![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)
SXSW Offers Music, Art at Annual Festival
April 21, 2017
The city of Austin was crammed to its max over spring break while it hosted the annual South by Southwest festival, where people from across the globe came to enjoy music, famous public speakers and a variety of conferences.
South by Southwest (SXSW) can be a confusing festival to navigate, with six different types of activities to participate in during the festival, including a gaming conference, film festival screenings and a comedy festival.
The highlight of SXSW for most was the wide mixture of bands and music genres presented at the festival, with over 20 different types of music and over one-thousand music performers in Austin during spring break. Junior Eric Melendez attended this year’s SXSW festival and participated in some of the music venues the festival had to offer included many rappers. Melendez was able to attend performances by OT Genasis, Gucci Mane and lil Yatchy, and has some suggestions for those who are interested in similar performances during future SXSW festivals.
“If you are interested in the rap stuff, then the platinum pass is best for you,” Melendez said.
The platinum pass was the highest pass the festival had to offer. The platinum pass is used for beating the crowds of SXSW to attend the most popular venues at the festival. Melendez accounts his experience with the pass.
“I had a platinum pass so [the crowd] wasn’t as bad,” Melendez said.
Art galleries and many variety of arts and artists were also popular events during the festival. SXSW had a wide range of different artist and art styles, all the way from printer Cleon Peterson to surreal artist David Lynch. Teacher Leslie Lippe attended a few of these art galleries during the festival.
“I went to the Austin Convention Center and the flatstock poster art show is there,” Lippe said, “It’s artists that do poster art from all over the world that come to town and show their work.”
Along with plenty of popular, paid-for events that take up most of the festival, SXSW also offers a way for people to enjoy the festivities in downtown Austin without emptying their wallets by including a selection of events and activities for the general public to participate in completely for free. Sophomore Jordan Deyo attended events hosted by Waterloo records where she participated in a completely free music venue that included many different bands and music genres.
“There were a lot of sponsor booths giving out free stuff,” Deyo said. “‘Monster’ was giving out free drinks and people were giving out stickers and lots of cool stuff. I only spent $20 the entire day and that was on food.”
The annual SXSW festival at Austin has a plethora of events, venues and conferences to enjoy, ranging from free music festivals all the way to art venues and galleries.
“I think [SXSW] is a wonderful opportunity for the local community and the worldwide community to see the different talent from around the world and emerging artists from around the world,” Lippe said.
