![On Oct. 30, 24 Eco Club members took a tour of the school’s solar panels on the roof. They were guided and taught by an employee from E Light Electric, the company that maintains the school’s solar panels, and learned about how the panels are maintained and cared for. “I was definitely very excited about being on the roof in general,” Eco Club member Olivia Fang ‘26 said. “[It was exciting to] learn more about solar panels and how they work and how they supply energy to our school.”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/RCH_2632-1200x800.jpg)
![Ice and snow make it difficult for drivers on the road. During snowstorms, drivers have poor visibility, and frozen roads make it difficult to stay in control. “Driving home from Denver [on Friday], the neighborhoods weren’t plowed. By the time we got back they were only plowing highways. We spun out, nearly got stuck and fishtailed a few different times,” Connor Pugh ‘26 said.](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Untitled_Artwork-e1732045465987.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)
![In room 4101, Natalie Patterson ‘26, Ariana Magor ‘25 and Celina Salazar ‘25 create a poster in science teacher Kerry Reilly’s Chemistry Honors April 18. The three completed a worksheet and drawing to explain the implosion of a tank for their unit on gas laws. “At the start of class, we watched a video of the tank imploding,” Patterson said. “I think [making a drawing] is something new. I like more artsy activities.”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_5019-1200x900.jpeg)
Flipping Chips: How Poker has Become a Class of ‘21 Pastime
As the COVID-19 pandemic has dismantled the plans of Rock Canyon seniors, one group of senior boys has taken up playing cards in order to spend time with one another safely and responsibly.
media by Luka Owen
Ty Hall ’21 poses for a picture after winning a large pot with a flush in order to become the chip leader.
February 17, 2021
Unfortunately, not much has gone according to plan for the senior year of the Class of 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has stripped this year’s senior class of many of high school’s most memorable moments and events.
However, not all has been lost for the Class of 2021, as the pandemic has forced students to adapt and step outside of their comfort zones to experience new things amidst a time of drastic change.
That is exactly what one group of senior boys did this year. Poker games, which once started as a friendly hobby among a couple of buddies, have now blossomed into a weekend tradition that formed new friendships and bonds between many of the Class of 2021 boys.
“Most dudes don’t know how to play poker until they are older,” Owen Mullison ‘21 said, “but I started playing about two years ago.”
Mullison took up playing poker as a way to spend time with his dad and older brothers. But when COVID-19 struck, he wanted to teach his friends how to play in hopes of finding a way to still spend time together when most restaurants and popular teenage hangout locations were being shut down.
“When my friends and I started playing consistently, our group was super small, but over time it grew into a much larger and more connected friend group than I ever would have expected,” Mullison said.
The group of players now includes more than twenty senior boys, who rotate between houses to play small games on the weekends. Although COVID-19 keeps all of the boys from gathering to play one large game, they get to spend time with one another in smaller groups to safely follow state recommendations in handling the pandemic.
“I knew it was becoming a pastime for us when we played our first fifty dollar buy-in game. The pot was around $400 dollars, and it was just cool to know everyone was getting invested in playing and was taking it seriously,” Mullison said
Cam Beal ‘21 was one of the first to join Mullison’s poker games, and he has now been playing consistently for just shy of one year.
“The guys that I play with have been my friends for years, and playing poker with them gives us the chance to hang out in a new atmosphere,” Beal said. “We all enjoy spending time with each other and just playing the game.”
The small groups of gamblers now meet on most weekends, playing games of four to five people, typically for a total pot just north of one-hundred dollars. Although it is always a good time to see one another, the boys definitely love the added feeling and reward of winning a game and taking home some cold hard cash.
“My favorite memory of playing poker over the past few months was when I accidentally showed my cards to the table mid-hand and I had a full house,” Beal said. “But Ty [Hall ’21] went all-in anyway because he misread my hand, so I called and won a ton of chips.”
Hall, another consistent player in the poker group, suggests that his success in playing has come from his ability to crunch numbers quickly.
“I like to play poker because I am a very analytical guy, so playing the odds suits me really well and I think that I have gotten pretty good at it,” Hall said.
Hall is the only member of this poker group who can say that he has accomplished the game’s rarest feat: the Royal Flush. A player’s likelihood of hitting a Royal Flush on any given hand is 0.000154%, meaning that statistically, a player should be expected to play roughly 650,000 hands of poker before getting their first Royal Flush.
“It is just such a once-in-a-lifetime thing and for it to happen to me when I hadn’t been playing for a long time was just crazy,” Hall said. “Lots of guys can play poker their whole lives and never get one.”
Overall, this group of young men adapted to the strict regulations brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic and found a new hobby in the process. These seniors exemplify how to spend time with one another responsibly in the midst of unprecedented change, while still making new friends and memories in the process. Kudos, boys, to a job well done.
