The student newspaper and broadcast of Cedar Park High School

The Wolfpack
The Tracks Yearbook staff has finished making this year’s yearbook. The theme for this year’s book is “Bigger & Better,” and is organized on a weekly basis. “It was something new that we’ve never done before,” junior assistant editor Addison LoSurdo said. “I think we really delivered on how we did it and worked together to create each spread. The amount of new content, clubs and people that we were able to show on these spreads was a lot more than last year, so I think we should just be really proud of ourselves.” Graphic by Julia Seiden
Turning a New Page
April 28, 2025
Walking students through an in-class rat dissection lab, Anatomy and Physiology teacher Tyler Terry helps them connect rat anatomy to a human’s. Terry also teaches Medical Microbiology, Practicum in Health Science: Pharmacy Technician and is the HOSA sponsor. He expects district-proposed budget cuts to negatively impact class sizes in the coming school years. “It’s going to be a real challenge to try to reduce the number of teachers and squeeze the same number of students into fewer classes,” Terry said. “Classroom management is going to become more difficult for teachers, and students are probably going to feel even more cramped. It’s really hard to give individual one-on-one attention to every student who needs it when the class gets that big.” Photo by Allie Tseng
Budget Deficit to Cause Staffing Cuts
April 9, 2025
Lining the center of the room, several printing presses make copies of Community Impact’s latest newspaper. Junior Skyler King shadowed at Community Impact for her Career Investigation Day where she got a tour of the printing press and spoke with several employees including one of the head editors and a designer. “I really think [my favorite part] was talking to the designer,” King said. “Before I thought I really wanted to focus on just pure writing with journalism, but I thought what she did was maybe even cooler and it really made me rethink what I want to do, like if I want to do social media design, or graphic design or something like that.”
A Day in the Life
April 5, 2025
Coyote Chaos
April 4, 2025
Driving towards the net, senior captain and striker Meredith Koltz scores the game winning goal to send the T-Wolves to State Semis. The team will face Barbers Hill Friday to attempt to make it back to the State Championship for the first time since 2001. “There’s nothing we can’t do together,” Koltz said. “If I make a mistake it’s not like ‘oh do this better’ it’s more like ‘hey, we got this, we can stick together’ and we’re working for each other. Not a single person wanted this goal by themselves, we’re all with each other and we’re just a big perfect family.” Photo by Alyssa Fox
Final Four Frenzy
April 2, 2025
Zoey Bivens, middle left, rehreshing for the upcoming district panel with groupmates. Gathered around the fireplace, last minute modifcations were discussed by the CPHS team. "It was nice to have a calm, final look through of what we would discuss tomorrow." Photo courtesy of Sarah Martinez
Student Voice, Big Impact
April 28, 2025
The Tracks Yearbook staff has finished making this year’s yearbook. The theme for this year’s book is “Bigger & Better,” and is organized on a weekly basis. “It was something new that we’ve never done before,” junior assistant editor Addison LoSurdo said. “I think we really delivered on how we did it and worked together to create each spread. The amount of new content, clubs and people that we were able to show on these spreads was a lot more than last year, so I think we should just be really proud of ourselves.” Graphic by Julia Seiden
Turning a New Page
April 28, 2025
Netflix’s recent releases of sports documentaries following teams and athletes that are in-season, the most recent being The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox, which premiered on April 8 has brought attention to struggles athletes face such as mental health and fan interactions. These types of projects are created with an intent to give fans an inside look at the athletes and coaches.
A Look Beyond the Game
April 28, 2025
Arching over the blue, crystalline water, the caves of the Blue Grotto line the coast of Malta. The Blue Grotto was one of the first places we visited, and it was a family favorite due to both the beautiful view from above, and the close-up sight of the water on our boat tour through the caves.
