![Holding up T-wolves, the tour group poses for a picture in the Chinese classroom. Sophomore Lydia Ou, junior Phu Trung and senior Yushan Pan gave a tour to Taiwanese diplomat Andrea Yang on Nov. 8. “I was so excited when I heard I would get to give the tour because it’s a big deal,” Ou said. “She’s from the US embassy for Taiwan, so she’s really important. I’m so privileged [to get this opportunity] and I’m so excited.” Photo by Skyler King](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Main-Taiwan.jpg)
![Students drew chalk art in honor of Veterans day. This is just one of many things the school does to show appreciation to veterans, and the art will remain in the courtyard as a reminder of all of the veterans who served their country. “On veteran’s day, I think it’s a great thing we do at school to honor people that served [who are] at our school or family members,” English teacher and cheer coach Nadira King said. “It makes me feel proud, and it makes me remember the [veterans].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Capture.png)
![Sucking in a breath of air, freshman Lily Pope competes in the 200 yard individual medley. On Oct. 25, the swim team competed in the AISD Swim Invitational. Overall, the girls team took second place and the boys team came in eleventh. “My favorite stroke is butterfly because I do the best in that stroke,” Pope said. “I feel like [butterfly] can test how [your ability] to convince yourself to keep going. The hardest part of swimming is convincing yourself to stay strong and keep pushing during a hard race [when] everything is tired.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/POPE-1200x804.jpg)
![Smiling at the camera, Author Ehigbor Okosun, members of Page Turners, and other students reflect on the author's visit. “I thought the visit was great,” Senior Amia De Leon said. “It was interesting talking to her and [getting to know] her process and her thoughts and books in general. But I think the reason it went well [was that] people got to ask questions. I'm glad that she said so much in response to the questions and it wasn't just one and done. [The author’s responses] felt very articulate.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sebastian-5-1200x800.jpg)
![Standing in front of the field at a freshman football game, cheerleader freshman Jacob Gaudreau along with teammate freshman Bella Gibson pose for a photo during halftime of game. “[Cheer has] definitely given me a much more outgoing personality,” Gaudreau said. “I used to be very introverted, so it's definitely made me more extroverted towards people.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Ingrid-204-1200x800.jpg)
![Holding a wooden pizza toy, senior Taylor Peterson plays with small children in Bucaramanga, Colombia. During the summer, Peterson traveled to Colombia to help build an elementary school that only had two classrooms but five or six grades with one teacher. “We add[ed] two more classrooms,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of hard when you have two or three grades in one classroom and you only have one teacher. It’s very hard to actually get some beneficial learning. [The extra classrooms will give the students] a better quality of education because they’ll actually have a place specific for their learning.” Photo by Taylor Peterson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Taylor-P.png)
![Swinging with his arm extended, senior Nolan Park hits the ball smoothly over the net and to the opponent’s side. Park is one of four varsity tennis captains and helped the team win district championships. “Winning district champs was a pretty awesome feeling,” Park said. “We had lost to Liberty Hill a couple of weeks before, but when we played them [again], we came out and really took care of business. We took them out and it was just a really awesome night.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Kassidy-419.jpg)
![Standing proud, varsity senior athletes Rafael Escobar, Griffin Jacobs, Jakob Martin, and juniors Jackson Springer and Jack Morris pose with their newly earned medals. The varsity team finished third out of 14 teams on Sept. 25. “The team's primary goal is to win the district championship,” head coach Cody Price said. "We're confident that with our action plan in place, we can accomplish this mission. [For the next tournament], our preparation involves assessing our strengths and weaknesses, celebrating milestones and creating individual development plans." Photo courtesy of Cody Price](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/golf.jpg)
![The cross country team poses for the camera after finishing the district meet. The varsity boys, JV boys and JV girls all placed third and the varsity girls placed fourth. “Coach put in the right training for us for this season, so I think we will be peaking this week and the next couple of weeks,” varsity runner and junior Nathan Kukla said. “The chances of making it to state are very high, but we don’t settle for the lowest and there is always going to be that chance, so [we] race for the best.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Heidi-831-1200x900.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.”
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.”
![Sucking in a breath of air, freshman Lily Pope competes in the 200 yard individual medley. On Oct. 25, the swim team competed in the AISD Swim Invitational. Overall, the girls team took second place and the boys team came in eleventh. “My favorite stroke is butterfly because I do the best in that stroke,” Pope said. “I feel like [butterfly] can test how [your ability] to convince yourself to keep going. The hardest part of swimming is convincing yourself to stay strong and keep pushing during a hard race [when] everything is tired.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/POPE-300x201.jpg)
