![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)
![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)
Celebrating The Graduates
Leander Mom Starts Community Group, Helps Coordinate Gifts To Seniors
Holding her basket of gifts, senior Sarah Rodriguez thanks her adoption family. “I got adopted through my church,” Rodriguez said. “I am so thankful for the kind woman who chose me and thought about how stressed we all are right now.”
May 27, 2020
The COVID-19 virus may have taken away spring sports, prom and traditional graduation plans, but it can’t take away their celebration, thanks to one mom, Lisa Hunt, who started the “Adopt a Senior” group on Facebook for LISD seniors.
The “Adopt a Senior” was created in central Texas during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Hunt said she wanted to be able to do something nice for the seniors who cannot graduate, and for her daughter, who would be the first out of her children to graduate high school.
“I started ‘Adopt a Senior’ because none of my children have graduated high school,” Hunt said. “Every year we prepare them to graduate, but then something comes up and they are unable to. My daughter was so ready to graduate, we got everything ready and I was so excited because one of them was finally going to make it, and then the pandemic happened and it was all ruined, and I was crushed.”
Originally the whole idea was just going to be within some of Hunt’s friend’s families, but then it spread to Facebook and it reached hundreds of people who are now celebrating seniors.
“In the beginning I just wanted to do something nice for my daughters’ friends because they were devastated,” Hunt said. “I know some people at several different high schools around Texas and so I sent gifts to some kids and their parents started doing the same with their friends. Eventually it just kind of boomed and spread everywhere.”
With the pandemic affecting so many families, parents from across town have begun to adopt seniors to spread a little love to them in these troubled times. In order to have a senior become adopted, a parent has to post a picture and small paragraph about their student and imply that they are available to be adopted. The members of the group will read each post and adopt whoever they wish, they will then get in contact with the parents of the senior and send the student baskets of goodies.
“It fills my heart with exploding joy to make others feel special,” Rachel Humphreys said. “The young lady I adopted started knocking on my door years ago as just a little lady selling Girl Scout cookies. She did this for years. As she grew older and has now grown into a young woman, we no longer got to see her on our doorstep selling us cookies. We now would see her pushing herself to be the best runner. I chose her because she is special and driven, point being she is beyond deserving and it is my pleasure to adopt such a lovely young lady.”
Other parents, such as Gina Johnson, have had special bonds with many students because she teaches in Leander ISD. Because she has known so many students, she wanted to make her bond stronger as she celebrated the seniors.
“I wanted to adopt because if you go through Leander ISD, you will always be our student,” Johnson said. “I chose my senior because I have always had a close bond with her and have been blessed to keep in touch with her family. I am so proud of her accomplishments and what an amazing lady she is. It is wonderful to see how many contributing members of society are coming together from Leander ISD, especially during a difficult time.”
The “Adopt a Senior” has reached many seniors across town, one senior, Sarah Rodriguez, was surprised to find out that she had been adopted, and grateful that someone would think about her during these times.
“When I first found out that someone had adopted me I was a little confused,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just crazy to think that someone actually wants to do something nice, and celebrate us just because we don’t get a graduation. I’m so thankful, though, that I was adopted and was able to receive some really thoughtful gifts, and I think the whole idea of the adoption is amazing and so nice.”
Even though Hunt started the whole project, she doesn’t take credit for all of the success, she said it was a team effort, and she was just glad she could have been a part of it.
“I can’t really say how it feels to have started something like this because I didn’t do it alone,” Hunt said. “I had two other moms help me with it and communicate to other people about it. I’m just happy that I was able to do something for the seniors and bring them a little joy at home.”
![Smiling during the annual Decals with Dads, varsity starting quarterback and sophomore David Cooper and his dad Jim Cooper pose for a picture. During this varsity event, players and their dads get together to put new decals on their helmets. This year, in addition to being announced QB 1, David was also voted as one of six captains on the varsity team, a role that he had difficulty adjusting to as a younger player on varsity. “It was a struggle for me, being younger than everyone else and being a leader,” David said. “I wondered if [the team] would respect me, or if they would just see me as a younger person from a younger class. I think I've become a leader, [though] and let people know that even though I'm younger, I'm still going to lead them well.” Photo courtesy of Cedar Park Football SmugMug.](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG_8493-1-300x200.jpg)
