![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)
![Hope Squad is a peer-to-peer mental health support system focused on suicide prevention. Lead Counselor Sarah Cable volunteered Cedar Park High School to be the first campus in the district to implement the program into the school. “In my previous campus, I had three suicides,” Cable said. “It’s really, really hard. Hard to go through those things. Having the three losses of students on campus was so tragic and detrimental to everyone that knew them and was around them and their families and friends. If we can prevent the loss of a life and be proactive, I think we should try anything that we can. [By trying Hope Squad] we’re not just trying something willy-nilly; we’re trying something that schools have been using for a while and has seen success with.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Hope-Squad.png)
![With their T-Wolves held high, the varsity volleyball team huddles together in preparation at a match in early September. The team is 6-0 in match play and will start the second round of district play next week. “The second time isn’t going to be easy,” Head Coach Lori McLaughlin said. “That's the thing about this district. The coaches are so good and very skilled with what they do and every team is usually different the second time that we play. We just want to hope that we add some more finesse to our game, and then lead us into the postseason, which hopefully [has us] peaking at the right time.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/varvb-9.3-Julia-14.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)
![On March 20, the theatre program performed their UIL One Act play "Frankenstein". “I could barely believe what I heard after [it was] announced that we were advancing,” freshman Zack Williams said. “It was crazy. Being one of the only freshmen in the show and also [being] a lead definitely put pressure on my shoulders. I knew that the only thing I could do was my best, but that was until I started to think what if my best was not enough? I was feeling like I could never amount to being what [everyone else] thought I was. Although, after hearing that announcement, I realized that maybe I have something going for me after all.”
Photo courtesy of Cayden Bartolo](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Capture.png)
![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)
![Smiling during the annual Decals with Dads, varsity starting quarterback and sophomore David Cooper and his dad Jim Cooper pose for a picture. During this varsity event, players and their dads get together to put new decals on their helmets. This year, in addition to being announced QB 1, David was also voted as one of six captains on the varsity team, a role that he had difficulty adjusting to as a younger player on varsity. “It was a struggle for me, being younger than everyone else and being a leader,” David said. “I wondered if [the team] would respect me, or if they would just see me as a younger person from a younger class. I think I've become a leader, [though] and let people know that even though I'm younger, I'm still going to lead them well.” Photo courtesy of Cedar Park Football SmugMug.](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG_8493-1-1200x801.jpg)
![Smiling at the camera, the Varsity Tennis team celebrates winning districts. They played against Liberty Hill on Tuesday night and won with a final score of 10- 5. “We improved a lot even from the last game,” senior Blake Hillis said. “We lost against them the last time we played [Liberty Hill], but it was really close. It was just really important for us to win this match since it was the district finals. [When we won I felt] overwhelmingly happy, especially being there with my teammates and it being my senior year. It was just really great. It [felt] like a community.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Tennis-Districts-e1728060882260.png)
With cheer slowing down due to football season ending, freshman Raye Affotler has had some time to get involved in competition cheer.
Affolter started gymnastics when she was four years old. She began at Actrotex then switched to Austin Cheer Factory. Currently Affolter is on level four at ACF and competes every weekend. Competition cheer began Jan. 19 and is coming to an end in three weeks. Affolter’s team has won first place in all of the four competitions she has competed in.
“I decided to do comp cheer so that I can advance more in my tumbling,” Affolter said.
Affolter practices two times a week for two hours, goes to two open gyms a week and does private lessons on the weekend.
“Practice is my favorite thing about cheer,” Affolter said. “I can just forget about school and have fun and do what I love with my friends.”
Affolter is also on the freshman squad for Cedar Park.
“Comp cheer is much more demanding and a lot of effort, but high school cheer is also hard,” Affolter said.
Although Affolter is already at an advanced level, she keeps practicing to continue improving.
“What really motivates me to practice is to be on level five next year,” Affolter said. “I just keep trying to get better and better.”
Affolter has a future in cheer ahead of her judging that she is at such a high level already as only a freshman.
“I would like to cheer in college and also to work for UCA or NCA,” Affotler said.
Cheer is a huge commitment, a lot of hard work and practice, but Affolter makes it look easy. She spends most of her time practicing and improving her talents.
“Cheer gives me the best feeling in the world,” Affolter said. “I love being at the gym five days a week, I just love it so much.”