Bite-Sized Beauty
April 28, 2025
Lining in front of the Cedar Lake Courthouse where people of all ages enter to receive the final decisions of the crime they committed enters teenagers meant to be the last voice heard before their peers are convicted. Teen Court has meetings on Mondays, twice a month. “I originally did [Teen Court] for the service hours that it offered but stayed because of the connections,” Edwards said. ”The skills I’ve learned in public speaking and argumentation have helped me so much.”
The Next Generation of Legal Minds
April 22, 2025
Crowded around the newsdesk of KENS5, the broadcast class poses for a group photo. During the class's winter retreat in San Antonio, they visited the local news station for a tour. “When we're brought together, we have more ideas,” sophomore Drew Johnson said. “We have time to talk to each other about stories, and most of all, the winter retreat can be a story. I think bringing us together on the winter retreat really made us think about working together as a team.” Photo courtesy of Anthony Garcia
Behind The Camera
April 8, 2025
Typing away on her computer, junior Stephanie Manoel works on an assignment for her cybersecurity class. Being involved in DECA, which requires students to take CTE course, and having taken Computer Science I in her freshman year, this was the first course Manoel considered as she already felt familiar with the environment. “I’d definitely recommend this class to anyone interested in pursuing computer science or cybersecurity,” Manoel said. “The workload is manageable, but still gives you the knowledge you need. Overall, it’s the environment that keeps me motivated to come to class every time.”
Digital Defense
March 24, 2025
The Brainy Bunch
The Brainy Bunch
March 24, 2025
Senior Rushil Mehta, Junior Katie Liu, Senior Ashley Blair, Senior Anabelle Staples, Senior Jen Nguyen, teacher Amy Buffington, and Senior Kim Dao smile at the camera as they anticipate the upcoming HOSA competition. These students are working together in their Mental Health Campaign, and they have made various preparations for the competition. “We did lots of outreach activities, such as a gratitude jar for students on CPHS and Christmas stockings for children who have to stay at a hospital during the holiday season,” Liu said. “We hoped that it would alleviate anxiety in youth and help brighten their day.” Photo courtesy of Payton DeAngelis
HOSA: Hands-On Healthcare
February 7, 2025
Handing out business cards and putting up fliers, juniors Natalie Le (left) and Valerie Hall (right) promote their HOSA Community Awareness campaign “Backs on Track.” Working collaboratively with juniors Avani Eckert and Morgan Tran, the group is presenting their portfolio of this project at the HOSA Spring Leadership Conference on Feb. 7. “We chose to discuss back pain and posture because we felt the more common and popular ideas were already widely highlighted and we wanted to spread awareness to something less known,” Tran said. “Because this idea can reach a wide variety of audiences, we felt this topic would be appropriate and could easily be used to spread awareness to all of the community.” Photos courtesy of Valerie Hall
The Backs on Track Project
February 6, 2025
Zoey Bivens, middle left, rehreshing for the upcoming district panel with groupmates. Gathered around the fireplace, last minute modifcations were discussed by the CPHS team. "It was nice to have a calm, final look through of what we would discuss tomorrow." Photo courtesy of Sarah Martinez
Student Voice, Big Impact
April 28, 2025
Lining in front of the Cedar Lake Courthouse where people of all ages enter to receive the final decisions of the crime they committed enters teenagers meant to be the last voice heard before their peers are convicted. Teen Court has meetings on Mondays, twice a month. “I originally did [Teen Court] for the service hours that it offered but stayed because of the connections,” Edwards said. ”The skills I’ve learned in public speaking and argumentation have helped me so much.”
The Next Generation of Legal Minds
April 22, 2025
Smiling at the camera, seniors Anastacia DeCuir, Eren Bassett, Charlie Lehman and Katie Young celebrate the results of the ProStart competition. They placed second after an hour of working together in a small area with minimal materials. “We weren't expecting or expected to place at all,” Bassett said. “So the fact that we got second and a bunch of our teams got shoutouts for our individual dishes is crazy. We had chefs individually coming up to us, congratulating us for our dish.”
