Between Timber Creek Talon, Timber Creek Television, TCFM, and Timber Creek Sports Network, we have 27 students in the Class of 2017.
Here are their names and some of the reasons we’ll miss them:
Michael Ciardullo
Since meeting Michael at the beginning of this school year, we’ve been impressed with the way he’ll say nothing in class — until a microphone turns on. His innate sports knowledge helped him on and off the field this year, nabbing a Golden Football with the Falcons this year and being an integral part of our stellar radio program, 2 Minute Drill. Michael delivered clear sports analysis and truly sounds like a professional on air. We’ll miss his voice and presence in our sports program.
Jackson Thibodeaux
Jackson is the most honorable student we’ve ever worked with and he may, in fact, be the most honorable people we’ve ever met. He is a dependable force that will rise to any challenge, volunteer whenever possible, and work to build lasting friendships with his teammates. His voice is legendary; he has been in every TCTV this year, proudly proclaiming the pledges. And he helped push the idea of even building a radio station, when years ago he encouraged us to build TCFM. While our basketball commentary won’t sound the same next year and JMR will have to find a replacement for “J,” Jackson’s legacy as a founding and hard-working member of our broadcast team will continue.
Travis Taylor
Travis helped build TCTV and our radio programs into stellar status, especially with key contributions in front of the camera. His talented voice and willingness to laugh (loudly) on and off camera will be missed in this next year.
Spencer Muskopf
I didn’t know much about Spencer Muskopf before he arrived in my class every day just a few weeks into the school year. I knew he was talented in theatre, I knew he had strong presence on camera, but I didn’t know how his spirit and energy could jump start a room, or how his perspective could help us make certain we were doing the right thing. Spencer jumped at any chance to learn anything he could about doing live commentary, anchoring, acting, filming, editing, writing and putting everything together. In every case, he worked to learn whatever he could and improved our lives because of it.
Colton Klopfenstein
Colton rejoined Broadcasting this semester, but for the two years we’ve worked together, I’ve seen him grow from a guy who did just what was asked to a guy that asks to do stuff. He’s become a leader to a group of fellow filmmakers with a creative eye and the ability to get everything done from concept to completion.
Sarina Khounsacknarath
Sarina has the remarkable ability to pick up new skills quickly. Need her to run a camera at a basketball game? She can do it. Need her to edit a video? It’ll be done in minutes. Need a drawing of a fish? Hers will look like it’s professionally created, right in front of your eyes. Her adaptability and willingness to jump in when needed has been crucial to our success this year.
Dallen Johnson
Dallen appeared out of nowhere in our time of need and jumped into commentating basketball – immediately impressing us with his knowledge and analysis skills. Since then, he’s been quickly learning audio and video editing, providing more commentary, interviewing and writing. In the short time we’ve had together, he’s improved his own skills and our program with hard work and enthusiasm.
Abby Greiner
Abby is one of the “news daughters” that serves as a student aide, senior producer and all-around workhorse for our program. She’s done it all – filming on the sidelines of football and basketball games, creating films nominated in the Keller ISD Film Fest, editing dozens of videos, contributing to ideas and concepts for skits, and constantly being relied upon by the teachers and other students to be a knowledgeable leader.
Fabian Gonzalez
Fabian’s ear for music has been a major asset for our program, as he creates some of his own tracks to help score our video work. He’s also a strong collaborator, working as a cameraman, editor, actor and idea guy in many projects this year. His strong visual skills combine well with his auditory ability and should be a great start for his future work.
Hope Feuling
It’s hard to put down a summary of Hope. Maybe it’s because she will constantly leave you flabbergasted in her creative, slightly askew concept for skits. Or maybe it’s because once you let her have free reign, she brings back innovative and, frankly odd, pieces of video or audio editing. But that’s what makes her special. While we might have to encourage other students to think outside the box, Hope has been living there. The absence of her presence and incredible video editing skills will be felt every day forward.
James Drain
It is likely that you’ll see James Drain’s name in the producer or songwriter credits for future major releases – his composition skills for music are that impressive. He has helped expand our ideas of what could be done with the hardware and software available to us and helped develop some of the most popular ideas in this year’s program. James was the only returning member of TCTV from 2015-16 to this school year, and while we made changes, we relied on his expertise to help us figure out what worked and what didn’t. We hope others will use his guidance, skills and creative mind in whatever future projects he works on.
Carson Campbell
Carson was one of the founding Talons, focusing on writing for the Timber Creek Talon for the past three years. This year, he moved to Broadcasting and contributed to all our Football live coverage, TCTV programs, skits and other pieces. His writing has been honored, his play-by-play has been praised, and his ability to help when asked is relied upon by his peers and the program overall.
Dominic Barrera
From Dom’s Block of Rock to Dominic’s Disco Ball, few others have had such an impact on our TCFM radio project. Dominic’s musical sensibilities and dry wit have been wonderful additions to our Broadcast classes and to the radio blocks he’s built with our station. He’s been a hit on TCTV as well, leading with his great voice and note-perfect deadpan delivery even when he’s making fun of himself. We’ll miss talking about which bassist is best.
Karoline Austin
“News daughter” Karoline Austin was the key player in getting our TCFM radio station started this year, collecting thousands of music tracks, creating playlists, recording bumpers, organizing a schedule – all while watching “The Office,” a Phil and Dan YouTube video, or listening to the Undertale soundtrack. But that’s just how she works. Sometimes she’ll be playing with homemade ASMR slime while a Swim banquet video is exporting, other times she’ll be screaming in the broadcast loft during an epic basketball game while updating graphics and Snapchatting. Her skills are varied, her passions are diverse and even though she’s easily distracted, somehow, miraculously, it all gets done.
