Amidst the laid out plastic top tables, blaring heat, Jamba Juice and sign up sheets, there was a commotion of students from all grade levels scouting for the most interesting-looking club tables to head towards. The club fair presented roughly 30 clubs this year from pre-existing to new and different ones.
In addition to existing clubs such as Speech and Debate, Robotics, Introduction to Healthcare Professions, French club and more which have carried over into this year, various new clubs have emerged due to specific student interests and passions.
One of the newly introduced clubs is the TableTop Role Play club, which was started by junior Tanner Spence. The main goal of his club is for students who share a common interest in a multitude of tabletop games to meet in order to create characters and go on quests. Tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons differ from your average family board games because you can make up your own board, quest, characters and an infinite set of rules.
“It requires a good sense of humour, patience, and creative liberty to come up with your own rules,” Spence said. “It’s like any fantasy game but your stats are made up and anything goes.”
Sophomores Rowena Gonzalez and Carli Wu hope to raise awareness about the environment through their Environmental Club. They plan on having fundraisers for rain forest and russian whale preservation.
Sophomore Stefania Bitton began the Animal Support Club after being inspired by her internship and volunteer work at the Marin Humane. Bitton hopes to raise awareness about the different types of animal cruelty that exist in the world. With the help of Bitton’s connections to members from Marin Humane, the Animal Support club plans to bring animal ambassadors, which have been trained, to their meetings once a month.
Seniors Holly Jossart and Kelsey McIvor are president and vice president of the Bring Change to Mind club. Jossart said that the objective of Bring Change to Mind is to spread mental health awareness. The club anticipates having their members attend summits “to learn more about coping methods, available resources, how to help someone that is struggling and mental health overall,” McIvor said.
After bringing Do Good. Be Kind, an organization that promotes kindness and accountability onto campus last year, senior Linnea Pederson decided to maintain the collaboration by creating a club to continue the message year-long, with the help of junior Elizabeth DeRuvo. Last year, wristbands and stickers with the pledge “Do Good. Be Kind.” printed on them were handed out to students during Kindness Week to remind them to always be a good person and help others. Pederson’s club hopes to plan more “kindness weeks” this year and spread more positivity overall.
Leadership teacher Neesha Patel said she looks forward to seeing students find clubs that they are interested in and becoming involved during the club fairs.
“Clubs provide an outlet in an academic setting to explore other interests,” Patel said. “Some clubs are academic in nature but many address the needs of the world and our community.”
