![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)
As someone who searches for chicken tenders on every restaurant menu, I feel qualified to rank my favorite chicken from fast-food restaurants from best to worst. After going out and trying solely the chicken nuggets or tenders from each fast-food restaurant, they received a rating. These ratings are based on the quality of the restaurant’s food and the time that it took to produce it. Overall, I have come to the conclusion that the fried chicken available within the Cedar Park area is nothing short of amazing.
1. Chick-Fil-A, $11.49 for a meal
Ascending to heaven is the only appropriate feeling to have whenever eating Chick-Fil-A nuggets. The crunchy crust and warm, tender inside makes Chick-Fil-A nuggets the best in town, if not the world. However, what sets Chick-Fil-A apart from the rest is the plethora of sauces available for customers to choose from. On top of the classic sauces, there is also Zesty Buffalo sauce and the signature Chick-Fil-A sauce that adds an extra boost of flavor to the already-amazing nuggets. I would like to rate these a 1000/10, but, for the purpose of keeping ratings accurate, I give Chick-Fil-A nuggets a 10/10.
2. Raising Cane’s, $9.49 for a meal
Alongside the mouth-watering garlic bread, Raising Cane’s—more commonly known as just Cane’s—has the best chicken tenders possibly ever. Similar to Chick-Fil-A, Cane’s Sauce makes the chicken even better than it already is originally. Many, however, complain that sometimes Cane’s chicken tenders can be overly greasy. But, isn’t a little grease the point of eating chicken tenders? In my personal opinion, I absolutely love Cane’s chicken tenders and will always be down for a late-night Cane’s run (especially since they’re open until midnight). For this reason, I give Cane’s chicken tenders an 8/10.
3. McDonald’s, $6.70 for a meal
Despite the stigma that McDonald’s receives, the quality of their chicken nuggets is stellar considering the time frame they are produced in. Additionally, McDonald’s recently brought back their signature spicy chicken nuggets, which provide customers with another amazing option to choose from. A classic six count Happy Meal will truly make anyone over the moon with joy as they indulge in chicken nuggets that taste like childhood. Considering all of this—and the perfectly golden, crispy fries—I give McDonald’s chicken nuggets a 7/10.
4. Whataburger, $9.19 for a meal
Contrary to most other fast-food restaurants, Whataburger makes all of their food fresh to the order, thus, you would think their chicken tenders would be superior to the rest. The unique, soft breading of Whataburger chicken tenders is what makes it special considering most other chicken tenders are crunchy and greasy. However, Whataburger chicken tenders are soft and chewy, which makes them stellar in my opinion. One of the major downsides to Whataburger, though, is the amount of time that it takes to receive your order. If I were rating solely based on the chicken tenders, I would give Whataburger an 8/10, however, since the time it takes to leave the drive-thru is substantial, I have to rate Whataburger an overall 6/10.
5. Sonic, $6.29 for a meal
Up until this article, I had never personally had Sonic chicken tenders. While there wasn’t a high expectation, Sonic chicken tenders still greatly disappointed me. It felt as if the chicken tenders had been sitting under a heat lamp for a good while, considering when I received them they were only warm on the outside but the chicken itself was cold (which did not make for a good experience). The one redeeming quality about Sonic chicken tenders was the crunchy crust and soft inside, which almost made up for the unbalanced temperatures. On top of this, Sonic also took about 20 minutes to deliver my order to my car, which is absolutely absurd for solely chicken tenders. For these reasons, I rate Sonic chicken tenders a 4/10.
