![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)
![Sitting at a desk past the rows of books laid out for the Book Fair, senior Kimberley Walters assists people in purchasing books and finding titles. The Book Fair is taking place Dec. 16 through Dec. 20, and is an annual event during which students and faculty have the opportunity to go and purchase books and other trinkets in the library. Kimberley said she encourages all to go to the Book Fair, even if they think they don’t like to read. “If you make reading something that is fun for you and you find the things that you like to read, it will never be a chore,” Walters said. “So [the Book Fair is] a good opportunity to find something that will respark your want to read [like] when you were a child and you went to the book fair and you loved the ‘I survived’ books. Maybe you'll find your ‘I survived’ books of your high school experience, and it'll re-spark that kind of love for reading that may have died out.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Addie-L-47-1200x800.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)
![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)
![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)
![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)
For the average band student, the end of marching season is a harbinger for the dismal road ahead. It is a return to the daily routine of high school and the monotonous drone of reality. Beyond the fast paced life of marching season, a slow return to “normal life” is a painful experience. The days of lost sleep, limited personal and social lives, the pile-up of homework, and the development of a “band family” all contribute to a band nerd’s unwillingness to move on. Deprivation can have damaging effects on the psyche. Separation from such a highly invested, time-consuming activity drives many to develop a dangerous and volatile addiction.
The path to marching band addiction follows the many tragic storylines of dependence. First there is initial experimentation (eighth grade night/ summer band); abuse (fall marching season); and most unfortunately, addiction (the complete devotion of life to band activity). If you started reading this article because the words “marching band” made a prominent appearance, then this program is for you.
Step 1-Admittance: Admit to yourself and everyone you know that you have a serious problem. Acknowledging your dependence on marching band will weaken the hold of this “casual addiction.” While thinking that the love of such a wonderful past time is hurting no one, this thought couldn’t be further from the truth. The endless discussions concerning band activities are proven to numb the minds of all people in the vicinity. The draining of parental funds, due to a constant need for band paraphernalia, is also highly detrimental to the economical health of others.
Step 2-Intervention: Deciding to do something about a marching band addiction. “My addiction is unhealthy. Marching band is not the only thing in life. I can move on.” The words are difficult to swallow but they are the gateway to a lifetime of independence. You have a problem and it needs to be addressed now, if not sooner. The faster this dilemma is resolved, the faster you can become an actual asset to society and less of a band-oriented black mark on the face of it.
Step 3-Asking for Help: Asking for help out of your personal darkness does not make you weak. Withdrawal is a difficult and trying time; having a friend to depend on can help you resist cravings and moments of weakness. Backsliding is successfully curtailed when a stringent, severe, personality is riding you at every turn. A swift kick to any major body part is an amazing healing “tool” for the relapse prone and healing challenged. This type of therapy is, of course, impossible without some sort of friendly assistance so get your more violent friends involved (through preferably not the ones in your band family).
Step 4-Making Amends: Apologize to all of the people you’ve hurt, maimed, enraged, and annoyed because of your vice. The ones you love deserve the same care and attention you have foolishly dedicated to a seasonal activity. A constant need for rides at ridiculous hours of the day and night; a substantial drain on the fiscal well-being of your family; and of course, a gratuitous amount of irritating band talk, debating about music, technique and various other band-nerdy stuff, and the basic marching madness following the experience of a marching season. Your annoyingness demands an immediate apology. Beg for forgiveness!
Step 5-New Beginnings: Involve yourself in activities outside of the marching band. These cannot include anything dealing with the viewing or general enjoyment of any forms of band related goodness; try a real sport for a change. Some much needed athletic activity on your part can open the mind to all sorts of possibilities. Join a club, talk to your family, do your homework in a timely manner; these are excellent uses for all of the free time opening up. Since marching band is over for the year, invest your time in more worthwhile things. Being an actual asset to society can be fun.
Step 6-Redemption: Set yourself free from the cold claws of the marching band vice. Live without the degrading label of band-nerd. No longer will you feel the compulsive need to walk in time with people around you, to dress lines that you stand in, or find key changes and time signatures in music on the radio. You can now stop calling the band hall home, and for once, pay to get into a football game. Learn the lyrics to the thousands of stand-tunes you’ve played, and, maybe even stop sitting at the “band table” in the cafeteria.
Step 7-Awakening: Spread the word of your miracle to others in the band community and challenge the established order of the marching world. More importantly, stay clean. Marching band is a cunning temptress and it is impossibly easy to fall into her clutches. Avoid other band children until you are sure you can discuss topics outside the realm of band. The patterns of initial intoxication, tolerance, and dependence develop all too rapidly in the marching band deprived. Explore all of the fascinating opportunities high school has to offer and revel in your cured addiction (at least until next marching season).
Used to their highest potential, these easy steps can move even the most devoted of band followers into the bright lights of salvation. Although the outcome is never guaranteed, the simple presentation of self-help advice may be enough to shock the systems of band members into analyzing their destructive behaviors. Hopefully, society can finally be rid of the annoying and ever-present marching band addicts, and we can all finally rest our aching ears.
