![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)
Soaring to Excellence
UIL Academic Competitors Participate in District Meet, Advance to Region
![Paying attention to the computer screen, sophomore Gautham Saravanan and senior Charlie Alpert prepare for the UIL academic district meet. Saravanan, Alpert and sophomores Alex Thummalapalli and Eshan Bharadwaj placed first as a team at the meet and will compete at the regional competition later this month. "I'm pretty proud," Saravanan said. "[I like] that I can be with my friends, collaborate with them and go over questions."](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/comp-sci-uil-2-900x664.jpg)
Paying attention to the computer screen, sophomore Gautham Saravanan and senior Charlie Alpert prepare for the UIL academic district meet. Saravanan, Alpert and sophomores Alex Thummalapalli and Eshan Bharadwaj placed first as a team at the meet and will compete at the regional competition later this month. “I’m pretty proud,” Saravanan said. “[I like] that I can be with my friends, collaborate with them and go over questions.”
April 8, 2021
This year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, practice competitions and team preparation opportunities have been limited for the UIL academic teams. However, on March 26-27 the team competed in their respective academic events. After days filled with competition, five teams and a total of 13 students qualified for the regional competition.
The social studies team, consisting of junior Aiden Seibel, junior Hailey Bowermon, senior Ainsley Shields and junior MJ Kelly placed first. Bowermon and her teammates focused on this year’s theme of American Imperialism and when competing, they took part in a 45 objective question test and wrote an essay.
“My group and I worked extremely hard in preparing our own resources, whether it Kahoots, Quizlets or even quirky little slogans to remember people’s names,” Bowermon said. “I was extremely proud of my team as we all have worked so hard to get up to this point. Individually, I was not too happy with my score, but I was so glad that my team and I pulled through.”
From weekly in-person meetings to virtual practice competitions and independent preparation, the UIL academic teams underwent several changes this year. The science team no longer hosted weekly meetings in Mrs. Trueblood’s room and prepared for their two hour long test individually.
“The questions are all college-level science questions, so in order to do well you have to have a strong science background,” junior Tolani Segun said. “I struggled with pretty much all of it. It also takes a lot of preparation outside of school [because] the test is comprised of 20 biology, chemistry and physics questions.”
Zoom calls and emails were some of the essential tools used in preparation for the district meet. For senior prose interpretation competitor, Vivianna Mendieta Aleman, this was a hurdle to overcome.
“This year was a lot different because we couldn’t really do group practices and critiques in person but we managed with Zoom calls,” Mendieta Aleman said. “I struggled a lot with performing in front of others due to the fact that I hadn’t gotten the chance to perform my pieces in person to others before the competition.”
In the same way, Bowermon said that when the team finally met in person for the competition, she found it difficult to adjust to a test-taking environment she wasn’t quite used to anymore.
“I definitely struggled on taking the in-person test,” Bowermon said. “I haven’t had to take a test in school for a very long time, so that threw me a curveball for sure as it was a completely different setting.”
Time is essential for journalism events. For competitors like junior Nathan Inman who competedin copy editing and headline writing, this proved challenging even when being used to the format and timing of the competitions due to practice meets.
“The actual competition is much more stressful than practice, especially with the time constraints,” Inman said. “My favorite event, copy editing, was difficult because of the time. You only get 15 minutes to complete the entire event, which goes by very quickly. Hearing the countdown from 10 minutes and five minutes also makes it stressful.”
While both Inman and Bowermon didn’t advance to regions individually, both are hopeful to place high next year and advance beyond the district competition.
“I just enjoyed the experience,” Inman said. “I’ve competed in UIL before but as a team [and] it was nice to compete on my own and not have to focus on others. I hope to place higher next year. I got fourth in copy editing and my goal is to get into the top three so I can advance to region. I didn’t place in headline writing this year, so for next year I hope to at least place in the top six, even if I don’t advance.”
As a first-year competitor, Mendieta Aleman said her advancement to the region competition was quite surprising. While she continues to prepare for the region competition she said she is focused on the core of the prose interpretation which is to perform her piece with authentic emotion and interpretation.
“I was so excited when my teacher told me I ended up in the top three,” Mendieta Aleman “When I performed I just let everything go and tried to be the person I was portraying and I feel like that really helped me. My goals heading into region are to embody my piece and not worry about the placement or rank I receive.”
Full List of Competitors Advancing to Region Competition:
Computer Science
Team:
● Alex Thummalapalli, Charlie Alpert, Eshan Bharadwaj, Gautham Saravanan -1st Place
Individual:
● Alex Thummalapalli – 1st Place
● Charlie Alpert – 2nd Place
Current Issues & Events
Individual:
● Kate Schulle – 1st Place
● Sydney Fuller – 2nd Place
Journalism
Editorial Writing:
● Tristan Hernandez – 1st Place
Headline Writing:
● Tristan Hernandez – 2nd Place
News Writing:
● Tristan Hernandez – 2nd Place
Science
Team:
● Hemani Goje, Natalie Mayo, Ryan Liu, Tolani Segun – 2nd Place
Social Studies
Team:
● Aiden Seibel, Ainsley Shields, Hailey Bowermon, MJ Kelly – 1st Place
Individual:
● Aiden Seibel – 1st Place
● Ainsley Shields – 2nd Place
Speech/Debate
Persuasive Speaking:
● Riley Pritzlaff – 3rd Place
Prose Interpretation:
● Vivianna Mendieta Aleman – 3rd Place
