![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 bell rings.
Students walk into room 9450 to see Rebecca Uchyn preparing to teach her math classes. She teaches Algebra, Algebra II Trigonometry and, her favorite of all, AP Statistics.
“Math just explains the world around us and I find it so fascinating that things just work out in math and they do apply to so many real situations,” Uchyn said.
When Uchyn started teaching AP Statistics, she discovered her true passion for the topic.
“Since I’ve started teaching statistics, I’ve been reinvigorated with math because it’s so applied and comes with so many real-world contexts that can be analyzed with data,” Uchyn said.
Uchyn has been teaching for 10 years, all of them being at Rock Canyon. Before teaching, she went to college at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley where she majored in mathematics with an emphasis on secondary education.
“I interviewed at Cherokee Trail High School, where I did my student teaching, and at Rock Canyon. I had always thought that I wanted to teach in Cherry Creek School District because that is where I went to school. But, when I came to Rock Canyon for my interviews it felt like home,” Uchyn said. “I really enjoyed my interactions with Mrs. Zimmerman, and of course with Mr. Abner. I guess it was just a feeling that it was the right place for me. I’ve taught at Rock Canyon for 10 years now and I feel so thankful for my time here.”
Uchyn also sponsors the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) club as well as Scholastech.
The UNICEF club is where students come together to help children learn about different parts of the world.
“UNICEF is an international children advocacy group. We coordinate fundraisers to support UNICEF’s efforts to improve child welfare around the world. We also share content to educate members about issues concerning child welfare and ask them to help create campaigns to share the information as well. We share a lot of the content to the general public on our social media pages,” Uchyn said.
Scholastech is for teaching middle schoolers to code and learn more about the subject.
“Scholastech is a club that brings coding experience to younger people. Every other week they go to Rocky Heights to teach students how to code and do coding activities with middle schoolers,” Uchyn said.
Uchyn’s love for her community and students is what drives her every day.
“Most days, I love being in the classroom and feel so grateful that I get to have such a big impact on my students and they get to have such a big impact on me. I’ve always wanted to contribute to my community and help support our future generations. Being a teacher allows me to do that,” Uchyn said.