Club Fair celebrates variety of ‘interests,’ ‘identities’
Photo credit: Emma London
Briana Gonzalez ‘22 and Gaby Ayala ‘21 stand behind their table for the Ukulele Club. The club meets every Tuesday at lunch in Chris Luzniak’s room.
Archer girls gathered in the courtyard filled with posters, music and food on Oct. 12 for the annual Club Fair. With over 40 student-run clubs represented, students wandered from table to table, learning about the different options and signing up for clubs.
Unlike past years, Dean of Students Jenn Babin has decided to split the clubs into two different designations. There are alliance, affinity and activism clubs [AAA] and social clubs. Babin said 60 percent of clubs are social and 40 percent are AAA clubs.
“The purpose of the designation is to help students self select, know a little bit more about the type of club and help us as faculty and administrators how best to support the group,” Babin said.
AAA clubs work to educate and bring more awareness about specific issues in the Archer community, Babin said. They are required to present at Archer’s annual Diversity Conference. Black Student Union [BSU] is one of these AAA clubs.
“We allow students and faculty to celebrate all aspects of African American culture, and we help support the black community within Archer. All races are welcome,” student leader Siena Mills ‘19 said.
The Black Student Union’s poster presented at the Club Fair. The club is an AAA club and meets every Thursday at lunch.
A new middle school branch of BSU, called STARR, will be implemented in the Archer community. STARR stands for Sisters Talking About Race Relations.
“We want to make the conversation about race more comfortable, and we feel that talking about it at a younger age will help girls become more comfortable with [having] the conversation,” Mills said.
Students who want to highlight and share their hobbies with the community lead social clubs. They are not required to present at the Diversity Conference.
Lucia Williams ’25 leads the Books Are Beautiful Club, a new middle school social club.
“I started it to get people more interested in books, as well as socializing and having lots of fun,” Williams said.
Babin described the clubs at Archer as “powerful.”
“I love our clubs, and I love the variety of interests and activities and identities and everything that students choose to explore during those lunch meetings,” Babin said.
Emma London joined the Oracle as a correspondent in 2017 and as a staff writer in 2018. She is on Archer's equestrian team and plays the viola in upper...
