After transferring to SHS, junior Ariyah Mitchell felt like she was not connecting with anyone. To help her with the sudden change of environment and social circle, she joined the Black Student Union as the vice president and co-founder.
Since then, her confidence and leadership skills have grown as a result of being a part of a group.
Over the course of this year, SHS has welcomed many new clubs into its diverse selection, giving even more students the opportunity to branch out and broaden their horizons.

“It has definitely got me knowing more people and making more friends,” Mitchell said.
School clubs can be a way for students to meet new people and step outside of their comfort zones. Being a part of a group can help them feel like they “fit in” and boost their confidence.
Besides BSU, many other student run clubs have been created within the past year. Senior Natalie Walker takes on the leadership role in crochet club, which has been running since August.
After coming to English teacher Dawn Fowerbaugh with the idea, she agreed to be the sponsor and help Walker run the club. Although she was the teacher in charge, she learned many lessons learned many lessons from the students who taught her the tricks to the fiber art.

“I have never crocheted before, so the kids have taught me,” Fowerbaugh said. “It’s been great.”
At their first callout meeting, there were about 80 attendees. But as the weeks went by, the numbers dwindled significantly. Now, crochet club is made up of a small group of about 10 students.
Junior Jayce Avila, who is going to be one of the clubs leaders next year, thinks that the students who originally showed up were interested in learning crochet but were too daunted to learn because of the large group.
“It was very nice to know that so many people were at least interested in learning crochet,” Avila said.
Since that first meeting, they have participated in many fundraisers to benefit the community with their creations. One of these projects was a winter hat drive where the members of the club came together to make and donate over 70 winter hats and scarves for people in need.“I think that helps me and the kids kind of feel like we are paying it forward a little bit,” Fowerbaugh said, “like we have a purpose to the club.”
Avila has been planning for the future of the team in hopes to gain more student participation. They are planning on adding more elements, such as knitting and sewing in hopes to attract a wider audience with the new activities available to learn. Additionally, they plan on participating in more fundraising activities.
“We are planning to kind of reshape the club a little bit instead of it being exclusively a crochet club,” Avila said.
Like crochet club, BSU and the Myanmar Student Association have also been created by SHS students this past year.

The members and leaders of these associations take pride in the growth they have accomplished within the past year. At MSA’s first callout meeting, As the club grew, MSA president senior Eli Ni Pa saw herself grow with it. She said that being able to share her ideas and talking to students and staff helped her flourish as a leader.
“I’ve gained a lot of experience through that,” Ni Pa said.