Campus of Opportunities and Communities

The school year begins with brand new clubs for all students to join.

By Kaitlyn Jung and Sandra Sanchez

Formed out of curiosity and creativity of students, clubs represent the diverse sectors of interests and talents that exist at school. Creating and running clubs allows students of similar passions to come together and collaborate, displaying innovativeness.

Creating new clubs at school require more than just filling out an application and turning it in, it’s more about the leadership, community and the purpose of it.

“Officers of the clubs require dedication, leadership, and determination from their members.” stated by club commissioner Angela Hernandez.

The club requires the right club sponsor and that requires some thought and consideration. Usually sponsors have a connection to the purpose of the club or they have a connection to the student themselves. 

With all these demands in mind, the process of creating a new club can be messy, but the new clubs of 2020 have been able to meet those requirements and offer new accesses to students.

 

Quiz Bowl 

Quiz Bowl is a club-based competition that showcases trivia knowledge without a competitive atmosphere on multiple topics, such as science, history, and literature.

“It’s not tied to the actual Quiz Bowl competition, it’s a trivia without any stress of doing well or not.” stated by the club president Brijesh Molala. 

This club prepares students for physical buzzing with live readings every Friday where a designated “reader” reads the question out loud and the rest of the players have to buzz and answer that question, having a similar system to jeopardy. 

Meetings every Monday and Friday during lunch in Room 327.

 

Cyberpatriot Club

CyberPatriot Club is a program created by the Air Force Association that teaches youth about cybersecurity. It plans to teach its members how to identify and fix cyber threats in a computer system like Cisco Systems, Microsoft Windows, macOS  Server, and Ubuntu.

“With this knowledge, students can apply this to the real world and know how to defend themselves and others from potential cyber threats,” said club president Daniel Woo.

Woo also clarified that this club will not teach students computer basics. 

“I’d prefer it if students could navigate through fairly well when they join.” Woo stated.

Meetings are every Friday during lunch in Room 203 with occasional after school meetings on Wednesdays.

 

Women Empowerment

Despite what the name might imply, the Women Empowerment Club is a community of students who aims to improve the Van Nuys community and its students. 

“I believe in order to make a change, we have to start with ourselves. We may be a small community of people but I believe as long as you work for it, you can achieve what you want.”

The club plans to do fundraising for the Thirst Project, a non-profit organization that aims to provide clean water all around the world. They also plan on volunteering as a group at downtown women’s shelter in LA, donating most of the money we make with selling in school events. 

Lastly, they are planning luncheons for our members and getting to know each other on a personal level and helping each other grow as strong women. 

There is a $3 membership fee, but all funds will be used towards luncheons and other club-related events.

Meetings every Monday in Room 113.

                                                                                               

Environmental Club 

Environmental Club is dedicated to helping the planet through promoting environmentally friendly products, encouraging environmentally friendly behavior and working on creating a sustainable future. 

To do so, the club plans on administering tree planting events and beach clean-ups which will be discussed in meetings. They also want to raise awareness of the availability of greener options for everyday products. 

“Members will be able to talk about their impactful contributions to colleges and know that they are helping the planet with everything they do.” said the club president, Raine Torres.

Meetings every Monday during lunch in Room 533.

 

Terpsichore Club 

Terpsichore Club plans on performing different Korean Pop choreographies on Fridays in the quad for everyone during lunch. 

Terpsichore is the mythological goddess of dance and chorus and serves as the main purpose of the new club.

“We haven’t really seen a club that does that so we wanted to pitch the idea and practice as a group and perform,” the club’s vice president Milana Korganyan stated.

This club aims to unite students who love the K-Pop genre.

Meetings are every Monday during lunch in Room 213.

 

Florens Club

Florens is a club to support comfort women, or Asian women who were forced into sex slavery for the Japanese military during World War II.

“Our main goal is to fundraise for the Comfort Women Justice Coalition and spread awareness of the mistreatments young women faced .” said club president Seah Park. 

The Comfort Women Justice Coalition consists of individuals and organizations, such as the Rape of Nanjing Redress Coalition, aiming to support the surviving Comfort Women. 

Meetings are every Thursday during lunch in Room 203.

 

Black Student Union (BSU)

The Black Student Union (BSU) aims to create a community and opportunities for African Americans at our school. 

The club plans on educating its members about black history, from as early as the Black Panthers of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s to the recent incidents of police brutality towards black people and other minorities.

In partnership with the College Office, the club wants to offer scholarships and other educational opportunities to its members.  

“We want to recognize those who are pushing forward for a bright future and just a place where people can feel like themselves and not be ridiculed by stereotypes and appearance.” said club co-president Morgan Agee. 

Meetings are every Thursday during lunch in the auditorium.

 

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club is a social club for breakfast enthusiasts. The club claims to be a “socializing club,” uniting all students with a love for breakfast. 

“We aim to create a group of like-minded people to share our interests and take part in our activities. We call ourselves an exotic eating appreciation club,” said club president Anthony Oliveira. 

Meetings are during lunch in Room 327; the dates are yet to be determined.

 

Act Now Environmental Club 

Act Now Environmental Club aims to promote improving the sustainable environment of Van Nuys High School. 

The club also promotes awareness of global environmental issues, such as plastic pollution.

“We want to educate and empower students to take action to protect and preserve the environment, with a focus on sustainable human actions and decisions,” said club president Kristen Vitolo.  

One way Vitolo works towards achieving this is by working with Ms. Gardea and facilities executives from LAUSD to advocate for getting several water bottle filling stations installed at our school. 

“The district has been supportive of this idea, so we are hoping to see the first filling station installed during this school year,” said Vitolo. 

Meetings are on Mondays in Room 203.

 

Comic Book and Anime Club 

“Our purpose is to watch anime and read comic books and just be nerds. If you want to talk about comics, manga, or anime then we encourage you to join even if it’s not really the things you like.” stated by the president Athena Cardier. 

The Comic Book and Anime Club offers comic book selections from Batman, Squirrel Girl to Harley Quinn. For anime, they plan to watch My Hero Academia, Soul Eater and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. 

Beyond that, the club also aims to hold an art show and to go to WonderCon, an annual comic books and science fiction convention held in April. 

Meetings are in Room 117 on Fridays during lunch and Thursdays after school.