![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)
![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)
![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)
![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)
![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)
![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)
![Standing with their hands raised to the sky, show choir finishes their performance of “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen performed in the winter concert. This year, the show choir participated in the Capital City Showcase where they sang and danced to “Crocodile Rock” and “Don’t Stop Me Now.” “My favorite memory in show choir is the showcase,” freshman Eshita Agrawal said. “We were the first to perform, and we got the chance to watch all the other amazing contestants. [We] were amazed. It was an amazing experience, I think we bonded very well.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Show-Choir.png)
They can sing, they can dance, but this is not France after all—it’s show choir.
The difference between show choir and regular choir is that in show choir students not only sing, but they dance too. The class counts as a physical education credit and is a more physically-demanding class than regular choir. This year, the show choir participated in the Capital City Showcase in what town, where they performed against 13 other schools. Their set of songs included “Crocodile Rock” and “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
“I joined show choir because I found the choir in middle school to be slightly boring,” freshman Anjali Carl said. “There was too much standing and singing. Performing [in show choir] is super fun. I really enjoy dancing and sing[ing].”
Choir director Varsha Nathan directs the show choir, who leads classes that are a lot more free and self-paced than a regular choir class, according to Carl.
“The class isn’t very structured, and we usually just go with the flow,” Carl said. “We normally start off with singing if we haven’t learned our songs, then transition into dance practice. The only thing that stays the same most days is warm-ups before class.”
To prepare for the showcase, the choir had after-school rehearsals every day to practice. The choir improved from last year and ended up in 10th place.
“My favorite memory in show choir is the showcase,” freshman EshitaAgrawal said. “We were the first to perform, and we got the chance to watch all the other amazing contestants. [We] were amazed. It was an amazing experience, and I think we bonded very well.”
Show choir is full of student leaders including the two student dance instructors, sophomores Jayden Anderson and Natalia Saban.
“I joined show choir because I was in theater for two years but never made a role in a play,” freshman James Morris-Hodges said. “I got mad then decided theater wasn’t my thing so I moved on to choir and then when I saw that high school had a show choir, I joined because I figured it was like theater but everyone gets a part.”
The dance moves performed are not too difficult, according to Anderson. Any beginner who wants to join show choir but has no experience in dancing could easily learn and follow the steps, she said.
“My favorite memory is probably the winter concert,” Carl said. “All the other choirs had to do a 20 minute song, but show choir didn’t. I remember that it was so fun to sit backstage and just talk with everyone and enjoy the music. I think it brought us closer together as a choir.”
Morris-Hodges was the crocodile when show choir sang their version of “Crocodile Rock” in the fall concert.
“In show choir it’s kind of scary when we have to get up on stage and just sing and dance,” Morris-Hodges said. “You’re always worried you [will] mess up, but I would totally recommend it because it’s a really good learning experience.”
