![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)
The students of Cedar Park High school are about to experience a highly anticipated change. No more will the lunch lines, the courtyard and the hallways be overcrowded. LISD is currently in the process of constructing a new high school, Vandergrift, which will draw students from the Steiner Ranch area including those who currently attend CPHS as freshman and all incoming freshman from Canyon Ridge Middle School. However, students who live in the area districted for Vandergrift but have siblings who attend CPHS will be allowed to choose which high school to attend.
Vandergrift High School was named after a former Leander High School attendee and A&M graduate. Lt. Matthew Ryan Vandergrift served and was killed in Iraq and in honor of his passing, Leander ISD has chosen to name the school after him.
“He’s kind of one of those students that encompasses the entire district. I’ve talked to [people that knew him] and they all commented on how much of a remarkable young man he was,” said Charlie Little, principal of Vandergrift High School.
The school’s opening will help solve the overcrowding problems at CPHS. Also, the new high school will reduce travel time between home and school for those students living in the south end of the district.
Vandergrift was scheduled to open for freshmen and sophomores in the fall of 2009. However, the school will still be under construction at that time, so students will attend Four Points Middle School until Vandergrift is ready. This means that the students transferring to the new school will go to as many as three different schools in the course of three to four years.
“[Four Points] is a brand new school; we’ll be the first ones to use it. I want to be sure that that’s clear to the kids; when we leave it will be populated by eighth graders,” Little said.
Enrolling in Cedar Park, then Vandergrift, with a year in the new Four Points Middle School, leaves a few students uninterested and unsure about the transfer. Some Cedar Park sophomores oppose the switch altogether and are choosing to stay with their older siblings at Cedar Park, which is a choice that the new high school provides.
“So the sophomores are going to be the first seniors, and there’s only [so many] schools in the district, so it’s very [uncommon] that you get to be the first class. I think that it’s going to be exciting,” Little said.
Although the new school is forcing upcoming sophomores and freshmen to changes school three times, many of the students see the change as an advantage.
“I think [Vandergrift] is pretty cool, because once we go there, we’re going to be the first graduating class. The sports are going to be more fun and less competitive, so I think it’s going to be pretty cool, “ said Chase Craddick, freshman.
Vandergrift is located off 2222 and McNeil drive. The convenience of the location proves to be an important aspect for parents of high school students.
“The parents are really excited about having a school in their community; they’re looking at the bigger picture. For the parent it’s convenient, it’s exciting for them, they see the opportunities available,” Little said.
With more opportunities for sports and new starts, some students are embracing the change and are excited to have the chance to be a part of a pioneering class.
“The first year is all about building tradition and building culture. Since we are going to be in the middle school that first year, we want to make sure that the kids have a full high school experience and don’t regret coming to Vandergrift. It’s going to be exciting. We’re going to be doing all varsity sports except football the first year,” Little said.
The athletic coordinator is Drew Sanders and the new band director will be Cedar Park’s very own Jeremy Spicer. The Vandergrift mascot is the Vipers, which won 50 percent of the vote. The school will enter as a 2A school and participate in semi-varsity sports. Unfortunately the school will not be able to host a football team until the fall of 2012 due to a UIL rule.
Charlie Little encourages all students with comments or concerns to e-mail him or to check the Vandergrift website that is now up and running.
