![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)
Expectation vs Reality: Fish Edition
Freshmen Compare Thoughts From Before and After Entering High School
From Mean Girls and Clueless to High School Musical, there are many films to blame for students’ perceptions of high school. Going into the second month of school, it is time to compare the expectations and realities of high school from none other than the freshman class.
Freshman Keelin Garner said that there were several things she was anticipating when going into high school.
Expectation
“Before I started high school, I was expecting a more free environment and to have more fun than in middle school with pep rallies and more advanced learning within science classes,” Garner said.
Reality
“High school is way more free and the teachers treat us better,” Garner said. “There aren’t as many rules such as needing to raise your hand during lunch, and our science labs are more advanced.”
Aside from freedom, students such as freshman Anthea Cruz said that she was worried about balancing band along with school work.
Expectation
“I thought I would get lost in the huge environment, and that the classes would be super difficult,” Cruz said. “I was also expecting band to be super fun and easy going.”
Reality
“There are lots of people here to help and I’ve been able to find my way through school,” Crus said. “My classes have been going well so far, however it has been hard for me to keep up with completing homework and going to band practices, as I didn’t expect band to be as intense and time consuming.”
Freshman Luke Labrador said that he also had some thoughts on band clashing with his other high school activities.
Expectation
“I was expecting to be pressured non-stop about grades and homework,” Labrador said. “Especially with band, I was worried it would be more difficult to manage my time with projects and assignments.”
Reality
“Unfortunately, marching band hasn’t given me much time for homework,” Labrador said. “I haven’t been stressed about it so far because DEN makes it easier to get work done. The only thing I would wish is for band kids to be able to participate in school events such as Homecoming this year.”
While the previous few freshmen went to Cedar Park Middle School, freshman Adam Long moved from Houston to Austin just this year.
Expectation
“Before I got here, I was expecting a large, open campus and decent teachers with lots of homework in subjects like math,” Long said. “I was also expecting lots of textbooks and many people walking and biking to school.”
Reality
“Cedar Park turned out to be a closed campus, and I wasn’t expecting a courtyard,” Long said. “I’ve also gotten lots of science homework, and didn’t think we would have school provided laptops as well.”
From the excitement of learning, the stress from band and even the transition to an entirely new city, every student had a different vision of how high school would differ from their previous academic years. While there may not be food fights and spontaneous dance numbers as there are in movies, there are still many more things that freshmen are looking forward to.
“I’m looking forward to the freedom and activities high school will bring, like clubs, football games and dances,” freshman Aashna Ravi said.
“Parties and BOA competitions,” Labrador said.
“Homecoming, football games and volleyball games, “ freshman Evelyn Maib said.
“[Meeting] more friends and [joining] a club or two,” Long said.
Nithila is a senior here at Cedar Park High School and this is her first year on The Wolfpack staff. She is involved in multiple honor societies, and holds an officer position in DECA. She primarily enjoys writing articles that people will be able to relate to, or learn something from. Outside of school, she enjoys participating in productions by her dance school, and is currently working on becoming a student teacher there. She also loves playing with little kids while she volunteers at Thinkery Children's Museum. Finally, she hopes to study Architecture in college and will most definitely take her passion for writing along with her.
Jordan Deyo is a senior that has been in the journalism department for her entire high school career. She currently is the Multimedia Manager of The Wolfpack, and a staff member of the Tracks Yearbook. Jordan loves her eight animals! She has four cats, two dogs, a lovely hedgehog and a chinchilla. Jordan is going into the Air Force after high school to pursue her dream of working in law enforcement, just like many others in her family.
