![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)
A Timberwolf Fall Semester in Review
Highlights, Sports, Organizations, Construction
The Cedar Park student section gets hype as they cheer on their team in the first football game of the semester. The fall semester was very successful in many areas of the school. “We seem to take things that our kids are accomplishing for granted because they seem to be happening regularly here,” Principal John Sloan said.
December 20, 2019
With new hallways, classrooms, locker rooms and trophies, this semester brought many changes and numerous achievements. With just some of the achievements being highlighted, Cedar Park topped many as they carried out different seasons.
Principal John Sloan commented on the many construction advances made to the school over the summer. New athletic locker rooms were added, as well as a brand new front entrance that ensures the safety of those coming in and out of the school. After beginning in the spring, the science building added some new classrooms for more learning space. Although, the front office may be the most drastic change of them all.
“We went from having the office being in portables[in the front of the building as construction started] to transitioning to a new front entrance and a safer entryway,” Sloan said.
The cheer team had a successful first half of their cheer season as they supported football on Fridays, participated at multiple different community service opportunities including Race For The Cure in Austin. They also visited and won the regional cheer competition in November. They competed against both 5A and 6A teams. In regards to next semester, they will continue to prepare for their UIL competition in the spring where they will compete for their third state title. Captain Grayson Moore stated what made them successful this semester.
“Just a lot of practicing every single day [made us more successful],” Moore said. “Working as a team and just respecting each other as a team.”
For the first time in team history, the varsity tennis team won the district title. After district, tennis advanced through two rounds of the playoffs before losing to Georgetown in the third round. Next semester, tennis will be competing in individual tennis, meaning singles, doubles, or mixed doubles. In the spring semester, these singles matches will represent the school, rather than earn points as a whole team for the school. Senior Kaley Johnson reflected on how well the team stepped up and competed with each other and supported each other, as well.
“We accomplished a lot,” Johnson said. “Most importantly, I’m proud of what we accomplished for Coach Ballinger. He’s been the CPHS tennis coach for a little over a decade and I’m very happy to have been on a team this year to make him proud.”
Boys and girls varsity cross country swept the district title and regional title. Cross country traveled to state where the girls placed ninth and the boys placed seventh. Sophomore Alexa Yeager said that they hope for redemption at state next year after this year’s results.
“We started the summer off with a new coach and new training system,” Yeager said. “I think that as a team, we’ve adapted to the changes well and have created stronger bonds in the process.
The 2019 varsity volleyball season was complete with many advancements in multiple tournaments. This year, the volleyball team went 10-2 for their district schedule and advanced up to Bidistrict and Area. Senior Jaelyn Grimm discussed that the season was full of improvements, with each mistake resulting in a stronger team. After beating College Station in the Regional Semifinals, the team traveled to Houston, Texas where their
season came to a close on Nov. 15.
Spiking the ball against Pflugerville, volleyball continues to advance through the season-ending 10-2 in the district. “This season was full of positivity and [we had] a well rounded program,” Senior Jaelyn Grimm said. “Each player was selfless and hardworking. The difference was leadership and coaching. Having a new coach changed us for the better.”
“This season was full of positivity and [we had] a well rounded program,” Grimm said. “Each player was selfless and hardworking. The difference was the leadership and coaching. Having a new coach changed us for the better.”
From marching fundamentals to multiple rounds of competition, the marching band became the back-to-back-to-back state marching champions. After traveling to San Antonio, Texas, they participated in the preliminary round of the state championship on Nov. 4 and placed second out of 34 other bands. On Nov. 5, Cedar Park was announced as the reigning state marching champions with their show “Icarus: After the Fall.” Band also attended multiple school functions including football games every Friday night to support the football team and keep the crowd involved.
“This marching season was a very surreal ending to my high school marching career, and I couldn’t be happier with the result of our production that we played in the Alamodome for state finals,” senior Noah Hedges said.
Running out of the timberwolf tunnel, Cedar Park played their first playoff game against McCallum. Junior quarterback Ryder Hernandez said that this year bonds will last them a lifetime. “Building a lot of friendships with the seniors, a couple of the younger guys and guys in our class was special,” Hernandez said. “So, we’ll be connected throughout the rest of our lives.”
Football had a very successful season after receiving the district title on Nov. 8. After the regular season, the Timberwolves advanced through two rounds of playoffs against McCallum at Gupton and Friendswood at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. After a loss in the third round of playoffs against Manor, Cedar Park closed their 2019 season. Junior quarterback Ryder Hernandez said that he is most excited for the people returning next season and is thankful for the bonds built throughout the team.
“Building a lot of friendships with the seniors, a couple of the younger guys and guys in our class was special,” Hernandez said. “So, we’ll be connected throughout the rest of our lives.”
Cedar Park accomplished many things during the fall sports semester and through many organizations as well. The spring still has even more in store for the rest of the year.
“We seem to take things that our kids are accomplishing for granted because they seem to be happening regularly here,” Sloan said.
