With the beginning of a new school year, the best place to settle in and find community is in various clubs. Depending on your interests, such as learning a new language, helping the environment, or indulging in your very own faith, there is a space for you to make new friends, engage in thrilling conversation, and maybe have a donut or two. These three clubs offer just that.
FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES
Junior Amelia Cunnington, a part of the leadership team alongside Abigail Cunnington, Carter Williams, Abby Williams, and Rachel Nimtz, walks into her weekly FCA meeting at 8:30 on a Friday morning. There, she meets up with her fellow friends to play board games, discuss Scripture, and spend time bonding with her acquaintances.
Club meetings typically follow the same pattern, with a fun game-based activity taking place at the start, followed by group Bible studies.
“We break up into two groups, guys and girls, and just talk about our lives,” Amelia said. “[We ask] What’s going on? Just sort of fellowship and supporting each other.”
Less like an actual club and more like a group of buddies, the leaders have also brought the club outside of school, continuing to meet on Fridays even during student holidays.
“On days we don’t have school, we try to meet someplace else to still hold meetings,” Abigail said.
“It’s a great time for students to gather with other Christians as an opportunity for them to come together, be in a safe place, and learn from each other,” club sponsor Jarod Brown said.
Though the club has just recently started meeting regularly again, club members have high hopes for the future and hope to positively contribute to the community around them.
“Ultimately our goal is to just sort of emphasize the importance of being in Scripture regularly and make it a habit as opposed to a one-off,” Abigail said.
ENVIRONMENTAL CLUB
To start off your morning on a sweet note, club president Karen Jimenez brings cookies to boost the morale of Environmental Club members. Their club sponsor Tracy Webster ensures that the club makes meaningful contributions.
Starting in 1988 as the Ecology Club, the now Environmental Club aims to have positive impacts on the community, as well as the local environment. For this year specifically, the club wants to improve their reach.
“Our efforts in commercials, posts, fundraisers, and events emphasize positive practices for a more sustainable lifestyle bring awareness to current environmental issues,” Jimenez said. “[I want to focus on] starting projects that reach the general public and organizing more participation in local volunteer initiatives.”
One of the primary goals of the Environmental Club is volunteerism in addition to advocacy and sustainability.
“We want students to take the knowledge they gain from our club opportunities and apply it to the world around them,” Jimenez said. Through their volunteer opportunities, the club hopes to “inspire students to develop a passion for nature and science in order to deepen the relationship between humans and the earth.”
ASL CLUB
Starting just three years ago, the American Sign Language (ASL) Club welcomes all people who are interested in learning the language, not just taking the class. Provided club sponsor Barry Deuel’s schedule works out, they plan to have meetings at least twice a month.
Through field trips, fundraisers, fun club meetings with many donuts, and collaborations with other schools, ASL club hopes to reach their goal of simply sharing the language.
“We actually teach the language,” club president Simran Aujla said. “We start with the letters, and then over the amount of meetings, maybe a three month range, all of our members would know the alphabet. That’s really all you need to know to talk to a mute or deaf person.” Learning ASL is the main activity of every meeting.
For the future, Aujla simply wants to continue advocating for deafness and muteness.
As for ASL and its impacts, Aujla says “a lot of people aren’t really aware. We just want to be able to teach [ASL] and hope they can use it,” she said.
