![Alexander Oki ‘28 picks up trash in the lower parking lot Feb. 20. According to Keep America Beautiful, the majority of the trash found on both roads and waterways consists of fast food wrappers and packaging, receipts and plastic beverage bottles. Clubs like the National Honor Society (NHS) offer students the opportunity to earn service hours by cleaning up the trash in the parking lots. “[The trash] makes us look very unhygienic and unmotivated to be a proper school,” Emberlyse Vidal ‘28 said. “It makes us look like we just don't care about our students' environments.”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/20260220_1355020-2-1200x904.jpg)
As you walk into the halls with sleepy, tired eyes the morning of Friday, Sept. 15, you suddenly see colors, designs and places from all over the country.
Every year, Student Council spends the week prior to Homecoming Week making decorations for the school. The theme was “Route RC,” going to places such as Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Utah and Colorado.
“I really liked the Texas pod because I liked dressing up like a cowboy and that pod represented that,” Hunter Willard ‘26 said. “I also liked all the different details and the overall theme of it.”
media by Elly Brooks
Outside the 4000s pod, a black paper banner painted with the words “Route RC 23 Homecoming” represents the overall theme for this year's Homecoming Sept. 22. The other pods were decorated with specific locations from the road trip theme. “My favorite design this year is the banner. It is so innovative and [Student Council] really applied their artistic abilities in showcasing the road trips theme,” Veronica Baxter ‘25 said.