![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)
![As the support team sits and poses for a photo in the cafeteria with the counseling team they eagerly wait to start their day. "We [all] seem to be a team, I get up every day and there's days where I don't want to go to work today, but I'm thankful that I have a job and I'm blessed to have what I have," Christopherson said. Photo Courtesy of Julie Weltens.](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AF9E8470-10D7-4C91-BF28-EC8F86BAB66C-1200x852.jpeg)
![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)
![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)
![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)
![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)
Q: What is your position and how long have you had that?
A: I am the 504 coordinator and the testing coordinator for Cedar Park, and I’ve had it for well exactly a year this January.
Q: Can you give a rundown of what the 504 and the test coordinator do?
A: The 504 coordinator helps to support students who need extra help in their classes. So maybe [a student] has a physical disability or a mental disability and they might need some extra help in order to level the playing field with other students. As the testing coordinator, I have to organize and run all the big tests for the schools [such as] telepath, the STARR, SAT [and]PSAT.
Q: Have you worked anywhere else besides CPHS?
A: I used to work as a high school English teacher in Georgia and then at Leander High School for a couple of years.
Q: Where did you go to college, and what did you major in?
A: I majored in English education with a minor in linguistics, and I went to school at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia.
Q: What is your favorite part so far of working at CPHS?
A: My favorite part of CPHS is the culture. I like all of the people that I work with and the students, and I like how everyone seems to have such a stake in providing the best environment for the students.
Q: What made you interested in working as a student support staff member?
A: I think honestly it’s [getting] to help the students. I had a break of probably like I would say about 13 years, [and] it was exciting that I would get the opportunity to work with students again and especially [have] the opportunity to support them and help them when they needed help.
Q: In high school, did you have a student support team, and did you ever visit them?
A: High school was very different when I was in school, [because] there were obviously counselors, but I do not know if there was anything like a 504 program [or] a testing coordinator. I really like how much students are supported now versus when I was in school [because] we kind of look at [students] as a whole and not just academics. I [also] really like that if kids need therapy that they don’t have access to outside of school, they can get that in school. Not everybody has these tremendous academic aspirations, but that doesn’t mean that their aspirations aren’t important and that their interests aren’t important. We value all of that now [which] I think is super important.
Q:What do you want students to know about you?
A: I’m here to support them in any way I can. It doesn’t just have to be that I support 504 students.t I know testing is not really the most fun for all kids, so I try to make that experience as stress-free as possible for [all] students. Any time, any questions that they have about anything they’re more than welcome to always reach out to me and, if I can’t answer it, then I’ll put them in touch with the right person. My door’s always open.
Q: What’s the most important thing you want students to know about their future?
A: I would like students to know that in their future there are so many different paths that they can take and there’s no right or wrong answer. Even if you’re in the middle of one path, you can say, ‘you know what, this isn’t for me and I think I want to do this.’ There are a thousand things [students] can do to be successful and happy in life, and not everybody’s path looks the same.
Q: Would you call yourself introverted or extroverted?
A: I think I’m extroverted. I like to be around people. I have no trouble walking into a room and introducing myself or, you know, meeting new people, and I like to be out and about and doing things and trying new things.
Q: What do you do outside of school? What are your hobbies and interests?
A: I love to travel. That would be number one. I love to go to new places and learn about new cultures, I love to try new restaurants, I enjoy gardening and I like to sew and read.
Q: What are some of your favorite TV shows or movies?
A: Some of my favorite shows and movies are “Friends,” “The Great British Baking Show,” “House Hunters International,” “Ted Lasso,” “Narcos,” “The Queen’s Gambit,” any period pieces.
