A continued exploration of Barstow’s new clubs.
Adversity often sparks creativity, and such has been the case at Barstow, with a plethora of new clubs being formed despite the unusual circumstances. Barstow’s clubs have always been a vital source of student interaction and discourse, and have continued to be even during the pandemic.
This year, Ava Levin of the class of 2024 has formed Finance Club, a student group devoted to learning about finance and the essential skills required to achieve fiscal stability after leaving high school. “Finance is a very important aspect of life as an adult, and I know that a lot of schools don’t usually teach it to students, so I wanted students to have a way to be informed before they left high school.” Each month, the club will cover different aspects of finance and sometimes invite guest speakers to give lectures on a given subject. In following meetings, club members can provide their input on the discussed topic. With Zoom and in-person meetings for the club, all of Barstow’s Upper School can participate and gain financial knowledge. According to Ava, “It’s a way for students to bond and for people to learn about a subject that isn’t taught in school that they could be interested in and gives a unique aspect on the approach of finance, as it’s taught by students rather than teachers.”
Among the new clubs this year is Fiction Writers’ Club, which functions as a critique group for student writers. Founded by yours truly, Finnian Waldron, the goal of Fiction Writers’ Club is to provide inspiration and constructive criticism for Barstow students who want to improve their writing. After members write and submit work to a shared google drive folder, the club members will read one story on their own time outside of the club. Esther Cheng of the class of 2023, one of the club’s founding members, describes how in club meetings, “We’ll discuss the short story that we read, and kind of talk about the plot points, what we thought the writer did well, what we thought could be improved upon.” In addition, Alex White, class of 2023 and another founding member has said of the club, that, “Everyone there is really just devoted to writing fiction. I don’t really know anywhere else where you can get that kind of exposure.”
Paranjay Sharma, class of 2024, has decided to found the Knowledge Bowl Club this semester as a way for students to gain more general knowledge on subjects such as history, art, literature, and much more. Paranjay says he was interested last year when he heard that a Knowledge Bowl Club was going to be formed, but when nobody formed it, he stepped in and founded it himself. He explained how, at club meetings, “Usually we’ll do practice questions for the {Knowledge Bowl} tournaments, but we don’t know what’s going to happen this year for the tournaments so it’s just a time for people who are interested in learning to learn.”
In an effort to raise awareness about the incredible opportunities for international learning afforded to Barstow students, Tyler McNeive, class of 2024, has started the Global Education Club. “I just wanted to make people more aware at Barstow about the amazing Global Education program we have here and the amazing opportunities that are presented to us that a lot of other schools don’t have,” Tyler has said in an interview regarding the club. The club plans on hosting virtual tours for Argentinian students, to show how Barstow is handling teaching during a pandemic. This is only the first of undoubtedly several international connection activities that Global Education Club will participate in.
The amount of curricular and extracurricular activities available to Barstow students is truly staggering, and it only continues to grow. Our school is fortunate enough to be home to many passionate individuals who are willing to share and grow their passions with other people, and we can only hope that such students continue to feel welcomed and supported at Barstow.
