![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)
![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)
![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)
![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)
The Best of Both Worlds
Senior Combines Passion for Music and Athletics
Senior Leah Wilcox has been a part of the marching band for all four years of high school, but she said that the most memorable part was the competitions. “You get to be with your best friends all day long and march alongside them to put on a show that you’ve been working on for months,” Wilcox said.
May 28, 2019
Juggling over five honor societies, leadership positions in band and a rigorous track and cross country schedule, senior Leah Wilcox has learned throughout her years in high school how to manage such an attentive schedule.
Wilcox hands her ability to manage her schedule to staying organized and on top of what she needs to do.
“Being involved in a lot of activities can often be very stressful in trying to balance all the schedules,” Wilcox said. “I definitely had quite a few freakouts over the past four years between trying to balance doing well in school and making it to all my activities.”
Although being in many different programs can be stressful, she said that she has found her own ways to make it work.
“Taking the time to plan out ahead of time what I was going to do when and working on improving my time management skills allowed me to spread myself pretty far across the school,” Wilcox said.
One major part of her time in high school has been her dedication to the school’s marching band. As a sophomore, she was given the opportunity to be a uniform officer, which means she was in charge of all things visual, from summer uniform fittings, to football game uniform checkoffs, to hair fixes at competitions and more. Then during her junior year, she became the trumpet assistant section leader, and this year, she led the band as one of the four drum majors.
“Band has definitely been the most impactful of all on my life as I was on the leadership team for three years,” Wilcox said. “It really showed me how to step outside of my comfort zone and shaped me into the person I am today.”
According to Wilcox, after being given this leadership experience she’s been taught many life lessons on how to be a leader.
“Band has really taught me how to interact with people that you’re not used to talking to,” Wilcox said. “It has taught me how to be more outgoing and assertive and how to lead people enthusiastically and with a smile.”
Now that her four years in the band are coming to an end, Wilcox has had time to reflect on her time spent in the program.
“I like to think that I’ve made a significant impact on the band with my positive attitude and endless energy,” Wilcox said. “I really focus on getting people moving to where they’re supposed to be and leading them to want to work hard to achieve all that they can.”
Along with being involved in the school’s band, Wilcox is also in track and decided this past year to take on cross country. She said that because she grew up doing triathlons and running in 5k races, these sports were the perfect fit for her. She was the JV district champion in the 800 and mile in 2018, and she was a varsity runner for the cross country team.
“Track taught me how to enjoy a sport not necessarily because you’re the best at it, but just because you enjoy the activity and the people in it,” Wilcox said. “It also taught me how to live a healthy lifestyle and find the motivation to stay fit.”
Being in two different programs have given Wilcox the ability to learn and grow from both. She said that they worked together to make her the person that she is today.
“Being in cross country and track kept me active and physically fit, which contributed greatly to the high performance that I was able to produce in both marching and conducting an entire show,” Wilcox said. “This also helped me become a sort of team mom to the cross country girls, a title they gave me after our very first team camp.”
Ever since she was five years old, Wilcox said that she kept busy with competing in gymnastics, playing the piano and driving race cars until she was 11 years old.
“Even before coming into high school, I was always a super busy person,” Wilcox said. “My life has been moving quickly since the age of five and that’s the way that I like it.”
This fall, she is attending Texas A&M University as a business honors and finance major.
“I can’t wait to see where this next chapter in my life takes me,” Wilcox said.
![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-300x201.jpg)
