![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)
![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)
All That Racket
Varsity Tennis Finishes Third in District
Focused on the game, senior captain Katie Tran prepares to hit a ball in a match against Leander High School. Varsity Tennis now moves to prepare for their spring season, which is more about individual playing, while the fall is more team-oriented. “Our season went great,” Tran said. “We finished third in district after winning against Leander, who we lost to earlier in the season, which felt really good.”
November 1, 2022
They all sit nervously on the bleachers as they watch their teammate step onto the court, waiting for the first match of the day to begin. When the tournament starts, they all cheer with excitement as their teammates face the biggest match of the day, which determines the team that will win.
Tennis finishes their season with a third place finish in district play. They have finished their fall season and will now begin to prepare for their spring season. Both varsity girls and boys tennis worked together throughout the season as a whole program to earn wins in district.
“My favorite thing about the team would definitely be the way that we support each other,” junior Julie Richter said. “Every tournament and game, whenever someone is done with their match, they go over to cheer on others who are playing. It’s a team-oriented sport in the fall.”
The team’s biggest goal was to finish in the top three teams in the district. Their fall season record was 7-3 and they achieved their goals by finishing third with a win against Leander High School, which was the number one seeded team.
“Fall is our team tennis season, which is when we all work together to get 10 wins before the other team does,” Richter said. “We all fought hard and worked together to get those wins for our team so we could celebrate together.”
During practice, they rally each other, which helps them stay consistent during real games. They also utilize a ball machine which assists them with perfecting their technique. By playing against one another, they are able to work on strategies for the game and work on strengthening the mental part of the game.
“Our team was constantly motivating and pushing each other to work hard every day at practice,” senior captain Katie Tran said. “During matches we would all go cheer on whoever was playing and it was such a good feeling to see the immense support we had for each other.”
During the first round of playoffs, they all worked towards getting 10 wins to win the game but fell short. Their playoff season ended in bi-districts in playoffs, and now they are starting to prepare for the spring season.
“This team has a strong bond,” Tran said. “We often went to team dinners after matches, and despite winning or losing we were always laughing with each other and having lots of fun. This season I was just trying to have fun and enjoy tennis and not really worry about winning or losing too much and I feel I achieved that this season.”
![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-300x201.jpg)
