By Omkar Katkade and Cosmo Thompson, Staff Reporters
Peer Mediation
Peer Mediation focuses on unifying the T/E school district and promoting a positive school climate through ventures such as the Students Teaching About Respect (S.T.A.R.) program. In the S.T.A.R. program, members of Peer Mediation visit the middle and elementary schools to teach younger students about kindness and resiliency.
This year, Peer Mediation has reworked its management system. In the past, one or two presidents would organize and manage the club. Now, leading the club is more of a group effort, with nine directors divvying up responsibilities for five different branches.
As a director of Peer Mediation, senior Kitt Burlington helps oversee F.R.O.G.S, P.A.L.S. and Kerrage.
“We got a really unique set of skills out of it (being in Peer Mediation), and I like being able to pass that along and help out the school,” Burlington said.
Multiculture Club
MultiCulture Club brings students of many different backgrounds together and showcases different cultures. The club hosts many different events, including ESL Family Night, Thanksgiving and Global Festival.
MultiCulture Club has been brainstorming ideas to continue its mission of celebrating cultures during shutdown. One idea club members have planned is a clothing show, where members will turn on their cameras and talk about their cultural clothes. They would also like to host an event at Wilson Farm Park where members will tie-dye shirts with colors that symbolize different cultures.
Relena Li, senior and president of MultiCulture Club, enjoys interacting with other cultures through the club’s events.
“I like Global Festival because (of) one thing, food, and also, it’s really cool to know a lot of things and fun stuff, talking to each culture (that is) doing Global Festival,” Li said.
Robotics Club
Every year, the Robotics Club competes in the VEX Robotics Competition. In each competition, student-built robots play a new “game” that they will be graded on. The competition is held at the regional level all the way up to the national level.
The competition usually features “alliances” between two teams, where the two work together to accomplish a task. This year, the competition has one team per alliance, and robots have to score points by themselves. Robotics Club is also teaching students how to build robots virtually, which doubles the difficulty since building a robot is a very hands-on task.
“At competitions after you’ve grinded for a couple weeks and the night before you don’t have any sleep, and then you go to competitions: it’s exhilarating,” said junior Arjun Arasappan, president of Robotics Club.
Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad is also making some changes this year. The club’s main goal is to compete and place well in Science Olympiad competitions, but it also emphasizes learning STEM for fun.
Science Olympiad competes in local invitational competitions to prepare for the regional competition. Normally, competitors are limited to three invitationals due to travel costs, but this year, the competition will be held virtually, so club members won’t need to ride anywhere. Now, they are trying to compete in every invitational competition they can to better prepare them for regionals.
“(Science Olympiad is) where I found my group of friends, where I feel at home the most,” said junior Sabrina Zhang, president of Science Olympiad.
Creative Writing Club
Creative Writing Club is a casual place where people who enjoy writing can go to unwind. It provides prompts for members to write about. Then, if they want to, members can share what they wrote.
This year, they hope to have a creative writing competition. Submissions wouldn’t have to be essays or poems. As long as their piece is creative, students would be able to submit any type of writing, and if the competition goes through, it will be open to all Conestoga students rather than just members of the club. Creative Writing Club would also like to be able to give recognition to everyone who submits with a certificate or something similar.
“There are some people who started Creative Writing Club that wouldn’t speak a single word in the meeting. If they shared their work, they would remain completely anonymous, and now, they’ve found Creative Writing Club to be a space where they can be super extroverted and share what they want to because I think Creative Writing Club is just a really safe space for people to share writing,” said senior Oriana Riley, president and founder of Creative Writing Club.
