![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)
![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)
Lady Timberwolves Basketball Season Preview
Young Team Has Eyes on Another District Championship
![Warming up before practice, varsity captain, junior Nicole Leff, prepares for the Lady Timberwolves' first game. The team has been practicing since early August to prepare for their tough preseason schedule. "[The team] is dedicated to making everyone the best they can be," Leff said. "And to ensure that happens, we come into every practice with a positive attitude and a willingness to work hard."](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CallieCopeland-24-1-900x600.jpg)
Warming up before practice, varsity captain, junior Nicole Leff, prepares for the Lady Timberwolves’ first game. The team has been practicing since early August to prepare for their tough preseason schedule. “[The team] is dedicated to making everyone the best they can be,” Leff said. “And to ensure that happens, we come into every practice with a positive attitude and a willingness to work hard.”
With over 40 program wins last season and an undefeated district title under their belt, the Lady Timberwolves basketball team began their first full week of practice last Monday. Varsity captain, junior Nicole Leff, said they are working to repeat last year’s successful season.
“I’m looking forward to going 14-0 and being district champs again,” Leff said. “Our team is dedicated to making everyone the best they can be, and to ensure that happens we come into every practice with a positive attitude and a willingness to work hard.”
Part of what Leff said makes their team successful is their close bond, from pranking each other in the locker room to making music videos at tournaments. However, she said that they never fail to get down to business during practice.
“Even when we stretch it’s pretty intense,” Leff said. “It helps us get focused for our warm-up drills and individual drills that we do.”
Senior captain Pujita Shukla said that every practice starts with warm-ups and individually-focused drills, followed by scrimmaging and practicing potential game situations.
“At first, [in preseason] we conditioned a lot and went to the weight room,” Shukla said. “And now we go over more offensive and defensive breakdown drills, which is everyone’s favorite part of practice.”
Shukla said that everything is followed by running punishments- every free throw missed, scrimmage lost and each drill not finished in a certain time. Even when a drill is completed or a scrimmage is won, Shukla said the team has to “verify” the win with a made free throw.
“Last year we got more in shape because of [the running], and this year it’s more about the competition part of it,” Shukla said. “Because we know that there is running for everything, there is more of a drive to succeed and not have the punishment.”
Another aspect of the game that the team has been working on since Coach Donny Ott arrived is communication on the court. Coach Ott said this year’s team is more vocal in practice and that he sees a tighter bond between the players.
“There is a certain level of ‘we know what it takes to be here, so we need to make sure we practice that way,’” Coach Ott said. “I feel like there is a maturity level on this team that I love.”
Apart from looking forward to last year’s returning players improve, Coach Ott said that he is excited for the younger players to make their mark. Sophomore Alisa Knight is a first-year varsity starter and said that she is looking forward to contributing spirit and energy to the team.
“I hope to be a leader by being vocal on the court,” Knight said. “I want to encourage younger generations to work hard in practice, play as a team and work individually outside of practice.”
Knight is one of the five players new to varsity competition, and one returning varsity player, junior Addie Dawson, said that she is hopeful they will adjust to the new level of play and become assets to the team.
“[The team] is definitely younger,” Dawson said. “But with the lack of experience, we have more spirit and determination to do or to exceed what we did last year.”
Leff, Shukla, Knight and Dawson all said that the main obstacle in the way of another record-breaking season is one of the Lady Timberwolves’ district opponents, the Pflugerville Lady Panthers.
“They have a Division-1 post and they just recruited a really good guard,” Shukla said. “But we are not afraid of them even though they are big competition because our practices are geared to win against anyone we face.”
Coach Ott, however, said that the team’s greatest obstacle is not an opponent they will meet in preseason tournaments, district games or even playoffs.
“The toughest team we’ll face is us,” Coach Ott said. “Mentally, we have got to believe that we can beat Pflugerville. Inevitably it comes down to the kids- the kids have got to believe that.”
The Lady Timberwolves will compete in their first tournament of the regular season this week in Burleson. Their preseason and district schedule can be found here.
Callie is a senior here at Cedar Park High School and this is her first year on staff. She's involved in multiple honor societies, including being the President of NEHS, she plays on the varsity basketball team, and she is the President of Ping Pong Club! She enjoys writing human interest stories and keeping people updated with the goings-ons of the school. In her free time, she watches countless hours of The Office and plays with her two miniature poodles. She plans on going to college but is currently undecided on what she will major in and what she will do with her life.
