News: How Clubs Add to School Life

(April 19, 2012) - The Loudoun Education Alliance of Parents (LEAP) learned how clubs can enhance school life at its April 11th meeting. Basically, it comes down to one word: belonging.


“Clubs and activities at any level are extremely important to the students we serve,” said Mercer Middle School Principal John Duellman. He added clubs tie students to the school and personalize their educational experience. “Our mission in middle school education is to find our students’ passion and their passion to serve the community…It’s not just about academics, math and science is important…but we would be remiss if it were our sole focus.”

Duellman said middle school students have a strong need to belong to a group. At the same time, joining activities such as drama allows students to take risks in a supportive environment.

Clubs at Mercer go well beyond the traditional. As part of a service project with Congressman Frank Wolf, Mercer students are collecting food for area food banks, which are desperately in need of inventory after the holidays.

Duellman said such projects also serve as a form of civics education. They increase problem-solving skills, improve student attention and interdisciplinary connections. Another service club at Mercer is the Leo Club, which partners with the adult Lion Club.

All the school’s service clubs combine each year to support the Smile Train project, which raises money to provide cleft palate surgery to children around the world. Mercer students have raised $21,000 to provide surgery for 256 children.

 Through the years the number of clubs at Mercer has grown from 13 to 30, mainly as a result of student initiatives. Two girls started an informal tutoring program with special needs students at lunch that turned into a Teacher Cadet Club with 45 members.

Another group of students formed an Environmental Club after seeing that recycling efforts at the school were falling short of their expectations.

“When students have a good idea, I need to channel their energy in a positive way,” said Duellman. A couple of weeks ago, a group of students told Duellman they want to form a fishing club using the retention pond east of the school. (Duellman said it was OK as long as the club released any fish it caught.)

One of the more unusual clubs at Mercer is the Hollywood Club, which produces the public service announcements for the morning news show.

 Clubs are sponsored by teachers on a volunteer basis.

 One of the most successful clubs in Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) is the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) at Briar Woods High School.

“Everybody needs something, and FBLA is that something for kids who want to do business,” said Nancy Cooley, Briar Woods’ FBLA adviser.

The Briar Woods FBLA chapter has 100 members, all of whom take part in the school’s business curriculum. At Briar Woods, FBLA works closely with DECA, an organization of marketing students, on field trips and service projects.

Among the projects they have jointly undertaken are awareness projects for breast cancer and collecting Christmas gifts for families in need. The two organizations also visit local businesses and take an annual field trip to visit the financial district and other attractions in New York.

In addition, FBLA students go to regional, state and national competitions in areas such as business ethics and entrepreneurship. Students also can earn Microsoft certification and other useful tools for their future business life.

Cooley said students who join FBLA tend to stick with it. “Usually when I get kids as freshmen they’ll be in for four years.” “We truly do try to offer something for everybody,” Nan Lewis, the activities coordinator at Stone Bridge High School told the LEAP delegates.

In addition to clubs that extend the curriculum, such as FBLA, honor societies, debate, drama and the Scholastic Bowl, Stone Bridge has many student-initiated clubs for pursuits such as skateboarding and break dancing.

When the school gets a request to form a club, Lewis said it tells the interested students to find a faculty sponsor, then does an assessment with the LCPS risk manager to see if there are any prohibitive liabilities for the school.

 Liability was definitely a concern when Stone Bridge formed a crew club, but details were worked out that allowed this activity to take place. Stone Bridge holds an activities fair each September and eighth-graders have a similar fair in the spring when they come through for high school orientation.

Lewis said most of the club names are transparent and you can tell at a glance what the club members are interested in.

Youth Development Coordinator Dena Getz and Children’s Program Coordinator Dan Bureau for the Loudoun County Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services told delegates about the after-school programs they offer.

 “When you think about the memories of your youth, those are the programs we are providing our youth,” said Getz. One of the primary programs creating those memories at middle schools is the Youth After School (or YAZ) program. For $50 a month, students are supervised until 6:15 each evening.

“We don’t want them to go home to an empty house and watch TV,” said Getz. “We want them to be involved.”

 Using the school gym and cafeteria, YAZ gets students involved in intramural sports, fine arts, cooking and drama. The program also takes field trips to places such as animal shelters and promotes service projects, such as cleaning up parks. Students are always accounted for (there’s a 1-to-20 adult-to-student ratio) and are given time to complete homework every day before activities begin.

Bureau talked about the County After School Activities (CASA) program that serves 1,700 students at 42 locations. CASA is a Virginia Licensed Childcare program and costs $321 per month. CASA promotes positive peer interaction and fosters cooperation with adults, said Bureau.

Through drama, arts and crafts, physical activities and learning new skills, he said CASA hopes to teach its students to make safe and healthy decisions. Students also have the chance to select some of their own activities. Bureau said CASA participants in Sterling recently staged an eight-week floor hockey tournament.

The final LEAP meeting of the 2011-2012 school year will be on May 9 at the School Administrative Offices in Ashburn. This will be the annual town hall meeting where officers will be elected and subjects for next year’s programs discussed.