Humans of CP: Nicholas Coers

Creativity is a big word that many throw around in day to day life. Some decide to use their creativity, while others would rather focus on other things. For junior Nicholas Coers, creating isn’t as simple as drawing some pictures in a sketchbook or making paper cranes. Instead, Coers spends his time writing short stories and has even created his own alphabet.

While playing around with writing English letters, he had the idea to write only part of each symbol on his paper. Take an uppercase G for example. He would think of excluding the C within the symbol, leaving some seemingly arbitrary lines. Or, he would only include the dot of the ‘i’ without a line.

In Greek, there are numbers that all have their own symbols. Coers says that after getting accustomed to the alpha, beta and gamma system, he decided one thing:

“I’m gonna one up the Greeks,” Coers said.

He took this idea and began creating a system in which each symbol indicated a common sound in the English language. While in English each letter may make more than one sound (such as ‘i’), Coers created a new letter for each possible sound.

His alphabet includes 31 symbols that may make a different sound when changed slightly, such as adding a slash through the character.

Apart from making the alphabet, Coers is in the process of writing a series of short stories. The two main characters in his stories are named Kaylee and Glow. Though he says that other writers use a similar technique in their writing, Coers admits that his two main characters are the altering sides of himself.

“The way they clash is basically the conversations my head has with itself,” Coers said.

And the two main characters are not the only part of him that comes out onto his pages. He realized that just as there are many parts to him, there would have to be more than just two characters.

“I realize that Kaylee and Glow aren’t the only two characters that represent me,” Coers said. “Just about every character in the town I can relate with on some level.”

Something he does that may separate him from other writers is his ability to do what he calls a shapeshifting property.

“I can switch perspectives to just about everyone on the dime,” Coers said. “It is a liquid perspective.”

Making each character isn’t such a simple task. Coers makes him feel what each character would be feeling in order to create a genuine storyline.

“It’s like I’m acting,” Coers said. “I form myself into the character that was written for me, in order to write that character.”

So he writes, he creates a secret code, but there is still that common question in every teenager- what makes you different? Coers says that he has been pondering this thought for years now, and has come up with a few theories.

Though many things set Coers apart from the crowd, he says that for one, he looks at fewer things but with great care.

“I know more about less things,” Coers said. “There may be a difference there.”

Another theory is his self awareness his personal philosophy.

“Just a normal day at school, most don’t think about their values as much,” Coers said. “It’s hard to have a philosophy when you are not being asked to.”

Possibly uncommon in a typical high schooler, Coers also often thinks about what is wrong with the world. He says it quite simply.

“Mankind could do a better job at existing,” Coers said.

Coers wonders why humans have so much to worry about all the time, while in nature, all is fine and good. But Coers wishes to do more than simply think about what is wrong.

“Since the world is full of bad news, you’ve got to go make some good news,” Coers said.

This is exactly what he planned to do. Months ago, Coers attended a private school, however he realized after sophomore year that he had something to offer Cedar Park.

“People at my old school said that I was good at making people happy,” Coers said. “I thought, well what am I doing here where everyone is just fine. So I came to Cedar Park.”                                                      

He claims to live a generally worry-free life, so Coers decides to shift his focus. Over everything, he believes that putting love into the world is most important. He strives to help others and lift up his peers.

“The modern world is based on money and popularity, so everyone just ignores the concept of love,” Coers said. “It is everyone’s responsibility to spread as much love as possible.”