![After placing second in their respective LDEs at the Capital District contest in early November, freshman Jesus Jaramillo-Gallegos and freshman Wyatt Pickett will compete at the Area XII LDE contest in Georgetown on Nov. 23. Jaramillo-Gallegos is competing in Greenhand Spanish Creed Speaking, while Pickett’s LDE is Greenhand Creed Speaking. “Honestly, [I’m excited for] just traveling around, maybe meeting more people,” Jaramillo-Gallegos said. “And [I’m] nervous about probably just not being able to define my weak areas. I feel like I did decent for my first time ever doing this. I just think it’s fun.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Navy-and-Yellow-Simple-Group-Project-Presentation-1200x675.png)
![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)
![Sitting at a desk past the rows of books laid out for the Book Fair, senior Kimberley Walters assists people in purchasing books and finding titles. The Book Fair is taking place Dec. 16 through Dec. 20, and is an annual event during which students and faculty have the opportunity to go and purchase books and other trinkets in the library. Kimberley said she encourages all to go to the Book Fair, even if they think they don’t like to read. “If you make reading something that is fun for you and you find the things that you like to read, it will never be a chore,” Walters said. “So [the Book Fair is] a good opportunity to find something that will respark your want to read [like] when you were a child and you went to the book fair and you loved the ‘I survived’ books. Maybe you'll find your ‘I survived’ books of your high school experience, and it'll re-spark that kind of love for reading that may have died out.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Addie-L-47-1200x800.jpg)
![Smiling at the camera, sophomore Olivia Mahlmeister and seniors Samantha Jameson, Adhit Eswaramoorthi and Justin Khadavi celebrate completing first chamber in the Congress Meet. All four students advanced to the final chamber. “Out of the 20 kids in the final chamber, we had a seventh, ninth, 11th and 13th, and they took the top four to move on to state,” AP US History and Debate teacher Josh Marsh said. “[Even though] we didn't make state this year, all four of them moving on [and] placing is phenomenal.” Photo courtesy of Josh Marsh](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-Regional-Congress-Team.jpg)
![Standing in front of a small audience, senior Kimberley Walters shares a social criticism poem titled “Pity the Nation” by Lawrence Felinghetti. Every month, sponsored by the poetry club, the library hosts a poetry reading. “I never thought I would be interested in [poetry readings] because I’m not the biggest poetry fan,” Walters said. “I think poetry is a very succinct way to express feelings and get a story across. Whereas lots of books have a span of a whole story, but it’s put in a lot of words. The power of poetry is that you can be so succinct within, and there’s a lot of power within the words that are used.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KIM-1200x800.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)
![Holding the Grand Nationals trophies, drum majors Helashi Wijayawardhana, Abigail Pettey and Eddy Kim pose for a photo. The BOA Grand Nationals competition took place in Indianapolis on Nov. 14-17. “My favorite thing was just looking back at the field, and I was like, ‘Oh, crap. I know all of their names, I know who all of them are’,” Wijayawardahana said. “It's just insane to me that I was able to make so many connections. [Being a drum major] taught me how to build relationships with people who I’m not really that similar to, and how to juggle a ton of things all together.”
Photo courtesy of CPHS Band SmugMug](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/AJC.GrandNatsFinals-169-1200x801.jpg)
![Delicately placing the string to form the shape of a cornucopia, seniors Haley Burton and Avery Nelson create the November arrangement for the Flower of the Month Club. This club is led by Advanced Floral Design Students and provides a monthly arrangement to community members who subscribe to receive them. “I think flower of the month club is a really impactful way to show your loved ones ‘hey I really care about you,’ or even if they’re just for yourself, they’re a little pick-me-up throughout the month that [say] ‘I’m doing ok, and these flowers make my day a little bit brighter,” Nelson said. “I like giving people flowers because people value the flowers more and they value themselves more.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Ava-Holmes-3-edit.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)
![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)
![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)
It’s the most wonderful time of the year – again. My second personal favorite time of the year. Christmas is about the season of giving, and there is nothing more I would love to give you than my opinions on movies that you didn’t ask for. You can find a COUPLE of good Christmas movies, but if you go to the bargain bin section of a Target you will find 80 horrible Hallmark movies that all feature the same guy. So, my gift to the CPHS community is a list of the six best Christmas movies I’ve seen, and the six worst. Once again, these aren’t in any particular order, but some are for sure better than others. Let the Christmas countdown commence, starting with the best movies.
“Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” by Chris Columbus
Length: 120 minutes
How to watch: Amazon
“How is he lost, the streets are NUMBERED.”
This is my favorite movie in the “Home Alone” franchise, and it holds a special place in my heart. If you liked the first one, just know that this time he gets more people. The Wet Bandits are back with a plot to rob the city of all the toys, so obviously it is up to Macaulay Culkin to save the day, not the 2,000 police officers in the city. Go ahead and turn your brain off, and just enjoy that jolly Christmas spirit.
“Black Mirror: White Christmas” by Carl Tibbetts
Length: 74 minutes
How to watch: Netflix
“I tried watching this, but this guy came down my street riding a horse shirtless.”
“Black Mirror” is one of my favorite anthology series of all time, I love half of it and hate the other. “Black Mirror: White Christmas” is a rollercoaster in emotion and a great sci-fi horror. Jon Hamm gives an amazing performance as just the most unlikable person and I hated him the whole time. While it isn’t the traditional Christmas movie, you should definitely give with a watch.
