Every fall, RM students flock to clubs that have been around for years upon years: DECA, Mock Trial, Black Maskers — the list goes on. Yet many are unaware of new emerging clubs, which offer fresh opportunities for students to explore their passions.
This year, around a dozen new clubs were at the club fair. They span a wide range of interests, from competitive coding to girls’ lifting to documentaries.
One such club is RM International, which focuses on international relations and worldwide events.
“I’ve always been interested in international relations, current events, things like that,” junior founder Grace Li said, “But there’s not a club at RM dedicated to that. So I wanted to start something — that way I can explore these topics, not just on my own googling current events, but with other people so it’s more fun.”
RM International holds monthly meetings to discuss current events concerning global politics. They also partner with charities and nonprofits to complete service projects, for which members will receive SSL hours.
“Because I’m a junior, I hope to grow the club and put it in a good spot two years from now,” Li said. “I just really hope to make RM International like a club that everyone knows about.”
The club fair also featured a new service club called RM MedLife. MedLife, which stands for Medicine, Education and Development for Low-Income Families Everywhere, raises funds to donate to medical clinics in Central American countries.
The club meets monthly during lunch, and members can earn SSL hours from going to meetings and helping with fundraisers. Over the summer, MedLife plans on hosting a trip to Costa Rica, where students will shadow doctors as well as sightsee and experience the local culture.
MedLife was restarted by sophomore Rithika Arun Venkatesh after a period of inactivity. “I think it’s a good cause,” Arun Venkatesh said. “We’re helping to raise money for other communities and stuff, and the fact that we host trips is also really cool.”
MedLife offers a unique opportunity for students to volunteer and do charity work for underprivileged communities worldwide. “This is my first experience, so I’m excited to get more knowledge,” Arun Venkatesh said.
Another new club is Astrophysics Club. It explores everything space and physics-related: quantum mechanics, particle physics and cosmology are among its topics of interest.
Junior Sophie Ng was inspired to found the club after noticing a lack of opportunities in the community to express her passions. “I’m really interested in astrophysics, and there’s no astrophysics classes,” Ng said. “I just want to have fun, get some more people interested in it and teach people things.”
At meetings, Astrophysics Club plans on doing educational presentations, projects and demonstrations. It also hopes to invite guest speakers to share their knowledge with the members.
“If you want to start a club, you should definitely just take a risk and do it,” Ng said. “It’s a good way to find people who have similar interests as you and it’s a fun extracurricular opportunity.”
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