By Judah Belgrade
Let’s go back to the spring of 2021. The school year is slowing down, and you are in the last few months of school.
Suddenly, Rabbi Adleman interrupts your science class to introduce a new feature of the next school year. You hear him mention something called….
Club Hour.
As you leave class for the final periods of the day, you ponder this announcement. What is Club Hour? And why am I failing science class?
The thought leaves your mind as the end of the year approaches, and summer makes you forget everything you’ve learned.
Now it’s 5 months later….
The new school year is taking pace, and the Club Fair is today. All the clubs are showing off trifolds and presentations, but what really stands out are the five new clubs, and they all look extremely interesting and appealing.
Sadly, your after school time is limited, and you don't know if you'll have time for these eye-catching extracurriculars. What shall you do?
Suddenly, an announcement takes you out of your head of worries. Apparently, it’s about this thing called Club Hour, which you have a slight recollection hearing about last year.
You hear that on Tuesdays there will be an in-school period to participate in clubs, with an assortment of clubs every other week! Huzzah! The day has been saved. Everything is good. Except your science grade. You could do better.
Club Hour is a major game changer. Now, instead of having clubs meet after school, they can happen during school! Rabbi Adelman made the decision because he wanted to introduce more flexibility into students' school days.
"Experiential learning is important to the High School experience. And clubs are a good time for that,” Rabbi Adelman said. “So we took a significant amount of time in a day to create a time for people to create that experience for a meaningful amount of time.”
“We've reported a boost in student participation because it is now part of the day-to-day school experience," he added.
This decision came with some worries, especially in regard to student participation. "It's not that structured of a time, and that could lead to students not taking advantage of it,” said Adelman. “Especially since there is an A week and a B week."
Labs were put in place to address this concern and thus give students an opportunity to be productive, even if they don't have a club to go to. This is just one of the many new places to spend your Club Hour.
Now, new clubs aren't the hardest thing to create, but they do have to meet some qualifications. Rabbi Stone is in charge of approving new clubs, and he spoke to me about the qualifications that one had to meet before it could become official.
Stone will question new club proposals by asking questions like, What’s the main topic of the club? How much interest is there in this topic? What skills are gained from participating? Where did the interest for this club come from? And is it different from other clubs?
Each club needs to offer something unique and help students gain skills for the future. Our five newest clubs achieve this fantastically. Let’s learn how.
As the sports world evolves with every season, there is a need for a place to discuss such matters in an intelligent way. The Sports Club definitely fills this need.
Club Leader Sam Ashendorf has remarked that, “as the sports world evolves, so does our discussion.” What has also evolved is the club’s ability to analyze and predict happenings in the games (even when those predictions may not always come true).
As the only club at TABC that specifically talks about sports, it has gained a large audience. Ashendorf remarked that “lots are interested. Sixty kids signed up. Lots of freshmen, lots of everything.”
A bright future is on the horizon for this club, because there will always be people playing professional sports, and so there will always be people ready to discuss those sports.
The world's climate is evolving around us, and it’s important to gain a level of understanding that prioritizes facts over lies. This is the goal of the Green Initiative, led by Jacob Horn. This club wants to educate people on the facts of climate change and how to fight against it.
Horn tells a story about his father: after having an unpleasant interaction at a recycling plant a while back, Jacob’s father took it upon himself to consistently recycle, even during bad weather. This inspired his son.
“By seeing my father go out and recycle even in the freezing winter, it inspired and educated me on the importance of recycling, and I hope to bring that same inspiration to TABC,” said Horn.
The club not only encourages environmentally-friendly behavior but also educates people as well.
“[It] started as spreading recycling throughout the school, but expanded to educating the school about climate change and how people can help with stopping the climate crisis,” said Horn.
While not the largest club at the moment, Horn hopes for an influx of members as the year progresses and the message spreads.
Keep an eye out for any changes in the school brought by this club, and make sure you go and learn more about how this vital issue affects all of our lives.
En garde!
(That might be French for “watch your back.”)
The Fencing Club approaches! Led by Mr. Longo, students in this club will learn how to fence, competing against each other and (hopefully) against other schools. While not yet the most popular sport on our campus, it has found a receptive audience at TABC
“We had 25 guys come to the meeting,” said Longo. “So I think we're going to have a good amount of fencers.”
Himself a former fencer in High School (and a former teacher of the sport in summer school), Mr. Longo thought it would be wonderful to share the skills he’s learned with our students.
These skills include a good sense of balance, sharp mind, stamina, flexibility, and timing.
Longo observes that fencing is unique from other sports because you have to use your body and mind at the same time to be successful. “It's almost like physical chess where you have to plan multiple moves ahead to win,” said Longo.
After meetings start in December, we hope to see good results from our new fencing team in the field of battle!
The Finance Club is an example of a club that started out small but is slowly growing into a larger community. Focusing on stocks and economics (but mostly stocks), this club is run by Noah Beckoff, Yosef Kryzman, and David Basseches.
Beckoff noted that the club first “started out as a WhatsApp group chat a couple of years ago, as well as Zoom meeting.” It then expanded into an official club with in-person meetings, as well as an online chat group.
How many people have joined? According to Beckoff, “Tons. Group chat [gained about] 54 [members]... 25 to 30 per meeting, only because some of them have other clubs. We have a very active group chat, in constant discussion.”
Because it’s the only club at TABC that talks about the stock market, it’s very open to entrepreneurs, whether new or experienced (or anything in between).
Beckoff stressed that his club provides “a general understanding of the stock market, depending on how familiar you are with the market. It's open to everyone, and to open discussion. Prediction analysis...is a big part of the club's discussion.”
It seems like this club will stay on the market for a very long time.
Going out into the real world after High School may be an exciting time in your life, but it could also present challenges for us as Jews. There is always the possibility that some people might target us with harassment and hateful words of antisemitism. And it’s always possible those moments could lead to violence.
The Self-Defense Club is here to address this issue.
Led by Yehudah From and Michael Riskin, this club will teach its members to keep safe by always identifying their surroundings when being targeted. Students will also learn how to counter threats - not only physically, but also mentally.
From emphasizes the skills that members will learn, which include how to prepare for interactions with antisemitism and how to exit successfully from these possible conflicts.
From also explains why our school needs this club: “In other clubs, they give you an opportunity for optional learning and skills, but the Self-Defense Club is important for every Jew and is a necessity for living in the outside world.”
As the year continues to grow, so too will this club’s knowledge on how to be safe.
All in all, TABC offers a smorgasbord of new and exciting clubs. We’ve got clubs about engaging in sports (with swords), talking about sports (with extremely civilized discussions), cleaning the environment, cleaning our wallets, and preparing for the big outside world.
But what isn't there yet? Your idea! (Unless you had the idea for one of the clubs above - then that’s cool, and thanks for the interviews. They were really nice!)
If you have an idea for a club, make it known! Get people interested! Talk with your friends! Maybe you’ll gain enough support to make it real, but that can only happen if you go out there and try.
So what’s stopping you? Get out there and make your interests an important part of TABC!