![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)
Davonte Jolly’s “Godspeed” Skate Video Review
If you like skateboarding and being entertained, you will love this video.
January 17, 2021
Illegal Civilization is “the first teen movie studio” that specializes in making skate videos and skateboarding-related movies. They made a 58-minute skate video that aired on Christmas Day. This video was posted to the Illegal Civ Youtube channel for free. Illegal Civ gave the skate scene a big present with their video “Godspeed.”
“Godspeed” is a video shot by Davonte Jolly (who is Davonte in relation to the skate industry). Davonte Jolly is a Youtube Content Creator and Skate Videographer. You might also know him from the video series “A DAY WITH THE HOMIES”. Mikey Alfred(CEO of Illegal Civ) gave Jolly full control over making Godspeed. Jolly did everything from filming, editing, and even thinking up the name for the skate video. Godspeed features many big-name skaters such as Alex Midler, Robert Neal, and Ishod Wair. It focuses on documenting some of Jolly’s friends’ skateboarding. It also gives insight into the personalities and real lives of these skaters.
I skate almost every day with my friends and watch skate videos a lot. The day “Godspeed” came out, my friend and I watched it. “Godspeed” is about showing that skateboarding is all about having fun and building relationships with people. I think it was a big deal to the skate community because it is a video that is fun, motivational, and great to watch with friends. I feel that it can pave the way for better skate videos because it showed who the skaters are as people. I think that would be a huge step forward. I won’t spoil anything else, so if you even remotely like skateboarding, you will love this video.
My favorite moments were the 270 spin (56:40) (you’ll know if you watch it), Robert Neal’s switch heel flip on the beat drop (2:58), and Na-Kel Smith’s hardflip (42:30). The part that stuck out to me was Midler’s part for the pure power in his skating. Also, Zach Saraceno had an amazing part as well just because of how clean it was. I personally loved this video because every second was entertaining. Every time a skater’s part was finished, they would include a b-roll (additional footage in between the parts) to get you ready for the next part of the video.
The music in Godspeed made every part of the video a rollercoaster. There would be one scene that got you hyped with upbeat music and the next would make you calm down and admire the tricks. This is one of the reasons the video is so easy to get through in one sitting. There are also different skate groups shown in the video and this is because this video is supposed to set up everyone in the video to get more recognized. The video features skate groups such as Hardies Hardware, The Homies (Jolly’s other friends), and other skaters out of Atlanta.
Warning: This video could be deemed inappropriate for some viewers because there are scenes of drinking, smoking and blood.