“The Muppet Chrismas Carol” by Brian Henson
Length: 89 minutes
How to watch: Amazon, Hulu
“Tim sure does look tiny here, Waka Wakaaa.”
It’s the Muppets doing a rendition of A Christmas Carol. There is no more that needs to be said. Five stars.
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Ron Howard
Length: 104 minutes
How to watch: Amazon
“I can’t believe this is the same guy who did ‘The Truman Show’…”
This is a Christmas Classic, an absolute banger, a jolly good time, in fact. Now, I am a huge Jim Carey fan, so take this with a grain of salt when I say that he is the best actor to ever be in a Christmas movie, ever. Everybody knows the story of the Grinch, and everybody has seen it once. But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see it again. You should. You will.
“Elf” by Jon Favreau
Length: 97 minutes
How to watch: Amazon, Hulu
“You gotta be sparklejollytwinklejingley to truly understand this movie.”
“Elf,” in my opinion, is the best traditional Christmas movie. This movie is too jolly for its own good, maybe too cheerful with its happy Christmas spirit, and this is a good thing. It is my personal favorite Will Ferrel movie of all time and really deserves to be put in the Christmas Movie Hall of Fame, and maybe a statue too.
“A VHS Christmas Carol” by Corey Lubowich
Length: 42 minutes
How to watch: Youtube
“Guys, what if Scrooge was from the 80s and knew about Nintendo…”
This isn’t a standard movie, and it’s a full production of a musical. Now, even if you don’t LIKE musicals, you will still love AVHSCC. It has some of the funniest dialogue and a fantastic soundtrack to back it up. I’ve watched this every year since 2020, and I fully believe that you should too. In my last article, I didn’t get the opportunity to plug Starkid, so now I absolutely will take the chance.
Now that we got through all of that jolly holiday cheer, we can finally take a look at these horrible Hallmark movies, all of which you should watch because they are just that good – and bad.
“Deck the Heart” by Candice T. Cain
Length: 109 minutes
How to watch: Youtube, Amazon
“I wanna know what the game room looked like…”
“Deck the Heart” is the pinnacle of nearly unwatchable Christmas movies. This movie features the king of bad Christmas movies, Joe Kurak. Kurak is like if C3PO wished to be a real boy. Every single physical movement this man makes has me bursting out laughing. I’m convinced that he just learned to walk. The movie follows a man named Chris who inherits a mansion and is now supposed to host a party of 10 for his family. Naturally, since he is a busy businessman, he has no holiday cheer or spirit, so he hires a party planner and gives her a budget of $12,000. The rest is pretty formulaic, man falls for woman, woman teaches man the meaning of Christmas, smooch smooch and they stay together forever. The only thing I learned from this movie is that I need Joe Kurak to be in more movies.
“Christmas at the Holly Hotel” by Joel Paul Resig
Length: 85 minutes
How to watch: Youtube, Amazon
“So yeah, I’m out here in the cold, out of my jurisdiction, abusing my police powers. But that’s not crazy!”
Guys, my Christmas wish came early, Joe Kurak is in this movie and he plays a police officer. This movie is so cheesy, over the top, and one of the worst movies I have ever seen. This is the generic Hallmark-style Christmas movie, but now with a police officer. I can’t give much away without spoiling everything, so just trust me and give it a watch.
“No Sleep ‘Til Christmas” by Phil Traill
Length: 85 minutes
How to watch: Youtube, Amazon
“This is a middle-aged white womans ‘Scott Pilgrim V.S. The World’ and I stand by this.”
This movie made me feel like I was inside a fever dream, and I hated it and loved it so much. Nobody in this movie acts like a regular person, and everybody is insanely evil for their actions. The whole plot of the movie is that a girl with insomnia can’t sleep until she reconnects with an old friend. She is getting married and has to juggle being able to sleep in the same room as her friend, and not upset her fiance. This movie fills me with rage and I hate how stupid it is. I watch this movie every year and I love it. I am the duality of man.
“Summertime Christmas” by Andrew von Ehrenkrook
Length: 110 minutes
How to watch: Amazon
“Quick, catch that moving train at four miles per hour!”
“Summertime Christmas” takes place in the faraway land of ‘Small-Town USA’, as two elves are tasked with a special assignment from Santa Claus… to dig this down out of an economic depression and spread Christmas cheer while doing so. In this world, parents are BANNED from disciplining their children, making all kids permanently on the naughty list. This movie is for sure the most boring on the list but still has some great horrible moments.
“Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa” by Colin Slater
Length: 42 minutes
How to watch: Youtube
“Great grandma, you ALWAYS know what to say!”
You have seen this movie before. You have at least seen the ending, which means you should now see the whole thing. This movie is one of the ugliest looking things I have ever seen, and it looks like it was animated on an Atari 2600. Watch this as soon as possible if you want to laugh.
“Christmas Mail” by John Murlowsky
Length: 89 minutes
How to watch: Peacock
“I was sold on this movie when in the first five minutes, an extra couldn’t get back into the house so they just stood in the corner while staring directly into the camera.”
This is my favorite Christmas movie, and it’s horrible. It is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, and it is just a horrible mess to look at. This movie is filled with plot holes, horrible acting, terrible editing and some of the worst writing to ever be featured in a movie. It follows a single-parent postal serviceman who finds out the girl of his dreams… also works at the post office. His boss is angry that there is more mail coming through, so he orders that every letter to Santa must be thrown away. This makes no sense for the main reason that more mail would be beneficial to the post office, but I digress. Please give this a watch, you won’t regret it.
