![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)
Being a new teacher at a new school can be challenging.
In August of 2021, Payton Holloway started his first year teaching at Rock Canyon High School freshmen Earth Environmental Science.
“The very first class I ever taught, I was so nervous. It was all going well until I had to pull down the projector screen,” Holloway said. “It took me two minutes to pull down the screen, everybody was trying not to laugh. It was so embarrassing.”
But, difficult projector screens weren’t going to get the best of him.
As the years progressed, Holloway found his bearings, discovering his way of teaching and getting to know his students. He now teaches both Earth Environmental Science and Geology.
“Being able to get to know students is my favorite part of teaching. It’s rewarding to see my students grow. Although science isn’t for everybody, I hope that building a relationship with students can help them learn because they are having fun,” Holloway said.
Holloway decided to teach when he was in high school, at Broomfield High School. He had many teachers that inspired him.
“[My teacher] Mrs. Davidson made science more hands-on, which made it very interesting for us. She genuinely cared about us as students and that made us care about her class,” Holloway said.
Holloway first attended Black Hills State University in South Dakota for track and field. Then, he attended Metro State University of Denver and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Secondary Science Education, along with an emphasis in Environmental Science. He feels that he is becoming a better teacher every year.
“It’s easy to be a good teacher when you are at a school where students like to go to school too, and have coworkers that support you,” Holloway said.
Now, in his third year of teaching, he embraces it, no longer nervous about teaching every day. Instead, he focuses on the relationships. He also works as a coach, training the boys on the sophomore boys basketball team and jumps for the track team.
“If you can build a relationship with a student and they trust and listen to you, you can teach them about anything,” Holloway said.