Enticed by dozens of colorful posters, eye-catching props and buckets of candy, Paly students gathered on the quad at lunch during ASB’s two-day Club Day event on Oct. 3 and 4.
Each of the more than 140 unique clubs drew students from diverse backgrounds, ranging from art to STEM.
Sophomore Eliana Miao is the founder of the Pen and Pipette club, which writes and publishes science picture books for young children.
“There aren’t many books about science for younger kids out there, so we think this has a lot of potential,” Miao said.
Miao got the idea for Pen and Pipette after writing a book about how Teslas work with her twin brother and realizing how many kids love reading books written by high schoolers.
“I think (Pen and Pipette) is a really powerful way of getting kids excited about science,” Miao said.
In order to achieve this goal, the club plans to start working on their first science picture book together.
“We’ll do research, we’ll work with scientists to vet the science in our books, and we’ll work with illustrators and distributors to get our books to bookstores,” Miao said.
Although many clubs have a shared interest in science, some focus on promoting education while others focus on exploring technology.
Junior and Vice President of the Computation Biology Club Amrita Munagala went to the fair to promote her club.
“Computational Biology Club is basically a blend between two things — molecular biology and coding,” Munagala said. “You can use computer science in different databases to basically run through genome sequences and DNA to understand things about genetics.”
Munagala said her club is not just focused on academics and encourages students of all levels to participate.
“We do presentations about different biology topics,” Munagala said. “We can teach you how to code, we have guest speakers and at the end of the semester, we watch movies.”
Pursuing the same goal of bringing students together, other clubs find shared passions through arts and crafts.
Junior and Co-President of the Crochet Club Veronica Qiu said she formed strong connections and friendships with the other members of the club.
“As a freshman walking in here, I was really hoping to find a community where people also enjoyed crocheting like me, and I think through this club I definitely found that,” Qiu said.
Qiu also emphasized the diversity of students with a variety of crafting interests that are all encouraged to join the Crochet Club community.
“Hence the name, we just crochet, and we welcome knitters and all forms of art as well,” Qiu said.
While some clubs bring together students through common interests, others build community through community service.
The newly created Foodie Force Club, led by junior co-presidents Nicole Krawczyk, Lilia Kuzmicheva and Amalia Tormala, has the goal of spotlighting the dire food struggles that are faced in our own local community.
“Our meetings will be spent advertising our food drives and learning about why food drives are important, and how we can spread awareness to hunger struggles,” Krawczyk said.
For some people who attended the event like junior Yardenne Sternheim, Club Day allowed them to discover niche communities that interest them.
“I’ve signed up for one club so far — the Young Sheldon club,” Sternheim said. “I joined because Young Sheldon is a great TV show. I’ve been watching it with my little brother, and it’s really funny and lighthearted.”
Sternheim said she values clubs because they allow her to explore her interests that aren’t part of the school day.
“It’s fun to just go with my friends to get a break from the day,” Sternheim said. “I like that it allows you to get your mind off school or whatever it is that you’re stressed out about.”
