![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 lights dim and the music starts. The crowd goes quiet, waiting for the next performance to take place on stage.
The National Dance Team Championship was held Feb. 2 to Feb. 4 at the ESPN World Wide Sports Complex. The poms team flew out Wednesday, Jan. 29, where they practiced for five hours on Thursday and competed for the next three days.
While the team was competing, they still practiced between one to two hours each day to prepare each routine and get ready for when they would compete.
Following each routine at practice, the team would rewatch their footage and determine what needed to be fixed in preparation for Finals performances.
(media by photo courtesy of Universal Event Photography)
“We get a score each round from the judges and comments. As a team, we watch videos and look for areas we can improve in the next performance and then practice and run drills to make those corrections,” varsity head coach Christina Leone said.
Determining what routines the team competed in at Nationals, they looked at two different things: the style of dance and the number of dancers competing on the team. There were six style categories for teams to choose from, according to Inside Info: NDCT 2024, and three division sizes.
The team performed in three categories: Small Pom, where they placed sixth; Medium Game-Day, where they placed eighth; and Small Jazz, which the team did not finish in and did not receive any ranking.
“This year, our divisions were very big. We had about 70 teams in our pom and jazz divisions! So, placing sixth in pom was a huge accomplishment,” Leone said. “It has been since 2019 that we didn’t advance to the jazz finals, so that was a disappointing part of the competition this year, but also a great opportunity to learn!”
Teams compete in Preliminaries, then Semifinals, to where they eventually compete in Finals, if they make it.
“The National Championship is relentless and is a single elimination process, so 50% of the teams [are] eliminated after the first round, then another 25% cut in the second round,” Leone said.
Nationals was the last competition for the varsity poms team to compete in for the season. The team banquet took place March 5 at 7 p.m. at the Viewhouse. The team will begin tryouts for the ‘24-’25 season, starting March and going until April.
