![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)
Five, Six, Seven, Eight!
Senior Paves Her Own Path Through Cheer
Photo Courtesy of Keyona Williams
Senior Keyona Williams, poses for a picture with two of her fellow cheerleaders. Due to COVID-19 restrictions cheerleaders were required to maintain a distance as well as wear masks. “Cheering this year was fantastic,” Williams said. “I really enjoyed our routines and getting to know the other girls on the team. I’m glad I had the chance to experience this before I go.”
May 6, 2021
The sport of cheerleading has been traced back to Great Britain in the 1860s, according to EpicSports. Since then, the activity has had a major impact on American high school culture accorded the country. Many cheerleaders take their competitions very seriously, and this couldn’t be more true for senior Keyona Williams.
“I enjoy cheer because it keeps me active,” Williams said. “I love the atmosphere of the games and competing with my team. I’ve wanted to be a cheerleader ever since watching it on movies when I was little. It looked so fun and I thought it would be something I would enjoy.”
Williams has been cheering since the fourth grade, and this year marks her first year cheering for CPHS. She was previously unable to join as a junior since she was a new student, but this year she made the team. COVID-19 has caused major changes to what she expected her year to be. For example, due to COVID-19, training has been cut short and performers must wear masks during their workouts and performances in order to ensure safety. Despite these changes, Williams still manages to balance her routine and training regime.
“Because of COVID we missed a lot of summer bonding activities and we couldn’t stand in front of the crowd during games,” Williams said. “Other than that, our workouts consist of cardio followed by a video guide to practice our choreography and build our muscle. My favorite dance would have to be the cactus dance. We do this routine before the band starts playing and it really gets me excited to perform.”
As for her track record for this year, she’s cheered in 12 individual games for the football season and a performance for the girl’s basketball team for their state game. According to Williams each routine is a mashup of different dance moves that they learned during practices. This helps keep the routines different and exciting for each game. That freshness is what allowed Williams help the cheer team place fifth at state this year and achieve National status this past in February.
“Becoming national champions was a hallmark point in my cheer career,” Williams said. “I’ve always loved cheer, but I never thought I would be capable of achieving this level of status. We all work extremely hard this year and I’m very happy that our goals paid off. And I know that it took a lot for us to come together and get to this point.”
Despite her senior year not being exactly what she was expecting, she said she feels that she still learned a lot from her experience and was able to adjust to her new school environment. Williams said that she was still able to build lifelong bonds with the people cheering with her and she recommends cheer for any other girls looking to carve something out of themselves.
“This year’s best memory was probably senior night,” Williams said. “We got to celebrate our senior year with our performance at a football game, which was my favorite performance of the year. Before going out, I’m usually very nervous, but I just think about how great the feeling of cheering is and it helps me feel much better.”
Williams is planning to attend Sam Houston University to study psychology. She plans of focusing on school for her first year of college, but hopes to get back into cheerleading again after freshman year of college. Williams attributes much her success and future to what she learned here at CPHS and is thankful for her time shared on campus.
“I’m glad I got to experience as much as I could at CPHS,” Williams said. “I’ve gained the knowledge and work ethic that I need to go into college prepared and ready for whatever hits me. A little advice I would give is to make sure you take your education seriously because four years sneaks up quicker than you realize, but don’t let school rule your life.”
![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)
