![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)
![Students drew chalk art in honor of Veterans day. This is just one of many things the school does to show appreciation to veterans, and the art will remain in the courtyard as a reminder of all of the veterans who served their country. “On veteran’s day, I think it’s a great thing we do at school to honor people that served [who are] at our school or family members,” English teacher and cheer coach Nadira King said. “It makes me feel proud, and it makes me remember the [veterans].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Capture.png)
![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)
![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)
![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)
![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)
![Smiling at the camera, the Varsity Tennis team celebrates winning districts. They played against Liberty Hill on Tuesday night and won with a final score of 10- 5. “We improved a lot even from the last game,” senior Blake Hillis said. “We lost against them the last time we played [Liberty Hill], but it was really close. It was just really important for us to win this match since it was the district finals. [When we won I felt] overwhelmingly happy, especially being there with my teammates and it being my senior year. It was just really great. It [felt] like a community.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Tennis-Districts-e1728060882260.png)
The tennis ball is a flash of neon green as both teams volley it back and forth. Teammates, parents, and coaches cheer for the athletes as they watch their hard work and determination pay off on the court.
On Tuesday, Sept. 3, the varsity tennis team had their final district match against Liberty Hill. Overall, the team won with a score of 10-5. Senior Mitchell Allen-Barnhart played singles and line one doubles.
“Everything just kind of clicked,” Allen-Barnhart said. “Our serves [were] going in, our volleys were going in, and I was playing very smart and very consistent. Personally, I have had a lot of beef with Liberty Hill since sophomore year as they are a very disrespectful and rude team. So beating Liberty Hill, it felt really nice senior year to finally just give them one last win [against them].”
The team recently changed their lineup to make the mixed team stronger. Allen-Barnhart said he and his doubles partner, senior Michael Anthony, struggled with the change at first but played well against Liberty Hill.
“On the bus ride there, I was listening to music, just trying to stay focused,” Allen-Barnhart said. “Once we got there, Michael and I took a long time warming up, making sure our strokes felt good, making sure our volleys were good. We were very careful and we thought through everything before we went out and played.”
Junior Irene Jin won both of her doubles matches. To prepare for her match, she worked to stay hydrated and listened to the coach’s pep talks.
“There was one [pep talk where] the coach said that we had to win this time,” Jin said. “The other team had made some comments about one of our teammates a year before and I think that [the coach’s pep talk] really motivated [me] to not let them get under my skin.”
This is the second time Cedar Park has beat Liberty Hill in the district finals and become District Champions.
“I was kind of in shock,” Jin said. “I didn’t expect it to happen. I was watching one of the other matches when our number-one boy Dylan won and we all just started jumping up and down and celebrat[ing].”
Senior Blake Hillis played doubles, and although she lost her first set, she and her doubles partner came back and won the second set and the super tiebreaker of the match.
“We improved a lot even from the last game,” Hillis said. “We lost against them the last time we played [Liberty Hill], but it was really close. It was just really important for us to win this match since it was the district finals. [When we won I felt] overwhelmingly happy, especially being there with my teammates and it being my senior year. It was really great.”
Liberty Hill is known for being a hard team to play against, according to Hillis.
“They’re definitely a mental challenge with how they play the game,” Hillis said. “Coach wanted to make sure that when we were there we played our best and didn’t let them get to us. [The hardest part of the match] was coming out of the first set losing and having to really [get] back in the game..”
To prepare the team to go against Liberty Hill, Coach Ballenger trained his players on the mental side of the game.
“I know those big crucial games [are] really emotional and when you’re in the middle of it, you really need to just be in it,” Ballenger said. “In those crucial moments there’s going to be a time [when] you’re so frustrated. You can’t dwell on that, because you can’t change what just happened but you can change what is going to happen.”
The athletes on the varsity tennis team did a good job applying what they learned in practice to their district match, Ballenger says.
“They were so locked-in and ready to play,” Ballenger said. “They did what I asked them to do from the start and all the way to finish. [It felt] incredible to [watch them win]. I was so proud of them, they made my job easy. They were just doing what we’ve been working on and what we’ve been practicing by ourselves. I was super proud of them.”
Varsity tennis will compete in their Bi-District Playoff match on Oct. 7 against Smithson Valley High School in Wimberly.