Casey Akers
There’s a reason Casey is so often on screen for TCTV – her vibrant personality and willingness to be silly, serious, informative or odd has made her a go-to fixture for others who need someone to act and be a face for their projects. Behind the scenes, she’s been helpful in gathering information about sports and coming up with great concepts for creation.
Sarah Ulery
If all Sarah had contributed this year were her detailed and descriptive reports on Talon, she’d be heralded as one of the best writers that has ever been on staff. But she did much more than that – sorting through hundreds of art and literature submissions, designing and theming, and leading a team of editors to create TWO unique and impressive Art and Literature Magazines “Galaxies” and “Mirrors” this year. This major expanse is due to her passion for writing and her true desire to highlight the creative works by authors and artists at Timber Creek.
Elizabeth Shugert
Elizabeth (or Lizzie, as we usually call her) looks after the little guys. She has worked to call attention to those who are often overlooked and cares about making sure voices are heard throughout the school. She is a powerful writer and has been a great contributor to Talon and Yearbook, offering noteworthy pieces of reporting and interesting storytelling. We look forward to the time that she begins to share her love of the written word to future students.
Jonathan Samudio
Tenth grade Jonathan Samudio would be impressed with Senior, Prom King nominee, Editor-in-Chief, stand-up comedian, Twitter jokester, brilliant writer, inspired fashion designer and thoughtful leader Jonathan Samudio. Watching his transformation from a sullen but smart student to the leader and trend-setter of today has been a joy. He has consistently shown balance and care in his decision-making and been in Talon early nearly every school day to check on progress, often quietly, before holding court with other senior editors. We know he’ll continue to impress the future folks who get to know him.
Izzy Parra
Izzy’s compassionate heart shines through her work, whether it’s about a local, beloved teacher or conflict around the nation. She gets the “big picture” and how students and the community can feel the impact of a major policy decision or a larger issue. She’s pushed our coverage to look further than the walls of TCHS and into the world around us, which we plan to continue. Though we had her on staff for a short time, she’s made a lasting impact on how we’ll cover things into the future.
Savannah McLain
Brave Savannah has faced many challenges in her life and yet, like all strong students, she has met them head on and battled through. Her spirit and ability to weather the storms of life has been an asset to have with us for the past two years and has provided us insight into many key areas. The friendships she’s made with other Talons are life-long bonds and her smile will be missed every morning.
Frankie Lopez
One of the most common questions asked in Student Media HQ is “Where’s Frankie?” That fact can be confirmed in this year’s Yearbook where, on the Talon page, it’s noted that we do ask that often. Why? Because she can do it all – no, it’s because she DOES do it all. Editing, camera work, writing, Spongebob memes, directing, filming prom with a DSLR in one hand and a plate of mashed potatoes in the other – Frankie is there, building skills and building friendships just by her presence. She continues to surprise us with hidden talents and magical ways things just get finished. We’ll miss her long nails clicking to switch cameras at basketball games, her references to “the hooks,” and…well…everything about Frankie.
Rylee Jones
One of the sweetest, kindest people to be a Talon is also one of the most thoughtful, balanced and perceptive students we’ve worked with. Rylee not only was our theatre expert, she was someone who deftly balanced the myriad of activities she was involved in and somehow managed to meet our deadlines. She is a perfect sounding board for editorial ideas, an intelligent and insightful person to send on assignments and she brings a winning smile and bright attitude to the room.
Adrianna Jagodzinski
Adrianna’s fantastic voice shines on stage and through her varied writing that covered not just her passion for choir, but other topics immortalized throughout the year and included in the Yearbook. Adrianna was a true team player, taking assignments from both Talon and Yearbook publications, providing great content to each group while also helping develop our Art and Literature publications. She was an “Adrianna of all trades” this year, all the while smiling and bringing energy to the battle.
Destiny Holdman
We’re not surprised that Destiny is successful. She is intelligent, talented, and when she sets her mind on something…well…don’t stand in her way. She’s able to use those skills very well as a reporter, getting right to the most important questions and details quickly in interviews. Her writing has been awarded at UIL competitions and her leadership with editorials this year has been essential to make sure the views of students are represented. We’ll miss “news daughter” Destiny, but at least we have the picture of you kissing a dead fish in Seattle.
Kaylee Farmer
The Kaylee Farmer that first appeared in our Journalism department was quieter and more scared to share her thoughts and feelings with the group. The Kaylee Farmer leaving us now is brave and ready to take on the challenges of the world around her.
Kristina Dargan
As a founding Talon, Kristina has been one of the students that’s spent the most time making our student information service into an amazing source for news. She can work quickly and accurate or train her superb writing skills to show details unnoticed by most. She’s a bright, cheerful person that’s been a key force in making sure we’re always talking about what students are really talking about.
Ashley Nagel
As the current record holder for number of articles published on Talon, Ashley has shown she can write…a lot. But dig deeper and you’ll see she’s written both short and long stories with incredible focus and incredible depth, getting things done extremely quickly, with accuracy, and just in the nick of time. In Broadcast, she’s expanded her skills to work with audio and video, running graphics, doing commentary, filming and editing events, and producing her own content throughout the year. In short, Ashley can do it all…and probably has. It will be impossible to replace her work ethic, her constantly improving skill set or her drive to make everything awesome.