![The cross country team poses for the camera after finishing the district meet. The varsity boys, JV boys and JV girls all placed third and the varsity girls placed fourth. “Coach put in the right training for us for this season, so I think we will be peaking this week and the next couple of weeks,” varsity runner and junior Nathan Kukla said. “The chances of making it to state are very high, but we don’t settle for the lowest and there is always going to be that chance, so [we] race for the best.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Heidi-831-1200x900.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)
![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)
![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)
![Standing proud, varsity senior athletes Rafael Escobar, Griffin Jacobs, Jakob Martin, and juniors Jackson Springer and Jack Morris pose with their newly earned medals. The varsity team finished third out of 14 teams on Sept. 25. “The team's primary goal is to win the district championship,” head coach Cody Price said. "We're confident that with our action plan in place, we can accomplish this mission. [For the next tournament], our preparation involves assessing our strengths and weaknesses, celebrating milestones and creating individual development plans." Photo courtesy of Cody Price](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/golf.jpg)
![Smiling at the camera, the Varsity Tennis team celebrates winning districts. They played against Liberty Hill on Tuesday night and won with a final score of 10- 5. “We improved a lot even from the last game,” senior Blake Hillis said. “We lost against them the last time we played [Liberty Hill], but it was really close. It was just really important for us to win this match since it was the district finals. [When we won I felt] overwhelmingly happy, especially being there with my teammates and it being my senior year. It was just really great. It [felt] like a community.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Tennis-Districts-e1728060882260.png)
Blue and white mix with green and silver as 77 dancers mingle and get to know each other. Then, it’s time to get to work as they lock arms and get ready for the tips of their toes to stretch to their hats. A long standing tradition returns, as the girls lock arms and prepare to unite two communities on a fall Friday night.
During halftime at the Leander game on Nov. 1, the Celebrities and Blue Belles will perform a kick routine together. The routine, called the “Sister Kick,” started as a tradition in the early 2000s, but died out when Leander High School was realigned to the 6A division. Former Celebrity and now Assistant Director Katie Thompson was part of the effort to bring the tradition back.
“In the dance world, we’re all friends, we like to collaborate,” Thompson said. “Both schools have new directors, and now that I’m back, we thought about bringing it back. It was just kind of a discussion that happened at one of our district dance meetings and we were like ‘let’s do it’ and so we did it. It’s cool to bring it back because it shows collaboration in our district.”
The dance started as a way to show unity despite the rivalry between the two schools. The captains of the two teams choreographed the dance the first year it was done and the choreography has been used every year after.
“As a way of friendship, we’re showing that no matter what is going on through football it’s always a friendly competition,” senior Ali Cooper said. “We’re just showing that we’re all friends, and that’s how it originated.”
The Blue Belles came to Cedar Park last week and Thompson taught both teams the choreography. Since she was a Celebrity during her time at Cedar Park, Thompson did the dance every year she was on the team.
“It’s just kind of one of those things that gets stuck in your brain,” Thompson said. “I found a video on YouTube and relearned it. As I listened to the music, it all came back to me.”
Both teams have been working independently on the dance at their respective schools all week. However, on Thursday, the teams had a collaborative rehearsal at Bible Stadium from 6:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
“The girl’s are so sweet,” Cooper said. “We’re laughing, we’re having a good time, but we’re also respectful to learning this dance with each other.”
Despite being the same choreography, both teams have different styles that they had to adjust too. They have also been adjusting to each other’s traditions, including the Celebs’ tradition of clapping when someone does a pirouette.
“It’s so fun to see the different styles of kicking the Belles have,” Cooper said. “That has been blowing all of our minds, and we’re just trying to adjust to that and vice versa because they’re probably having to adjust to our details that they don’t have. It’s just really cool how the compromise between the two teams is going.”
Being the first team since the fall of 2015 to perform the dance, junior rookie Brianna Harris said it is an honor to be on the team that brings it back.
“I love getting to work with everyone and getting so close with everyone,” Harris said. “It’s like a sisterhood [between the two schools], and getting to work with the Belles for the first time in a while is so cool to be a part of.”
Thompson said the girls from both teams are learning life skills that go beyond the dance gym from this experience.
“It teaches them the skill of branching out of their comfort zone,” Thompson said. “When we have practices with them, we make them find a Blue Belle friend and they have to get to know each other. It just teaches them life skills and obviously they all have something in common because they’re all on the dance teams at their school, so it helps them make new friends, which is a skill they can carry with them throughout their entire lives.”
Along with the dance, the bands will be performing together as well. Thompson said she is excited to see it all come to fruition on the field Friday night.
“It’s going to be really visual and cool because we start off with every other person and then we split into the two teams and then we make one long kick-line with everyone,” Thompson said. “It’s been awhile since they’ve done it and I’m just so excited to see it back again.”
