![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)
Moviegoers alike get stuck at a point where they don’t know what to watch, and with the new abundance of movies coming out each month, it gets confusing about what to pick and go see.
“Mickey 17” is one of those movies where you sit down and have little expectations; however, once the credits roll, you say:
“That was a lot better than I thought it would be.”
Starring Robert Pattinson, Steven Yuen, Toni Collete, Naiomi Ackie and Mark Ruffalo as the main antagonist, it sets the acting standards high. Additionally, it is Bong Joo Ho’s first film since the academy-winning “Parasite”.
Although the film has a lengthy runtime of two hours and seven minutes, it fills every minute with action and drama, while still maintaining a comic aspect that you can’t help but laugh at.
“While [Mickey 17] was funny at some points, I found it was boring at some points. It could have had a shorter runtime, which would have made it better,” Addison Evert ‘27 said.
The film follows the protagonist Mickey Barnes, who volunteers to be an expendable on ex-politician Keneth Marshall’s spaceship in search of a new inhabitable planet. While on the ship, Mickey is subjected to numerous tests and torture due to his ability to be “reprinted” or cloned after death. Tragedy strikes, however, when Mickey number 17 is said to be dead, therefore sending a message to the ship to print out Mickey number 18. This mistake leads to utter chaos, coupled with a war with the aliens living on the planet, creating an environment that can only be described as thrilling.
“The overall execution of the movie was good,” Sophie Jelniker ‘27 said. “The CGI alien creatures were well done as well. I do think that it was a boring setting with mediocre acting. It was alright.”
Due to the huge difference in opinions, “Mikey 17” is a movie where one either loves or hates with a burning passion. That being said, Bong Joon Ho introduces a thematic message that not many dare to do in this film.
“I interpreted the movie as being an attack on how the rich take advantage of the poor,” Cameron Gerberg ‘27 said. “Mickey is put through tests in order to benefit Keneth Marshall, who represents what is wrong with societal classes in general”.
While many believe that the film was mediocre at best, I believe that “Mickey 17” could have been cut a few minutes shorter. However, it shows redeeming qualities, such as being a hilarious science fiction movie, which one could watch multiple times as a “yearly film” tradition.