Miller. “This season was embarrassing; we didn’t get to be on top and win every game as I hoped we would.”

Throughout the basketball season, the varsity team had gotten a 4-25 overall score, and a 0-12 overall in district.  

“We would have had a better season with more depth and a better overall if we didn’t have so many injuries, ” said head coach Terrance Lofton.

Since the last varsity football game was Nov. 3, and the first game of the basketball season started on Nov. 12, many of the football players had gone to play in the basketball season.

“We were really hoping for some football players to help out our team, but the injuries had still taken our season away,” Miller said.

Lofton said he knew how to make next season a better one for the team, and hopefully do better than this year’s current season.

“If we stay healthy, then we would be able to concentrate more on the game but we have still learned a lot this year and we know what to expect now,” Lofton said.

Texas College Bridge is a self-paced curriculum to determine college readiness for students.While the Texas Success Initiative Assessment (TSIA) is similar in that it also offers students the opportunity to not take remedial classes in college if they pass the test. For most colleges in Texas, it is a requirement to take the TSI if you plan to attend. However, last year, juniors and seniors were told by their teachers that if they completed Texas College Bridge, they would be exempt from taking the TSIA.

“I was informed by my math teacher Ms. [Jenna] Diederich and then my English teacher Mr. [Nathaniel] Thames and it was relayed to us that it was required from the main office that we were going to have to take the TSI after completing Texas College Bridge,” senior Hannah Head said.

Assistant Principal Teri Williams is the coordinator relating to all things dual enrollment. If a student wants to earn a College, Career and Military Readiness (CCMR) point, which is an indicator on a student’s readiness for college, they can contact Williams. She admitted that students should have received effective communication so they can understand the reasoning behind the testing.

“TSI is not required. It’s something that we’re offering as an opportunity and I don’t think that unfortunately kids can, at this point, see the value in it sometimes,” Williams said. “However, we know how valuable it is and how much money it can potentially save you, so that’s the reason why we are pushing it. Otherwise, you can do Texas College Bridge and be done with it.”

Some students now knowing the reason behind this action still do not feel satisfied.

“I guess had I known that beforehand, maybe it would have been worth it;” senior Isaiah Robinson said. “But, I mean we were told that doing Texas College Bridge would have been fine by itself.” 

Senior Deja Banks, who recently learned about the impact behind the TSIA test, said she felt like the value in it depended on certain circumstances.

“Is it worth it?”  Banks said. “If you’re going out of state… yes. But if you’re in Texas in a certain area, it is not worth it because you’re already probably exempt from taking the TSI for those colleges.”

There has been a brotherhood sort of synergy established between the team members and the head boys coach Josh Sturgill as well.

“We might not be the best team, but we still strive to improve each and every day, so we can become better and better,” said junior Andy Tran. “I’m close to my team. We are like a family. We have each other’s back and help each other, and grow together and become a better team.”

Another big improvement the team has is Anthony Simpson stepping up and qualifying for regionals as a freshman.

“I love my teammates. They’re brothers. I wouldn’t trade them for anything,” Simpson said. “We’re all decently young, and it’s all founded from our amazing coach.”

Sturgill stresses that effort and team work is what wrestling is all about. 

 “It’s not the wins or the losses that’s important for the team,” Sturgill said.  “It’s how they grow as a unit and I think that’s why they have success since they are doing it for the team and not themselves.”

As the team continues to grow, the Viking family can only wait and see what they can accomplish in the coming matches.

Pippins came to Lamar from a segregated  elementary and middle school.  She initially started high school at Arlington High School until Lamar opened its doors in 1970.  She was in the first graduating class of Lamar, and was one of two African Americans in her class. Mattie White was the other. Due to their last names, Pippens walked across the stage first.

“It was amazing being the first, first African American to do it,” Pippins said.  “And being in a new situation because that was one of the first years without segregation.” 

Pippins said one of the harder obstacles she experienced at Lamar was learning how to navigate a new group of students, since she started high school at a different school.  She also found it difficult to maneuver around a new big building and new environment.

“Just being able to be with new people, make new friends in a different category as far as race and nationality go,” Pippins said.  “Coming from one group of people to several groups of people, there is such a big change.”

Pippins would later study for two years at Tarrant County College, and pursue nursing at Arlington Memorial Hospital. She practiced as a nurse for an additional 20 years, something she wanted to do since she was a child.  

Pippins is the oldest of four in her family. Her younger sister, Zina Rice, formerly Zina Pippins, was a security guard at Lamar for several years until recently. She attended Lamar’s first graduation that year and said it was exciting to see her sister walk across the stage. 

“It was something you had to come to grips with, you know, because you have never done it before so you didn’t know what to expect,” Pippins said. “You were flying by the seat of your pants so to speak.”   

Norvella Pippens’ younger brother Luis Pippins was the first male African American to graduate from Lamar two years later, in 1974. 

Directores such as Yorgos Lanthimos and Roger Deakens love to add depth to their characters, such is the case of “Puss in Boots.” All of the characters portrayed had realistic emotional needs, and they accurately depicted the good and bad of the “good guys” and their rivals. The main characters are easy to sympathize with due to how they react to both physical and emotional challenges, making them relatable even if they are not always able to act rationally.

The film is a combination of 2D and 3D animation, which is inspired by Sony’s “ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” The visual effects, cinematography and animation were very refreshing and vibrant. “Puss In Boots” features a powerful blend of these two mediums and creates an environment that is both vibrant and unsettling. While watching the movie, one might be reminded of Japanese manga or the Marvel comics.

I’m not the only one who thinks it’s a fantastic movie. Slant Magazine says, “Given that big-studio children’s animation often feels like it was created by a robot, it’s refreshing to see a kid’s cartoon like ‘The Last Wish’ and  that’s filled with too many ideas rather than too few.”

“Avatar 2” has generated $1.928 billion globally, overtaking “Spider-Man: No Way Home” $1.91 billion as the sixth-highest-grossing release in box office history. 

To date, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” has grossed $114 million in the United States. Not only the movie good for a 1 hour and 40 minutes of entertainment, but it’s also good for making money for DreamWorks.