By: Janelle Pantilon, Features Mentor
Mills’ Filipino American Alliance Club (FAA) recently danced their hearts out at the hip hop conference, “Rock the School Bells” at Skyline College, placing first on April 10, 2025.
Rock the School Bells was created in 2008 by Skyline College as an outlet to build community among the youth through creative expression. This conference aspires to gather a community full of dancers, deejays, artists, and more to enhance leadership and collaboration across the Bay Area.
Although FAA entered Rock the School Bells at the last minute, they pulled through to take the win home. After hearing about the conference from Mills Counselor, Ms. Tijero, who had previously worked at Skyline and heard former colleagues recommend the event, FAA was interested from the start. Under shorter notice, FAA reused their hip hop choreography that was later performed at the Mills “Who We Are Assembly.”
FAA President Reece Roach (12) said everything fell into place as they had “the perfect quick practice run” of their dance during the conference, several days leading up to the cultural assembly.
Despite having typical pre-performance nerves, many of the dancers reminded themselves that they have performed in front of an audience plenty of times. They also used the drifting attitudes and atmosphere at the conference as a way to boost their confidence. They “fed off the environment” as Roach described it.
Speaking of the environment, the DJ, rainbow floors, and variety of diverse people alluded to a comfortable and lively space. Recognized for their inclusivity, Rock the School Bells had people of all groups participate in the competition, most of which were high school students, college students, and young adults.
In addition to the people and opportunity to expand community outreach, the food, music, and entertainment allowed the event to be enjoyable for all. “We learned about the culture and significance of hip hop in education and across the world, it was really enlightening,” said Roach.
Considering this was FAA’s first time both hearing and attending this annual dance off, it’s an activity they’d like to take part in in the future. If given more time to prepare and plan for further events, FAA could place additional efforts to compose new choreography that could best any past performances and be a fun experience for every member. Furthermore, the group hopes to participate in similar events to this one.
The club itself emphasizes their aspirations to represent the Filipino community and culture not just at Mills but across the Bay Area. By joining these events, it opens new doors for younger members of the club to have the capability of establishing new and deepened connections with others like them who seek to learn, teach, practice, and embrace the vast culture of the Philippines.
Roach alongside FAA”s other President Bianca Santos (12) started Capua Learning Community which aims to foster strong connections with other Filipino groups in the area. “I hope FAA can start doing a lot more activities and working with the community college district,” concluded Roach.
