![Minutes before the Activities Fair in the gym, president Abhi Gowda ‘26 prepares the stall for his club Helping Hands, Sept. 4. A relatively new club, Helping Hands was co-started by Gowda and focuses on assisting the homeless, and just last year they succeeded in raising a couple hundred donations to send to shelters. This year, they have goals to expand, with hopes to increase volunteer opportunities and take in-person trips to shelters, as well as extend their help beyond just homeless people. “The Activities Fair gives a lot of underclassmen the opportunity to really get to know the Canyon culture, and it gives them many opportunities for service and volunteering,” Gowda said. “[Through the Activities Fair,] I hope to find a bunch of new and passionate members about our club and just get our name out there and spread awareness to the cause that we’re fighting for.”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/1-2-1200x885.jpg)
![The winter guard team makes fifth place at the state championship finals in the Denver Coliseum, March 30. The team performed to Barnes Country's “Glitter and Gold,” lead by coaches Margo Sanford, Blair Bickerton and Anna Orgren. In their class there were a total of nine groups participating, and the top five who made it to finals received a plaque. “[Walking onto the stage] is very nerve-wracking, but also very exciting as well. When you first start color guard there's a lot of anxiety and uncertainty when you first perform in front of an audience, but once you've done it for a while, it starts to become the best part of the season,” Ella West ‘25 said. “It's very fulfilling to see an audience react to something you've put your heart and soul into.”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Both-socal-media-nd-website-main-1-1200x846.jpg)
![April marks the 25th anniversary of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, created by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC). This month is to spread awareness of the harassment, assault and abuse that happens around the world. The symbol that represented the month was a teal ribbon; however, some survivors of assault create different symbols and movements like the TikTok trend in 2022, where survivors would tattoo Medusa on their body, in honor of her backstory in Greek Mythology. “I don't think [this month is known] at all. I rarely see anybody talk about it. I rarely see much of an emphasis on posting it online, or much discussion about it, and I feel like there needs to be way more discussion,” an anonymous source said. “I think just validating every experience that a person has gone through, regardless of the degree of it, the severity, is an essential step into making sure that people are aware that this is a very real problem in a society and that we need to do better in addressing it.”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_0011-1200x900.jpg)
![Lesbian Visibility Day is April 26, and it’s a holiday to celebrate the lesbian community of the world. Lesbian Visibility day was established in 2008 by many queer activists and organizations who sought to raise more awareness for lesbian history and culture. “So this is why during Lesbian Visibility [Day] we celebrate and center all lesbians, both cis and trans, while also showing solidarity with all LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary people,” Linda Reily, in an article written by her, said.](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Lesbian-Visibility-day.jpeg)
The clock strikes 1:35 p.m. Jan. 11
A collective vibration strikes the phones of students during their seventh-period classes.
“RCHS Class of 2024 – **Important Message** from Principal Abner” is the subject of the email notification.
“I have just attended a district meeting and it was made abundantly clear that the game of ‘Senior Assassins’ will not be tolerated on any DCSD campus,” Principal Andrew Abner said in the message addressed to seniors and their parents. “If any student is found to be in possession of a facsimile of a weapon on any campus it has been shared that this will be a mandatory recommendation for expulsion.”
Senior Assassin is a traditional game that originated in the United States in 1982, according to www.catchergames.com. However, the game did not begin at Rock Canyon until 2021, when it was organized by former student, Tiffany Lahey.
The game’s premise is that seniors pay five dollars to play, and the last person standing after months of avoiding getting shot by a water gun will win all of the money collected for admission. This year, the jackpot is $1,410.
Students wear items such as goggles and floaties to protect themselves on a day-to-day basis. Every once in a while, Student Council Senior Class President Matthew Oros ’24 and Senior Class Vice President Leah Sheahan ’24 will post on @rc.seniors.24 on Instagram to announce a free-for-all “purge day,” where students’ protective items do not keep them safe.
The seniors remaining in the game as of the start of round four Jan. 8 include Kate Shupe, Maddy Sova, Aiden Kahn, Matthew Shipley, Lily Mulstay, Bella Smoldt, Marley Johnston, Nolan Kliewer, Trevor Olson, Hudson Antestenis, Ava Blanco, Tristan Miller and Charlotte Strabel.
What do you think about Senior Assassin? Sorry, there was an error loading this poll.
Gabe Henley ‘24 was eliminated Aug. 19, two days into round one.
“I think they should [finish] the game. You don’t have to play on Rock Canyon grounds or any school grounds to get people out,” Henley said.
Abner later clarified that students might have misinterpreted his message.
“I didn’t mean to imply that people have to stop playing. If you read the email, quite literally, what I’m simply saying is, I don’t want anyone playing on school grounds [or] on campus,” Abner said. “I don’t really care if the game continues off campus.”
The purpose behind the game being prohibited on campus pertains to state inherent safety concerns.
“If [an elimination] happens on campus, especially if kids are seen with a squirt gun that looks like a real gun or something like this, it’s going to cause major problems,” Abner said.
A real-life incident at a school in Parker, Colorado influenced this decision.
“Some other schools, particularly in Douglas County School District, went on lockdown before holiday break because of Senior Assassins. There was a kid who was dressed in all black, holding a gun [that] looked like a real gun. It ended up being a squirt gun, and he got picked up on the cameras by district security. They called Douglas County Sheriff’s department, [who] came out [with] full-bore long rifles pointed at this kid,” Abner said. “We don’t want to know what happened there, right?”
Shortly after the email was sent out, some seniors and even juniors looking to next year began planning ways to continue the game on campus.
“I definitely think this will prevent people from signing up not only because it will be more difficult to get people [out] when they are not at school, but also because people might not want others to know where they live and work and that would be a bigger part of the game,” Maddie Kasal ‘25 said. “I think something like stickers you need to put on someone’s backpack or something like that could be a good alternative [to water guns].”
Some students suggested potentially using alternatives, such as water balloons, instead of squirt guns.
“[I’m] not as concerned about water balloons, because it doesn’t look like a weapon,” Abner said. “There’s also a safety factor with those, too. If anything were to happen in the school on laminate flooring, people [would] slip and fall, right? The point of the email was simply to say ‘Guys, be safe, and keep it off school grounds.’ I don’t really care if the game continues, but those are my two big things.”