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This year NS introduced a variety of new clubs, including the Literary Club. This club plans to focus on reading, writing and discussing literature.
“I always hear from students that they love to read, but they don’t like reading assigned books,” said Ben Cox, a counselor and teacher at the school. “So, this is a way for them to get together on their own, do what they want to do, and discuss in the way they want to discuss, so those students who love it can pursue that interest together.”
In the past, NS has had sev- eral clubs related to literature, such as the now defunct Library Club.
At one point in time, they had a library club where the kids would recommend books,” said language arts teacher Catherine Carney. “They would have a little section in the library where it would say, ‘The library club recommends these books.’”
Now, senior Athena De Groff and junior Michael Larsen have decided to bring back a literature-based club, assuming roles as co-presidents.
“It started when I wanted to be more involved in the school,” Larsen said. “I wanted to make a difference to the school so I started thinking, ‘What’s something I’m passionate about, something I want to do more in my life that I can share with other people?”
Currently there are 15 students a part of the club. De Groff is also planning on creating a literary magazine. The idea came when Cox was looking through old yearbooks and found papers that had poems and some sketch art from all the seniors.
“We thought that it would be a really great way to show- case students’ work,” De Groff said. “The Literary magazine will have different written works and also some art works for students. It’s a way their work can be shown… I think that both could be a way for students to express themselves and be able to be a part of something they are interested in. We haven’t really offered things that are more English-related at the school, so I think both the club and the magazine kind of provide more opportunities for students who want to get more involved in this stuff.”
Although Larsen and De Groff have high hopes for these projects there have been a couple kinks in the road. A major issue is not having enough funding. One way to get the money they need is by charging the members a fee.
“A fee obviously has its benefits,” Larsen said. “It can give more engaging activities to the club, provide books for other people… so if the club gets big enough, we might need a fee if we are planning on doing those things.”
Another struggle is getting students in the club to show up because, often they’re so busy they don’t make it a priority.
“The real problem right now is having enough active members,” Larsen said. “A book club isn’t really much if there’s no one there. There can be as many students enrolled as possible, but if no one shows up, it’s kind of frustrating and hard.”
It can also be difficult to get the students that do show up to be engaged in club activities and meetings.
“People who are interested in English tend to be a little more introspective,” Cox said. “Which also tends to mean they are often more reserved and maybe a little bit more shy about putting themselves out there, but they’re the ones that need to. I mean, they’re doing great things, and those things need to be shared.”
