![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)
Feature Teacher Friday: English Teacher Pete DeFilippo
Rock Canyon gained many new teachers this year and we are taking the time to get to know them. We asked a few simple and abstract questions to help you get to know the staff who is dedicated to helping you learn. This week’s Feature Teacher is english teacher Pete DeFilippo.
media by Emily Wilson
English teacher Pete DeFilippo gives student Owen Kraber ’23 direction on an assignment during access in room 3000A Sept. 4.
September 6, 2019
What subject(s) do you teach and why did you decide that subject?
“I teach one section of ninth grade english, two sections of honors ten, and two sections of College Prep Reading and Writing which is an eleventh-grade class.”
What is your favorite part of being a teacher?
“My favorite part about being a teacher is being able to nerd out about books with my students and just talk about literature. It’s just my favorite thing to talk about, so the fact that I get to do that at my job is pretty awesome. I also really love working with kids. I have worked with kids for most of my life and I find it to be really rewarding and really fun. Every day is different and exciting.”
Favorite memory from teaching?
“I don’t think I have any one particular moment, there are lots of little moments that I think keep me coming back and reminding me of why I love this job. Any time I have a lesson that goes really well, or a student comes to a realization about a novel, or sort of really sees their own growth, that’s always really powerful to me. It’s sort of those everyday moments that I think are powerful.”
How do you feel about putting pineapple on pizza?
I am firmly against it. I am originally from Connecticut and I am Italian-American so I am very much a pizza purist and I don’t believe that any sort of fruit belongs on pizza. Some veggies are okay and some meats are okay but no pineapple.”
What is your favorite pizza topping?
“I am a big fan of bacon on my pizza, but my favorite pizza topping, this is a weird one, it’s a regional delicacy in New Haven, Connecticut which is near where I grew up, and they have a white clam pizza. That’s something that I usually say that here and people are like clam pizza? That sounds kind of gross, but it is actually really good.”
If you could be any age what would you pick and why?
“I think about this sometimes, how cool it would be if I woke up and I was a freshman in high school again but I had all of the same knowledge that I had. I feel like being a teacher, and more of an adult and understanding more about the world, if I went back to high school, I could crush it no problem. So, I think it would be really cool to go back in time, and be a teenager and relive that again.”
If a movie was made about you, who would play your character?
“I think Emile Hirsch. He hasn’t been in a bunch of movies lately, but he was in Into the Wild and a movie called Speed Racer that I really love. Growing up, my brother and I would always hear that we look like him and he’s a good actor, so I would choose him.”
What abstract animal would you want as a pet?
“I have two cats and I love cats so if I could have a tiger like Raja from Aladdin as a pet, I think that’s what I would go for.”
If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
“I’m not sure I would want to. I really like my name. I don’t think I would, I would stick with my name. I’ve always really liked my name. I think that Peter is a classic name and it’s not weird or anything, so I think I would stick with it.”
Can you tell me what all of the movie posters on your wall are about?
“The Lord of the Rings is my favorite movie ever. Well, it’s close. I also love a movie called The Departed that I really like, but I really love anything geeky and nerdy, so I’ve got Lord of the Rings, Guardians of the Galaxy, Game of Thrones, there’s Harry Potter. I think it’s cool to have posters like that because it kind of shows students more of my personality. I think sometimes students think that their teachers are just like robots that just plus themselves into the wall at the end of the day and don’t have real lives, but I’ve always loved movies. The nerdier the better.”