![Walking through the tunnel created by the cheerleaders and Celebrities, senior Frances Tran smiles as the soccer team is sent off during DEN for their playoff game against Rouse tonight. Tran said the wins against Smithson Valley and Alamo Heights gave the team a morale boost to take on the Raiders tonight. “I know we were not 100% confident in those games,” Tran said. “But, Rouse is a big opponent for sure. We’re definitely going into tonight with a lot of morale [because of the previous wins].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/frances-tran.jpg)
![Holding a bucket of materials in one hand and a roll of tape in another, anatomy and biology teacher Tyler Terry prepares for a lab. Terry said his proudest moments are when his students are happy to see him. “When I take my wife to a football game or something and a bunch of students want to say hi to me or they like to smile and wave and it just makes me feel good that the students are really kind and supportive of me,” Terry said. “[I’m also] proud when I see students perform really well in their extracurriculars because I can see how hard they’re working in my classes, [so] when I see that they’re also working so hard in other things. Like they’re winning band competitions or they’re getting awards for their theater productions, or I see them put on their choir shows, that’s like, wow, you guys are incredible.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rags-6.png)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901.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. I’m able to study things that I like and want to learn more about, — Giselle Muniz
“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. It’s really nice to be in a place where people are proud to be here, — Giselle Muniz
“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.”
![Holding her dog, Nova, senior Ariana Balakrishnan poses for her senior pictures while Nova wears a bandana with her college decision. Balakrishnan applied to 18 colleges in total, but she decided on Columbia in the end. “Right before I clicked the button to open Columbia’s letter, I literally looked at the camera and go ‘This is just gonna really suck because I wanted it so bad,’ and I clicked it and all of a sudden you hear trumpets,” Balakrishnan said. “There’s a video that plays when you open it and I actually didn’t watch the video, I just watched the screen go black, because every day of December before ED [Early Decision] I would go on YouTube and watch the acceptance video to manifest it, so immediately when the screen went black, I started screaming and jumping up and down. And my parents in the video are like ‘What are you doing, where’s the letter,’ and I was just screaming ‘I got in, I got in.” I just started crying, and it just felt like everything in the world came together.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ariana-2-300x217.jpg)
![Catching a ball, junior Alivia Robinson plays at the Cedar Park vs Glenn game. Having played since she was 5 years old, she is dedicated to softball and has committed to UTPB for softball. “When I got my offer it took me a very long time to decide where,” Robinson said. “Softball has always been my dream for college, and UTPB is my fit. When [I committed] I knew I was going to be loved and supported.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lilly-Adams-3.13aliviaedit-901-600x400.jpg)
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.