![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)
![As the support team sits and poses for a photo in the cafeteria with the counseling team they eagerly wait to start their day. "We [all] seem to be a team, I get up every day and there's days where I don't want to go to work today, but I'm thankful that I have a job and I'm blessed to have what I have," Christopherson said. Photo Courtesy of Julie Weltens.](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AF9E8470-10D7-4C91-BF28-EC8F86BAB66C-1200x852.jpeg)
![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)
![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)
![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)
![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)
Q: What is your position and how long have you had it?
A: This is my second year at Cedar Park High School. My job is a student and family support team. I’m a licensed therapist and I conduct therapy sessions here at school.
Q: Have you worked anywhere else before CPHS?
A: I worked in Round Rock ISD for four years.
Q: What is your favorite part so far about working at CPHS?
A: I just love the kids, I love the other counselors and the teachers and it’s a great community, so I’m happy to be here.
Q: Where did you go to college and what did you major in?
A: Psychology was my undergrad at the University of Texas, and I also got my masters in social work at UT as well.
Q: What made you interested in working as a therapist?
A: I have always wanted to be a therapist since I was little, [because] my grandfather was a psychologist so it was kind of ingrained in me as a little kid
Q: What is your role?
A: I support students and families that have a need for therapy, and [I] can also help students who don’t want to have therapy here on campus [to] find resources out in the community. Whenever there’s a mental health need in any way, I help direct the family [and] help find resources for the family.
Q: Can you tell me one of your favorite encounters you’ve had while working here?
A: I really enjoy just being in the hallways and learning all the new slang and stuff from the kids.
Q: In high school did you have a student support team and did you ever visit them?
A: Unfortunately we didn’t have [a student support team], and that’s why [this is] really important to me because I didn’t have something like this growing up
Q: What are some things that you want students to know about you?
A: I just want to help in any way I can, and I often like to learn things from students and so I might not be the expert on everything, but like I’m here to help in any way I can.
Q: What is an important thing that you want students to know about their future?
A: That’s a good one. We can look at [the future] as a really big idea and really big goals [which is] great and we should have those, but we also have to remember that it’s the little steps every day that get us there and that’s really important.
Q: Would you call yourself introverted or extroverted and why?
A: I think in my own life, I’m an introvert. I like talking to people, [and] I’m pretty social, but I also like to recharge by myself and just relax and curl up.
Q: What do you do outside of school and what are some of your hobbies and interests?
A: Well, I have two boys and so my hobbies and interests are taking care of them and going to their sporting events. I like to just spend time with my family [when] we play games, hang out together, go on hikes, walks and stuff like that.
Q: What are some of your favorite TV shows and movies?
A: I can rewatch “The Office” and “New Girl,” over and over again. I just saw “Wicked” and I loved “Wicked” too. I read the book of “Wicked” a long time ago, and then I saw the play and I loved it, but the movie came out and sparked a new interest.
Q: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your life in your career?
A: My grandpa. He was so smart and so intuitive and he had a big impact on why I wanted to be a therapist. [Another influence was my] team in Leander. I think we all work[ed] together really well and we help[ed] each other out and work[ed] through things together. I think that the team is really important to me too.
