![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)
Meet and Greet: New English Teachers
September 8, 2016
With past teachers retiring or temporarily departing on maternity leave, Cedar Park has added four new teachers to the English department.
Kristin Burke
She earned her degree in English at Texas State University. Burke has been an English teacher for 17 years.
Q: Why do you like teaching English?
A: I’ve always loved to read, and I came from a time without cable. Reading truly was an escape for me.
Q: What were your favorite subjects in school?
A: Of course English, and I really loved History as well.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Definitely liver and onions. I know that sounds gross, but my grandfather liked it as well, so it was always a special treat for me growing up.
Morgan Maddux Duane
She graduated from Texas A&M in 2015, and is currently working on her M.Ed in Educational Technology, again at Texas A&M.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Anything Mexican; I love Chuy’s.
Q: Where are you from?
A: I’ve lived here in Austin my whole life. I went to elementary school at Cypress Elementary, and even went here to Cedar Park High School. I graduated from Cedar Park in 2011.
Q: What can you be found doing in your free time?
A: I can be found traveling to Louisiana, Florida and all over Texas to judge cheer competitions and tryouts.
Trudy Kennedy
She studied English teaching at the University of Santa Barbara in California for four years.
Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I like to read Young Adult fiction novels and hike. We moved to the Steiner area about 15 years ago, and I enjoy hiking the trails with my family and my two dogs, Blaze and Ella.
Q: What do you like about Cedar Park so far?
A: The faculty and students are all very respectful and friendly. I was a substitute at other schools in the past, so I can really tell a huge difference with the atmosphere of Cedar Park.
Q: What would be your dream vacation?
A: Oh, that’s a hard one. Probably going to Europe with my family to visit lots of castles.
Arielle Wenerstrom
Wenerstrom studied English at Brigham Young University, and received her education certificate from Utah Valley University.
Q: Why do you like teaching English?
A: I love how much reading I get to do, and share my excitement and passion for a subject that most students really aren’t that excited it.
Q: What is an interesting fact about you?
A: I’ve read the dictionary cover to cover two times. I did it for fun. It really improved and expanded my vocabulary.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: My favorite food is homemade spaghetti, I learned how to make it when I was a college student.
![The fire department came to the school after students were evacuated when smoke started coming from the ceiling of a classroom. All students and staff are safe. “All of my friends left their stuff too, so we couldn’t contact our parents, and it was stressful,” senior Brynn Fowler said. “It was scary because I didn’t know [what was going on], and I couldn’t find anyone because it was a big crowd.” Photo by Anthony Garcia](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/firetruck-300x200.jpg)