Cooking Up the Competition
April 22, 2025
Holding up their ribbons, the Principles of Dance team poses for a picture. On March 12, the team participated in the Dance Educators Assessment of Learning (DEAL), where they earned a Division One rating. “For me, [a division one rating] shows the teamwork of our class and how we work together to dance,” freshman Sierra Thurber said. “[Participating in DEAL] benefits me because it teaches me a lot of skills and gives me a sense of determination in any type of category that I would go for in life.” Photo courtesy of Nikki Evans
Put a Spin On It
April 22, 2025
Giving sophomore Sebastian Farias a chemistry lecture on Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures, Chemistry teacher Lauren Buntin explains how to convert from 589 millimeters of Mercury to atmospheres. “I look forward to seeing my students and getting to see you guys learn and excel and advance and, you know, do something today that you couldn't do yesterday," Buntin said. "So, because chemistry is so much about skills, it's cool for me to get to see you guys get more skills." Photo courtesy of Sebastian Farias
Ion the Class
April 8, 2025
Bringing her arm over her head and taking a quick breath, junior Lauren Lucas swims the final laps of the 500 freestyle at the regionals swimming competition on date. Lucas broke the school’s 18-year-old record for the 500 freestyle at regionals and again at state with a time of 4:58.63. “I’d had my eye on that 500 record since my freshman year, so I was really excited to see if I could get it at regionals or districts,” Lucas said. “ State is always a really fun experience and medaling for the first time was really great. It was a very very tight race, [so] I was a bit surprised [that I medaled]. [There were] a lot of fast girls at the meet in general, [and] it was like a dogfight back and forth, back and forth.” Photo by Kaydence Wilkinson
Breaking the Surface
March 18, 2025
As the support team sits and poses for a photo in the cafeteria with the counseling team they eagerly wait to start their day. "We [all] seem to be a team, I get up every day and there's days where I don't want to go to work today, but I'm thankful that I have a job and I'm blessed to have what I have," Christopherson said. Photo Courtesy of Julie Weltens.
Heart of the Campus: The Fantastic Five
February 6, 2025
Officer Stephanie Cash is in her second year as an SRO at CPHS. “Seeing [students] grow over the years has been kind of cool,” Officer Cash said. “Freshmen that [are] all over the place and then in the next couple of years get a little more squared away and go to class and do work and start thinking about the future. Being a part of a student's growth is the best way to measure my success as an SRO.” Photo Courtesy of Cedar Park Police Department's PIO, Alicia Gallagher.
Securing the Future
February 4, 2025
Smiling at the camera, senior Nathan Rechtfertig reflects on how the NROTC scholarship program will affect his life in the future. Because he is a recipient of this scholarship, he will join the marines. “It means a lot [to receive this scholarship,” Rechtfertig said. “It’s very calming because a lot of the colleges I applied for are out of state which is expensive and this scholarship pays it off. And I want to serve so it gives me the ability to both go to school and then serve after.”
Nathan Rechtfertig – Future Marine
February 4, 2025
As the support team sits and poses for a photo in the cafeteria with the counseling team they eagerly wait to start their day. "We [all] seem to be a team, I get up every day and there's days where I don't want to go to work today, but I'm thankful that I have a job and I'm blessed to have what I have," Christopherson said. Photo Courtesy of Julie Weltens.
Half Dozen Heroes
January 27, 2025
Driving towards the net, senior captain and striker Meredith Koltz scores the game winning goal to send the T-Wolves to State Semis. The team will face Barbers Hill Friday to attempt to make it back to the State Championship for the first time since 2001. “There’s nothing we can’t do together,” Koltz said. “If I make a mistake it’s not like ‘oh do this better’ it’s more like ‘hey, we got this, we can stick together’ and we’re working for each other. Not a single person wanted this goal by themselves, we’re all with each other and we’re just a big perfect family.” Photo by Alyssa Fox
Final Four Frenzy
April 2, 2025
Celebrating a goal, senior defender and captain William Gray poses for the camera. The team finished second in district with a 9-2-3 record. “I am, of course, very proud of this team,” Gray said. “But, we aren’t satisfied. We want to keep winning and go as far as we know we can in the playoffs.”
