![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)
![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)
![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)
Soloists make their way to perform at UT
June 5, 2015
The winners of the Regional Solo and Ensemble Contest competed at The University of Texas at Austin on May 30. With junior Rachel Cernosek earning a rating of 1, the Outstanding Soloist rating. Cernosek took first place and senior Griffin Northcutt won second at the third level of the Solo & Ensemble contest on May 11, which led them to the regional contest.
“When I found out that I won, I was in disbelief,” Cernosek said. “Because my brother won last year, it was really weird and amazing to finally step out of his shadow. Then after that, my parents took me to get ice cream even though I had an AP test the next day, so that was really exciting to do.”
To get to the finals, the competitors had to go through three stages of the Solo and Ensemble contest. At the first level, the majority of the band passed, then in the second round it was narrowed down to eleven soloists which then became three finalists in the contest. The contest had the entire band participate and perform the solos they have been preparing since summer 2014.
“The hardest part about the contest was practicing for it,” sophomore Chris Knox said. “I love performing and I always have, it was hard to force myself to practice. Other than that, the contest was really fun and really cool to be a part of.”
Others who also participated had the chance to perform at Georgetown High School for the contest.
“Performing at Georgetown was really cool,” junior Tegan Burgess said. “We got to perform in front of some really important judges, like the music directors from Vandegrift High school and the music professor Dr. Thompson from Texas Christian University. Performing in front of them was really fun and to see some of the band’s major role models was amazing.”
The Solo and Ensemble contest is a UIL competition and ties into the Young Solo Artist Contest. Because she won the contest Cernosek received a $300 worth in scholarship money.
“It was really cool to win, I didn’t really expect to it because I actually had memory slips while playing my solo,” Cernosek said. “I for sure thought I wouldn’t get it, so winning was really amazing and I was jumping in my seat.”
