Sannidhi Arimanda
Sanni is a TXT addict and horrible at calculus. As a prime member of the ‘Aliya corner’, as Mr. Wofford calls it, and as an eternal procrastinator, I have a reason to look at her, eyes wide, and be shocked at her unpredictability every day. Whether it be spending hours channeling our inner businesswomen to sell ads or bawling in our cry sessions while we attempt to learn how letters could have numerical values as we cram an entire unit of calculus in one night, I’ll miss her hyena laugh and spontaneous plans.
Proven by her Tops in Texas award, her photography displays emotion and dedication through a lens, one that I take inspiration from. Deeper than the eye, Sanni captures the story behind every smile. As we grew closer, I saw a new side of journalism and wanted to display the color behind each story.
She is inspirational with her continuous work and willingness to always give advice, both for journalism and everyday decisions. From strangers at the beginning of the year, to my go-to face timer, I can not imagine what t my 2/6 sidekick period would be like if I didn’t ask Sanni for calculus help at the beginning of the year (I’m worse at calculus than she is). Although we only met this year, I am grateful we could share suppressed giggles and late-night calls to make high school memories I will look back on and smile at.
So, Sanni, I hope you’ll miss my inability to drive and park and take it as inspiration when you finally get your license and have the time of your life eating tteokbokki with your new best friends at UTD.
Cole Tramel
Coppell High School senior Cole Tramel is ranked No. 2 in the graduating class of 2021. Tramel will be attending the University of Texas at Austin in the fall and is majoring in Computer Science in the Turing Scholars Program.
What does it mean to you to be in the top 10?
Both of my older siblings went to Coppell and they were not ranked, so I didn’t really expect to be ranked that high. I’ve always just tried to get the highest grades I could, and junior year, I realized I would probably be in the top 10.
What advice do you have for younger students?
Rank is not nearly as important as it seems. Getting good grades is important, but if your goal is getting into a good college, they care a lot more about your extracurriculars. If you are just doing this for the sole purpose of getting into an elite college, think about why you want to be at that college and what you would get at that college that you couldn’t get somewhere else.
I don’t think my rank is what got me into college. If I spent more time on other stuff and my rank was a little lower, I do not think college decisions would have suffered from that. Rank isn’t usually as fun to work on because classes are more stressful and other activities are more interesting, so I would tell them to focus on extracurriculars more than rank, but still try to get good grades.
School is very cooperative, so if you don’t know something, don’t give up. Ask your friends for help and work together. Khan Academy is also very underrated. I use Khan Academy extensively and to me, it’s way more digestible than a textbook.
What is something you wish you told your younger self?
My ninth grade self was really focused on getting good grades and being ranked high, and I think he thought he would be ranked lower than he is. I would tell him to chill out and tell him to do extracurriculars that are unique if he wanted to get into really cool colleges.
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