October’s presence and the leaves turning brown signifies the end of the first month of school. Coming out of lock down, yet still in a pandemic, students are re-adjusting from social life from behind the screen. For upperclassmen, seniors are in their second normal year. Juniors are having their first full year of high school ever, and both the freshman and sophomore classes entered  high school in person for the first time, together. 

After such a “special year” students are understandably experiencing a kind of shock that has never been experienced in our time. To help this transition, clubs can be a great way to socialize. The school offers a whopping 150 of these groups. With that many, finding one can be overwhelming, though hopefully this list will aid your decision.

Model UN

Model United Nations (MUN) is a staple of the classic college resume and one of the school’s more established clubs. The club simulates the operation of The United Nations. It receives, preps and then sends off its members to regional meetings that consist of many other schools. 

With a growing club size, Grace Gent, senior and the club’s secretary general, runs a tight but fun ship with a dedicated staff of four officers. They are determined to develop members from having no knowledge to functioning delegates. 

“You put as much time into it as you want,” Gent said. “If you’re interested in it and you don’t know how it works, don’t worry about feeling like you have to dedicate a whole lot of time to figuring it out.”

Despite not having a very rigorous workload, if members go to the conferences and pay some attention to what is being taught it could perhaps benefit them in their day-to-day lives. 

“It’s just a great public speaking exercise,” Gent said. “You are forced to work with people. Sometimes people who want to be working with you, and other times you’re forced to work with people who want to be cutting you out of a project, and so you have to learn to stand up for yourself and I think that that’s incredibly invaluable.”

Debate Club

MUN teaches you to compromise, while debate teaches you to win. In contrast to MUN, there is a completely different philosophy in debate. This club, currently having 56-member count, is for students who enjoy civilized, opinionated discussions. With the Lincoln-Douglas format (a format that traditionally places a heavy emphasis on logic, ethical values, and philosophy), club members present their arguments in a specific way, creating a more effective argument.

At the beginning of the year the Debate Club had a very strong presence in the school hallways in terms of an abundance of posters. 

“We’re just trying to get the word out, we weren’t expecting as many people to show up,” Christoph Schoer, senior and co-captain of the club, said. 

  Considering this club’s experience, its method for educating members is an effective approach.

“We teach everyone else how to debate,” Schoer said. “We teach ourselves how to do the research. It all comes from the students and that’s why I think we generally do well as a team, because we keep it all on the same surface like you’ve passed it down like the next generation.”

Asante Mariamu Club

Despite being a small group, this club encapsulates the energy of the little engine that could. This team of seven students is able to do great things. One of its main focuses is the protection and awareness of albinism in children of Africa. This group raises up to $3000 a year to fund two schools in Tanzania and Uganda that educate and protect these children. 

“They get mutilated and stuff their bodies because people think it’s good luck, like their bones,” Violet Bowell, a member of the team, said. 

With tragic circumstances members of the club engage in bake sales, Holiday Bazaar events, textile sales and more to raise money. With the combined efforts of club members these profits end up amounting to the aforementioned total yearly money raised.

The organization that this club runs through was started by Susan Diwa in 2008. In the school, there is a particularly amazing way to track how long the club has been operating. 

“What we have been able to see is that there is a boy that we’ve been supporting,” …And he started probably in elementary school and now he is going to be starting college,” said Resource Teacher for the Gifted Ms. Liz Burgos, the club’s sponsor.

Penman  

   For those with a knack for writing, students might find themselves at home in the Penmen club. This organization meets during the General’s Period to improve members’ writing abilities. In this club members produce intricate art and writing, combined to form a magazine, creating a new professional piece.

“During a normal club day in the first half of the year we brainstorm contest ideas and go through submissions,” senior Lizzie Dickerson, publicity editor for Penman said. “We’re a lot busier during the second half of the year when we start deciding which pieces to put in the magazine.”

As the club works hard and challenges its members, it still is a fun environment. “[Anyone is welcome] Who is creative and loves to write or create visual art. It’s a good club if you’re not an extrovert and want something fairly chill and fun,” Dickerson said.

Hip Hop Heads

Whether an avid or part-time listener to hip hop, Hip-Hop Heads Club is a sure interesting outlet for musical enjoyers of any kind. List of numbers in this club members have the opportunity to enjoy and discuss music and forms of assignments and their own production.

With the revival of this club after not running for the past two years, junior Mack Kiatrungrit saw its existence in the 2021-2022 school year. 

“I just asked for a couple pointers here and there,” Kiatrungrit said. “And they [past leaders] just told me some stuff they did and I asked Mr. Moses, the old sponsor of the club, just for a couple pointers.”

With a completely new itinerary and complete creative freedom, Kiatrungrit had a lot of interesting ideas. 

“It’s going to be a lot of group-oriented projects throughout the year,” Kiatrungrit said. “I was planning on having us do a cover on the song of their choice, but it has to have a main artist and then a feature.” 

The world as we know it has changed, seemingly for a long time, but despite changes W-L  students have prevailed, and have hung on to sanity. The clubs have shown to remain prevalent in our community providing a haven for its members, and connecting people to new freinds and on the rare occasion new family. What are you waiting for? Go to Canvas and pick your next adventure.

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