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Orange You Glad You Go Here?
With the hope of bonding over a shared love of juice and similar drinks, juniors Dhaya Bharath, Tanisha Desai, Maddy Springer, and Anna Nguyen started the Juice Club. Meeting biweekly, the club has gained about 30 regular members, and congregates to drink mystery juices and engage in friendly competitions over the ultimate juice.
@rockridgejuiceclub on Instagram
Holding a cup filled with the meeting’s mystery juice, Juice Club members gathered on April 6 before school in science teacher Michael Clear’s room to try new juices, mingle, and eat snacks.
May 24, 2022
In November 2021, juniors Dhaya Bharath, Tanisha Desai, Maddy Springer, and Anna Nguyen wanted to start a club and thought of the juiciest idea—the “Juice Club.” An idea that started off as a joke eventually attracted much attention from the student body. “When I first advertised it a lot of people said they wanted to join,” Juice Club President Dhaya Bharath said. They started by finding science teacher Michael Clear to be their sponsor and advertised it all over social media.
The Juice Club has attracted over 30 regular members and together, they enjoy beverages including lemonade, hot chocolate, and shirley temples.
Juice Club meets every other week, and before meetings, they post the “mystery juice” for the following day’s meeting on their Instagram and members have to comment to guess what they think the mystery juice is. Their first meeting was an automatic hit, and it quickly turned into the organizers favorite memory. ¨We had so many juicers show up and everyone got along really well. I also really enjoyed the juice debates since everyone was so passionate,¨ Desai said.
The meeting ended with a love for juice, which was Springer’s favorite part. “I loved how Dhaya improvised for the first two minutes then we all started chanting “juice” at the end,¨ Springer said.
The club isn’t always smooth sailing, though. Organizers went through multiple challenges, including funding. ¨The biggest challenge was getting funding for all the juice, especially since we had so many members, but we figured it out and now there’s enough money in the club for juice for all,¨ Desai said.
The club also hosts various competitions related to juice. On April 6, they had an orange juice vs. apple juice competition in which members debated which juice was superior — apple juice ended up taking the prize. The people on team apple juice got to choose the juice for the next meeting.
Q: What’s your favorite part about Juice Club?
DB: My favorite part is how relaxing it is and how it adds something positive and fun before a long day at school.
Secretary Anna Nguyen: [I like] hanging out with people and enjoying different juices and snacks together.
TD: I love how, even though I don’t know many members, we can all come together with one common interest, juice, and it helps us bond as juicers. It always takes away the stresses of everyday life.
Market manager Maddy Springer: [My favorite part is] drinking juice; I get to have juice I haven’t had in years and try new ones that others recommend.
Q: What does Juice Club mean to you?
DB: Juice Club means community. Juice Club means happiness. Juice Club means perseverance. Juice Club means hydration. Juice Club means drinking club.
AN: Honestly it’s a community, juicers are family.
TD: Juice Club means peace and unity. No matter our differences we have we all become one as a juice club member and everyone is treated equally.
MS: Juice Club represents our friendship and how people can come together to enjoy little things like drinking juice and having fun with people you never talk to.
Q: What’s your favorite juice?
DB: My favorite juice is probably Shirley Temple or Arnold Palmer. I don’t think the [Shirley Temple] counts as juice, but in the Juice Club we enjoy things other than juice too.
AN: I can’t choose; there are so many great ones it would feel like betraying the others.
TD: My favorite is apple.
MS: My favorite juice is cranberry juice.
![On Monday, Dec. 16, the Rock Ridge Phoenix boys varsity basketball team faced the Unity Reed Lions in a close-knit battle, where the Phoenix prevailed 59-56.
The first quarter started slow, with both teams focusing on strong defense. Even with sophomore Filippo Gomes leading the first with two three-pointers, the Phoenix were still down three at the end of the quarter, leaving a 15-12 lead for the Lions.
The Phoenix amped up their offense considerably for the rest of the game. During the second quarter, the Phoenix scored 20 points, allowing them to grow the point gap between them and the Lions’ score, finishing the quarter 32-23 Phoenix. The third quarter was neck-and-neck as the Lions found footing again, but the Phoenix persisted and gained 14 points, ending the third quarter with a nerve-wracking 46-45 Phoenix lead. “I was a little nervous, I’m not gonna lie,” senior Akash Kulkarni said. “But just staying confident, making good passes, and listening to [Coach] Geyer [got us through].” Both teams fought tooth-and-nail for the fourth quarter, utilizing fouls, free throws, and timeouts to their advantage, but in the end, it was up to Phoenix defense to ensure their win. Ultimately, the Phoenix triumphed, with a winning score of 59-56.
After the game, the Phoenix basketball team awarded the Most Valuable Player (MVP) belt to the player who worked diligently behind the scenes senior William Beck. They awarded him MVP for his team leadership and playmaking throughout the game. “It feels good, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Beck said.
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