New clubs cater to a variety of interests
Isabella Kellermeier
SPREAD THE LEARNING. Senior Alex Stamatakos introduces Girls Learn International to sophomores Annika Ludwig and Ella Mazurek. Girls Learn International, a nonprofit organization, was founded in 2003 to promote education for all children. Students can attend the club on Fridays at lunch to spread awareness on unsuitable learning conditions and fundraise to improve them.
October 9, 2019
From relaxation to service, the 14 new clubs created for the 2019-20 school year cater to a wide variety of interests.
Junior Susan Huang created FemStem, a service club working at Ray Elementary School focusing on teaching science, technology, engineering, mathematics and art to young girls in kindergarten through 8th grade.
“We’re trying to get volunteers to teach girls using hands on activities on STEM topics and concepts,” Susan said. “I got the inspiration for this club because I did my sophomore service hours at Ray last year and noticed that specifically the young girls were super-interested in STEM topics.”
Susan explained that club members want to try to keep these young girls interested in STEM fields at a young age, with the hope of inspiring them to continue these pursuits once they reach high school and the professional world.
Volunteering as a part of this club will also count toward sophomore service hours. More information can be found in the service site handbook.
Some clubs, on the other hand, focused on de-stressing or just hanging out.
Constantin Carrigan, a senior, created Oatmeal Club to offer a time for people to socialize and relax during lunch with oatmeal in hand.
“I was in the counselor’s office one day and noticed they provided oatmeal and I found that as weird as it sounds, oatmeal can be very comforting and thought why not make a club about it,” Constantin said.
Dean of Students Ana Campos said that over the years, clubs dealing with similar topics phase in and out of existence every few years. For example, “tealaxation” was re-created this year by sophomore An Ngo but had been a club during different periods in prior years.
“Clubs come and go, so it ends up that over the years we’ve had a club about pretty much any school-appropriate topic you can think of,” Ms. Campos said.
