![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)
At first, the idea for Project Care was nothing more than a campaign idea, but now it has expanded into something more significant than its founders expected.
HOSA, or Health Occupations Students of America, members and seniors Jen Nguyen, Ashley Blair and Annabelle Staples came up with the idea of Project Care last November as part of a HOSA project that focused on anxiety and mental health awareness.
“Anxiety is a universal feeling that everyone faces,” Nguyen said. “Regardless if you’re old or if you’re a young person, everyone faces it, so we wanted to [start Project Care] it for that reason; we wanted [our project] to be applicable to everyone.”
The campaign is active, posting on Instagram at @Projectcare25 as well as on The Project Care Podcast on Spotify. On both platforms, the team has talked to many experts, who share experience in their field of study and ways to combat anxiety. The Project Care group takes the knowledge they learn from these experts and use it to spread mental health awareness to the Cedar Park community.
“We wanted a more personalized view of anxiety,” Nguyen said. “It made it feel more intimate, having professionals come and talk with us rather than going out on our own because it’s more direct towards us.”
According to Blair, gaining this experience and knowledge has been very productive for the group, not only for themselves, but for others.
“Project Care has helped me know how to help others who are struggling with anxiety,” Blair said. “Before Project Care, I didn’t really know how to help people deal with any mental health issues; it was more of let them sit there and talk about their feelings. But now, there are actually tangible steps to combat whatever you are feeling, and to give them advice on that.”
Nguyen said the group is very committed to increase anxiety awareness amongst adolescents. The group added three additional members, Rushil Mehta, Kim Dao and Adhit Eswaramoorthi this year, all equally contributing to new ideas and finding the best ways to get their message out across all platforms and to the community. They are planning multiple events, not just for high schools, but middle and elementary.
“We know what we are doing and have our foot in,” Blair said. “We want to be able to expand our reach and make more of an impact at school or online.”
The group shared 20 Instagram posts over the summer along with eight episodes on their podcast, averaging 20 to 30 minutes in length.
“We really have a genuine passion for advocating for mental issues,” Nguyen said. “And we feel like it is an underserved topic that no one really addresses or doesn’t address deeply enough with school, regarding adolescents. It’s usually to get your sleep, eat, drink water.”
Despite the HOSA assignment ending last year, the team will continue as they have with Project Care.
“I think it is a good way to spread awareness to the community and it’s been fun doing it with everyone,” Staples said.
