![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)
Nobody’s blue at Blues on the Green
![Clapping along to the beat while Rise Against The Storm plays at Blues On The Green on Aug 12 is junior Deirdre Wolf. Wolf met up with some friends at the festival and enjoyed listening to the music with them. “I was actually flying in from New York the same day, so I got off of the plane and immediately headed to Zilker Park,” Wolf said. “Where I met up with a good handful of current and past CPHS students. Shakey Graves was my favorite [performance] hands down, his music is simultaneously original while also being comfort music. I have a vivid memory of us all sweating in silence, fanning each other and waiting for the sun to go down.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/deirdre-wolf.jpg)
Clapping along to the beat while Rise Against The Storm plays at Blues On The Green on Aug 12 is junior Deirdre Wolf. Wolf met up with some friends at the festival and enjoyed listening to the music with them. “I was actually flying in from New York the same day, so I got off of the plane and immediately headed to Zilker Park,” Wolf said. “Where I met up with a good handful of current and past CPHS students. Shakey Graves was my favorite [performance] hands down, his music is simultaneously original while also being comfort music. I have a vivid memory of us all sweating in silence, fanning each other and waiting for the sun to go down.”
September 14, 2015
This summer marked the 25th annual celebration of Blues On The Green, a traditional series of concerts that are free to attend and star some big names in music. This year’s concerts took place on June 3, July 22, Aug 5, and Aug 12. Some of the artists included Walter Lukens, Kaleo, Bob Schneider, Rise Against The Storm and Shakey Graves. Graves was a popular choice for many music-lovers, and a favorite of junior Deirdre Wolf, who got up close and personal with Graves at this year’s festival.
“After Graves’s set, when I was talking to one of the security personnel, he said ‘You know what? If you go backstage, you’ll meet him. No one will stop you,’” Wolf said. “When I met him, he was really quiet, almost timid, but he was really sweet. I had assumed from the fact that he’s a reasonably big music star and from his mildly angry Twitter, that he’d be a big, talkative character offstage.”
The performance by Shakey Graves on Aug 12 was also greatly enjoyed by junior Paris Varnier.
“During the performances by Graves and Rise Against The Storm, my friends and I were at the front of the crowd,” said Varnier. It was really cool because you could see and hear really well and you could take pictures of the crowd from the front.”
You may be wondering “Who is Graves?” or “What is it that makes Graves the favorite choice of so many concert-goers?” Wolf believes it’s due to his relatable, yet original, music style.
“Graves’s music is a mix between blues, country, rock, and Americana,” said Wolf. “What I like most is that his music is simultaneously really original sounding, while also being comfort music. It sounds like your best friend’s cool older brother’s band while maintaining enough professionalism to appear on a big stage.”
While Shakey Graves is relatively popular, everyone has their own taste. There were many bands who played music from several genres, senior Ayan Alomari found Kaleo to be her personal favorite.
“They’re an alternative band from Iceland,” Alomari said. “They have a unique range in musical style that makes them so appealing. Plus, the lead singer is pretty cute.”
Blues On The Green is about friends and listening to music with others who appreciate and relate to it the same way you do. Most people enjoy meeting others who share their interests and opinions, including Alomari.
“I went with all of my best friends and we did some of the wazoo dancing and beach ball passing,” said Alomari. “My favorite moment was when Jamestown Revival was playing ‘California,’ and me and my friends started belting along, the people around us stared, then nodded in acceptance and belted it with us.”
![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)
