![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)
Starting the Year Off Right
PALS Welcome New Students Over Zoom
Holding up either the number one or two, PALs and new students play “Would You Rather.” The welcome meeting was held on Aug. 29 during DEN and was an opportunity for new transfer students to be greeted by PALs. “My favorite part of the meeting was going into different breakout rooms and playing ice breaker games,” senior PAL Kristen Hines said. “Seeing new students open up and having a fun time made the whole meeting a success.”
August 31, 2020
Starting the new school year can be hard, especially when students, new and returning, haven’t even set foot in the high school building. Virtual school has been a challenging experience for everyone, from every staff member to every student. Instead of dealing with getting lost in the halls or walking into the wrong class, connectivity issues or some other technology problem arises instead.
However, despite the chaos, PALs teacher Jared Lippe organized a meeting over Zoom during DEN on Aug. 29 for new students to get to know one another as well as get to know PALs and play games together.
“Moving to a new school can be such a challenging experience, especially in this season of life right now,” Lippe said. “It is up to us all to continue to create a welcoming environment for everybody and work together to support and encourage our amazing CPHS community together.”
With around a total of 50 people, the Zoom meeting consisted of a few new students as well as PALs members. Activities included watching a Cedar Park hype video, talking to one another in breakout rooms and playing games such as “Would You Rather.”
“I thought the meeting was really fun,” senior PAL Davis Perron said. “Mr. Lippe always does a great job making these types of events fun and this was no exception. I loved talking to other PALS and getting to know just a few more fun facts about each person.”
The purpose of the meeting was to induce new transfer students to CPHS and hopefully ease their concerns or worries they had about the new year, according to senior PAL Kristen Hines. PALs are meant to be positive people and be a mentor to others, and welcoming new students to the school community is part of their job.
“[Being a PAL means] you do things to help your community and are always willing to go the extra mile for someone in need,” Hines said. “The purpose of PALs is to spread happiness and positivity through people. We are leaders, and want to make an impact on those around us.”
With a positive experience at the meeting, it has been discussed that there is a possibility of PALs hosting more events similar to this one in the future, but nothing is concrete yet. They would like to do something for the incoming freshmen class as well as for new transfer students.
“[One thing] I do know [is] that PALs are here for all students and our community, and if ideas are presented we will find a way to make it work and have fun while doing so,” Hines said.
