Last month, there were some clubs that were recognized, but the small sample of clubs that were highlighted are just a tiny part of the clubs at Northern. Being aware of some of these clubs could aid students in engaging in extracurriculars during the coming school year.
The Debate Club is run by Mrs. Wire in her room. They typically meet once a week after school, though the day isn’t definite because she wants as many people to come as they can when they’re free. It’s only about 20-30 minutes long where the members talk about hot debate topics. Just look at the news today; if they had been able to have any meetings this past year, there would’ve been many debate topics. This is also to be a space where people share their opinions openly without having to worry about being reprimanded for it.
Model UN is a club I didn’t hear about until just recently. If I had the time next year, I would consider joining myself. This club is more of putting yourself into certain scenarios while looking at them from a certain point of view. Each person that joins is given a specific country where you conduct your own research on how that country sees things. The whole group will be given a topic to look into where they will then have a debate on the topic based on their country’s view of it. They meet in Mr. Mowery’s room (218) after school on Mondays. They even go to the Penn State Conference that happens once a year for 2 days. The participants are given a country and are told the topic of the debate ahead of time for them to research.
The French club isn’t only for those who are taking French, as most would think. The French club is open to anyone who is interested. They talk about cultural customs of the French, their holidays, and other topics related to it. Sometimes, the students even decide to lead the topics. They meet once, sometimes twice, a month in room 312 (Gaspara’s room) for roughly an hour. The French club celebrates the French culture through different activities, such as making paper flowers, throughout the school year. The French club holds crepe and truffle sales throughout the year to support various charities. The day that they meet on isn’t set in stone each time because they want to have as many people as they can attend each time they meet. In the future, they are planning on having some service projects for the members to take part in.
The Spanish club is similar to the French club. They meet every Wednesday in room 311 (Mrs. King’s room). They typically do more activities that are related to Spanish speaking countries. In the past, they’ve made sugar skulls and decorated them in the meeting, created pinatas, ojos de dios (or God’s eye), molas, and other things. If I remember correctly, they’ve even watched a few movies as well. This past year was tough on them because they didn’t really get to do a whole lot with the cohorts for ¾ of the year. The goal was for more students to learn about the Spanish culture and to have a better appreciation for it.
The Sign Language club is somewhat along the same lines as the other two language clubs. It talks about the culture of the deaf while also learning finger signs and spelling. People who join don’t need to be experienced whatsoever; they can know very little and still attend. They normally meet once, maybe twice, a month in room 205 (or Gaspara’s room 312) on Tuesdays after school. The days that meet can be changed though to make sure that they are able to have more people attend. In the past, they’ve even had an experienced translator talk with them. One was from Mechanicsburg, while the most recent one was by Zoom call while she was in Maryland. Mrs. Swope hopes that they are able to continue to have people interested and they can talk to the interpreters.
The environment is extremely important for every form of life. Though some people take no interest in that type of thing, those in Envirothon study what makes some of the places we travel in. They typically go over 5 different topics every year: wildlife, soils, equatics, a current issue (that is given to them ahead of time), and forestry. They have even gone on some field trips to streams to study them, and have gone out to look for bird migrations. They begin meeting in January in Mr. Fryer’s room (302) after school once a week. They compete only once a year at the end of April; however, I’m proud to say that this past year, Northern’s Envirothon team won 2nd in the county. The Envirothon team can have a total of 12 members on the team, so for those who are interested in learning about topics relating to the environment, signing up is recommended.
Finally, for anyone who likes to write about topics, come join the Newspaper club next year! We choose topics that are happening each month that we would like to write about. It can be done individually or you can partner with someone else to get it done, depending on the topic. We meet once a week on Mondays at 3 in Ms. Seiser’s room (226). The article just needs to be done before the end of the month so it can be published.
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