For 18 years, I have been a resident of Coppell, Texas. Growing up, all I have ever wanted to do was get out.
It is not that I hated it — I just did not see the magic in it. I did not understand the appeal of how every elementary school looked the same, how it would take less than a day to walk from one side of Coppell to the other and how the trees on the winding road that led to my house blocked the majority of the sunlight.
Despite staff writer Neha Nathwani regularly referring to me as a Coppellian, I could not have even told you who the mayor was. The city of Coppell did not hold any connection to me; it was simply where I happened to live.
This indifference segued into high school, when I joined The Sidekick. I was steadfast in my disinterest in Coppell ISD, choosing to pursue opinion writing and movie or album reviews: stories as far as possible from the local lens. It was after support from editors and other first-year staff members to take up stories like news coverage and student features that I became more involved in this town.
There was not one specific story that flipped the switch for me. However, the more students’ stories I uncovered through feature writing, the more community events I peered at through the lens of a camera and the more people I interviewed, the town’s facade of mundanity started to chip away. I began to fall in love with covering anything and everything Coppell-related. My sophomore year self would be shocked that this is my first column in over a year.
Being in the front row of CISD board meetings allowed me to immerse myself in the mechanics of how the district operates, a subject I never thought I would feign interest in.
Writing a feature on Cottonwood Creek Elementary School Principal Dr. Andra Penny taught me how, despite how the majority of Coppell’s elementary schools had an identical outer structure, the traditions forged by the people who cared differentiated each school in its own right, making the 15-mile-wide city seem so much larger.
The walk back home from taking photos of CHS’s annual homecoming parade on my street made me realize just how pretty the trees lining the road were.
It is one thing to live somewhere your entire life and recognize elements of your surroundings, maintaining a surface-level perception of them. However, The Sidekick gave me the opportunity to perceive the things I have passed by my entire life on a deeper level, drawing a tangible tie to my ever-familiar environment.
On The Sidekick’s field trip to D Magazine in January 2024, marketing director Madeline Alford described their publication as their “love letter” to the city. After spending three years immersing myself in my hometown through reporting and storytelling, I can confidently dub my 96 posts on coppellstudentmedia.com as my personal love letter to the town that raised me.
In a matter of months, I will be moving 1,700 miles away from Coppell. While a younger me’s eyes would have lit up at this prospect, a present, soon-to-be CHS alumna version of me cannot escape the lump in her throat when thinking about it.
While unsure if my future prospects include Coppell whatsoever, I will always have an inexplicable draw back to my hometown. If you searched my name on the internet right now, the first five results would have “Coppell” in the title. As I grow into a new environment, and new things may drown out what appears currently, I hope my work in The Sidekick, and Coppell by extension, will follow me no matter how far I go.
Because no matter where I am, Coppell and The Sidekick will linger with me eternally.
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