![After placing second in their respective LDEs at the Capital District contest in early November, freshman Jesus Jaramillo-Gallegos and freshman Wyatt Pickett will compete at the Area XII LDE contest in Georgetown on Nov. 23. Jaramillo-Gallegos is competing in Greenhand Spanish Creed Speaking, while Pickett’s LDE is Greenhand Creed Speaking. “Honestly, [I’m excited for] just traveling around, maybe meeting more people,” Jaramillo-Gallegos said. “And [I’m] nervous about probably just not being able to define my weak areas. I feel like I did decent for my first time ever doing this. I just think it’s fun.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Navy-and-Yellow-Simple-Group-Project-Presentation-1200x675.png)
![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)
![Smiling at the camera, sophomore Olivia Mahlmeister and seniors Samantha Jameson, Adhit Eswaramoorthi and Justin Khadavi celebrate completing first chamber in the Congress Meet. All four students advanced to the final chamber. “Out of the 20 kids in the final chamber, we had a seventh, ninth, 11th and 13th, and they took the top four to move on to state,” AP US History and Debate teacher Josh Marsh said. “[Even though] we didn't make state this year, all four of them moving on [and] placing is phenomenal.” Photo courtesy of Josh Marsh](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-Regional-Congress-Team.jpg)
![Holding the Grand Nationals trophies, drum majors Helashi Wijayawardhana, Abigail Pettey and Eddy Kim pose for a photo. The BOA Grand Nationals competition took place in Indianapolis on Nov. 14-17. “My favorite thing was just looking back at the field, and I was like, ‘Oh, crap. I know all of their names, I know who all of them are’,” Wijayawardahana said. “It's just insane to me that I was able to make so many connections. [Being a drum major] taught me how to build relationships with people who I’m not really that similar to, and how to juggle a ton of things all together.”
Photo courtesy of CPHS Band SmugMug](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/AJC.GrandNatsFinals-169-1200x801.jpg)
![Standing in front of a small audience, senior Kimberley Walters shares a social criticism poem titled “Pity the Nation” by Lawrence Felinghetti. Every month, sponsored by the poetry club, the library hosts a poetry reading. “I never thought I would be interested in [poetry readings] because I’m not the biggest poetry fan,” Walters said. “I think poetry is a very succinct way to express feelings and get a story across. Whereas lots of books have a span of a whole story, but it’s put in a lot of words. The power of poetry is that you can be so succinct within, and there’s a lot of power within the words that are used.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KIM-1200x800.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)
![Delicately placing the string to form the shape of a cornucopia, seniors Haley Burton and Avery Nelson create the November arrangement for the Flower of the Month Club. This club is led by Advanced Floral Design Students and provides a monthly arrangement to community members who subscribe to receive them. “I think flower of the month club is a really impactful way to show your loved ones ‘hey I really care about you,’ or even if they’re just for yourself, they’re a little pick-me-up throughout the month that [say] ‘I’m doing ok, and these flowers make my day a little bit brighter,” Nelson said. “I like giving people flowers because people value the flowers more and they value themselves more.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Ava-Holmes-3-edit.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)
![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)
![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)
Triggered Day 4: More Than Mental Illness
Discover the Many Factors That Contributed to Shootings
April 5, 2018
Hearing about the recent shootings, such as the one in Parkland, Florida can be heart-wrenching to many. As more shootings fill the headlines over time, people can go numb to the horror of it all.
With such a collection of data from these events over the past few decades, there is an opportunity to understand the shooters’ motives now, more than ever before.
Politicians and the American people are quick to put the blame on mental health after a shooting, however, there are many factors that go into each violent incident. All the perpetrators were different, from where they grew up, to the quality of their home life.
But differences aside, there are clear similarities. These similarities can help spread awareness and teach what is worth looking out for, in order to prevent these events from occurring in the future.
Descriptions of perpetrators from some of the most well-known shootings can be read in the slideshow below. Know that these descriptions should serve as a guide towards understanding potential shooters, and are not here to glorify them in any way.
There are many similarities between the perpetrators, which can help in identifying potential threats in daily life. Below is a breakdown of the recurring traits.
Mental illness/ health/ personal detail
-Depression, anorexia, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, aggression, psychopathy, pedophilia, severe headaches (tumor), labeled as mute during childhood or as the shy kid, autism, other special education needs
Knowledge of guns
-Military affiliation, taught gun handling as a child, obsession with mass shooting fan sites, collected guns/knives
Hate for the world or the wealthy class, and a possible drive to revolt in some cases
-Thought that the wealthy was selfish, had a hatred towards jocks
Neglect or abuse from parents and other parental details
-Abusive father, lack of medicine accommodation, both parents died
Shows sign of aggression or plan
-Breaks into van, sent suicidal message, consulted qualified therapist, posted opinions/projects on public online blog, wrote about concerning essay topics or drew gory images, made video for school project featuring gun violence toward other students, openly spoke about a complex plan to kill, posted on Youtube about desires to kill, posted concerning/aggressive content on social media, openly supported Hitler and Nazism, multiple FBI reports claiming a potential danger, joked about mass shooting
Between these similarities, the most significant point is that each of them displayed warning signs. A parent of one of the Columbine shooters, Sue Klebold, spoke to The Guardian, saying that “I could see his behaviours were changing. I attributed it to being an adolescent, and it is my deep regret that those behaviours might have indicated something else.” Sometimes the signs aren’t obvious to family members or teachers, but they could be noticed by their peers.
“See Something, Say Something” is a campaign by the Department of Homeland Security, which was created to encourage people to report suspicious activity. This campaign applies to all schools, in that students should look out for and report when something isn’t right.
Lead counselor, Christina Hollander, says in a CPHS News interview with Noah Torr that student input is of great value to the administration.
“Things are going on around us everyday and it’s hard to pay attention to everything, but when you do notice something, it is important to speak out,” Hollander said. “You’re not tattling, you’re helping. You are sometimes saving a life.”
Students spend class time with their peers and scroll through each other’s social media feeds, giving them a better eye for potential issues. Whether it is an aggressive Instagram post or a rumor that someone has a plan to bring a gun to school, it must be reported. Tell a teacher, email an AP or counselor, send an anonymous alert. Regardless of the channel in which it is reported, all that matters is someone is made aware.
“[Spend] less time with your face in your phone and walking around the hallways, and [more time] looking at people and making eye contact and having conversations at lunch so you can really get to know the students around you,” Hollander said.
To submit an anonymous alert, click here.
Knowing When to Get Help Handout via BraveryTips,
Suicide Prevention Handout for Teens via Bluebonnet Trails
For contact information on the counselors, refer down below, or click here.
Christina Hollander, Lead Counselor, Last names A-Bp
512-570-1219
Jacque Pittz, Last names Br-Fl
512-570-1269
James Sullivan, Last names Fo-J
512-570-1220
Kelli Taylor, Last names K-Mi
512-570-1229
Lisa Semper, Last names Mo-Sc
512-570-1221
Thomas Kahlich, Last names Se-Z
512-570-1222
Sources:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/disturbing-things-learned-today-sandy-hook-shooter-adam/story?id=27087140
https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/24/us/sandy-hook-adam-lanza-unsealed-docs/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/24/us/sandy-hook-adam-lanza-unsealed-docs/index.html
https://www.biography.com/people/seung-hui-cho-235991
https://www.biography.com/people/charles-whitman-11495598
![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_8493-1-300x200.jpg)