A Goal-don Season
March 25, 2025
Taking a breath as he raises his arm up and out of the water, sophomore Kaden Padilla swims the 500 freestyle at the UIL state meet on Feb. 21-22. Padilla placed 10th overall and second in the consolation final in the event, dropping two seconds. “My family was there, so being able to drop time for them was really special,” Padilla said. “It was awesome [finding out I advanced to the consolation finals]. I wasn’t expecting it, and I was very surprised. My parents being there definitely made me a lot happier knowing they got to see me swim in finals.” Photo by Skyler King.
Making Waves
March 7, 2025
The 5A state runner up team poses on the podium at the state tournament on Feb. 15. In addition to earning a team medal, sophomore Nathan Reilly won his second state title in the 113-weight class, senior Max Brant placed third in the 126-weight class, sophomore Jett Mentel placed 4th in the 175-weight class and senior Nathaniel Rechtfertig placed 5th in the 144-weight class at the Berry Center in Cypress, Texas. “Watching Max hit 100 wins was really memorable,” Reilly said. “Along with hitting the podium for the second time.” Photo courtesy of Richard Eckley
Victory as a Family
March 7, 2025
Three defenders try to stop senior point guard Hope Edwards before the ball leaves her hands. The girls basketball team faced Liberty Hill on Feb 21, losing 58-40. “[My season was] definitely bittersweet,” Edwards said. It's definitely sad [because] I'm gonna miss all my teammates, my coaches and just the whole CP environment.”
Final Buzzer Sounds
February 27, 2025
As the 2025 F1 season tires in, the sport is gaining more popularity than ever. Essential information is compiled into this guide, with information on teams, drivers, tracks and more, helping new fans understand what they need to know. Graphic made by Rania Adil
Lights Out And Away We Go
April 28, 2025
This reboot of the beloved and iconic 1937 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” came under fire after public relation scandals from the new Snow White’s actress, Rachel Zegler, CGI dwarfs and questionable acting. Although I was hesitant to watch the film at first, I will say, I was almost pleasantly surprised.
Snow White and the Mixed Reviews
April 10, 2025
From the magical tale of Cinderella to the suspenseful story of Mulan, Disney has made many amazing movies. However, the live action remakes of these movies are never the same—for better or for worse. With the new “Snow White” live action which came out on March 21, it is hard to say if it will be the original story's downfall or bring it justice.
Magic Makeover… or Mistake
April 1, 2025
Opening the lid of the In-N-Out container to get a taste of their vanilla milkshake, seniors Kacey Miller and Heidi Williams review the popular fast-food chain’s sweet treat. After trying a vanilla shake from several restaurants, the two decided that the best shakes in town belong to these places, in this order: In-N-Out, Whataburger, Chick-fil-A, Sonic and McDonald’s.
Shaking It Up
March 3, 2025
“Companion” is a dark comedy ready to make you laugh, gasp and root for the non-human.
Betrayal, Love and Robots
February 28, 2025
Netflix’s recent releases of sports documentaries following teams and athletes that are in-season, the most recent being The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox, which premiered on April 8 has brought attention to struggles athletes face such as mental health and fan interactions. These types of projects are created with an intent to give fans an inside look at the athletes and coaches.
A Look Beyond the Game
April 28, 2025
As the 2025 F1 season tires in, the sport is gaining more popularity than ever. Essential information is compiled into this guide, with information on teams, drivers, tracks and more, helping new fans understand what they need to know. Graphic made by Rania Adil
Lights Out And Away We Go
April 28, 2025
Arching over the blue, crystalline water, the caves of the Blue Grotto line the coast of Malta. The Blue Grotto was one of the first places we visited, and it was a family favorite due to both the beautiful view from above, and the close-up sight of the water on our boat tour through the caves.
