![High-fiving a band member in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Head Director of Bands Christopher Yee celebrates the band’s fifth UIL state win with his students. The band faced several challenges this marching season due to the difficult show routine, but was able to come in first at the state contest. “Every year is different,” Yee said. “The show is different, the kids are different, the challenges are different and the competition is different. This [year] feels a little more special. Theyre all special, but this one is particularly special because it was so hard fought. Weve mentioned several times to the kids that they seem like theyre one of the happiest bands weve ever taught. Theyre just happy kids. This years student leadership team [also] stepped up more than normal. I think that theyre very talented. Because it was a hard show, they have a lot of skills and a lot of determination and grit.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/unnamed.jpg)
![Dressed as a cow, PALs member and junior Lynnea Bergman smiles at her friends with a face covered in whipped cream. The annual trunk or treat took place on Oct. 26 during which the PALs pie in the face activity was very popular, according to Bergman. “We were doing a pie in the face and cakewalk to get the kids to have fun,” Bergman said. “Some of the kids in the PALs [program were at the trunk or treat] and they got to pie us in the face. [My favorite memory] so far is probably getting pied in the face by a four year old. He went so hard and it was very funny.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Trunk-or-Treat-Photo-Lilly-182-1200x800.png)
![Posing next to her 2015 Hyundai Sonata, junior and Celebrities Dance Team Second Lieutenant Sophie Poulsen holds up her license. Poulsen’s car was stolen on Aug. 28 from the school parking lot, and was missing for a day before police recovered it. “I was shocked,” Poulsen said. “I never expected, especially in Cedar Park, for my car to get stolen. I still don’t know who [stole my car], but I wish I knew. I don’t think the cops are going to figure it out, because there’s no point. It already happened. We’re probably never going to know. I feel like it was a student, but who knows? [Nevertheless], Cedar Park is not that [kind of place].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/View-recent-pho11tos.jpg)
![Taking a selfie with some of their castmates, including senior Aidan Cox, who plays Buddy the Elf, junior Brooke Ferguson shows off a sign presenting the arrival of “Elf. This year’s musical, “Elf” runs Dec. 1-3 in the CPHS PAC. “[Learning a new script is] always kind of a challenge,” Ferguson said. “You get a new cast and you get your own part. I’ve never worked closely with these people before. It’s a different environment and doing character work with someone new, trying to partner work and scene work is interesting. The script is good and it has a lot of jokes, it’ll be a lot of laughs.” Photo by Brooke Ferguson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_2048-e1701374239425-1200x900.jpg)
![Dressed as “H-E-B Buddy,” senior Logan Hedges entertains shoppers during a shift at H-E-B. Hedges has fun on the job, as there’s significantly less pressure than other jobs he has had. “I [used to umpire] little league baseball, and it’s definitely less stressful,” Hedges said. “There’s not much [that can go wrong] scanning groceries. Making a bad call in baseball is so easy.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/BF3C2083-817E-4847-B673-1FEF973AB972.jpeg)
![One student talks about how attractive they imagine the main protagonist is, another describes the negative effects mental health can have on a student, and a third just blatantly states that she hates the ending of her book. The club Page Turners, led by President senior Ellie Knaggs, meets every Tuesday in the library and is a place for students to come and talk about books. “It’s just a place to come and bring so many ideas and opinions into play,” Knaggs said. “We have had some really great discussions in the past, sometimes it’s just talking about like ‘Oh yes, I love that trope’ or ‘this fictional couple is so cute.’ Sometimes the [author] talked about this really heavy topic like abuse or hunger or war and I think it’s something we should talk about and so we will.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Copy-of-Copy-of-STRESS.png)
![Standing in the golden hour’s orange light, Irish music artist Hozier performs at Austin City Limits’ biggest venue. The annual music festival provides opportunities for attendees to both enjoy familiar artists and discover new ones. “I didn’t know Thirty Seconds to Mars [before I went to ACL], but I really love them now because the lead singer put on a great show,” sophomore Mykaela Tapia said. “He was inviting people up to the stage and at one point there were almost sixty people on stage. Matthew McConaughey was there too. [The lead singer] started off the show on a platform right below the roof and he jumped off that platform and I thought that was so cool. The concert was really hype. Even though I wasn’t familiar with the music, I still liked the performance.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_6042-1200x675.jpeg)
![Delbridge smiles with hands wide after a performance at Kelly Reeves Stadium for the Bands of America Austin Finals. “I can’t imagine my life without band,” Delbrdige said. “In 2020 it was the only thing that kept me going—playing my instrument and going into rehearsals. I really don’t want to lose that part of life. It’s kind of sad to leave [that passion] here, but I’d like to find it somewhere else even after I graduate high school.”
