![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)
![Sitting with her friend senior Sohpia Struve at last year’s Austin City Limits Festival, senior Ava Zuniga poses for a picture under a pavilion. They are frequent attendees at ACL, an annual music festival at Zilker Park. “I would recommend seeing a bunch of people,” Zuniga said. “This past year, we camped out for Chappell [Roan] for a really long time. I think the whole point of ACL, [which] is a lot of fun, is that you can go see so many different people, even if you don’t know them. So by camping by one person, it really limits yourself from being able to go see a bunch of people.” Photo courtesy of Ava Zuniga](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/EE9E9484-FE6F-4AA0-B5F5-0C177AB32841-1200x857.jpeg)
![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 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.](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AF9E8470-10D7-4C91-BF28-EC8F86BAB66C-1200x852.jpeg)
![Jumping off the ground, senior linebacker Bennett Patton snatches the ball out of the air for an interception at Thursday’s game against Chaparral. Patton had two interceptions in the 56-14 victory, tying the school record for interceptions in a game. “I was just playing the game,” Patton said. “[I’m] going to go into next week, forget about it and stay humble.” Photo by Harper Chapman](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/bennett-interception.jpg)
For the first time ever in Texas, students will be able to apply to colleges free of cost. Announced by Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Senate Bill 2322 creates a free college application week from Oct. 13-19, in which Texas residents can apply to public Texas Colleges free of cost through Apply Texas.
Despite this change, more competitive colleges such as Texas A&M and UT Austin have urged students to focus on early applications instead of the free application week period due to the competition of admissions.
With the early application deadline of UT and A&M being on Oct. 15, students can still take advantage of the financial opportunity and have a good chance of getting into their Texas College of Desire. From College transition coordinator, Chriss Hexter, she has advised for students to start right away that with the bill only being through Apply Texas.
“What’s wrong with Apply Texas is that it isn’t all in one place” Hexter has said. “Common App looks overwhelming at first but it actually is easy in the long run. Counselor and teacher recommendations all happen through the Common App, but with Apply Texas, it’s a lot more difficult for counselors and teachers. That’s why I tell students to start now since Apply Texas ends up being slower.”
Still with the complication, senior Bailey Knight still plans on taking advantage of this bill. With knowledge beforehand from his mother who had info from her job, Knight has had the opportunity to create a plan and prepare. Originally planning to only apply to ACC, Knight added UT and A&M to his application list after hearing about the new opportunity.
“The idea that it’s free applications makes me feel a lot better about sending out a ton of applications even if they don’t get accepted,” Knight said. “It’s not like it’s a big burden on me financially to send out 13, 14 applications to a bunch of different colleges around Texas even if I don’t want to go there because it’s still good to l send one anyways as it’s free and it’s no real time wasted for me, just another opportunity I can put in”.
For students not as fortunate as Knight with preparation, Hexter advises that Weekly Senior workday dens on Wednesdays may be of help to get their applications in time before the free week deadline. Beyond this deadline, students can still get financial aid even without the bill.
“If financial constraints are really a consideration, some kids could be eligible for waivers,” Hexter said. ” If kids are on free to reduced lunch and if they had a waiver for the SAT or the ACT, then those kids’ [Applications] are automatically waived for the this year”.
But beyond seniors, lower classmen can take advantage of the bill in the following years during the second full weeks of August. Junior Olivia Common was unaware of this yearly occurrence but now is glad to see its benefits.
“I think that it’s a very good program to start now and I’m very happy that it’ll be there for my senior year and better established then” Common said. “which will make it easier for me to get into college, maybe even more than the current seniors”.
