![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)
![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)
Can you imagine the whole school knowing code? Computer science teacher Cheri Whalen can. On Wed. Dec. 11 Whalen hosted an “Hour of Code” along with thousands of other schools across the U.S. as part of Computer Science Education Week.
Over 130 CPHS students attended the “Hour of Code” throughout first, second and third period. During the hour, they were taught how to program an electronic holiday card with help from the students in Whalen’s Computer Science II class.
Plenty of tech-savvy students attended, including aspiring video game designer sophomore Collin Niemietz.
“It seemed like a fun way to learn more programming,” Niemietz said.
However, not all attendees had overwhelming experience with computers. Junior Jon David went with his architecture class with no experience and now wants to take a computer science class.
“The tutorial was really easy to use and it’s really fun to program,” David said.
For junior David Bonsall, who helped all the attendees along with the rest of the computer science class, the “Hour of Code” was about bettering the student body.
“I think it will help people out by helping them better understand how computers work,” Bonsall said. “It shows them that software isn’t really just a bunch of random numbers and letters just floating around in the computer.”
Bonsall, who hopes to become an engineer, also pointed out how crucial it is for students to learn about technology.
“With so much technology around, it makes sense that we should at least have an idea of how stuff works,” Bonsall said.
This, Whalen says, was her goal when she decided to conduct an “Hour of Code”
“I think the future of all students will be greatly impacted by technology,” Whalen said. “Every person in my students’ generation should know a minimal amount about computers and what makes a computer work.”
Now that Computer Science Education Week is over, Whalen is focused on expanding next year’s “Hour of Code”
“My goal would be for every student to have some experience with computer science before they graduate,” Whalen said.
