![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)
![Taking a breath, senior Parker Huang cuts through the water while swimming the 100 breaststroke at the district meet on Jan. 23. Huang advanced to the regional meet in the 100 fly, 100 breast and 200 medley relay. “It’s been really exciting to see everyone make it [to regionals],” Huang said. “There’s been a lot more people who have been advancing than last year, so it’s really awesome to see that.”
Photo by Skyler King](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/skyler-swim-district.jpg)
![As the support team sits and poses for a photo in the cafeteria with the counseling team they eagerly wait to start their day. "We [all] seem to be a team, I get up every day and there's days where I don't want to go to work today, but I'm thankful that I have a job and I'm blessed to have what I have," Christopherson said. Photo Courtesy of Julie Weltens.](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AF9E8470-10D7-4C91-BF28-EC8F86BAB66C-1200x852.jpeg)
![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)
![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)
![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)
![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)
Standing on the side of the pool, senior Ella Mongenel waits for the sound of the whistle while breathing in the chlorine in the air. She puts her goggles on and takes off her parka. After two sharp sounds, she steps up onto the block. She prepares for the race ahead of her while awaiting the starting whistle. She hears the whistle, and pushing off the block, she dives into the cold pool.
Mongenel and the rest of the team competed at the district meet at Round Rock Aquatic Center on Jan. 23. Twenty-one swimmers advanced to the regional meet, which will take place Feb. 7-8 at Texas A&M University.
“I’m really excited for the regional meet,” Mongenel said. “I’m excited to continue bringing the hype [at regionals] and get some [representation] at state. Hopefully, I’ll [drop time] and get some first place finishes.”
Mongenel, who is committed to swim at The University of Texas, was named the female swimmer of the meet, after placing first in all of her events: 50 free, 100 free, 400 freestyle relay and the 200 medley relay. She swam the medley relay with sophomore Leah Cho, junior Addie Vogan and senior Savanna Williamson and the freestyle relay with Cho, junior Lauren Lucas and freshman Evelyn Richards.
Photo courtesy of CPHS Swim
“[Relays] are really exciting,” Mongenel said. “Realizing that you’re swimming with your teammates, as a team, is super awesome. It’s a lot more hype and chanting for each other. We really look out for each other as a team.”
Senior Parker Huang, one of this season’s team captains, advanced in the 100 fly and 100 breast and 200 medley relay. He swam the fly leg of the boys’ medley relay.
“It’s been really exciting to see everyone make it [to regionals],” Huang said. “There’s been a lot more people who have been advancing than last year, so it’s really awesome to see that.”
Senior Ryder Wilkinson swam the 200 IM, 100 fly and 200 freestyle relay, and advanced in all three events.
“I’m excited to hang out with my friends and swim fast at regionals,” Wilkinson said. “It may be my last meet since I’m a senior, which makes it more important. I’ll probably never see a lot of these people again, so it’ll be cool to share that last moment with my friends.”
