![High-fiving a band member in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Head Director of Bands Christopher Yee celebrates the band’s fifth UIL state win with his students. The band faced several challenges this marching season due to the difficult show routine, but was able to come in first at the state contest. “Every year is different,” Yee said. “The show is different, the kids are different, the challenges are different and the competition is different. This [year] feels a little more special. Theyre all special, but this one is particularly special because it was so hard fought. Weve mentioned several times to the kids that they seem like theyre one of the happiest bands weve ever taught. Theyre just happy kids. This years student leadership team [also] stepped up more than normal. I think that theyre very talented. Because it was a hard show, they have a lot of skills and a lot of determination and grit.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/unnamed.jpg)
![Dressed as a cow, PALs member and junior Lynnea Bergman smiles at her friends with a face covered in whipped cream. The annual trunk or treat took place on Oct. 26 during which the PALs pie in the face activity was very popular, according to Bergman. “We were doing a pie in the face and cakewalk to get the kids to have fun,” Bergman said. “Some of the kids in the PALs [program were at the trunk or treat] and they got to pie us in the face. [My favorite memory] so far is probably getting pied in the face by a four year old. He went so hard and it was very funny.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Trunk-or-Treat-Photo-Lilly-182-1200x800.png)
![Posing next to her 2015 Hyundai Sonata, junior and Celebrities Dance Team Second Lieutenant Sophie Poulsen holds up her license. Poulsen’s car was stolen on Aug. 28 from the school parking lot, and was missing for a day before police recovered it. “I was shocked,” Poulsen said. “I never expected, especially in Cedar Park, for my car to get stolen. I still don’t know who [stole my car], but I wish I knew. I don’t think the cops are going to figure it out, because there’s no point. It already happened. We’re probably never going to know. I feel like it was a student, but who knows? [Nevertheless], Cedar Park is not that [kind of place].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/View-recent-pho11tos.jpg)
![Taking a selfie with some of their castmates, including senior Aidan Cox, who plays Buddy the Elf, junior Brooke Ferguson shows off a sign presenting the arrival of “Elf. This year’s musical, “Elf” runs Dec. 1-3 in the CPHS PAC. “[Learning a new script is] always kind of a challenge,” Ferguson said. “You get a new cast and you get your own part. I’ve never worked closely with these people before. It’s a different environment and doing character work with someone new, trying to partner work and scene work is interesting. The script is good and it has a lot of jokes, it’ll be a lot of laughs.” Photo by Brooke Ferguson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_2048-e1701374239425-1200x900.jpg)
![Dressed as “H-E-B Buddy,” senior Logan Hedges entertains shoppers during a shift at H-E-B. Hedges has fun on the job, as there’s significantly less pressure than other jobs he has had. “I [used to umpire] little league baseball, and it’s definitely less stressful,” Hedges said. “There’s not much [that can go wrong] scanning groceries. Making a bad call in baseball is so easy.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/BF3C2083-817E-4847-B673-1FEF973AB972.jpeg)
![One student talks about how attractive they imagine the main protagonist is, another describes the negative effects mental health can have on a student, and a third just blatantly states that she hates the ending of her book. The club Page Turners, led by President senior Ellie Knaggs, meets every Tuesday in the library and is a place for students to come and talk about books. “It’s just a place to come and bring so many ideas and opinions into play,” Knaggs said. “We have had some really great discussions in the past, sometimes it’s just talking about like ‘Oh yes, I love that trope’ or ‘this fictional couple is so cute.’ Sometimes the [author] talked about this really heavy topic like abuse or hunger or war and I think it’s something we should talk about and so we will.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Copy-of-Copy-of-STRESS.png)
![Standing in the golden hour’s orange light, Irish music artist Hozier performs at Austin City Limits’ biggest venue. The annual music festival provides opportunities for attendees to both enjoy familiar artists and discover new ones. “I didn’t know Thirty Seconds to Mars [before I went to ACL], but I really love them now because the lead singer put on a great show,” sophomore Mykaela Tapia said. “He was inviting people up to the stage and at one point there were almost sixty people on stage. Matthew McConaughey was there too. [The lead singer] started off the show on a platform right below the roof and he jumped off that platform and I thought that was so cool. The concert was really hype. Even though I wasn’t familiar with the music, I still liked the performance.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_6042-1200x675.jpeg)
![Delbridge smiles with hands wide after a performance at Kelly Reeves Stadium for the Bands of America Austin Finals. “I can’t imagine my life without band,” Delbrdige said. “In 2020 it was the only thing that kept me going—playing my instrument and going into rehearsals. I really don’t want to lose that part of life. It’s kind of sad to leave [that passion] here, but I’d like to find it somewhere else even after I graduate high school.”
