![Holding up T-wolves, the tour group poses for a picture in the Chinese classroom. Sophomore Lydia Ou, junior Phu Trung and senior Yushan Pan gave a tour to Taiwanese diplomat Andrea Yang on Nov. 8. “I was so excited when I heard I would get to give the tour because it’s a big deal,” Ou said. “She’s from the US embassy for Taiwan, so she’s really important. I’m so privileged [to get this opportunity] and I’m so excited.” Photo by Skyler King](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Main-Taiwan.jpg)
![Students drew chalk art in honor of Veterans day. This is just one of many things the school does to show appreciation to veterans, and the art will remain in the courtyard as a reminder of all of the veterans who served their country. “On veteran’s day, I think it’s a great thing we do at school to honor people that served [who are] at our school or family members,” English teacher and cheer coach Nadira King said. “It makes me feel proud, and it makes me remember the [veterans].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Capture.png)
![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)
![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)
Students are facing the consequences of sleep deprivation, with negative effects on student’s academic performance and mental health. As sleep continues to be overlooked, the importance of getting adequate rest becomes more crucial for maintaining focus, managing stress and overall well-being. Lack of sleep impacts students in various ways, making it essential to prioritize sleep for the success of the school year.
A significant number of adolescents need to acquire the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep, which influences their academic performance and emotional well-being. Experts at Better Health emphasize the importance of adequate rest for focus, emotional stability and overall success, urging students to adopt healthier sleep habits despite their busy lives.
“We have entered into a place where survival mode has almost become normal,” counselor Brittany Hernandez said. “ If I can survive four hours of sleep, then technically four hours of sleep is all I need.”
Getting an adequate amount of sleep is crucial to the development of teenager’s minds and bodies. Most teenagers will only get six and seven and a half hours per night, because hormones during teenage years shift student’s internal clock two hours forward, making them tired later than usual, according to Better Health.
“On weekdays at most, I get seven hours of sleep,” sophomore Cassie Rico said. “I wake up at six a.m. and go to sleep around maybe 11 or 12 depending on how much homework I have noticed the less sleep I get the more my grades go down because my focus suffers from lack of sleep.”
Based on the article from Nationwide Children’s on Sleep in Adolescence, research explains that teenagers who get less sleep are more apt to obtain poor grades in the area of learning, fall asleep in educational classes and have more tardiness and absences than normal.
“Less sleep would probably just affect my focus in class,” senior Emlee Yonga said. “I’d find myself falling asleep, especially in math class when I need to be the most focused, but instead I’m the most tired.”
The National Sleep Foundation voices the critical connection between sleep and mental health. Adequate sleep helps with concentration, retaining information, problem-solving and decision-making. Without these skills, students will have trouble coping with stress and evolving in their physical, social and emotional worlds, which can have long-lasting effects on mental health, according to The National Sleep Foundation.
“If we’re not getting a full amount of sleep, it’s like you’re trying to operate on an empty tank of gas and you can only go so far until something bad happens,” Hernandez said. “I think that’s how we need to think about it with our feelings and our thoughts and anxiety. Can I go through an entire day, eight hours of school, or if a stressful situation presented itself, do I have a full tank to make it through from point A to point B? Or am I running off a ¼ of a tank because I didn’t get enough [sleep] to refuel myself for the next day?”
As mentioned in the National Library of Medicine, getting less sleep was connected with a 55% rise in the finding of mood deficits, and some of the most common emotions connected to sleep duration are those of positive moods followed by anger, depression and anxiety.
“My mood is very dependent on my sleep,” Yonga said. “I’ve found I need at least six hours to get through the day. I’m generally in a better mood and participate more when I sleep better. Otherwise, I’m pretty grumpy and doze off more.”
In the article written by sleep coach Sharon Brandwein on Sleepopolis, participating in extracurricular activities can have positive impacts on academic achievement and social skills, but can also lead to overscheduling, being overly busy can cause teenagers to not get their right amount of sleep. This causes poor academic performance, irritability, frequent illnesses and lack of social time.
“For me, if I don’t get enough sleep I can definitely be less active throughout the day or I feel irritated,” Rico said. “I’m normally a very upbeat and energetic person and being in a sport that’s constantly using up all that energy working out, I’ve realized if I get no sleep on those nights, not only am I feeling lazy, but it makes it really hard for me to carry out through practice without wanting to stop midway, or feel like I don’t want to be there at all.”
