![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)
Recap of the 2016 College Football Season
January 13, 2017
This past Monday, the 2016 college football season drew to a close as Clemson scored with one second left to stun Alabama and win the national championship 35-31. The Tigers prevented the Tide from finishing an undefeated season as Deshaun Watson led his team back, thrashing through the mighty Alabama defense. Now, as we look ahead to next year, here are five things we took from this season.
Clemson is King
Up until the final second of the season, Alabama was, without a doubt, the best team in the nation. This lasted until Clemson scored a touchdown on its final play to beat the Crimson Tide and take the crown. At 14-1, the champion Tigers struggled to tough wins against Auburn and Troy before edging out Louisville, NC State and Florida State. Their only loss came on a last second field goal against Pitt. Through the struggles of the season, quarterback Deshaun Watson and linebacker Ben Boulware stayed constant, leading the Tigers all the way to the College Football Playoff. After a 31-0 drubbing of Ohio State, Clemson took their streak to Tampa to face Alabama, where Boulware and Watson led a gutsy fourth quarter comeback to beat the Tide and win the championship.
Oh So Close for Bama
Alabama was one second away from the perfect season. Up until the fateful match-up in Tampa Bay, Alabama completely rolled over everyone. It began with a 52-6 blowout over then-struggling USC. A few weeks later, the Tide endured their only close encounter of the regular season, outlasting Ole Miss 48-43. The Tide rolled through the SEC, beating top-tier opponents like Tennessee, Texas A&M, LSU and Auburn. After demolishing Florida in the conference championship game, the Tide were put up against Washington in the national semifinal. After putting the Huskies down with a suffocating defensive performance, Alabama went into the championship against Clemson as the favorite, only to be finally beaten by Watson and the Tigers.
One Man Show
Louisville’s sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson put on an individual performance for the ages in 2016. Jackson was responsible for 51 touchdowns this season, running for 21 and throwing 30. He threw for over 3,500 yards, while also picking up over 1,500 yards on the ground, becoming one of only a handful of quarterbacks to accomplish that combination of statistics. Jackson led Louisville through the season, winning the prized Heisman Trophy as the best player in college football. Jackson will be back next year and will look to somehow top his stellar sophomore year.
USC and Penn State are Back
The Trojans and Nittany Lions met in the Rose Bowl this year and competed in one of the best Rose Bowls ever. USC kicked a field goal at the gun to beat Penn State 52-49 after coming back from a multiple-score deficit in the fourth quarter. Going into the game, the sides were widely considered the hottest two teams in college football. After starting 1-3 with a blowout loss to Alabama, the Trojans won nine straight games, highlighted by a 26-13 win over playoff-bound Washington, to get into the Rose Bowl. Penn State also had a hot finish to the year, winning their last nine games en route to a Big Ten Championship and a spot in the Rose Bowl. While USC narrowly edged the Nittany Lions, both teams proved that they will be forces to be reckoned with in the future.
Washington is For Real
The Huskies came out of nowhere to get all the way to the College Football Playoff. Led by sophomore quarterback Jake Browning, U-Dub quickly burst onto the scene after running over perennial conference powers Stanford and Oregon, scoring 114 points over the course of the two games. The Huskies cruised until streaking USC came to Seattle and beat them 26-13. They quickly recovered though and went on to win the Pac-12 Championship over Colorado, clinching an unlikely playoff birth and a date with Alabama in the semifinals. Although that game didn’t go according to plan, the Huskies leave 2016 with a solid foundation for many years to come.
Next, here are some things to look forward to next season:
Bama Will Be Back
While the Tide lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Tigers in this year’s championship, don’t be surprised to see them back next year. Quarterback Jalen Hurts was only a true freshman this year, and will have a full off-season under his belt come next year. The defense will be strong as always, as coach Nick Saban will look for the same success next year, paired with a better ending.
Pac-12 in the Playoff
The Pac-12 will go into next year with multiple teams waist deep in playoff discussions. Of course, Washington will look to make a repeat trip to the tournament with Browning and much of their infamous Death Row Defense returning. Stanford will also have a shot at the playoff, but will have to find a way to replace the production of superstar back Christian McCaffrey. A third team looking to get into the hunt will be USC, who will go into 2017 as one of the most hyped teams in the nation, but the talent will have to play up to its potential if a playoff birth is in the cards.
Texas Takeover
Texas hired a new coach in Tom Herman this off-season, replacing a dejected Charlie Strong. Herman will bring a new energy and life to the Longhorns, and the further development of the program is already being evidenced by success on the recruiting trail. It’ll be interesting to see how the Burnt Orange does on the field, as Herman and company face stiff non-conference tests against Maryland, as well as a trip to Los Angeles to face USC. Don’t expect miracles in year one under Herman, but good things could be coming to Austin.
A New Champion?
After Clemson took the crown from Alabama, its not hard to expect a new champion next year. The Tigers will lose a lot of talent to the NFL, including quarterback Deshaun Watson, and with several teams looking stronger for next year, the Tigers will have to fight just to get back to the playoff, let alone win it. Alabama, Florida State, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, USC and Washington will all look to swipe the crown away from the Tigers, and it won’t be surprising if one of those teams, or someone else, wins it all come next January.
![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)
