![High-fiving a band member in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Head Director of Bands Christopher Yee celebrates the band’s fifth UIL state win with his students. The band faced several challenges this marching season due to the difficult show routine, but was able to come in first at the state contest. “Every year is different,” Yee said. “The show is different, the kids are different, the challenges are different and the competition is different. This [year] feels a little more special. Theyre all special, but this one is particularly special because it was so hard fought. Weve mentioned several times to the kids that they seem like theyre one of the happiest bands weve ever taught. Theyre just happy kids. This years student leadership team [also] stepped up more than normal. I think that theyre very talented. Because it was a hard show, they have a lot of skills and a lot of determination and grit.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/unnamed.jpg)
![Dressed as a cow, PALs member and junior Lynnea Bergman smiles at her friends with a face covered in whipped cream. The annual trunk or treat took place on Oct. 26 during which the PALs pie in the face activity was very popular, according to Bergman. “We were doing a pie in the face and cakewalk to get the kids to have fun,” Bergman said. “Some of the kids in the PALs [program were at the trunk or treat] and they got to pie us in the face. [My favorite memory] so far is probably getting pied in the face by a four year old. He went so hard and it was very funny.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Trunk-or-Treat-Photo-Lilly-182-1200x800.png)
![Posing next to her 2015 Hyundai Sonata, junior and Celebrities Dance Team Second Lieutenant Sophie Poulsen holds up her license. Poulsen’s car was stolen on Aug. 28 from the school parking lot, and was missing for a day before police recovered it. “I was shocked,” Poulsen said. “I never expected, especially in Cedar Park, for my car to get stolen. I still don’t know who [stole my car], but I wish I knew. I don’t think the cops are going to figure it out, because there’s no point. It already happened. We’re probably never going to know. I feel like it was a student, but who knows? [Nevertheless], Cedar Park is not that [kind of place].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/View-recent-pho11tos.jpg)
![Taking a selfie with some of their castmates, including senior Aidan Cox, who plays Buddy the Elf, junior Brooke Ferguson shows off a sign presenting the arrival of “Elf. This year’s musical, “Elf” runs Dec. 1-3 in the CPHS PAC. “[Learning a new script is] always kind of a challenge,” Ferguson said. “You get a new cast and you get your own part. I’ve never worked closely with these people before. It’s a different environment and doing character work with someone new, trying to partner work and scene work is interesting. The script is good and it has a lot of jokes, it’ll be a lot of laughs.” Photo by Brooke Ferguson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_2048-e1701374239425-1200x900.jpg)
![Dressed as “H-E-B Buddy,” senior Logan Hedges entertains shoppers during a shift at H-E-B. Hedges has fun on the job, as there’s significantly less pressure than other jobs he has had. “I [used to umpire] little league baseball, and it’s definitely less stressful,” Hedges said. “There’s not much [that can go wrong] scanning groceries. Making a bad call in baseball is so easy.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/BF3C2083-817E-4847-B673-1FEF973AB972.jpeg)
![One student talks about how attractive they imagine the main protagonist is, another describes the negative effects mental health can have on a student, and a third just blatantly states that she hates the ending of her book. The club Page Turners, led by President senior Ellie Knaggs, meets every Tuesday in the library and is a place for students to come and talk about books. “It’s just a place to come and bring so many ideas and opinions into play,” Knaggs said. “We have had some really great discussions in the past, sometimes it’s just talking about like ‘Oh yes, I love that trope’ or ‘this fictional couple is so cute.’ Sometimes the [author] talked about this really heavy topic like abuse or hunger or war and I think it’s something we should talk about and so we will.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Copy-of-Copy-of-STRESS.png)
![Standing in the golden hour’s orange light, Irish music artist Hozier performs at Austin City Limits’ biggest venue. The annual music festival provides opportunities for attendees to both enjoy familiar artists and discover new ones. “I didn’t know Thirty Seconds to Mars [before I went to ACL], but I really love them now because the lead singer put on a great show,” sophomore Mykaela Tapia said. “He was inviting people up to the stage and at one point there were almost sixty people on stage. Matthew McConaughey was there too. [The lead singer] started off the show on a platform right below the roof and he jumped off that platform and I thought that was so cool. The concert was really hype. Even though I wasn’t familiar with the music, I still liked the performance.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_6042-1200x675.jpeg)
![Delbridge smiles with hands wide after a performance at Kelly Reeves Stadium for the Bands of America Austin Finals. “I can’t imagine my life without band,” Delbrdige said. “In 2020 it was the only thing that kept me going—playing my instrument and going into rehearsals. I really don’t want to lose that part of life. It’s kind of sad to leave [that passion] here, but I’d like to find it somewhere else even after I graduate high school.”
