![Walking through the tunnel created by the cheerleaders and Celebrities, senior Frances Tran smiles as the soccer team is sent off during DEN for their playoff game against Rouse tonight. Tran said the wins against Smithson Valley and Alamo Heights gave the team a morale boost to take on the Raiders tonight. “I know we were not 100% confident in those games,” Tran said. “But, Rouse is a big opponent for sure. We’re definitely going into tonight with a lot of morale [because of the previous wins].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/frances-tran.jpg)
![Holding a bucket of materials in one hand and a roll of tape in another, anatomy and biology teacher Tyler Terry prepares for a lab. Terry said his proudest moments are when his students are happy to see him. “When I take my wife to a football game or something and a bunch of students want to say hi to me or they like to smile and wave and it just makes me feel good that the students are really kind and supportive of me,” Terry said. “[I’m also] proud when I see students perform really well in their extracurriculars because I can see how hard they’re working in my classes, [so] when I see that they’re also working so hard in other things. Like they’re winning band competitions or they’re getting awards for their theater productions, or I see them put on their choir shows, that’s like, wow, you guys are incredible.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rags-6.png)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901.jpg)
![Holding her dog, Nova, senior Ariana Balakrishnan poses for her senior pictures while Nova wears a bandana with her college decision. Balakrishnan applied to 18 colleges in total, but she decided on Columbia in the end. “Right before I clicked the button to open Columbia’s letter, I literally looked at the camera and go ‘This is just gonna really suck because I wanted it so bad,’ and I clicked it and all of a sudden you hear trumpets,” Balakrishnan said. “There’s a video that plays when you open it and I actually didn’t watch the video, I just watched the screen go black, because every day of December before ED [Early Decision] I would go on YouTube and watch the acceptance video to manifest it, so immediately when the screen went black, I started screaming and jumping up and down. And my parents in the video are like ‘What are you doing, where’s the letter,’ and I was just screaming ‘I got in, I got in.” I just started crying, and it just felt like everything in the world came together.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ariana-2-300x217.jpg)
Sheep and goats whining, cows mooing and pigs oinking are not unfamiliar sounds to FFA members as they spend their time preparing for the upcoming county show in January.
The county show is one of the most important shows that an FFA member has to worry about, and the expectation for their animal is very high for county shows compared to other competition shows in FFA. It is also the show where the members decide if they want to slaughter their animal or go to majors with it.
“The county show is the show that we mainly look forward to for months and it’s the show that is most stressful,” junior FFA member Madison White said.
From the moment a member gets their animal, they start preparing them for upcoming shows. Animal owners have to make sure their animals can walk correctly into the arena, and the weight of the animal is also a big factor, as well as the condition they are in.
“It is extremely time consuming,” sophomore FFA member Ellyn Freiborg said. “Preparing takes time out of almost every day, especially because after school everyone usually goes and helps out at the barn.”
There are many steps to prep an animal up for their appearance when the time has come to show them to judges. The steps vary depending on what type of animal you have, but appearance is one of the main things judges pay attention to. There isn’t much team work involved during the preparation of the show; they usually just concentrate on themselves and the work that needs to be done for their animal.
“To prepare my pig, I first bathe her, and then put conditioner water on her to make her hair lay down how I want it,” White said. “I then mist her with water to make her shine.”
What judges say is the moment of truth for all FFA members who are competing and when they find out if their hard work has paid off. If even one expectation falls short on one of the animals being presented, it could really hurt FFA members score.
“It can get a little stressful sometimes especially because things always need to be done at the barn and it feels like the work never ends,” sophomore FFA member Jimena Llamas said.
The county show will be held Jan 21-25 at the Williamson County Barn in Georgetown. There is no certain time that members need to get to the barn by, but they need to be at the barn for the majority of the time that their animal is there.
“The show is an extremely enjoyable experience because you get to do it with all your friends and make great memories,” Llamas said.
