def extract_data(filepath, extract_header=True):
    """ Extracts the contents of a text file into a Python list.

    A helper method for reading the contents of a text file into a list.

    Args:
        filepath(str, required): The path and name of the file to extract the 
            content from.
        extract_header(boolean, optional): Determine whether or not to dump the
            header (first line) of the content before it is returned. Default is
            True.
    Return:
        The file content as a Python list. 

    """
    with open(filepath, 'r') as f:
        content = f.readlines()
    
    # Strip the header if necessary
    if extract_header:
        content = content[1:]
    return content