By: Alayna Smith and Isaiah Lavalley
As students were learning about all the different clubs on the BHS campus, some club leaders explained in-depth what their clubs are all about.
Even Torres (11), leader of the Philippines Donations Club, said “This is the Philippines Donations Club and we’re geared towards raising box donations to ship to families in need in the Philippines. During meetings we’ll plan out these box donations and also learn about current events in the Philippines.” When asked what inspired him to start this club, he said, “Our families do these box donations, like my grandma growing up. These boxes are part of an overseas program called the Balikbayan Box Donation Program. Our families would do them at home, it’s very common for Filipino families in America to do them. We thought it would be a cool idea to start a club at BHS and bring different Filipino families together so we could raise Balikbayan Donations together.” This club plans to ship “at least 2-3 shipments” and the boxes will include “canned goods, clothes, and other donations.”
The Space Club is also a great option for students who are interested in astronomy to join. Club leader, Caitlin Begbie (12), say, “We are going to create a website throughout the year that will be geared towards younger kids since there isn’t very much curriculum on space at that level so we’re kind of hoping that we can get a few people interested in it early on in life. We’re going to create a website and we’re also hoping to work with some of the elementary school administrative’s to get some projects going.”
Friday Night Live is also another popular club on campus. Miah Chao (11), club leader, says “We’re a youth led advocacy club and we advocate for the health of youth in our communities. This includes topics like drunk driving, tobacco and other drugs, mental health, gambling, and more. We like to do peer to peer presentations in our community and want to stand up in front of the council if any legislation affects us and just educate everyone overall on how to improve the health of youth.” Miah says that in the long run the club hopes to “work on creating new presentations to improve the mental health of students in our community because that is a very important issue, and also ensuring that flavored tobacco products remain banned in California. We also just want to ensure that everyone in the community has a safe place to go to.”
The Humane Society of North Bay Club “is pretty much a shelter in Vallejo that we will be helping fundraise for and we will be walking the dogs and playing with cats,” according to club leader, Olivia Kamm (12). When asked what they hope to accomplish with this club, they said, “Mostly just to raise money and help the animals stay happy because they are amazing and just to tell more people about it.”
It’s safe to say that Benicia High has a wide variety of clubs available, that appeal to all students. And just a reminder, you can still sign up for clubs even after the club fair.
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