Photo courtesy of Lauren Delbridge](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image_50379265-1200x900.jpg)
![Backstage, junior Erica Mihealsick and Cara Allen are setting up for The One Act Play That Goes Wrong. Originally, I wanted to be an actor, but then I didnt want to because Id have to catch up [in skills] to the other kids. So I decided to join tech, and Ive never looked back.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/P1010905-1200x675.jpg)
![FFA member and junior Max Adams will show his pigs and heifer at the Cedar Park Barn Show on Nov. 12. “When you think you have a good animal, and then you’re surrounded by a bunch of other [showmen with their animals], it will humble you really quick,” Adams said. “If I keep working and I do good [at shows], it makes me feel good about myself. I just like the competitiveness. Its fun taking care of [them]. Putting in a bunch of work and then not doing good upsets me a lot. It makes me want to do better.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_9790-1200x800.png)
![Taking a shot at the basketball hoop, senior point guard Drew O’Connor participates in a drill with Nabil Ismail during practice Oct. 30. O’Connor said he is excited to be a leader for his team this year. “It feels good to be a leader,” O’Connor said. “I think it’s fun because I just like helping others on the team with stuff. [Also], with it being my senior year, [I can] play with less pressure since it’s my last year, and playing with a lot of my friends is fun too.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/drew-oconnor.jpg)
![One of the few stick vehicles in the school parking lot, senior Alex Trebilco’s 1970 Ford Maverick is a restoration project he worked on with his dad. He and his father have worked on cars together for all of Trebilco’s life, and have several finished projects because of it. “[My favorite memory with my car is] honestly just cruising with my dad in his truck and my car,” Trebilco said. “Both of the [cars] are restored. He did the truck and we did the Maverick, so it’s cool to roll down in two cars that we made run together.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Ford-Maverick.png)
As she steps off the plane, she’s filled with anticipation, stress and excitement. She can’t believe that she’s finally here. She’s worked so hard to get to this moment. Endless paperwork, tons of phone calls and infinite waiting and she’s finally made it. She rounds the corner and sees her new family. Eager smiles, colorful orange flowers and a big sign that reads “Welcome to Texas” await her and she breathes a sigh of relief as she’s welcomed into her new family and her new life.
The start of junior year of high school is a time when foreign exchange students can arrive to experience a new country and a new life. Junior Margo Bonavitacola has just recently started her junior year here coming from France.
“I was so excited [coming here],” Bonavitacola said. “During the flight I was like ‘Oh my God I’m in Texas, that’s incredible.’”
According to Bonavitacola, becoming an exchange student is a long and complicated process that took months to finish.
“I started my file in October and I finished in February,” Bonavitacola said. “I had a lot of papers and a lot of documents to sign and I also had to get my Visa. I got it the last week of July so it was really late, and I also had to pass the English test.”
For her host family, it wasn’t as long of a process, but there were still some preparations to be done. Junior Brooke Ferguson is a member of Bonavitacola’s host family.
“We had to get a house inspection done by the organization,” Ferguson said. “We had to do a bunch of background checks and we had to pick a room for her.”
Bonavitacola found out she had a host family in the first week of August right before school started.
“My organization called me and was like ‘we have good news for you, you got a family,’” Bonavitacola said. “I was literally crying because I was so happy about that because I was just waiting for that [for] ten months. I saw everybody [else get] their family and I was like ‘what? I’m just waiting for that’ and so I really thought I wasn’t going to be [chosen].”
Photo courtesy of Brooke Ferguson
For Bonavitacola, she arrived a couple of days before school started and the first day of school was a challenging experience for her.
“I was so stressed to be late,” Bonavitacola said. “I was stressed to be in a place where nobody speaks the same language and I have to know where to go.”
Now that the year has started and Bonavitacola has grown more comfortable with the school and the language, she has picked up on some differences in the school system.
“The hours that you spend at school [are different] because in France, we are usually [in school] from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. so that’s really long,” Bonavitacola said. “Everybody has the same subjects, you can’t choose anything, and the classes are so boring. We don’t have any sports teams or football games and we don’t have prom or homecoming either.”
Bonavitacola is looking forward to the football season and this school year in general.
“My first football game was really a dream because it’s really an American thing and everyone in France is dreaming about that,” Bonavitacola said. “It’s so cool [and] I love it so much. I just enjoy the things that are really normal because it’s different and it’s not the same culture so I enjoy it.”
As Bonavitacola spends more time here, her relationship with Ferguson and the rest of her host family has changed.
“We were very hesitant to do anything wrong, I guess,” Ferguson said. “I remember I cleaned my room a lot when she was first here because I didn’t want her to think I was messy, and I never went into her room to hang out. Now I’ll just run in and jump on her bed and talk to her and she does the same.”
Going from a country where everyone speaks French to a country where everyone speaks English in a matter of days was a difficult experience for Bonavitacola.
She got here and just jumped right into all of the things that we consider normal but are not to her, so I hope she obviously loves the experience and makes friends, but also knows how able she is to adapt to change and how strong she is.”
— Brooke Ferguson, 11
“During my first month it wasn’t so complicated [to understand the English], it’s just that sometimes people are talking really fast so I’m just nodding [along],” Bonavitacola said. “It’s more the talking [that’s difficult] and sometimes I just can’t have all the specific words. I know that when I’m talking, I’m making mistakes, and I just get it.”
Being in a new environment with a different culture has left Bonavitacola feeling confused about some things.
“You see everywhere that you love your country,” Bonavitacola said. “There are flags everywhere and also the Pledge [of Allegiance]. In France you would never see that and we don’t have things like that.”
Ferguson wants Bonavitacola to take aspects of this experience home with her when her one year program ends.
“I hope that she just takes home the experience of being able to pick up her life and live somewhere new for a year,” Ferguson said. “She got here and just jumped right into all of the things that we consider normal but are not to her, so I hope she obviously loves the experience and makes friends, but also knows how able she is to adapt to change and how strong she is.”
