As the club fair approaches today during advisory, clubs are working their hardest to get their name out to the student body. It is never too late in the year to join a new club; here are five clubs at Oyster River that are always looking for new members.
Quiz Bowl is a jeopardy style club that has been at our school since 2005, with John Monahan as the advisor. On November 15th the club will take a test that covers many different trivia topics. The top 14 teams get onto the television show (NH Public Broadcasting Network Channel 11). The show begins taping in early January and depending on how well your team does it can go as long as 2 weeks. They air the show all throughout the spring and summer. Monahan says, “If you like trivia and you’re fast with recall, then please come.” Meeting times vary, and if you are interested reach out to Monahan at jmonahan@orcsd.org.
Origami Club, is a club run by Ichiko Harju, where she sets aside 30 minutes of flex to take a break with the students. She says, “it’s just therapeutic; I just don’t have to think about anything, just folding, folding, folding.” Harju mentions how part of the club is sharing stories of her time in high school; she used origami to cheer up her peers by sending then folded notes. Origami club is for everyone. Even if you have never folded a piece of paper before, they would love to have you.
Japanese Culture Club is another club run during school by Harju. Some days she has a more educational set up, teaching about what life is like in Japan, and stories about her growing up. She says, “The best example I share are funny TV commercials from Japan, and it just makes me laugh.” Sharing calm and funny videos of cherry blossoms and restaurants with cats in them. If you want a fun educational break from school during the day, this club is perfect for you.
Future Women in S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) is run by Tracy Benkosky. She says, “its purpose is to provide a welcoming place for girls that are interested in pursuing college majors and careers in S.T.E.A.M.” They meet twice a month on Tuesdays 3-4 in Benkosky’s room. On days where they mentor at the middle school, they also have flex meetings to plan fun labs to bring down to the middle school. This club opens up fun opportunities such as their field trip last year to the UNH simulation lab. While fostering a welcoming environment at the high school, they also work with the middle school, bringing them fun after school labs to get kids involved in science at a young age.
The Ethics Team is a similar club to the debate team in the sense that you are given a topic, and told to make a case about it. However, Mason Gower (’27), one of the club leaders, says it’s more of an ethical dilemma that you form your opinion about. Once you are given your case, you have 3-5 minutes to present your solution to the problem, then you are also questioned by the other team and the judge. Each year they compete at St. Anselm, and last year a group of them were able to compete at Harvard. The Meetings are in Eden Suoth’s classroom, T205, Tuesdays after school from 3-4.
Oyster River has an ever-growing amount of clubs. To explore more, the Oyster River Homepage has an up-to-date list of 37 clubs. If any of the clubs above sounded like something you would enjoy, make sure to stop by their booth at the club fair during advisory today.
-Lucy Milutinovich
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