![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)
![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)
Venezuela to Texas
After Moving 2,405 Miles, Sophomore Compares Schools
Sophomore Giselle Muniz moved from Venezuela to Texas only two years ago. She compares her old home to her school and life here in Texas.
September 7, 2018
A new country. A new school. A new language. After moving here just two years ago from Caracas, Venezuela, “new” has been a keyword for sophomore Giselle Muniz.
Only a month after moving to the U.S., Muniz began eighth grade. She said she immediately found that besides the language difference, there was a difference in how students were treated.
“What surprised me the most was that they expected kids to know what they wanna be when they grow up,” Muniz said. “I was so confused because I [didn’t] know what I [wanted] to be.”
While she may have felt overwhelmed at first, Muniz said that she began to enjoy the freedom offered in choosing her classes.
“It [feels] really nice to be able to study whatever [I want],” Muniz said. “I’m able to study things that I like and want to learn more about.”
In addition to freedom over courses, students enjoy the privilege of expressing themselves through their outfits, as long as they abide by the dress code. However, in Venezuela, Muniz dressed for school everyday based on the specific colored uniform assigned to her grade.
“I [was] annoyed that I had to wear [uniforms] and not whatever [I] wanted,” Muniz said. “Now I feel annoyed that I have to buy clothes.”
Muniz got used to attending a school with only 600 students when she lived in Venezuela. Once she got to Cedar Park, Muniz said that she had to adjust to sharing the hallways with 1,950 other students.
“I thought I was going to be late to class every day and that I was going to get in trouble for it,” Muniz said. “If you were late to class more than five times in my old school you got in trouble.”
Being able to rent out a Lenovo laptop may not phase some students, but Muniz said that she sees that both students and teachers here are quite privileged when compared to those in Venezuela, where phones and computers were uncommon due to the high crime rate.
“The homework, we had to write it down,” Muniz said. “The teachers didn’t use a computer. The students didn’t use computers. You know how dangerous it was in Venezuela to even have a phone? How would you bring an actual computer to school? And [why would the] school actually provide a computer for you if they knew it would get stolen?”
Muniz said that she has experienced a completely new sense of pride, between pep rallies and Friday night lights.
“Here you have districts and you compete against each other. There we didn’t really care that much,” Muniz said. “It’s really nice to be in a place where people are proud to be here.”
Muniz said that she is looking forward to her next few years of high school and she hopes to figure out her path in life.
“I want to take some more fun classes,” Muniz said. “This is my first year taking theatre and it’s really fun so far. I want to take some more advanced art classes and when I decide what I want to be when I grow up, I’ll take a class that’s related to that.”
Alicia • Sep 13, 2018 at 2:57 pm
Thank you, Morgan, for the interview with our Giselle. It is an honor for us that she is part of CPHS.
German Muñiz, Sr. • Sep 8, 2018 at 9:48 am
I am a very proud grandfather. We lived together in Caracas in separate floors of the same house. I got accustomed to being amazed at Gigi’s accomplishments in and out of school. As with her family, I too had to leave our country Venezuela which was the richest and warmest country in Latin America. We thank the USA for having given all of us a new home and renewed hope.