![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)
![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)
![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)
As I enter my freshman year as a theatre student at NYU, I realize that my resumé was an important part of my admission decision. My resumé stated my credentials as an actress, what plays I had done, what roles I played and what skills I learned along the way. If I had a resumé for all the skills I learned in high school, it might look something like this:
Natalie Herzig, age 18: height: 5’ 9”, eyes: blue. Has the ability to study for a test and immediately forget the information afterwards, can be an optimist in even the worst of situations, is a sucker for burrito week, is known for being obsessed with her favorite teachers, can receive the best of advice from her parents and completely ignore it, has learned to look before she leaps, has the ability to be in 15 clubs and still find a way to sleep, can mediate the angriest of friends, can be completely devoted to her fads for the entire 15 minutes they last (i.e. yoyo-ing, Buddhism, roller skating, sewing, Mario Party 3), has learned not to spread herself too thin, can get to school on time in even the latest of mornings, can drive and eat a full meal at the same time, can drive and study for a test at the same time, can drive and get dressed at the same time (just kidding), can, at any moment, embarrass herself, can walk into a room with confidence, can effectively use puff paint, can analyze rhetoric, can calculate velocity, can debrief anyone on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, has learned never to be the late student—to be the late student who brought doughnuts, can save her money, can blow all her money on one thing, can read (and understand) a classic novel in one day’s time, can pretend she wore mismatched shoes on purpose, and face the challenges of college with a lamenting smile.
No matter what is on my college resumé now, these are the skills that will mean most to me in my future. Despite what you may have heard, high school is not just the time to build your college resumé, it is the time to grow and learn about yourself and about life. I would like to say thank you for everyone who helped me acquire the skills that really matter.
