![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)
Bright Future In The Big City
Celebrity Senior Talks High School Career, Future
With the Captain’s whistle in her mouth, senior Sandra Ziegler leads the Celebrities dance team across the field during the pregame for the very first football game of the year. “This moment was kind of scary because whistling out the team is an important job where my team is depending on me to keep them on beat as we walk onto the field,” Ziegler said. “I believe this was taken as I was checking one of the lines to make sure everyone made it to their spot, and I remember feeling so proud and excited for myself and my team because we had just made our first appearance as the 2022-2023 Celebrities Team. I love this picture because it exudes the pride I feel for my team. Whether we walk out onto the field or onto a stage, I am always so proud of the hard work and dedication that surrounds these girls.” (Photo Courtesy of Danielle Walker)
May 3, 2023
Four years. That’s how long senior Sandra Ziegler has been drill team dancing. She was on the Emerald team her freshman year and as she continued to follow her passion, she earned the title of Captain of the Celebrities dance team this year.
After dancing has consumed most of her life for the past three years, Ziegler says graduating will be very bittersweet.
“I love Celebrities because it is an outlet for me to express myself alongside other girls who love dance,” Ziegler said. “I have so much to look forward to with moving to New York. I’m going to be very sad when I leave all of the friends I have made, but I plan to stay in touch with everyone. The years leading up to my senior year have definitely been hard work and lots of time dedicated to the team, but it has all been worth it in the end and I couldn’t imagine my high school years without Celebs.”
Ziegler was a junior Lieutenant last year and earned Captain this year, which means she was the main leader of the team and helps choreograph and teach team routines while also making quick decisions.
“I love leading even more than I love dance,” Ziegler said. “So being Captain has been such an amazing and fulfilling experience.”
On April 21 and 22, The Celebrities showcased their annual spring show. The show was super successful and the team felt really prepared for this production, according to Ziegler.
“Our theme was ‘Permission To Dance’ and we celebrated our 25th anniversary by sharing our love for dance,” Ziegler said. “This show was bittersweet because it was out last time dancing alongside each other and that was very hard to become aware of, there were lots of tears. All in all, the show went super well and it was my favorite show throughout the last three years for sure.”
Not only has Ziegler been in the Celebrities dance team, she has also been part of Fashion Design for three years.
“I love it because joining fashion design at the school helped me to find my passion and now I am going to college for fashion design,” Ziegler said. “ I love that clothing and fashion design can be understood and interpreted by any person regarding their situation and background; it is a universal language that speaks through textures, patterns, shapes and colors. Fashion designers have the ability to utilize those elements and materials in order to share their voices and spark conversations that other people can relate to, learn about, love, and even hate. I focus on sustainability in my studies and hope to create clothing that helps our environment instead of hurting it.”
Ziegler is going to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology to study fashion design in the heart of Manhattan in New York.
“It’s so surreal that I will be living in a place I always dreamed about moving to, while studying one of my favorite things, fashion design,” Ziegler said. “My long term plans are to become a designer who creates unconventional and Avant Garde garments that can be used as a voice to support sustainability in an industry that so negatively affects our earth. I am so excited to be immersed in the fashion scene of New York City and learn from my surroundings.”
Shirley Henderson • May 10, 2023 at 10:19 pm
What an upbeat & refreshing story! I could feel Sandra’s excitement & I hope & pray that all her hopes & dreams are achieved. Good luck in achieving all your dreams!
Shirley Henderson