BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

STE Clubs Stronger than Ever

By Mary-Ellen Abshire, Saint Thomas' Episcopal School, School Buzz Editor | October 27, 2020

Click the Buzz Me button to receive email notifications when this writer publishes a new article or a new article in this column is published.

Laura Newcomer, junior at STE, presents a slideshow about Halloween celebrations around the world in World Culture Club.

Despite COVID-19, clubs at STE are continuing to flourish and are finding creative ways to get students involved.

Kat Chan is a junior and president of the Eco Club. Because of COVID-19, hands-on volunteering opportunities are harder to come across, so Kat has had to become more creative making plans for her weekly meeting. Since she is on the Turn Texas Green Election Team, Kat is able to connect Eco Club to environmental policy this year.

“I hope that every week they leave with a better understanding of issues that affect the environment and are able to explain to their friends and families, especially ones that can vote, what these policies and issues are and what they can do about it by being an active and engaged citizen,” Kat said.

One way that coronavirus has made Eco Club difficult has been keeping the online students involved during meetings. Kat has combated this problem by connecting the online and in-person students through virtual volunteering.

Adair Hancock, senior and president of the World Culture Club, plans to celebrate cultures in any way she can this year and focus on different holidays and festivals from around the world during meetings.

“We plan to do Halloween celebrations from around the world in the next few weeks but are also keeping our eye on other upcoming events,” Adair said. “As more American holidays roll around, there are plenty of international ones too. We also hope to have a cultural festival at the end of the year but with COVID this plan may be affected.”

One of the things that World Culture Club typically focuses on is food, but because of COVID-19, the only kind of snacks that can be distributed are prepackaged ones. This can be very expensive for a club as large as WCC with around 50 members. Another difficulty with a large club is keeping the members socially distanced. Adair has been able to solve this problem by splitting the club up by grades. Ninth and tenth graders go to the club one week and eleventh and twelfth graders the next.

Although coronavirus has provided challenges, WCC has been able to educate their members on holidays and festivals around the world through presentations, activities and food.