![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)
![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)
![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)
![Holding the Grand Nationals trophies, drum majors Helashi Wijayawardhana, Abigail Pettey and Eddy Kim pose for a photo. The BOA Grand Nationals competition took place in Indianapolis on Nov. 14-17. “My favorite thing was just looking back at the field, and I was like, ‘Oh, crap. I know all of their names, I know who all of them are’,” Wijayawardahana said. “It's just insane to me that I was able to make so many connections. [Being a drum major] taught me how to build relationships with people who I’m not really that similar to, and how to juggle a ton of things all together.”
Photo courtesy of CPHS Band SmugMug](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/AJC.GrandNatsFinals-169-1200x801.jpg)
![Delicately placing the string to form the shape of a cornucopia, seniors Haley Burton and Avery Nelson create the November arrangement for the Flower of the Month Club. This club is led by Advanced Floral Design Students and provides a monthly arrangement to community members who subscribe to receive them. “I think flower of the month club is a really impactful way to show your loved ones ‘hey I really care about you,’ or even if they’re just for yourself, they’re a little pick-me-up throughout the month that [say] ‘I’m doing ok, and these flowers make my day a little bit brighter,” Nelson said. “I like giving people flowers because people value the flowers more and they value themselves more.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Ava-Holmes-3-edit.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)
![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)
Justin’s Four Division Winners
September 5, 2019
AFC Teams
1. New England Patriots (13-3)
The Patriots are “still here,” as the team likes to say. With 42-year-old QB Tom Brady still at the helm, the Pats are poised for yet another AFC East Title and Super Bowl run. A division crown for New England would be their 10th consecutive and their 17th in 19 seasons. Though TE Rob Gronkowski is now retired, WRs N’Keal Harry, Julian Edelman and the recently reinstated, Josh Gordon, provide Brady with more big-time targets. Throw in RB Sony Michel and it’s easy to see why New England will be right back in the playoffs this year. The Patriots are already the greatest dynasty the NFL has ever seen: nine Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl Titles since 2001, tying their rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers, for the most Super Bowl wins. Tom Brady is, and has been for a while, known as the “GOAT.” Rob Gronkowski’s “Gronk Spike” has been one of the signature images of the Pats’ dynasty. The Tom Brady-Bill Belichick duo will pick up right where they left off last season, as they defend their sixth Super Bowl Title.
2. Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are back, folks. After being the laughing stock of the NFL for the last 20+ seasons, there is finally a reason for hope in Cleveland. Following the 0-16 miserable 2017 season, GM John Dorsey traded for WR Jarvis Landry and FS Damarious Randall and drafted QB Baker Mayfield and CB Denzel Ward. Then everything changed. Mayfield took over in week three and the Browns began to light it up. They ended up winning seven games last season, a drastic improvement over zero wins the previous year. This offseason, Dorsey started by trading for DE Olivier Vernon to pair up with superstar edge-rusher, Myles Garrett. DT Sheldon Richardson was also brought in, giving the Browns arguably the scariest defensive line in the league. The world knows what happened next. Odell Beckham Jr. and all of his one-handed catches are coming to Cleveland. Beckham is not only a top-five WR in the league, but he also brings a swagger that the Browns were looking for. Mayfield, who broke the rookie passing TD record a season ago, will now be throwing passes to OBJ, Landry, Higgins and Njoku and Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt (once he serves his suspension) running the ball. It’s easy to see why the Browns will be in the Super Bowl conversation this season and for years to come.
3. Kansas City Chiefs (11-5)
Led by reigning MVP QB Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs are looking to go one step further than last year, where they ultimately fell in overtime to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. The biggest priority for Chiefs GM Brett Veach this offseason was revamping and improving the defense as a whole as Kansas City’s defense was at or near the bottom in almost every defensive statistical category a season ago. Veach answered the call by signing DE Frank Clark, SS Tyrann Mathieu and CB Bashaud Breeland. The Chiefs also parted ways with LBs Justin Houston and Dee Ford as well as SS Eric Berry, a series of moves that raised some eyebrows around the league. The AFC West will be very competitive this season, as both the Raiders and Broncos should be much improved from a season ago. The division will still likely come down to the Chiefs and Chargers, however, as both teams are considered Super Bowl contenders by many experts. Their week 17 matchup in Kansas City could very well decide the division title. TE Travis Kelce, WR Tyreek Hill and rookie WR Mecole Hardman will be some of the weapons that Mahomes has in his arsenal. The loss of RB Kareem Hunt hurt the Chiefs last year, but Damien Williams will provide Mahomes with a reliable weapon out of the backfield. Ultimately, I believe the Chiefs will win the AFC West and will be the three seed in the playoffs.
4. Houston Texans (9-7)
After the news broke that Colts QB Andrew Luck retired, the Texans are now the favorites to win their sixth AFC South title. The one flaw in Houston last season was the offensive line, specifically in pass protection. Texans QB Deshaun Watson was pressured and sacked more than any other QB in the NFL last season. The Texans addressed that problem by drafting OL Tytus Howard from Alabama State in the first round. Provided the O-Line holds up, the Watson-Hopkins duo can be as deadly as ever for opposing teams. Texans RB Lamar Miller will miss the entire 2019 season with a torn ACL, opening up an opportunity for Duke Johnson to start, who was recently acquired from the Browns earlier this offseason. WRs Keke Coutee and Will Fuller V will be back on the field after suffering injuries last season. On the defensive side of the ball, DE Jadeveon Clowney was recently traded to the Seahawks. DE JJ Watt is the face of Houston’s franchise, but will now be playing without his Pro-Bowl counterpart Clowney. Regardless, a division that seemed promising in terms of balance is now heavily favored Houston’s way. I expect the Texans to ultimately come out on top of the AFC South division once again.
