Jaden Kolenbrander, Editor
Jaden is a senior and this is his third year on staff. While his main activity is writing and posting articles for the newspaper team, he also participates in UIL Academics and the English and Social Studies Honor Societies. He likes to write stories that delve into the topic beyond a surface level, whether it be a club, school event or a book or movie he’s reviewing. He plans to enroll and major in political science or government with a graduate degree in law. Outside of school, he enjoys listening to music of all genres, riding his bike, sleeping and playing (and eventually quitting) video games.
![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)
![A portion of the debate team’s flier advertising their duct tape fundraiser. Debate team captain Delaney McClure said she hopes the fundraiser will raise the necessary funds to aid next year’s team with their expenses as the formerly debate class-exclusive team transitions into a club. “It costs money to do certain things that clubs have,” McClure said. “I just wanted to make sure that [the debate team] is all set up for next year and start doing fundraisers so we can get to that position as a club.” (Photo Courtesy of @debate_cphs on Instagram)](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Screenshot-2023-05-12-234723.png)
![Senior and HOSA officer Ryan Liu poses for a photo during his visit to Brown University. Brown University, an Ivy League college in Providence, Rhode Island, is where Liu was accepted and plans to major in both psychology and public health. "“I want to [major in Public Health] because that connects with health equity and helps me develop policy skills to combine it with health care,” Liu said. “I’m also in their eight-year medical program, so I’ll just matriculate into their medical school after graduation.” (Photo Courtesy of Ryan Liu)](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IMG_9125-900x831.jpg)
![A picture of College and Career Transition Coordinator Chriss Hexter’s website, which contains a section about scholarships and financial aid. Hexter puts various scholarship opportunities on her site. “The next best way [to get financial assistance] is to just start Google searching for scholarships. I post [scholarships] on my website, [and] I vet the ones I post on my website.” (Photo Courtesy of Chriss Hexter)](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/scholarships-900x451.png)
![The 2021 -2022 Medical Reserve Corps team poses for a photo alongside their first-aid kits. The first-aid kits were prototypes specifically meant for use by the visually impaired, an issue Liu became aware of after researching Hurricane Harvey. "I saw reports of displacement of visually impaired and blind people during natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey,” Liu said. “Something as small as a power outage or a tornado - it’s hard for people who can see to get through it, let alone people who can’t see. I noticed that a lot of [the visually impaired] were dependent upon their caretakers, so I wanted to make them more independent in the case of an emergency.” (Photo Courtesy of Ryan Liu)](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_5619.jpg)
![Members of the Mandarin Club assemble dumplings at their Dumpling Social. The social, which occurred in October, is one of the club's monthly special events, which all try to offer them the opportunity to engage in a special aspect of Chinese culture. “I’m interested in learning more about Chinese culture and Taiwanese culture in general, so it helps me see more into it,” senior Natalia Sanchez-Mejorado said. “[My favorite event] would definitely be the dumplings. We did it step-by-step, basically, and it turned out really good, and we also hung out, with the [club member’s mom] teaching us a few words.” (Photo Courtesy of Eden Yu)](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG_6790-900x675.png)
![During the Nov. 11 ceremony, school nurse Tara Jo Frost recites the names of military veterans who have ties to the school as faculty members, former students or family of faculty members. According to Frost, the Veterans Day ceremony gives students an opportunity to recognize the importance of honoring the troops. "I think that we don't have the ability to see the people that have fought for our country and know their stories, and [the ceremony] gives a chance for a younger population to see the importance, and see the reverence for why we do certain things we do for our government," Frost said.](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/kyra-16-900x600.jpg)
![Sophomore Emma Weltens browses her BeReal feed during lunch. Weltens said that she appreciates how BeReal focuses on its users posting in-the-moment photos. “I think it’s a good app, it’s less about seeing them with their friends as it is about what they’re doing in their life,” Weltens said. “If you’re not doing anything [and post on BeReal], people reach out like ‘hey, wanna hang out?’ That doesn’t really happen on Instagram.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/emmaweltens-900x600.jpg)
![Senior and captain of the swim team Kamryn Kramer swims a lap at the first swim meet on Thursday. Amid the new experiences of leading the team and having a new swim coach with Les Greenwood, Kramer says she most enjoys the social aspect of swim. “Everyone’s best friends," Kramer said. "I’m a captain of the swim team, and I love being a leader where everyone’s friends and being goofy and silly with them at the meets too. The [competitive aspect of] meets are really fun, getting up for each other.” (Photo Courtesy of Sonya Cookson)](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/4792d737b3127cce9854a76e913f00000000100IZtmbdwxasf-900x600.jpg)
![Speech and debate teacher Bianca Rocha works in her classroom. According to Rocha, her challenge as the new speech and debate teacher and as the new debate team coach is to uphold the standards and success that debate teams in previous years had seen. “[The challenge is] upholding what the previous teachers have done and maintaining that structure, [and] making sure that all students still have all of the opportunities for success. It’s using the inspiration of what they left behind, but building on that for this new year and hoping that the students can grow [and] learn those new opportunities [so that] new students come join the team and they can see all the trophies that they’ve won.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/20220830_154714-900x506.jpg)
![Senior and varsity tennis athlete Ganesh Sadasivan prepares to hit an incoming tennis ball. Sadasivan placed second and advanced to Region UIL in the boys double category at District with senior and varsity tennis athlete Jay Kannam. “Our prior tournament, which was [at the Kemah Boardwalk in Houston], was a pretty tough one and we managed to win that,” Sadasivan said. “So we definitely had a lot of confidence going into District.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/sada.png)
