There are plenty of activities for students to participate in here at Aragon, from sports teams and leadership classes to the yearbook or service commission. Aragon clubs range from ethnicity orientated to faith oriented, while others involve video games or pastimes. When you add them all up, you get 76 unique groups to choose from. Here are a few to be featured this month.
The Breakfast club. (sorry, no food.)
Sophomore Michael Alvarez, president of Breakfast Club, and a couple fellow members pushed the desks in a math class against the walls in order to create space for their club activity.
The Breakfast Club is actually a place where kids express themselves as individuals through dancing. The origin of the name comes from the word ‘break dancing’. Alvarez coined the words ‘break’ and ‘fast’ together meaning “to rapidly start dancing.”
During the club meetings, students practice new tricks to get better. Alvarez proudly says, “We get harder, better, faster and stronger!”
Past events that the Breakfast Club has participated in include the Multi-dance club events, lunch time performances and most recently, Aragon Dance Competition, where they finished in fifth place.
Go-Go to Go-Club.
Go is a game of strategy and observation that requires pieces, or stones, and a board. The goal of the game is to capture as many spaces as you can. Club president and sophomore Kevin Huang says, “Go is like two hives of ants trying to conquer a territory. The club’s purpose is to promote interest of Go in the
community and to provide a place for those interested to compete and play.”
The club is small at the moment and the members of the club do not want it to be just a closely-knit group of friends. Huang says, “I plan to make posters about the club to put up around school. I hope to attract some of the students’ attention and hope to bring new people into our club.”
Huang says, “In the future, our club might participate in a Bay-area high school Go tournament.” Since the club is new, they have a long way to go before taking place in any tournaments.
UNICEF Club. Make a difference.
UNICEF Club advocates and fundraises for children all around the world in need of clean water, vaccines, food and emergency help.
Something unusual that UNICEF club does is that during Halloween, members don’t trick or treat for candy, but for money. Members put in a lot of effort to raise money by asking for donations and spare change. Last Halloween, UNICEF club raised $230. In the past, UNICEF club has hosted an online donation event, where members ask friends and family to donate over the Internet.
UNICEF hosted a Tap Water Project throughout America during water week, which is March 20 to 26. The goal of the project is to have people donate a dollar so that one kid can get clean water for 40 days. Aragon UNICEF club plans to ask local restaurants to charge their customers a dollar for a cup of water to help fundraise for the cause. At the moment, members have contacted restaurants like Mimi’s Café, Fresh Choice, Armadillo Willy’s, Jack’s Prime, and several others.
Ping Pong Club.
Matches are really quick and fast at the Ping Pong Club. Members play first to score or first to three points. Because there are so many eager members and such a short lunch period, the games have to stay short.
On the left side of the room are the people who are eating lunch and waiting patiently to play. Friends, girlfriends, and spectators crowd on the right side either watching intently at the players or cheering wildly for their friends. Some enthusiastic players roam around the room trying to find a spot to play in any of the two tables.
Sophomore Ivan Chen is an active member of the club. He joined, “because his friend wanted him to. However, I have grown to like this club, so I’m grateful he introduced me to it.” He says the worst part about the club is waiting to play. “On the other hand, I really like the club because you get to play a sport you normally can’t. And also, it’s a better alternative thanjust eating your lunch outside while being bored.”
