Students can choose among a large variety of clubs, which have emerged from the inspiration of fellow Seahawks.
The South Lakes Academic Program, acronym SLAP, Rocketry, Welcome Seahawks, Baking for a Cause, and Humanity Plus are all new clubs this year.
SLAP was created by senior Andrew Xue to give students the opportunity to provide other students with academic help.
“I was at the Harvard secondary school program 2012 during the summer, and I was taking some courses,” Xue said. “Obviously I was struggling and I found out there was a student-run service by students for students. I took part in it and managed to pass all of the courses and earn credits. It’s the sense of community of that college that inspired me to start one in South Lakes.”
Currently, there are no requirements for becoming a tutor or tutee in this program.
“Primarily the service needs students who have passed advanced classes in order to assist students currently struggling in them,” Xue said.
Senior Tatevik Markaryan began the process of creating Rocketry club last year. She had to get a sponsor, fill out a few forms, write a club constitution, and have signatures from 25 students expressing interest in the club, a process all new clubs are required go through.
“I decided to start the club because I wanted students to have an outlet to apply their love and interest in mathematics and science,” Markaryan said. “I also thought that it would be important for students to have a hands-on experience in something that is usually just taught in textbooks.”
Markaryan hopes to compete at the Team America Rocketry Challenge with 35 other members.
Another new club is Welcome Seahawks.
“The purpose of this club is to help new students who come to our school in the middle of year, or even at the beginning of the school year,” senior Suraya Mobasherullah said. “Our freshmen usually have mentors who help them throughout the year. However, others students don’t.”
Mobasherullah was inspired to create this club after moving here from Russia. She discovered that the system here was very different from the one back home and she had problems adjusting.
“I would love to help those who have the same problem,” Mobasherullah said. “Even small things could make someone else’s day, so why not help and not let them to go through what I went through.”
Baking for a Cause had their interest meeting Nov. 12 led by juniors Allie Stamey, Melissa Pham, and Sachi Jain.
“The point of the baking club is to bake for fundraisers that clubs have, or just for birthdays or anything, and the money we raise from that is going to go to a charity,” Stamey said.
One potential charity is the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON). THON is a campaign that fundraises to help cure pediatric cancer and provides financial support to those of the Four Diamonds Fund.
The founders of Baking for a Cause have decided not to limit themselves to just one charity.
Created by senior Nikhil Delahaye, Humanity Plus is a club for students who want to talk about the future of medicine and bioethics. Discussions include a range of topics, such as transhumanism, medical technology, bioethics, and the health care system.
“People our age don’t really have that opportunity, and it’s often not seen as “cool” or acceptable to discuss deep topics when you’re young,” Delahaye said. “I wanted to work to change that stigma.”
In addition to changing this perception, Delahaye hopes to inspire other students.
“There’s also a shortage of doctors and biomedical engineers in this country I would hope that I would at least inspire one person to think of medicine or biomedical engineering as a career choice,” Delahaye said.
Nov. 14, Humanity Plus had the opportunity to Skype with Professor Andreas Teuber of Brandeis University who spoke to them about bioethics.
“We have plans in the future to go to local hospitals and sit in on talks by professionals,” Delahaye said. “Hopefully, in March we’ll be able to go to Johns Hopkins to hear Dr. Ben Carson speak.”
