![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 cali-reggae band, Rebelution, will be making an appearance in Austin February 26 at 8:00 PM at Stubb’s. This band, who has taken over Cedar Park, is famous for their optimistic views on life and their easy going attitude. Live on the bright side of life is a view from the band that many students have adopted as their mantra. Their song, entitled The Bright Side of Life, was even a choice for the senior class song.
“[They’ve] made us more positive and nice [toward] each other,” Megan Havener, senior, said.
Many students will be attending this concert, and for some of them, it won’t be their first Rebelution encounter. For Havener, it will be her third time to see them in concert.
“I love how when we go see them, they’re not too stuck up to meet us,” Havener said. “Their music is the soundtrack to our summer. [Rebelution] is the main band that we all listen to.”
The band and cali-reggae music has become more and more popular throughout Cedar Park High School.
“The reggae genre is reaching out and is [becoming] more inviting,” Katie Love, junior, said.
Its positive spin on life is what most students love most about Rebelution’s music.
The band began in Santa Barbara, California, in 2004. They met at University of California at Santa Barbara and after playing local gigs all around town they independently released an EP. Soon the attendance at their shows increased so much that they decided to release a full-length album in 2006 called Courage to Grow. The album remained on the Billboard Top Reggae Album Chart for 36 weeks. This album put Rebelution on top of the Cali-Reggae scene. The band’s newest album, Bright Side of Life, released August 2009, made iTunes’ top three most downloaded albums and number 54 on the Billboard Hot 200.This album has an overall theme of encouragement, which many believe is a good influence on students. They sing about making a difference and about living they best way possible.
Not all of CPHS is raving about this band, however, some students disagree with some of the lyrics and mottos.
“I don’t like the crowd that follows [Rebelution],” Erik Stevens, junior, said.
While some of the lyrics by Rebelution make a reference to negative influences, they are mostly concerned with living life positively. However, it’s not just the debatable lyrics that cause these students to dislike the band.
“By listening to reggae [music] you’re just trying to be popular,” Stevens said .
Even if there is controversy about this style of music, the band, and cali-reggae genre, is making its mark on Cedar Park High School. More and more people are starting to get into this scene and some believe it is actually making a difference.
