New organizations among club fair offerings

Jocelyn Aceves, Staff Reporter

There are 64 clubs on campus, 18 of which are new this year, adding more opportunities for students to get involved. Four new clubs this year are the Arts and Crafts Club, Book Club, Girls on the Go, and Thoughtful Thrifting.

The school hosted its annual club fair on Sept. 18 and Sept. 20, during which each club showcased their goals for their year and students could sign up to participate.

ARTS AND CRAFTS CLUB

The goal of the Arts and Crafts Club is to create crafts such as sculptures, paintings and thread work. Junior Trenton Hoffmeyer, the club president, has high hopes for the club’s many activities.

“We are planning to, on top of the usual crafts, make small things in synergy with a charitable club,” Hoffmeyer said. “[The service club] would receive them and distribute them to those in need.”

While Hoffmeyer looks forward to helping charitable clubs, his main focus for the club now is creating art in general. One of his ideas is to do a project for the school, like a mural or other decoration.

Hoffmeyer encourages creative students to join and produce artwork for the school.

“If you are creative, enjoy art and have enough time to go to most of the meetings in which you get to express yourself and improve artistic talents, you should join the arts and crafts club,” Hoffmeyer said.

In order to get involved, contact the club moderator, Brittany Machian, at [email protected].

BOOK CLUB

Book Club is a new club that focuses on fostering a love of reading and to encourage people to read for fun.

Book Club leaders hope to choose one book every month to read and then gather to discuss club members’  favorite and least favorite parts of the book, different themes, personal connections to the story and more.

“You don’t have to participate every month. Rather, you can choose which books and months you participate in, or you can come for a good conversation even if you haven’t read the book,” senior and co-president Jane Huynh said. “We’re really open to book suggestions, so anything goes!”

Book Club is also planning to engage in local libraries and arrange book drives on campus.

“We want to put a humanitarian spin to our club, and promote a love of reading and spread some positivity about it,” Huynh said.

Huynh, and other officers including Holly Nance, Emma Moore and Natalie Smale, have an idea of creating a spot – or several – on campus where people can put in a book of their own and then take a book out in return so there’s an exchange of books around campus.

While Huynh has big ideas and plans for the rest of the year, her main focus is to cultivate a love of reading in the school community.

“We’re super accepting and would love for anyone interested to join,” Huynh said.

In order to get involved, contact the club moderator, Michelle Elkerton, at [email protected].

GIRLS ON THE GO

Girls on the Go is a new club on campus that works with the United Nations Foundation, Girl Up, and their initiative SchoolCycle. The purpose of this program is to provide bicycles to girls around the world to help them access education and stay in school.

“[The girls being provided with bikes] can obtain the education she needs to create a better future for herself, her family, and her community,” junior and club president Hannah Waldron said.

The goal of Girls on the Go and the SchoolCycle initiative is to purge one of the biggest reasons some girls in need do not go to school: the distance between their homes and their classrooms.

According to the SchoolCycle website, “A bike can help a girl travel quickly and safely to and from school, and gives her the independence to travel freely around her community. That way, she can obtain the education she needs to create a better future for herself, her family and her community.”

Girls on the Go is planning to raise money for SchoolCycle through sales and fundraisers so that U.N. leaders could provide bikes to girls.

“Being a part of a motivating initiative like this is an extremely rewarding experience along with a fun way to get involved and make new friends,” Waldron said.

In order to get involved, contact the club moderator, Kristina Simes, at [email protected].

THOUGHTFUL THRIFTING

Thoughtful Thrifting is a new club that will be collecting unwanted, gently-used clothes that will be donated to the Foster Care Auxiliary Thrift Shop in Anaheim.

“As a club, we will hold clothing drives both within the club and school-wide,” junior and club president Martina Rivera said.

In addition to the drives, Thoughtful Thrifting plans to offer opportunities to earn service hours at the thrift shop or from participating at events that the organization hosts for local foster children and their families.

Club meetings will not only include donations and sorting clothes, but as well as guest speakers and the creation of posters to raise awareness for school-wide collection days.

“[The Foster Care Auxiliary Thrift Shop] is an amazing foundation that aims to provide for Foster Care families in and around Orange County,” Rivera said. “It helps kids and parents that need inexpensive clothes, shoes and furniture. I think people should join this club because all of the efforts will be going to a cause that needs as much help they can get.”

In order to get involved, contact the club moderator, Alexa Sueiras, at [email protected].