By Rachel Dinh
TPA may be a small school, but that does not diminish the number of clubs it hosts. You’ve probably seen signs posted around the campus inviting you to attend a Fashion, Film, or Physics club meeting. While these clubs are making great strides, so are the older clubs of TPA. Many clubs have been meeting regularly and discussing big projects for the future.
Art Club- Art club’s roughly sixteen members have a couple of projects that they’re excited about. At a regular meeting, you might see four or five members crowding around a wall, painting a mural in the German room. Club members are also individually working on colorful portraits of historical figures to be painted on Room 406’s walls. They’ve even taking on the honorable task of designing an original school mascot and making another giant painting similar to “The Creation of Man”, except this time, of the Starry Night by Van Gogh. Jasmine Genchev, a long-time member of art club, explains why she likes art club. “I think if you like drawing and you are good at it, then art club is a great way for your work to be noticed.”
Herstory Club- This club that champions women’s involvement in history has been making great progress in its regular meetings. Dr. Salcido, one of the supervisors of the club, says, “In the tradition of Billy Nagy, the co-founder and backbone of the club last year, we have continued to have student presentations on women from history that they select every week.” Regarding any special group projects, she comments, “In the last meeting students decided that for the 4th quarter, Herstory would like to conduct some community service. So, the first email has been sent to UMOM to the largest shelter in the state for homeless families requesting permission for us to volunteer. We are also going to continue the presentations during the meetings. Finally, during the last quarter we would like to invite some past Herstory members to join one of the meeting and tell us about their university experiences.”
Environmental Club- The Environmental Club has made great improvement on the once-barren garden next to the teacher’s house. According to Abby Everding, the club plans on holding a fundraiser to purchase dirt and flowers. They will then plant flowers that will be yaken care of by NHS, Environment Club, and perhaps some sixth graders. “That’s the main part of the beautification project and that may actually all we can do by the end of this year,” she says. “Hopefully we can finish fundraising by the end of March and plan where to plant in April.”
Fashion Club- Joya Ma, the founder of the club, has changed some of her original plans. She had wanted to hold a fashion exhibit displaying the work of all of the members, but due the members’ busy schedules, she has had to adapt to the circumstances. She comments, “We are working on our collections and illustrations. We are also working on fashion critiques. We watch fashion shows and have discussions. We analyze the trend and predict the trend. We will get to some draping projects later in the year, and maybe even have an exhibit next year.”
French Club – French club continues to attract many people on Wednesday mornings. It may be the pain au chocolat, or the occasional crepes, or even the friendly, competitive atmosphere that invites students to try their hand in French games such as Sept Familles and French Bingo. The club will soon be electing the President, Vice President, and Treasurer for 2017-2018.
Spanish Club- Along with being experts at making tacos, the Spanish Club engages in a variety of activities to better the students’ fluency. They watch Spanish videos and then have Socratic discussions on it. They play games to solidify vocabulary, learn dances, and talk about current events. Hannah Cornelius says she enjoys going to the club because “it allows me to practice my vocabulary in real world situations as well as learn more about Spanish cultures new and old.”
Robotics – The team has been very dedicated in meeting every Saturday and Sunday to work on their robot, Lord of Cogs. They will only be entering the First Robotics Competition in April, but are counting on this tournament to advance them to the national tournament. William Bowden describes the process: “We build two robots for the upcoming tournament. We have a time limit of six weeks on making the first robot. After time’s up, we bag the robot and don’t touch it until tournament day. But we still have a whole month ‘til the tournament so we build a second robot in the meantime to practice with.”
Speech and Debate – This six-person team may be small, but it is mighty. According to Aimee Cheng, they’ve been “doing pretty well”. They have two tournaments left: State on March 17-18 and National Qualifier on the 23-25.