Photo courtesy of Lauren Delbridge](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image_50379265-1200x900.jpg)
![Backstage, junior Erica Mihealsick and Cara Allen are setting up for The One Act Play That Goes Wrong. Originally, I wanted to be an actor, but then I didnt want to because Id have to catch up [in skills] to the other kids. So I decided to join tech, and Ive never looked back.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/P1010905-1200x675.jpg)
![FFA member and junior Max Adams will show his pigs and heifer at the Cedar Park Barn Show on Nov. 12. “When you think you have a good animal, and then you’re surrounded by a bunch of other [showmen with their animals], it will humble you really quick,” Adams said. “If I keep working and I do good [at shows], it makes me feel good about myself. I just like the competitiveness. Its fun taking care of [them]. Putting in a bunch of work and then not doing good upsets me a lot. It makes me want to do better.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_9790-1200x800.png)
![One of the few stick vehicles in the school parking lot, senior Alex Trebilco’s 1970 Ford Maverick is a restoration project he worked on with his dad. He and his father have worked on cars together for all of Trebilco’s life, and have several finished projects because of it. “[My favorite memory with my car is] honestly just cruising with my dad in his truck and my car,” Trebilco said. “Both of the [cars] are restored. He did the truck and we did the Maverick, so it’s cool to roll down in two cars that we made run together.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Ford-Maverick.png)
They can feel chilly air as it wafts into the gym, faint yet still present. The choir of shoes squeaking on the court is like music to their ears and the rough feeling of the ball is unmistakable to their hands. Reminders flow through their heads as they dribble down the court. Pivot, don’t run, control your elbows, and most importantly, no matter what, take the shot.
With Fall League and scrimmages winding down, both the boys and girls basketball teams are beginning preparations for their first games of the season. The boys officially begin their season on Nov. 14 against Westwood, while the Lady Timberwolves will visit Austin High on Nov. 3. After a first round playoff loss last season to Wagner, following back to back state titles in 2021 and 2022, the girls basketball team is looking to make a deeper run in the playoffs this year.
“We played a team that ended up going to the state tournament, so they were really good,” senior guard Avery Allmer said. “But, the goal [for myself] this year is just to have a good time with my teammates and for us to grow as a team. This year, we have a lot of girls on varsity, so one of my goals is just to have a good time my senior year since I am not playing in college.”
The girls basketball team has a new head coach this year, Kami Williamson. Williamson has served as an assistant coach to the team for six years before the promotion, which Allmer has said has helped the team through the transition of coaches.
“[The coaching] has been pretty consistent to last year,” Allmer said. “We’ve been doing a lot of the same stuff, and we’re all pretty comfortable with her, so it’s not like she’s come in and done a 180 to everything. We love her and we all have faith and are trusting the process, we are just anxious to see how it’s going to be at our first game.”
Junior guard/forward Mariah Davis said she hopes she can welcome the underclassmen into the basketball community and enjoy playing with the program as a now upperclassmen leader.
“We have five new underclassmen on varsity this year,” Davis said. “So hopefully we can learn how to play together so we can play well next year as well.”
After going 8-6 in district last year, Allmer said the team is looking to beat a fellow LISD school who beat the Lady Timberwolves twice last year, both by a fewer than 10 point margin.
“I’m excited to play Glenn this year,” Allmer said. “They beat us both times last year, so I think we’re all just kind of excited to play them again because they’re very good. They have a new coach this year too, so we’re all just kind of nervous. But, if we could beat them it would be very affirming to ourselves and show us that we have a chance to be really good this year.”
Finishing with a 7-8 district record last season, the varsity boys basketball team just missed the playoffs. They tied for fourth in district, ultimately losing out the last playoff spot to Liberty Hill in the last game of the season.
“[This season] I hope we end up having a good chance at playoffs,” junior shooting guard Christian Faulkner said. “I [also] hope we end up in the top four by the end of district play. Our team chemistry has gone up way more. The team chemistry last year with the seniors was great, but it has improved a lot this year.”
The team worked on their chemistry and bond throughout the summer with open gym sessions.
“Majority of it was for fun,” senior shooting guard Carson Penland said. “But, with open gym, everyone would come together and hang out and get closer, which allowed us to [build] up a brotherhood [with each other].”
As a senior leader on the team, point guard Drew O’Connor, said he is looking forward to his role.
“It feels good to be a leader,” O’Connor said. “I think it’s fun because I just like helping others on the team with stuff. [Also], with it being my senior year, [I can] play with less pressure since it’s my last year, and playing with a lot of my friends is fun too.”
As for the girls, Allmer said she hopes to leave the athletic program as a whole with a changed environment for the underclassmen.
“I want to leave the impression that everybody is welcome here,” Allmer said. “Not just if you’re good, you can learn and get better, but also understand that not everyone is the best. [Players] should be understanding of that and give them a chance to get better. I just want them to know that if you work hard, you’ll be okay and you can do it. I just want everybody to feel that even if they are freshmen, they can still talk to [the upperclassmen], I don’t want to leave an environment that’s a one pack mindset, I want it to be like a whole actual family thing.”
