By Miranda Lassar, Winson Ye, and Winston Jiang
The hallways at South have filled once again with posters advertising this year’s new clubs. This year’s clubs are especially varied, ranging from gaming, raising awareness for various causes, to doing community service.
Girl Up
Girl Up was started by the United Nations Foundation as a grassroots foundation to raise awareness for girls and women in countries with few opportunities for females. The movement has been steadily gaining support, with over 300 active clubs in 44 different countries around the world.
This year, junior Veronica Podolny and sophomore Rebecca Shaar are proud to inaugurate Newton South’s newly established Girl Up club.
“I had read so many stories on the news of girls being victims of killings and crimes in developing countries, and that really resonated with me, because I’m very fortunate to be here,” Podolny said. “But just because [those girls] are in a different country with a different religion, they aren’t as fortunate. It was an issue that I wanted a solution to, and I didn’t have one until I found out about this club that the UN started.”
The club’s main goals are to raise money and awareness for their cause. The United Nations uses the money raised by these clubs to send clothing, support, and volunteers to developing countries such as Guatemala, Liberia, Malawi, and Ethiopia.
The club hopes to raise awareness for their cause just by recruiting new members and organizing events throughout the year
“A lot of people don’t know about the issue. They don’t know what people who aren’t Americans are going through around the world.” Podolny said.
Podolny and Shaar are optimistic in terms of fundraising for the club.
“We have a lot of ideas right now, that will hopefully make more money than just the typical bake sale.” Shaar said.
This upcoming fall, the Girl Up club hopes to start charity Zumba classes at Newton South to fundraise. They see this as a practical and eventful way to raise money for the foundation.
In addition, the club plans on organizing a movie screening of the documentary “Girl Rising” to not only raise money but also to educate people of the inequality of females in developing countries.
Despite aiming the club towards all of the students at South, Shaar and Podolny are concerned that many boys will not join the club solely based on the name. However, they believe that educating more students on the issue will also attract more male members.
“A lot of people, when they see the name of the club, they assume that it’s Feminist Club, or a club only for girls.” Shaar said.
Hope for Haiti
Katie Kaufman, the founder of Hope for Haiti, recently visited a clinic in the country and witnessed the lack of medical supplies in the facility.
One of Kaufman’s long-term goals for the club is to raise enough money to fund modern machinery that can be put to use in Haiti’s medical clinics. She hopes that this will improve the standard of treatment that patients will be able to receive.
“I’ve visited the clinic in Haiti, and [I saw that] they don’t have enough medical supplies. Although doctors do try to examine their patients, they can’t determine exactly where the illnesses came from,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman has considered a basketball game for the club’s first fundraising event.
“We want to set up a ‘Hoop for Haiti,’ which will be a basketball game that we plan to have for fundraising,” Kaufman said.
Most importantly, Kaufman wants to foster a community that students can have fun and feel comfortable in, while also creating a place where conversations about Haiti’s needs can take place.
“This is a serious club — but it’s also supposed to be fun too. It’s raising money for a great place, and they really are appreciative of everything you give them,” she said.
League of Legends Club
The League of Legends Club’s founder, who wishes to remain anonymous, is committed to providing an environment for students who enjoy gaming to have some fun in a relaxed environment.
“I don’t plan on this club being academic at all. I plan on the club being relaxed and you can come in whenever you would like to,” the club founder said.
At South, there is a growing community of students who are interested in playing League of Legends, which is a highly competitive online game — so much so that it is considered a sport by some people.
“There is a lot of people who play League of Legends at South. It seems like a pretty good amount of underclassmen and upperclassmen,” the club founder said.
Those who play League of Legends professionally can form their own teams, which can then attend tournaments that offer a significant cash prize for the winners.
The club founder is aiming to build a team that can prove to be formidable at various high school tournaments.
“There are high school tournaments. If you make a team of five in your high school, you can enter these tournaments and, if you have a good team, win up to about $250,000. But it takes a lot of work,” the club founder said.
The club is going to bring together all of the students who play League of Legends, but will also welcome those who might be interested in playing the game for the first time.
“We meet in room 1310 every Wednesday J Block. You can bring your laptop if you want and ask questions about the game to those who have played the game for a long time and know a lot about it,” the club founder said.
Ms. Cassel, the adviser for the League of Legends Club, is interested in the premise of the club, even though she has never played the game itself before.
“Students who may not do athletics or are not as interested in the performing arts can participate in clubs such as the League of Legends Club, and it can become a place where a very social event can take place,“ Cassel said.
Innovation Africa
Innovation Africa is a new club at South that raises money for the nonprofit organization that brings Israeli support and green energy to developing countries in Africa.
Shira Abramovich and Sierra Weintraub founded the club this year due to Weintraub’s involvement in the organization after her Bat Mitzvah.
The organization was founded in 2008, and has provided clean water, light, food, and medical care to over 675,000 people.
“They [Innovation Africa] bring green technology that is developed in Israel,” Abramovich said. “They bring it to rural villages in different African countries and help them technologically and create a green sustainable future.”
Abramovich is hopeful that the club will take off this year and eventually have an impact on the organization.
“What we are planning to do is get his club together, decide on a project, and start fundraising,” Abramovich said.
Best Buddies
After having been disbanded last year, the Best Buddies club has been restarted by seniors Suzie Kaufman and Jessica Landon.
“We really wanted to bring back the special relationships and bonds the club formed by hanging out with some South students that I never would have gotten to meet before,” Kaufman said.
The club meets every Monday J block and plays bonding games, puzzle games, and other assorted activities.
Landon plans on having team building activities in the Best Buddies club.
“We want to have some sort of activity scheduled for every block so everyone gets to know each other and feels comfortable, especially at the beginning,” Landon said.
Landon and Kaufman hope that the club will gain more support and continue in future years.
“We hope that the club will benefit all participants and open their eyes to the wonderfully diverse community that exists within our school,” Kaufman said.
