![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)
![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)
Born to Run
Senior Reflects on High School Track Career
Senior Aaron Esparza holds the district champion award. “Track really had a huge impact on my life,” Esparza said. “It was my go-to place whenever I needed it and I will never forget the amazing memories that came from winning track.”
May 29, 2019
For the first time in high school history, the boys and girls track team swept district and area all in the same year. These accomplishments were a dream come true to senior Aaron Esparza, who has been running track ever since seventh grade and has a huge passion for the sport.
Esparza said that he joined the track team because it was mandatory for playing football. He started off by only running the mile, but in eighth grade when the coaches saw the potential in him, they encouraged him to run the 4×4. Going into high school, Esparza said that he continued the sport because he saw himself developing a love for track, but also keeping his love for football alive and decided to dive into soccer. When practices, games and meets became overwhelming, Esparza ultimately chose to keep track at the top of his priorities.
“Track was my priority because of the love I had for the sport,” Esparza said. “I felt like I really had a purpose and the way I felt after running was an amazing feeling, especially when it all paid off during the races. I knew I had a lot of potential in track and thinking about everything I could accomplish made we want to keep doing it.”
Sophomore year is when things started taking off for Esparza. He focused on track and improved immensely, and when he went into the JV season and soon won the 400 for Districts, Esparza quickly got moved up to varsity to compete in the 4×4, where he ended up qualifying for Regionals.
“My accomplishments are what truly made me feel excited for what track had to offer me,” Esparza said. “Accomplishing all these things while still young made me excited for the years ahead of me. I started setting high goals for myself and wanted to beat any school records.”
Junior year was Esparza’s first full year on varsity. He placed fourth in the 400 for Districts, which led him to qualify for Area. This would have been the third year the boy and girls track teams won district champions, but due to an inconvenience, they got eliminated.
“Getting eliminated from winning district champion my junior year made me upset because that’s a trophy and title that you can’t win back,” Esparza said. “This made me want to work harder my senior year so we could get the title.”
Esparza came into senior year with a strong mentality and was ready to work harder than ever. Starting off the season strong, Esparza, along with sophomore Kiyon King and seniors Eric Shine and Alden Yi, shattered school records in the Sprint Medley Relay, placing first and winning the race. To add to the success, the boy and girls JV and varsity teams all swept Districts, winning the entire meet. Esparza placed first in the 400 and 4×4 at Districts, along with senior Alden Yi and juniors Tanner James and Peyton Chriswisser. This gave Esparza and the boys the title of district champion for both races.
“I had never been happier in my life,” Esparza said. “I finally realized that all the hard work that I’ve been putting in for years finally paid off. I couldn’t stop smiling. I called my mom twice that night to tell her everything. It all just didn’t feel real. It made me even happier seeing my whole team feeling the same way I was.”
The four boys got to advance to Area and placed third in the 4×4, and Esparza placed third in the 400, qualifying for Regionals. At Regionals, Esparza placed sixth in the 400 for his heat, fourth in the 4×4 and qualified for finals. Esparza and the boys placed seventh in finals in the 4×4, ending Esparza’s high school track career.
“Leaving Regionals was a really sad time for me,” Esparza said. “I cried at the end of the race and hugged Coach Blanton and Grenier and all my teammates and thanked them for an amazing season. Everything felt weird for the next few days because track will always have a part in my life and not doing it felt really weird.”
This upcoming summer, Esparza plans on joining a club track team and hopes to earn a scholarship out of it.
“Track really had a huge impact in my life,” Esparza said. “It was my go-to place whenever I needed it and I will never forget the amazing memories that came from running track. The bonds created in track are unbreakable. We’re all with each other for 10-14 hours on meet days and see each other every day. Even after this season, the bonds stayed. It’s a great feeling knowing you’ll always have a family to come back to no matter what.”
![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)
