![Broadcast, yearbook and newspaper combined for 66 Interscholastic League Press Conference awards this year. Yearbook won 43, newspaper won 14 and broadcast took home nine. “I think [the ILPC awards] are a great way to give the kids some acknowledgement for all of their hard work,” newspaper and yearbook adviser Paige Hert said. “They typically spend the year covering everyone else’s big moments, so it’s really cool for them to be celebrated so many times and in so many different ways.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/edited-ILPC.jpg)
![Looking down at his racket, junior Hasun Nguyen hits the green tennis ball. Hasun has played tennis since he was 9 years old, and he is on the varsity team. "I feel like it’s not really appreciated in America as much, but [tennis] is a really competitive and mentally challenging sport,” Nguyen said. “I’m really level-headed and can keep my cool during a match, and that helps me play a bit better under pressure.” Photo by Kyra Cox](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/hasun.jpg)
![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](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Kaydence-2.7-23-edit-2.jpg)
![As her hair blows in the wind, senior Brianna Grandow runs the varsity girls 5K at the cross country district meet last Thursday. Grandow finished fourth in the event and led the varsity girls to regionals with a third place placement as a team. “I’m very excited [to go to regionals],” Grandow said. “I’m excited to race in Corpus Christi, and we get to go to the beach, so that’s really awesome.” Photo by Addison Bruce](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/brianna.jpg)
7 Tips for Seniors Going Through the College Apps Process
Submit your letter of recommendation request forms early as possible and add details of something the teacher might write about.
September 21, 2016
- Start your essays early. As soon as you’ve decided you want to apply to a school, look at what essays they require and what the prompts are. You’ll want a lot of time to draft and edit your piece before submitting it.
- Get your essay edited by at at least two people. I suggest at least one friend and one teacher. You reread your essay so many times you stop being able to see the flaws in it. Ask them to check it over and catch what you can’t, and ask them to give feedback on how well you respond to the prompt and how well the essay sells you. You are not trying to sell your dream trip to London, you’re trying to sell yourself.
- In your spare time start filling out the demographic information. Instead of napping during DEN, take the 20 minutes to fill out the couple pages of demographic information all apps require. Later when you have your essay, scores and everything else ready to go, you’ll be a bit annoyed you have to go through those formalities if you haven’t already completed them.
- Request your transcript from Parchment. Make sure everything is set with your counselor before you submit the request. You want them to see that you’re on track to graduate, not that you still owe 15 credit hours from last spring.
- Consider what teachers have seen you grow the most when considering who to ask for recommendation letters. They may not necessarily be your favorite teacher, but who has seen you struggle and fail, and rise up to meet the challenge. They will have an easier time writing about your good qualities than the teacher whose class you just breezed through.
- Request to teachers writing recommendation letters to highlight a certain trait. Maybe it’s something you didn’t get to mention in your essay, maybe you have to have three letters and don’t want them all to be the same. Not all teachers will take the request, but if you ask it may help not only shift the letter in that direction, but start making them think of moments when you showed those traits.
- Don’t stress. I know there’s a lot of anxiety surrounding the application process, but really you’re going to be fine. You’ll either get into your dream school, or you won’t. The world won’t end, you’ll go somewhere else that you’ll probably love, and you will enjoy college all the same.
