![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)
![Varsity girls soccer midfielder Leah Sheahan ‘24 hugs a friend during the Senior Night celebrations before the home game against Mountain Vista High School (MVHS) at Echo Park Stadium April 29. During Senior Night, seniors were given flowers and the opportunity to walk out and take pictures with their family as their future plans and favorite memories were announced over the speakers. The Jags tied 0-0, losing the Continental League Championship. “We were obviously the stronger team but just couldn’t find a way to score, but otherwise our connection and our intensity was really high so I’m proud of that. We just have to find the net,” defense midfielder Clara Geuzaine ‘24 said. “[Losing League] wasn’t the best. It’s better than last year and like, I know our team and we are doing really good. I don’t want to jinx it but like hopefully [we’ll do] good [in playoffs].”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Copy-of-DSC_4277-1-1200x868.jpg)
Hidden in the back left corner of the 9000s pod, you might know her as math teacher Rachel Carmody, but she is so much more than that. She is a tutor, mother and dancer.
Carmody has been an educator for 19 years, six of which have been spent at Rock Canyon. She attended UCCS, graduating with her Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics. She went to Western Governors University in Milcreek, Utah. To get her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction.
Growing up, Carmody was a triple-type dancer, including tap, clogging and Irish step. Her dance team had the opportunity to be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
“My dance teacher was super influential in my life. She was like a second mom to me and so when I started taking an excessive amount of dance lessons. We couldn’t really afford it, and so she gave me a job at the dance studio,” Carmody said.
On the weekends she is a mother to her seven-year-old son, whom she takes to KidStrong to help him improve in certain areas.
Carmody has two older brothers, one being five years older and the other being 10. Growing up, she wasn’t very close with them and she thought of herself as an only child.
“I’m pretty close with my older brother, and then my middle brother, we’ve never been close, he started crying the day I was born because he wanted a brother and not a sister,” Carmody said.
As she was largely on her own throughout life, becoming a teacher was always on her mind. That spark grew stronger when she had the same math teacher her sophomore and senior year—someone who left a lasting impression.
“He was just a really good math teacher, and generally a pretty cool person,” Carmody said.
He was the main one to kick start her career. She initially thought she wanted to teach younger kids but soon found out that wasn’t for her. So she moved to teaching high schools, and she enjoyed math
“I couldn’t remember a time in school that I wasn’t in the advanced math class,” Carmody said.
Carmody understands that not every subject is going to appeal to everybody. She never felt passionate about English, but she accepted it. So when a student in her class tells her that they don’t like math, she responds with:
“We’re not all gonna like everything we have to do every day,” Carmody said. “I didn’t like English when I was in high school but I wrote the papers, and admittedly read some of the books.”