Bite-Sized Beauty
April 28, 2025
Is your refrigerator running? Of course not! That was just a joke, and since it’s April it’s the time of the year to prank friends using some silly and maybe a bit cheesy prank calls on them. I’ve listed about 6 or so, so that should give you plenty of ideas hopefully! Illustration by Sebastian Farias
Is Your Refrigerator Running?
April 28, 2025
This reboot of the beloved and iconic 1937 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” came under fire after public relation scandals from the new Snow White’s actress, Rachel Zegler, CGI dwarfs and questionable acting. Although I was hesitant to watch the film at first, I will say, I was almost pleasantly surprised.
Snow White and the Mixed Reviews
April 10, 2025
Netflix’s recent releases of sports documentaries following teams and athletes that are in-season, the most recent being The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox, which premiered on April 8 has brought attention to struggles athletes face such as mental health and fan interactions. These types of projects are created with an intent to give fans an inside look at the athletes and coaches.
A Look Beyond the Game
April 28, 2025
This reboot of the beloved and iconic 1937 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” came under fire after public relation scandals from the new Snow White’s actress, Rachel Zegler, CGI dwarfs and questionable acting. Although I was hesitant to watch the film at first, I will say, I was almost pleasantly surprised.
Snow White and the Mixed Reviews
April 10, 2025
On Feb. 27, Hulu released a documentary called “Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke.” The three episode documentary goes through interviews with the two oldest Franke kids (who are both adults) and Ruby’s husband, Kevin Franke, in addition to showing unseen footage from their YouTube videos. I give this documentary a 10/10.
8 Prisoners
March 31, 2025
Opening the lid of the In-N-Out container to get a taste of their vanilla milkshake, seniors Kacey Miller and Heidi Williams review the popular fast-food chain’s sweet treat. After trying a vanilla shake from several restaurants, the two decided that the best shakes in town belong to these places, in this order: In-N-Out, Whataburger, Chick-fil-A, Sonic and McDonald’s.
Shaking It Up
March 3, 2025
“Companion” is a dark comedy ready to make you laugh, gasp and root for the non-human.
Betrayal, Love and Robots
February 28, 2025
Spirit Slideshow
March 13, 2025
PackCast hosts, senior Rania Adil and sophomore Kasanadra Reynoso review the 2025 Golden Globes Award Show.
2025 Golden Globes Review Podcast
February 21, 2025
PackCast hosts, senior Rania Adil and sophomore Kasanadra Reynoso review the 2025 Golden Globes Award Show.
Deal With It
February 21, 2025
PackCast hosts, senior Rania Adil and sophomore Kasanadra Reynoso review the 2025 Golden Globes Award Show.
Right or Wrong?
February 6, 2025
2024-2025 Fall Recap
December 19, 2024
PackCast hosts, senior Rania Adil and sophomore Kasanadra Reynoso review the 2025 Golden Globes Award Show.
2025 Golden Globes Review Podcast
February 21, 2025
PackCast hosts, senior Rania Adil and sophomore Kasanadra Reynoso review the 2025 Golden Globes Award Show.
Deal With It
February 21, 2025
PackCast hosts, senior Rania Adil and sophomore Kasanadra Reynoso review the 2025 Golden Globes Award Show.
Right or Wrong?
February 6, 2025
Jonathan’s Corner
March 20, 2024
Graphic by Stef Rios, Wolfpack Editor '20-'21
The Packchat 2-14-2024
February 15, 2024
The student newspaper and broadcast of Cedar Park High School

The Wolfpack
The student newspaper and broadcast of Cedar Park High School

The Wolfpack

Mary Gillis Senior Column

Mary Gillis • May 20, 2010

     These past years have been quite the adventure. I’ve learned a lot, but as important as trig functions, thesis statements (by the way Ms. Iskra, this is my thesis), and economic issues are,...

Load More Stories
Menu
Activate Search
The student newspaper and broadcast of Cedar Park High School
Mary Gillis