![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)
![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)
Workshop Coffeestop
Pre-AP English II Students Share Their Writing, Practice Public Speaking
Reading a poem, sophomores Hailey Allen and Hailey Gross participate in English II pre-AP’s Workshop Coffeestop in the lecture hall on Nov. 14. At the event, students read their writing to an audience and had the chance to give and receive feedback via sticky notes. “I think that it is an amazing way to make my writing better, while helping my classmates around me,” Gross said. “I love reading other people’s writing pieces and seeing what others have to say about mine. It makes me feel like a real writer.”
November 15, 2018
After a long semester of writing poems, short stories and scripts, English II pre-AP students had a chance to show off one of their writing pieces during Workshop Coffeestop on Nov. 13 and 14 in the lecture hall.
Students had the option to present in front of their classmates and parents and coffee and snacks were provided. For the students who did not want to present, they had their written pieces posted on the walls all around the lecture hall. English teacher Kim Vidrine, who has been hosting a form of this workshop during her 17 years of teaching, said that she enjoys giving her students’ writing a chance to be appreciated.
“It gives [students] an authentic audience for their writing piece because too often students write something and it just gets handed in to the teacher and that’s it, the teacher is the audience,” Vidrine said. “But in this case, we have a real audience of peers who are coming and so [students] are real writers because it is not just about the teacher.”
Vidrine said that she believes the Workshop Coffeestop can also inspire students to find new ways to write in.
“A lot of times when students write in school, they only ever see their own writing,” Vidrine said. “Getting to see 150 people’s writing can be an encouragement. It can be something that causes you to be reflective about ‘Oh wow, some of these are really different from what I did, maybe I should consider trying something new.’ I think that it has a lot of benefits.”
One of the English students who took part in the event was sophomore Hailey Gross. She said that she enjoyed the experience, especially being able to give and receive feedback with sticky notes.
“I think that it is an amazing way to make my writing better, while helping my classmates around me,” Gross said. “I love reading other people’s writing pieces and seeing what others have to say about mine. It makes me feel like a real writer.”
Sophomore Lia Kim, who presented her writing to her classmates, said that receiving support from her peers made the whole experience engaging.
“I was kind of nervous at first,” Kim said. “But once I got over my nerves it was kind of a fun experience and nice to receive support from my classmates.”
Apart from being able to hear everyone’s work, Vidrine said that practicing speaking in front of big crowds is also a huge benefit.
“I love that students are brave enough to stand up and share something that, in some cases, is very, very personal,” Vidrine said. “Seeing them learn how to maintain composure in a stressful situation, I think, is good.”