Photo courtesy of Lauren Delbridge](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image_50379265-1200x900.jpg)
![Backstage, junior Erica Mihealsick and Cara Allen are setting up for The One Act Play That Goes Wrong. Originally, I wanted to be an actor, but then I didnt want to because Id have to catch up [in skills] to the other kids. So I decided to join tech, and Ive never looked back.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/P1010905-1200x675.jpg)
![FFA member and junior Max Adams will show his pigs and heifer at the Cedar Park Barn Show on Nov. 12. “When you think you have a good animal, and then you’re surrounded by a bunch of other [showmen with their animals], it will humble you really quick,” Adams said. “If I keep working and I do good [at shows], it makes me feel good about myself. I just like the competitiveness. Its fun taking care of [them]. Putting in a bunch of work and then not doing good upsets me a lot. It makes me want to do better.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_9790-1200x800.png)
![Taking a shot at the basketball hoop, senior point guard Drew O’Connor participates in a drill with Nabil Ismail during practice Oct. 30. O’Connor said he is excited to be a leader for his team this year. “It feels good to be a leader,” O’Connor said. “I think it’s fun because I just like helping others on the team with stuff. [Also], with it being my senior year, [I can] play with less pressure since it’s my last year, and playing with a lot of my friends is fun too.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/drew-oconnor.jpg)
![One of the few stick vehicles in the school parking lot, senior Alex Trebilco’s 1970 Ford Maverick is a restoration project he worked on with his dad. He and his father have worked on cars together for all of Trebilco’s life, and have several finished projects because of it. “[My favorite memory with my car is] honestly just cruising with my dad in his truck and my car,” Trebilco said. “Both of the [cars] are restored. He did the truck and we did the Maverick, so it’s cool to roll down in two cars that we made run together.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Ford-Maverick.png)
Two minutes remain in the fourth and final quarter and the team is down by six points. In the high intensity game Coach calls a timeout in hopes of changing the momentum of the game. She calls all her players in a huddle and gives one of her inspiring motivational speeches to boost the team’s morale. Fast forward, there are now thirty seconds on the clock and the score is tied. The team finally gets the ball and is heading for the hoop. Coach stands up from her seat, watching as her player shoots the ball in the hoop. The clock buzzes as the ball falls through the netting of the basket and all of the players celebrate, running to their coach in triumph.
After many years as the varsity assistant coach for the 2021 and 2022 5A State Champion girls basketball program, Coach Kami Williamson, known as Coach K, has been promoted and is now the varsity girls basketball coach and head of the girls basketball program. According to Coach K, the change in position happened over the summer. Now she is beginning to work with her players in the off-season and continuing to build the program.
“I have played basketball all my life,” Coach K said. “My mom was a coach so I grew up as a coach’s kid [and] was in the gym all the time. I played all throughout high school and was an all-state basketball player. I went to West Texas A&M University and Angelo State University on a full ride, where I played one year at West Texas A&M and finished out my career at Angelo State, [where I] became a graduate assistant coach.”
Coach K coached as a graduate assistant for two years after college before becoming a head coach at two small schools in West Texas for 12 years. After working in West Texas, she moved to Cedar Park, where she became the varsity assistant coach for seven years at the high school and is now the head coach of the team.
“When the opportunity came to be the head coach I jumped at it,” Coach K said. “We are making some slight changes this year. The good thing about when I came here was Coach Ott, [the previous head girls basketball coach, worked here], and [we] kind of built a lot of the program together, so I had a heavy influence already. One of the things I feel like we’re really focusing on [this year] is more [of] the mental game.”
According to Coach K, she hopes to lead the team in a new direction and will now implement strength days which focus on both physical and mental strength. Coach K plans to continue the traditions of the past teams and coaches, like the players running the mile, bootcamp and players having to earn their practice gear. However, she is going to add her own changes to the team, which will help the players build their mental toughness. Another important thing about her is the story of how she got her nickname, which is known throughout the program.
“When I first started coaching and teaching, I coached back in my hometown, [where] my mom was a coach,” Coach K said. “There, her name was Coach Williamson but Will for short, so I couldn’t be Coach Will. My brother had [also] come [to coach at the same school] and was the defensive coordinator [for the football team]. I didn’t want to go by Williamson because it was too long, so the girls [I coached] decided they were going to call me Coach K and my brother Coach J. When I came to Cedar Park I asked them what they wanted to call me and they said Coach K, so that’s how I became Coach K.”
Coach K worked closely with the state championship teams of 2021 and 2022 when she worked as a varsity assistant. Her experience as a head coach in the past has helped her make the transition from assistant coach to head coach, she said. She has spent much time working with the team for many years before becoming head coach.
“Obviously we want to go out [into the season] and do well and have success and win,” Coach K said. “But ultimately [we’re] trying to make [the girls] the best versions of themselves as players and as people so that whenever they are done [playing] and hang up their shoes they are productive members out in society. I want this to be a fun program where [the players] can come in and feel special and look back on [their time here] fondly. I feel like one of my biggest roles is to be a mentor and a person they can look up to, someone who will be there for them long after they’re gone from the program.”
