![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)
![Students drew chalk art in honor of Veterans day. This is just one of many things the school does to show appreciation to veterans, and the art will remain in the courtyard as a reminder of all of the veterans who served their country. “On veteran’s day, I think it’s a great thing we do at school to honor people that served [who are] at our school or family members,” English teacher and cheer coach Nadira King said. “It makes me feel proud, and it makes me remember the [veterans].”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Capture.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)
![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 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)
DECA traveled to Corpus Christi on Feb. 28 to participate in the DECA State Conference and compete for a spot at the International Career Development Conference or ICDC in Anaheim, CA Apr. 24-28. Sophomore Sara Samani and junior Victoria Richter will be representing CP in this upcoming competition.
Three other contestants were recognized as alternates: sophomore Lauren Kriss, junior Alyssa Phillips, and senior DECA President Courtney Norris. DECA Advisor Kimberley Stapleton is impressed with this year’s outcome.
“We did really well in the areas we had control over,” Stapleton said.
Although the entire CPHS DECA team did remarkably well, Samani and Richter are the only ones advancing to ICDC. Pals like Norris, who competed in the Apparel and Accessories Marketing Role Play event, were excited to see them win, especially Sara since this was her second time competing.
“I was so happy for her because I knew she had been working on her presentation since last summer,” Norris said.
Her state-winning presentation, Samani says, is a true labor of love and she’s far from done preparing.
“[Since summer] until the end of February I have been constantly tweaking, perfecting, practicing, and practice, practice, practice is my goal from now until internationals,” Samani said.
According to Stapleton, Richter and Samani’s success along with the other club member’s passion has pushed her too strive even harder next year.
“The way the group has bonded this year and the passion that has been ignited in my students is driving me,” Stapleton said.
Stapleton plans to increase DECA’s community outreach as well as maintain DECA’s active social calendar while putting extra effort into next year’s competition.
“I want to take the results from this year and strategize, so I can take more people to ICDC and not have so many alternates,” Stapleton said.
Samani, who competed in Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan, wants to focus on preparing the whole team and helping them as well as competing herself.
“Next year I plan to form additional collaborative groups to help all of us better prepare for competition,” Samani said.
Richter, who will compete in Advertising Campaign, hopes to inspire next year’s competition team too.
“I hope to occupy a leadership position and draw other individuals into competing as well,” Richter said.
Until then, Richter is focusing on winning International’s, even if that means practicing her speech seven times a day.
“This is my dream, my future, and my passion. So anything less than winning will be disappointing,” Richter said.
