![Senior Jett Mckinney stores all the clothes in his own room, with half of it stored in his closet along with his personal clothes, and the rest taking up space in his room.
“There’s been times [when] there’s so much clothing stored here and it gets overwhelming, so I end up having to sleep somewhere else in the house,” Mckinney said.](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DSC_0951-1200x800.jpg)
![Broadcast, yearbook and newspaper combined for 66 Interscholastic League Press Conference awards this year. Yearbook won 43, newspaper won 14 and broadcast took home nine. “I think [the ILPC awards] are a great way to give the kids some acknowledgement for all of their hard work,” newspaper and yearbook adviser Paige Hert said. “They typically spend the year covering everyone else’s big moments, so it’s really cool for them to be celebrated so many times and in so many different ways.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/edited-ILPC.jpg)
![Looking down at his racket, junior Hasun Nguyen hits the green tennis ball. Hasun has played tennis since he was 9 years old, and he is on the varsity team. "I feel like it’s not really appreciated in America as much, but [tennis] is a really competitive and mentally challenging sport,” Nguyen said. “I’m really level-headed and can keep my cool during a match, and that helps me play a bit better under pressure.” Photo by Kyra Cox](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/hasun.jpg)
![Bringing her arm over her head and taking a quick breath, junior Lauren Lucas swims the final laps of the 500 freestyle at the regionals swimming competition on date. Lucas broke the school’s 18-year-old record for the 500 freestyle at regionals and again at state with a time of 4:58.63. “I’d had my eye on that 500 record since my freshman year, so I was really excited to see if I could get it at regionals or districts,” Lucas said. “ State is always a really fun experience and medaling for the first time was really great. It was a very very tight race, [so] I was a bit surprised [that I medaled]. [There were] a lot of fast girls at the meet in general, [and] it was like a dogfight back and forth, back and forth.” Photo by Kaydence Wilkinson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Kaydence-2.7-23-edit-2.jpg)
![As her hair blows in the wind, senior Brianna Grandow runs the varsity girls 5K at the cross country district meet last Thursday. Grandow finished fourth in the event and led the varsity girls to regionals with a third place placement as a team. “I’m very excited [to go to regionals],” Grandow said. “I’m excited to race in Corpus Christi, and we get to go to the beach, so that’s really awesome.” Photo by Addison Bruce](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/brianna.jpg)
High school relationships are like no other. Friends giggling in the hallway about their crushes and sharing stories at the lunch table start becoming a common occurrence once February hits. Some students have their dates already planned while others just hope for their significant others’ presence. No matter which side students partake in, the aroma of love is felt all around.
Juniors Lauren Small and Mitchell Allen-Barnhart met in their eighth grade science class and a couple years later, the question was asked. The two have been dating for a year and a half and their plan for Valentine’s Day is to have a picnic and watch the sunset.
“I would say Valentine’s is definitely more special with a boyfriend because I get to buy him stuff and be super excited to give it to him,” Small said. “I also get to be surprised by what he’s getting me.”
Small openly shares her enjoyment of not only receiving and giving gifts, but the thought behind them.
“I’m obviously expecting something, but he’s good at surprises so I have no clue [what it will be],” Small said. “I’m really hoping he gets me flowers like the ones on my Pinterest board, and also one of our friends mentioned that he might be writing a love letter, but I don’t know if that’s true.”
Spoiling the surprise, Allen-Barnhart said he does plan on giving her the gifts she hopes to receive. He said he is not only going to meet her expectations, but is planning to go above and beyond and bring back childhood memories.
“I’m going to make her one of those Valentine’s boxes that we made in elementary school and put some love notes and candy in it,” Allen-Barnhart said. “I also got her a stuffed bunny that’s really cute and soft.”
The two seem to seamlessly read each other’s minds when it comes to gift giving, and they each know what the other would like to get.
“She likes getting me gifts so I assume she’ll be getting me something,” Allen-Barnhart said. “She also isn’t very good at hiding when she gets me things so I know there’s going to be at least one thing.”
Small is revolving one of her gifts for him around the sport that he currently plays.
“I already got him a little jelly cat stuffed animal of a tennis ball because he plays tennis,” Small said. “I think I’m also going to get some of his favorite candy.”
Junior Meredith Koltz plans to spend quality time with her boyfriend who attends another high school. The two met at a soccer training camp and have been dating for six months.
“I thought he was super cute and followed him on Instagram,” Koltz said. “[Valentine’s Day is] very special. It has been a long time since I have had a boyfriend to share these special holidays with and I am beyond excited.”
Like the others, Koltz is hoping for a gift on the special day, and also has her own in progress.
“I plan to make him a cute basket full of his favorite things and I am expecting a gift,” Koltz said.
Junior soccer players Greyson Radtke and Ella Buffington started dating two months ago and aren’t planning anything big for Valentines. Homework and soccer take up the majority of their time and are hoping for any time together.
“This is my first Valentine’s day with a boyfriend, so it makes the day more fun,” Buffington said. “[Our plan] is to just hang out together, nothing special.”
Buffington hopes to receive something small, as her birthday is only a couple days after Valentine’s Day.
“I have a very nice plan [for her],” Radtke said. “In order to make it work, [it] requires some problem solving.”
In return, Radtke isn’t hoping for anything big.
“I’m not expecting anything at all, she doesn’t have to do anything to make me happy,” Radtke said. “Any day I get to show love to her is a great day.”
