It’s not all the time that you find someone that can make you feel like you are the most special thing in the world, but at least once in a lifetime you will find a person just like that. It’s the person who will say the right thing at the right time and actually mean it. The one who will put a smile on your face that stretches from ear to ear. It will be the person who truly cares for you.

Once you find this person, I have one piece of advice for you: don’t let him or her go. Whether it is a friend or a boyfriend or a girlfriend or whoever it may be, hold onto them. It’s a tough world out there and surrounding yourself with good people who care for you and make you feel beautiful and important are the ones who will help you survive these years in high school and even later on in the future.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that there are special people in the world who will think you’re just as great as you really are even if you don’t think so. And these people are the ones you want to associate yourself with. Don’t waste your time on friends or relationships that put you down, make you worry or cause stress, because life is for living and it sure is hard to live life to the fullest when you’ve got negativity weighing you down.

Due to safety issues from crossing Knox Road before and after school, it has been decided that no students will be allowed to park their cars in the ACC lot even if they are members of the church.

“This was a combined decision of the ACC admin, CDS admin and Tempe Police,” assistant principal Dan Nero said.

In the past there have been many close calls and near accidents.

“Students have been hit by vehicles along Knox Rd. and there have been many near miss incidents,” Nero stated. “Vehicle accidents and near misses have occurred due to students walking through traffic as well.”

As of now, the students are adjusting to the change well.

“So far our students have been awesome in helping us with this situation,” Nero said.

“It’ll be fun and exciting, and I can’t wait to meet new people,” freshman Grace Ashu said before the start of the dance.

The Freshman Dance is traditionally one of the most anticipated dances of the year, where freshman experience their first high school dance. However, there is another aspect of the dance that doesn’t receive much recognition: the canned food drive.

Instead of money, freshmen were required to bring five cans of food to enter the dance. All food was donated to St. Mary’s Food Bank on Monday morning.

The food drive was a success. All the boxes were full by the first 20 minutes of the dance, and Student Council adviser Ben Forbes was pleased with the results.

 “Last year we raised 3,000 cans, and hopefully it (the number) will be higher this year,” Forbes said.

Bringing cans of food to dances instead of money is an old Student Council tradition that has been in effect for years.

“It’s great for freshmen who are used to bringing money to events,” Forbes said. “We try to donate some stuff to charity.”

Many freshmen liked supporting the food bank and getting to enjoy the dance at the same time.

“It was a great way to help out people in need,” freshman Hannah Allen said. “I’m really glad we brought cans.”

The new school year brought about another schedule change for students. There are small changes with the “A” schedule, as classes are changed from 57 minutes each class to 56 minutes per class. Also six-minute passing periods are back after last year’s five-minute periods.

However, there is a major change with a new early release schedule on certain Wednesdays, when regular class periods will be 45 minutes, third period will be 53 minutes, lunch will remain 39 minutes and students will get out at 1:21 p.m. The reason for this is so teachers can meet together and discuss their curriculums with others and give insight on how they teach.

The teachers will meet in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), groups of teachers with similar curriculums. Many teachers are looking forward to the meetings hoping they will improve their teaching techniques.

“I think teachers don’t have an opportunity to sit down and collaborate with one another,” English teacher Amanda Johnson said, “And this will allow us to do that.”

The Wednesdays, however, come in random order rather than every other Wednesday as originally planned. According to Principal Susan Edwards, the reason behind this is a conflict with bussing with Mountain Pointe and Desert Vista High School.

The early release Wednesdays can be found on cdssunrise.com in the Events tab.

August 18 and 25

September 8, 15 and 29

October 20

November 3 and 17

December 1

January 12 and 26

February 23

March 9 and 23

April 20

May 4