![Walking through the tunnel created by the cheerleaders and Celebrities, senior Frances Tran smiles as the soccer team is sent off during DEN for their playoff game against Rouse tonight. Tran said the wins against Smithson Valley and Alamo Heights gave the team a morale boost to take on the Raiders tonight. “I know we were not 100% confident in those games,” Tran said. “But, Rouse is a big opponent for sure. We’re definitely going into tonight with a lot of morale [because of the previous wins].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/frances-tran.jpg)
![Holding a bucket of materials in one hand and a roll of tape in another, anatomy and biology teacher Tyler Terry prepares for a lab. Terry said his proudest moments are when his students are happy to see him. “When I take my wife to a football game or something and a bunch of students want to say hi to me or they like to smile and wave and it just makes me feel good that the students are really kind and supportive of me,” Terry said. “[I’m also] proud when I see students perform really well in their extracurriculars because I can see how hard they’re working in my classes, [so] when I see that they’re also working so hard in other things. Like they’re winning band competitions or they’re getting awards for their theater productions, or I see them put on their choir shows, that’s like, wow, you guys are incredible.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rags-6.png)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901.jpg)
DECA to Internationals
Business Group Heads to Florida for ICDC
Photo Courtesy of Adri Karmakar
Seniors Justin Nita. Grant Lee and Adri Karmakar advance to the International level in DECA. On April 28, these seniors, along with others from DECA, are to compete in Orlando, FL. “Making ICDC was definitely an awesome reward for all the hard work we put in,” Lee said. “And I’m extremely grateful to be able to not only represent CPHS DECA at Internationals, but also to go to Disney World.”
April 26, 2019
The DECA team is going to Orlando, FL – not for winning the Super Bowl, but for qualifying for a bid at the International Career Development Conference (ICDC). The business group leaving for Orlando on Friday consists of DECA adviser Kimberly Stapleton, senior club co-presidents Justin Nita and Adri Karmakar, senior Grant Lee and junior Siddhartha Madala. They are competing on Sunday at the competition.
Over 19,000 high school students, teacher advisers, business professionals and alumni are to attend the competition. The members invited have qualified to attend based on superior performance at the district and state level.
“Making Internationals was probably one of the happiest moments of my life,” Karmakar said. “Ever since joining DECA, my goal was to compete in ICDC because of its exposure and prestige.”
Throughout the event, the objective of DECA members is to demonstrate their college and career ready knowledge and skills by participating in DECA’s industry-validated Competitive Events Program. With a panel of over 1,000 judges, the competition level rises considerably.
“In the past, we competed in role-playing events which required minimal preparation, but after poor results, we decided to compete in the Buying and Merchandising Operations Research Event,” Nita said. “We wrote a 20-page report of Sprout’s business practices and we are more prepared than ever for anything that the judges can throw at us.” if we were to take home the grand prize, it would be a huge accomplishment not just for my group mates and me, but also for CPHS DECA as a whole, as it would be a giant step forward for the program. — Grant Lee (12)
Stapleton said that she feels strongly about their buying and merchandising event, and believes they have a good chance of making finals. After a top-five finish last year with graduates Greg Phea, Rithvik Saravanan and Shiva Kumar, Stapleton said that this year’s group has a lot of potential in repeating DECA’s success from last year.
“There are some good dynamics there,” Stapleton said. “A lot of good energy behind it, and I think that’s one of the key things that sets you apart from other people because at this level, everybody has a great project.”
All business aside, a perk of qualifying for ICDC is being able to go to Disney World and Universal Studios. On Monday night, there is a DECA Day at Universal Studios, where the park closes to the public and it’s open to only DECA members from 7-11 p.m.
“I’m happy I was able to advance to Internationals and help represent CPHS,” Madala said. “Being able to compete at such a high level is definitely a great privilege and the experience is made exciting with the trip to Universal and Disney.”
For the seniors, this is their last shot to place in the top-five at ICDC. Lee said that doing well at ICDC to cap off his senior year would be the cherry on top.
“There is no better feeling than winning,” Lee said. “So, if we were to take home the grand prize, it would be a huge accomplishment not just for my groupmates and me, but also for CPHS DECA as a whole, as it would be a giant step forward for the program.”
![Holding her dog, Nova, senior Ariana Balakrishnan poses for her senior pictures while Nova wears a bandana with her college decision. Balakrishnan applied to 18 colleges in total, but she decided on Columbia in the end. “Right before I clicked the button to open Columbia’s letter, I literally looked at the camera and go ‘This is just gonna really suck because I wanted it so bad,’ and I clicked it and all of a sudden you hear trumpets,” Balakrishnan said. “There’s a video that plays when you open it and I actually didn’t watch the video, I just watched the screen go black, because every day of December before ED [Early Decision] I would go on YouTube and watch the acceptance video to manifest it, so immediately when the screen went black, I started screaming and jumping up and down. And my parents in the video are like ‘What are you doing, where’s the letter,’ and I was just screaming ‘I got in, I got in.” I just started crying, and it just felt like everything in the world came together.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ariana-2-300x217.jpg)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901-600x400.jpg)
