“Hi Mr. Wofford. How are things in D115?”

A text or email from a former Sidekick staff member typically opens with this greeting. That is because my Coppell High School things have always been in D115.

Newspapers are history. Pretty soon, our D115 newsroom will be as well. Later this year, we are moving out as New Tech High @ Coppell moves in.

The Sidekick story cannot be told without the journalists who have occupied a former art room with windows facing south in D hall. For my 21 years as Sidekick adviser, this has been our space with our things. 

News moves fast. Newspapers, high school yearbooks and broadcast programs document school history. However, I teach students about reporting the moment and what it means moving forward. No time for old news or being stuck in the past.

We are not moving far and I am excited about having a larger space for our things. So I look forward to the future, while holding on to the past. The only guarantee about the future is change, so you better adapt. But moving out of D115 feels like leaving things behind.

Stories took form in D115. Pages were designed and printed issues came to life. Photos drew praise as students called friends over to “check out this great picture.” Weekly morning editors meetings were conducted. Junk food and caffeine was consumed. It has been a vibrant newsroom. Cranking out copy. These kinds of things. 

Honestly, I will not remember most of that.

I will remember my wife, Sarah, walking into D115 unannounced in 2006 to tell me she was pregnant with our second child. I will remember sitting alone staring at a Zoom screen hoping my students would join the meeting during COVID-19. I will remember former Coppell ISD Superintendent Dr. Brad Hunt and his entourage coming to D115 to announce I was 2024 Secondary Teacher of the Year. I will remember my first day as a teacher in August 2005, introducing myself to The Sidekick. KCBY-TV adviser Irma Kennedy and I have eaten lunch in D115 for two decades with various fellow teachers. 

But it is the students and relationships making D115 special I will remember most. The copter game tournaments of yesteryear the last week of school. The unofficial Sidekick Hall of Fame names displayed from the ceiling. The photograph from 2017 in Seattle when the program won its first NSPA Pacemaker. 

Friendships forged. Bonds established. Dad jokes told. Laughter aplenty. 

My kind of things.

Any educator wants students to look forward to coming to their classroom. Being one of the state’s largest high school campuses, D115 makes CHS feel smaller if only for 92 minutes each day. Much of the fun things in high school journalism – covering a game on the sideline, photographing a band concert, interviewing kids at a homecoming parade – happens outside of the classroom.

But we sure have had some fun in D115. 

I will miss its things.

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