The Shoemaker Bugle

By Stany Hernandez

Over the years, many clubs have been dead, founded, and revived, here are some of the most recent that we believe deserve more attention:

1) Key Club

Key Club is an international volunteering organization with many social aspects involved. It serves on a club, division, district, and international level, providing many opportunities to network and build connections outside of high school (neighboring clubs are grouped into divisions and districts are combinations of states, further divided into regions). In 2019, the club was revived after being dormant for a couple of years by a senior named Vidal Reynoso; it had 7-10 members in its start, mainly composed of younger siblings who were freshman and friends who hung out in the same social groups.

He started it as a way for students to do “real volunteer work” in a way that was impactful and non-exclusive. During the 2020 term, the same group remained after the two seniors had left. It was during this time that we established a division presence and became more active on a district level through underclassmen representation. Last year, now-senior Javier Reynoso served as their president increasing member participation, improving organization and framework within the club, and setting resources for the leaders to come. His term was revolutionary for the club, marking a great change within Key Club, and establishing a district presence while creating a name for itself on campus.

Due to his work, we were able to double membership to 23 dues-paid members and increase Fall Rally South attendance. Some of our most popular events include: Fall Rally South where we go to Six Flags all day and have a giant spirit battle between five other divisions, and Rose Parade Float Decorating, where we help with flower cutting and scaffolding to decorate the Key Club, Kiwanis, and Lions Club floats.

2) Anime Club

Anime Club was founded in 2019 by a senior named Jose Cervantes to discuss anime titles and host watch parties during lunch meetings. The pandemic would mean a pause in the club’s history, as there was no one to take over or get it started again during a hectic time. Last year, the club was taken over by AMP’s very own Logan Torres, hosting meetings every Friday in Mr. Barr’s room as soon as he agreed to be the club advisor. Unfortunately, many of the members involved in the club went to other schools, causing the club to disband.

3) Debate Club

Debate Club was founded in 2020 by myself during my sophomore year. The club was founded in response to the controversial summer that year in which the Black Lives Matter movement was in full swing, and many controversial social & political topics were being brought to light. I felt it was important for students to have a voice and have discussions with their peers about issues which they found passionate, so my co-founder, Valery Montinola , thought it would work well as a Debate Club. Our club only had 7 members in its first and ultimately last year. We tried starting it last year, however, we had low member turnout, resulting in its disolution. As of now, we have no advisor, as our old advisor left this school year to become an administrator at Benton Middle School. We are incredibly happy for her, but we have not found an advisor since.

If any of these clubs intrigue you and seem like something you would want to revive, I would suggest talking to their original advisors, current presidents, or founders. Clubs are an essential part of the high school experience and look great on your college applications, however, they do take time to start up, so if you also want to support your fellow peers by helping with that process, I suggest you start with the clubs on this list.