![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)
Girls Basketball Looks to Roll into the Playoffs
Senior Chika Onyia shoots a free throw during Cedar Park’s game against Pflugerville on Nov. 8.
January 30, 2017
As the spring semester rolls on, the girls basketball team is hard at work, cruising through their schedule along the way. With a 23-9 record, the Lady Wolves are enjoying another successful season, this time under first-year head coach Jessica Smith, who took over for Mark Myers shortly before the season’s commencement. The team has emphasized the importance of team chemistry and togetherness this year, getting behind Coach Smith and rallying to string together several periods of winning basketball.
Coach Smith marveled at some of her players’ abilities to stay strong through so much change.
“I think everyone on the team has done a great job bringing the team together and supporting one another,” Smith said. “Our focus has always been on us as a team. We couldn’t be where we are today without one of our twelve players.”
Opening the season with a shocking upset of then 6A #9 Westwood in an overtime thriller, Cedar Park won ten of their first twelve games, including a convincing victory over Vandegrift. After a string of tough games against top-notch opponents like Ft. Worth Boswell and Waco Midway, the team opened district play dominantly, beating Hutto by over 50 points. Overall, the team is 10-2 in district, sitting second behind district undefeated Georgetown. With two league losses by a mere combined nine points, the Timberwolves are still very much in play for a district championship.
Unlike many other teams in the area, Cedar Park boasts a cleverly balanced varsity roster. With six underclassmen and six upperclassmen, the Lady Wolves are poised for immediate success, and look to be a promising squad in the future. Senior Cami Rettinger reinforced the importance of this balance.
“It’s important to balance because the more experienced players help the ones who are younger,” Rettinger said. “It allows them to get better and also prepare for the coming years they play.”
Even with so many changes at the helm of the program, the team still has high aspirations for the season. Still within reach of a district championship and a favorable place in the playoffs, the Lady Wolves are looking to continue their dominant district play. Getting contributions from all four grade levels, this team looks poised, not only to make way in the playoffs this year, but also to continue to make deep runs into the postseason for many years to come.
“We strive to play united as a team, with a goal of playing 100 percent every single time we walk out onto the court,” freshman forward Nicole Leff said. “We are also very excited for the playoffs and the journey ahead.”
The Timberwolves beat Hutto this past Tuesday in a nail-biter, 47-44. Their next home game, the last of the season, is Friday, Feb. 3, against district-topping Georgetown. The colossal matchup with district title implications will tip-off at 7 p.m. at the Timberdome.
![Smiling during the annual Decals with Dads, varsity starting quarterback and sophomore David Cooper and his dad Jim Cooper pose for a picture. During this varsity event, players and their dads get together to put new decals on their helmets. This year, in addition to being announced QB 1, David was also voted as one of six captains on the varsity team, a role that he had difficulty adjusting to as a younger player on varsity. “It was a struggle for me, being younger than everyone else and being a leader,” David said. “I wondered if [the team] would respect me, or if they would just see me as a younger person from a younger class. I think I've become a leader, [though] and let people know that even though I'm younger, I'm still going to lead them well.” Photo courtesy of Cedar Park Football SmugMug.](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG_8493-1-300x200.jpg)
