![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)
As a Broadway musical girl, “Wicked” was one of my most anticipated movies of 2024. After having seen it twice on Broadway, I knew that this was something that I was going to want to be the first to see. On Friday, Nov. 22, I found myself sitting in a reclining chair and sipping on an ice cold Dr Pepper, ready to get my life changed. I ended up watching it another two times. I feel like after watching it three times, I have the expertise to fully dive into this movie.
I would like to start off by saying that I supported this movie as soon as it was announced. I know that a lot of people, especially huge Broadway fans like me, were scared with how this movie was going to turn out. With all of the promotion and the cast, everyone was scared that it was not going to amount to the actual musical. I will say that I was a little nervous, but mostly curious as to how this movie was going to turn out, and I was not disappointed.
For those that don’t know the plot of “Wicked,” it’s basically a villain origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz.” It goes through her time in magic school, the relationships that she built and overall how she became hated throughout Oz. I think another reason that “Wicked” is one of my favorites is because I love a good prequel.
Going into the movie, I knew the plot which allowed me to get to focus on other aspects of it. I think that the most obvious part that stood out to me was the music. It’s so difficult to even approach Broadway powerhouses like Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth. I think that the casting of this movie was what made it so phenomenal. Casting Cynthia Erivo, who has won an Emmy, Grammy and a Tony could not have made this movie more perfect. In addition to that, casting Ariana Grande (who literally started out on Broadway, was in Victorious and has one of the most successful music careers in the world) made this movie so extraordinary. Both of their voices are so powerful and I think that they did the original so much justice. Their voices blend together while hitting notes that don’t even seem humanly possible, all while taking on the roles of these complex and nuanced characters. I just can’t get over it. The soundtrack to this movie has literally been on repeat for weeks.
Another thing about this movie that I love is the attention to detail. Not only with the sets, but also just with how the actors portray the emotions of the characters. I feel like this attention to detail was really emphasized by the directors and it paid off. I feel like a lot of people were not the happiest about the length of the movie, especially because it’s only the first part of “Wicked.” The movie is 2 hours and 40 minutes long which is definitely pretty lengthy for a musical. I actually really like how long the movie is, not just because it’s entertaining and goes by quickly. It really allowed for a better understanding and a representation of the complexities of this movie because it really is a lot more layered than it seems. Overall, I think that the length is necessary to the movie.
One thing that people didn’t really know about until after the movie is that the story is split into two parts. Just like at the actual Broadway theater, there will be an “intermission” of one year. The second part of “Wicked” will be coming out around Thanksgiving next year. While it sucks that we have to wait a full year for the second part, I already know that they are going to give us the best performance possible. Splitting the movie into two parts really lets them focus on every detail that could be missed in the actual theater production. It also lets the dialogues and funny bits last longer and it even lets them add fun little cameos (if you know, you know).
Overall, I think that the “Wicked” movie not only exceeded my expectations, but it literally changed me for the better. If you’re looking for a movie that will make you rethink everything and be more positive, then this movie is for you. If you can hold space for the powerful meaning of this movie, then I can promise that you will be “dancing through life” after watching this.
I give this movie 10/10 stars!
