![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)
There are many projects and services that can be done to benefit children’s hospitals such as toy drives and fund-raisers; many of these projects have even been done at Cedar Park High School. However, it is not often when a student spends three years creating a robotics project from scratch simply to bring a smile to the face of a child less fortunate.
Alex Huynh, junior, came up with the idea for BuddyBot as a freshman. He combined his talents as well as life experiences to create a project that was both meaningful and interesting.
“It didn’t happen all at once. It took a long time,” Huynh said, “I’ve been interested in robotics for awhile and my little brother Sean has autism, [so] I’m familiar with disabled children and how they feel.”
Huynh’s BuddyBot performance is entitled “Dancing With the Bots,” and is modeled after the hit ABC show “Dancing With the Stars.” During the show, Huynh “interviews” each of the robots and afterward each robot performs a dance. The audience gets to interact by giving feedback and voting on which dance wins.
“When [the kids] vote they get really enthusiastic,” Huynh said. “It’s awesome.”
However, such an extensive project eventually required just more than one participant, so Huynh recruited a few friends to help him perform the shows.
“It was pretty early on [when I realized] that I needed a team,” Huynh said. “In order to make [the show] more smooth, I would need another person to operate the remote, and other people afterward to interact with the kids.”
Huynh’s teammates include Kristin Nelson, junior, Aaron Villalpando and Evan Sala, seniors. They rotate jobs so that every member has the opportunity to participate in each part of the show. Starting in the fall of 2010, the whole crew met at Huynh’s house every Sunday to do practice runs. In January 2011, BuddyBot made its debut.
“We’ve done two shows so far,” Huynh said. “We do them at Dell Children’s Hospital [approximately] every other weekend.”
Currently BuddyBot raises funds for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital as well as the Ronald McDonald House. The group also performed February 6 for Wonders and Worries, which is a program for the children of adults with disabilities or illnesses. As far as donation and volunteering options, there are many for interested students.
“I’m looking for teammates for next year because Evan and Aaron are graduating,” Huynh said. “Also we’ve been trying to find venues for donation, but we’ve run into some issues. People [are welcome] to donate or suggest where a show could take place.”
Huynh along with his team are an excellent example of how innovation and inspiration despite a student’s age can go a long way to making a difference. Information about event dates as well as photos and videos can be reached at www.buddybot.org.
