![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)
The game was against the McNeil Mavericks. During the pre-season experts analyzed the Timberwolves, and predicted their ability to contend in the State Playoffs. Cedar Park opened with Westlake. The Westlake Chaparrals upset the Timberwolves, beating them 24-14. Questioning the Timberwolves talent, Central Texas sports critics bashed the players and coaching staff.
The next week, Cedar Park faced the Temple Wildcats and one of the top running backs in the country, Lache Seastrunk. Nine out of the fourteen schools he’s got offers from rank in the Associated Press top 25. Cedar Park went into the game the underdog, and within the first two minutes Seastrunk showed off his talent when he gained major yards for the Wildcats. Despite his miraculous run, for the duration of the game Seastrunk wasn’t mentioned. Cedar Park beat the Wildcats on the road 28-14.
Following the Temple victory Cedar Park faced Lake Travis. Lake Travis is the two time defending state champions. This was Cedar Park’s first chance to play the Lake Travis Cavaliers without quarterback Garrett Gilbert, who now plays for the University of Texas. His replacement, Michael Brewer, has proven himself and is doing as well as Gilbert, and continues to lead the Cavs to victory. Lake Travis hasn’t lost a game since 2007. In defeating Lake Travis, Cedar Park could prove themselves as a top state contender. Throughout the game Cedar Park’s offense was shut down, as Lake Travis’ Michael Brewer threw for a total of 366 yards, as opposed to Cedar Park’s Nathan Thornhill’s 75 yards. In the end, nothing could stop the Cavaliers from coming out on top yet again, with a score 54-17.
After the devastating loss against Lake Travis, Cedar Park encountered the Georgetown Eagles. Having not won a game thus far in the season, Georgetown was hoping for their first victory. Throughout the game, Cedar Park made up for their previous loss. The Black Rain defense stopped the Eagle’s passing game, making their quarterback Ian McCoig run all night, placing Georgetown out of their element. Holmes Onwukaife and Collin Middleton both sacked McCoig, which helped Cedar Park’s offense get back on the field quicker. Onwukaife blocked a punt, which provided Cedar Park great field position to score. Timberwolf quarterback Nathan Thornhill became his old self again, passing for 424 yards. He looked like a running back leading the Timberwolves with 201 rushing yards. Cedar Park came out on top 51-13.
Cedar Park’s homecoming game was Friday October 2nd, against the McNeil Mavericks. The Homecoming game is always a must win game for every football team. Fortunately, Cedar Park took care of business and handled McNeil without a problem. Before the Cedar Park game, the Mavericks were 1-3 on the season, but after their previous win they begin district 16-5A play with a 1-0 record. McNeil has the top Running back in Central Texas Adrian Smith, who going into the matchup had accumulated 800 Rush Yards and 7 touchdowns from the start of the season. Smith however, had to face Holmes Onwukaife and the Black Rain defense. Onwukaife is one of the best Linebackers in the nation, and is feared by every offense he has come up against. Last year, Holmes got nine sacks over the course of the season. Onwukaife is a Florida State commit, and continues to prove the Seminoles right in their choice of recruiting him. On the offensive side for Cedar Park, had quarterback Nathan Thornhill who has significantly improved his game and continues to expand his skills. He resembles University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, as Thornhill ran for six touchdowns prior to the McNeil game. The Timberwolves contained multiple options at running back with Darren Thornhill and Brad Willard, who had both scored throughout the season. Besides Adrian Smith, McNeil was accompanied with Quarterback Cole Smith who this season is the only returning quarterback that was a starter last year. Cedar Park acquired a huge advantage with the crowd on its side. With that Friday being homecoming, the fans were extra loud and rowdy, which was just what the doctor ordered for Cedar Park. The Timberwolves got off to an awesome start in district and with the support of their fans behind them, are bound to keep improving their record.
Cedar Park was favored in the game, and together the team beat the Mavs 41-14. Go Cedar Park!
