![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)
On Oct. 30, 24 members from Eco Club participated in a tour of the school’s roof solar panels as part of the ReNew Our Schools energy education and conservation competition, an event in which students learn about energy production and aim to conserve energy on campus. They competed against other schools in the district until the competition ended on Nov. 15.
Rankings were assigned based on the number of actions completed by each school. Each action was awarded a certain number of points, and the competitor with the greatest total points won.
Of the three competitors, the Jags placed last with 26 actions completed with 380 points. Thunder Ridge High School placed second with 29 actions completed with 440 points. Castle View High School came in first with 28 actions completed with 445 points.
“All the schools in the contest had way more points than we’ve usually seen in years past,” Eco Club adviser Jenny Wills said. “I think because we were all familiar with the other buildings that were participating, and so we did way more than we’ve usually done, but we [still] came in third out of third.”
Last competition, Eco Club members focused on learning about behaviors related to energy use. This time, they tried a new variety of activities, such as touring and studying heating systems.
“Our building is harder to cool down in the summer,” Wills said. “It takes more energy to do that, so understanding the physics of our building was cool.”
It was also the first time they explored an energy production facility, participating in a tour guided by an E Light Electric employee to learn about the roof’s solar panels and how they are maintained.
The Eco Club competed against two other schools in the district, Castle View High School and ThunderRidge High School. Actions completed by the club were rewarded with a certain number of points, the winner being the school with the greatest total.
Castle View High School placed first with 28 actions completed and 445 points earned. ThunderRidge High School placed second with 29 actions completed and 440 points earned.
Rock Canyon High school placed last with 26 actions completed and 380 points earned.
Regardless of rankings, the number of points achieved by the Eco Club improved drastically compared to the last competition, with the total increasing from 280 to 380.
“The district helped kind of sponsor this contest, and they’re going to actually analyze how our energy use was used over this competition period in more depth,” Wills said. “So maybe we’ll get some feedback from that that could be helpful.”
For the future, Wills believes new strategies can be implemented to improve campus awareness about energy use, such as staff meeting presentations or announcements on RCTV.
“Every year, we try to have a different direction,” Wills said. “I think some of the groups will continue some of these projects even through the school year, to put some things in place to help. But I think having a better idea before the competition starts of what we want to do to try to make a difference will be helpful for us.”