![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)
![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)
![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)
Life As We Know It
Students Reflect On Online School, New Changes in Routine
One of many students also struggling with changes due to quarantine is junior John Courtright. Courtright, has been learning to deal with online school while also keeping himself busy and entertained to avoid boredom during isolation. “I have been making sure to keep in constant contact with my friends, we have done things like movie night using Netflix Party,” Courtright said. “Finding motivation to do my work has been really hard. It is nice to do things at my own pace, but I find myself putting off things until the last second.”
May 14, 2020
As quarantine stretches on, students are beginning to look back on the school year and reflect on online schooling and life now. For some students, isolation has brought on thankful feelings about school and friends, changes with work and a new outlook on life.
Senior Natalia Peck, who works at Austin Aquarium has been deemed an essential worker and is now dealing with the changes at work.
“My job has become much more relaxed,” Peck said. “I’m happy that I can wear whatever I want to work now, since uniforms are no longer a necessity, I can even wear my sweatpants without consequences. We can focus on more projects that we did not have time for before and we are rebuilding old enclosures. Since it’s summer we can finally take a lot more animals outside to enjoy the sunlight which is very good for all of them.”
According to Peck, quarantine has not been too bad as her and her family get along and she is able to escape to work and do what she loves. However, for Peck online school is a different story.
“Online school was weird at first,” Peck said. “It is strange not being able to ask your teachers straight away if I have any questions. While I have gotten accustomed to it, it has its ups and downs. If I have no internet, then what happens.”
One of many students also struggling with changes due to quarantine is junior John Courtright. He said that one of the most disappointing things about online schooling is that the spring musical got cancelled. Because of this, Courtright has been struggling with the reality of it all.
“It was going to be a really good experience for college applications and our yearly awards for GAHSMTA [Greater Austin High School Musical Theatre Awards], was also cancelled,” Courtright said. “But, we are able to do some online things like tap lessons for next year’s musical and we are even moving GAHSMTA to a virtual format and we are all going to get together through Zoom and watch it as a group.”
According to Courtright, he has been learning to deal with online school while also keeping himself busy and entertained to avoid boredom during isolation.
“I have been making sure to keep in constant contact with my friends, we have done things like movie night using Netflix Party,” Courtright said. “Finding motivation to do my work has been really hard. It is nice to do things at my own pace, but I find myself putting off things until the last second.”
While online schooling has taken some adjusting to get used to, Courtright said that he has learned a few things from quarantine.
“I have learned that we kind of have trouble taking these situations seriously,” Courtright said. “From people taking trips during shelter in place to Corona content on Tik Tok, not many of us are taking this dangerous situation seriously. But I have also grown to appreciate the social environment of school a lot more. While teachers have done a good job of maintaining the academic flow of school online, the social interaction that school provides is something I have been missing a lot.”
Katie Smith, a sophomore involved in theater said that she has also been doing well during quarantine, as her and her family have decided to keep from being bored by watching movies and shows together. But by herself, Smith has decided to focus her free time into music.
“I have been working on a lot of music, both original and covers,” Smith said. “I have been creating this music because not only is it a good way to take up free time, but it is also an amazing outlet that allows me to take any stress or concerns that I have about current events and write them into lyrics. Besides that, I have been prepping for my audition for next year’s musical, ‘Something Rotten.’”
According to Smith, who is also in broadcast, she has been working to still put out shows once a week for the Wolfcast to keep things going during quarantine.
“We meet every Monday morning over Zoom to decide who will be in charge of what for that week, whether it be editing, the main package, segments, or anything else,” Smith said. “We then meet on Wednesday mornings to check up on everyone’s progress and help people if needed. We submit every Thursday night and the show airs Friday. We have also been utilizing Instagram stories in order to produce extra content that cannot be put into our main show. It has definitely been more challenging to create news based on content because we can’t physically go out and interview people, but we have been finding solutions and problem solving along the way.”
Smith said that quarantine has made her look at life and school through a different lense while online schooling and isolating.
“I definitely miss going to school a lot,” Smith said. “I miss having a defined schedule and I miss getting to see my friends and peers every second of every day. One of the main things I have learned from quarantine is to not take anyone or anything for granted, because you will never know what could happen next. We all went from seeing our friends every day to not seeing them at all. But quarantine has absolutely given me a deeper appreciation for school and friends.”
