![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)
A loud blare echoes in the headsets of many, indicating that the circle has once again reduced in size. As player after player runs from the damage-inflicting storm, fights break out amongst those who spot each other. Weapons that have not been available in over two years are seen throughout the map and places that are reminiscent of a past era bring about a sense of nostalgia. Inside of a one-by-one hut built solely for the purpose of reviving teammates and taking a chug jug, players begin to feel as though they are reliving the time that Fortnite struck the world for the first time.
Fortnite, considered the world’s most popular video game in 2021, re-released their original map on Nov. 3, 2023. After this update, the Epic Games franchise began to see a significant increase in the number of players, sales and demand. After many speculations and player requests for Fortnite OG—a term used to refer to the original Fortnite version from when the game first swept the globe—to come back, Epic Games announced the return of the classic weapons and widely-known locations.
“I was very happy to hear the OG season was coming back,” junior Gulin Gurbuz said. “It’s very nostalgic for me and I am sad [the old map] is gone now. Fortnite has definitely made me more friends because it lets me talk to a lot of different people, and it [also] helps strengthen [our] connections.”
Senior Charles Frease similarly said that he was excited for the new season’s release and that he has begun to play much more with friends than in the past. One of the reasons people play online games is to build further connections with others, and Fortnite succeeds in doing just that.
“I play Fortnite around one to two times per day with friends,” Frease said. “I played the game on the first day the map came back and it was so fun seeing all the nostalgic memories of the old places on the map.”
However, many players believe that although the OG map and weapons returned, the game did not have the same atmosphere that it used to. As the generation that was brought up on Fortnite grew, it became difficult to recreate the same vibes that were once present, considering the past target audience aren’t as young anymore.
“I was very happy to hear about OG Fortnite coming back because I had missed how Fortnite used to be and I was hoping that the gameplay would feel that same as it used to,” sophomore Cole Elliott said. “I think the game has already started to die down because of how fast updates are coming. Everybody liked when the game was in its prime, [and] not after the updates kept being added.”
As Fortnite continues to bring in a larger audience, the corporation of Epic Games has utilized Fortnite’s “item shop,” in which players are able to customize their characters with unique skins, backblings, pickaxes, and more.
“I have bought a few skins since the rerelease happened,” Frease said. “I’ve probably spent about 40 bucks on the game within the past month, and it’s really easy to spend money without realizing the total amount [I’m spending]. When you’re playing games with friends, it’s really easy for them to persuade you into buying things, and this is what happened to me with Fortnite.”
Due to the large demand and popularity that the original map garnered, Fortnite has announced that there will once again be another return of the OG Fortnite in 2024.
“I have definitely heard people talking about Fortnite and I think a lot of people started playing again,” Gurbuz said. “While I don’t think I’ll play the game for much longer, I’m excited to know that OG Fortnite will return again, and that I can experience the same game as I grow older.”
