![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)
The rapidly growing city of Cedar Park should expect even more inhabitants with the new Cedar Park Center that opened up in late September. The building is located off 183A and New Hope Road and the arena holds up to 8,700 people for concert venues and 6,800 for hockey games. There was talk of adding an Arena Football 2 league team (a developmental league for Arena Football) that would have had the Austin Wranglers calling the new stadium home, but the team ceased operations in 2008. The arena cost the City of Cedar Park roughly 55 million dollars, but the center is expected to produce approximately 450 jobs and generate more tax revenue. The city is hiring both part time and full time employees to work on booking a lineup of events. Since the center costs more than some lottery jackpots, some question the approaches of building an athletic complex and concert venue.
“We don’t need a place like that, and we could have spent the tax dollars on something more efficient, like funding more school related programs around the area, or somehow helping local farmers and other businesses,” Hailey Rosen, senior, said. “We’ve enjoyed the Frank Erwin Center for concerts and graduations and other events; we don’t need some brand new multi-million dollar building.”
The city hopes to make up the money difference soon, as the general manager of the center predicts that it will host over 120 events in its first year. The Grammy award winning country musicians George Strait and Lee Ann Womack have already appeared, and on November 2 American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson made an appearance on her “All I Ever Wanted” tour. The center welcomed a Chicago alternative rock band Wilco October 8. In late November the arena hosted its first theatrical show with Walking with Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular. Along with sporting events, concerts and family shows the center will host corporate events and trade conventions for companies.
“It reflects how big Cedar Park is getting,” Tommy Boyett, senior, said. “It’s good that we finally got it.”
This year’s graduating class from Cedar Park graduate at the new complex. This will be the first of many graduations that will be held at the center, and the seniors at CPHS will be the first class in this new Cedar Park tradition.
“I think it’s great that we have our own event center because Cedar Park is such a growing community,” Hillary Babin, senior, said. “I can’t wait to be a part of the first class to graduate there.” While the majority of students are excited to graduate at the center, there downtown and walking out of the doors and seeing the beautiful city of Austin and now I am going to walk out of the center and see a Taco Bell,” Alyssa Trujillo, senior, said. “I’m not very fond of the idea.”
The center is the new home to the Texas Stars, a hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). The City of Cedar Park is trying to attract families to attend regularly, marketing affordable ticket prices starting as low as nine dollars a seat. The AHL is a developmental league much like the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) and the minor leagues in baseball. Players from the Texas Stars can be called up to play for the NHL’s Dallas Stars when needed. The center offers special areas for the avid hockey fans. Season ticket holders for the Texas Stars will be rewarded with a bar suite and lounge, the Stars Club sports bar access and admission to the Miller Lite Lounge. The arena has 20 luxury suites and four party suites available, six concession stands and TV monitors in concession areas. With 2,700 parking spaces available, drivers shouldn’t have to worry about squeezing in between a Hummer and an Excursion.
The addition of the arena should bring more visitors to Cedar Park and expand the population even more. The Class of 2010 will be the first of many classes to graduate at the center. With games, performances, shows, acts and corporate events lined up, the center will bring in entertainment and fun for the whole family without having to make a trip to Austin.
