![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)
![Students drew chalk art in honor of Veterans day. This is just one of many things the school does to show appreciation to veterans, and the art will remain in the courtyard as a reminder of all of the veterans who served their country. “On veteran’s day, I think it’s a great thing we do at school to honor people that served [who are] at our school or family members,” English teacher and cheer coach Nadira King said. “It makes me feel proud, and it makes me remember the [veterans].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Capture.png)
![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)
![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)
![Standing proud, varsity senior athletes Rafael Escobar, Griffin Jacobs, Jakob Martin, and juniors Jackson Springer and Jack Morris pose with their newly earned medals. The varsity team finished third out of 14 teams on Sept. 25. “The team's primary goal is to win the district championship,” head coach Cody Price said. "We're confident that with our action plan in place, we can accomplish this mission. [For the next tournament], our preparation involves assessing our strengths and weaknesses, celebrating milestones and creating individual development plans." Photo courtesy of Cody Price](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/golf.jpg)
![The cross country team poses for the camera after finishing the district meet. The varsity boys, JV boys and JV girls all placed third and the varsity girls placed fourth. “Coach put in the right training for us for this season, so I think we will be peaking this week and the next couple of weeks,” varsity runner and junior Nathan Kukla said. “The chances of making it to state are very high, but we don’t settle for the lowest and there is always going to be that chance, so [we] race for the best.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Heidi-831-1200x900.jpg)
Senior Spotlight: Alex Allen
Photo by Luke Williamson
May 21, 2018
On the first Monday of every month, senior Alex Allen sprints from soccer practice to the lecture hall to lead the National Honor Society meeting as their president. Over the past four years of high school, Allen has been no stranger to balancing her involvements as she has taken 23 Pre-AP and AP classes, led honor societies and played on the varsity girls soccer team.
Between everything she does, Allen says that a big part of her decision to pursue academia is because of her love of learning.
“I think it stems from curiosity,” Allen said. “I’m interested in everything about everything, whether that’s the evolution of language or biology, or astrophysics. The whole universe is just so fascinating to me and I want to know as much about it as I can.”
While she currently serves as president of Rho Kappa Honor Society, vice president of Key Club, secretary of The Locker, student vice president of PTSA and student body vice president in Student Council, Allen says that leading did not always come easily to her. Allen says that she remembers it being difficult to pre-record her student council campaign speech for the Wolfcast during her freshman year.
“I freaked out, and I was just talking to a room of four people,” Allen said. “But now I do NHS and there’s like 200 people sometimes. I think I’ve definitely evolved as a leader over time, and I think more of that is gaining confidence and realizing that people aren’t there to judge you. If you’re a leader, you have a job to fulfill, you have a role that you’re in charge of, and you’re helping other people by leading.”
Allen says her confidence has improved dramatically since her freshman year and that being open to leadership positions is vital to developing these skills.
“A lot of that just come from having the role,” Allen said. “Having any kind of officer role, you get more and more experience dealing with larger groups of people until eventually you’re just fine talking to a bunch of people.”
When it comes to balancing all of her various activities, Allen finds it beneficial to avoid being too hard on herself.
“If you are involved in so many things, you’re going to have to accept that fact that you’re going to miss something some time,” Allen said. “You’re going to have to accept the fact that you can’t give your entire being to everything you do.”
Allen will be attending the University of Texas at Austin in the fall and will be majoring in journalism and partaking in the Plan II honors program. This is a liberal arts honors program exclusive to UT with a unique curriculum.
Starting at a new school next year, Allen says that wherever she goes, it is important to value her own successes.
“Stop comparing your successes to other people successes,” Allen said. “Just because someone is successful in this or that, doesn’t mean you’re any less successful in anything you’ve done.”
