![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)
![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)
It doesn’t matter where you go; whether it’s a job interview, a college application, or a first date, everybody likes to hear that you’re giving back. Here at Cedar Park High School, we like to go above and beyond with our community service. We offer many clubs like PALs, JROTC, KEY Club, Student Council and NHS that participate frequently in service projects.
Senior Aleksej Demjanski, an officer for NHS and Spanish Honor Society, said that Spanish Honor Society will be participating in the Austin Food Drive on Dec. 8 to gather canned foods for the less fortunate families in our local area.
“We do things that are exciting,” Demjanski said. “We’re going to go out and do things for the community, just giving back.”
In the spring, Spanish Honor Society plans to start a friendly competition amongst the clubs to raise school supplies for children in Peru. Supplies will be collected in class and shipped to Peru.
Spanish Honor Society isn’t the only club reaching out to other nations. KEY Club, a well-known club at Cedar Park, is participating in “Project Eliminate” to donate funds to give mothers and children around the world medical supplies to fight against tetanus. KEY Club also hopes to raise around $1500 to sponsor schools in India.
“I enjoy knowing that I made a difference in someone’s life that wasn’t mine,” senior Victoria Uribe, Lt. Governor of KEY Club, said.
Another group here at CPHS is the PALs, which is an elective course open to juniors and seniors that focuses on serving our community on a daily basis. PALs visit the local Alzheimer’s home, retirement home and elementary and middle schools every week. The clubs of Cedar Park joined together recently at Trunk-or-Treat, an annual event held in the CPHS parking lot.
“It gives kids a safe environment to have fun and get some candy,” junior Ethan Goldberg said.
To learn more about clubs giving back at Cedar Park, check out a club meeting. Spanish Honor Society meets Thursdays at 4:00 p.m. in room AW108 and 8:00 a.m on Wednesdays. KEY Club meets every Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. in S111.
