RM currently has more than 160 student organizations, a number that only grows bigger with every passing year as students find new and creative ways to share their passions, interests and talents—which this year, range from topics as diverse as current affairs and elderly companionship. 

The RM Current Affairs Club was started by sophomores and co-presidents Emilie Koo, Lucas Han and Angie Wu. Koo was the one to come up with the idea in her freshman year after she says she realized many of her classmates were consuming media filled with misinformation. “I realized that I myself didn’t exactly read the news,” she said. “It’s really important for the current generation to be more aware of the things that are happening around them.”

Han agreed with Koo’s sentiment. “A lot of people typically just get their news from social media, like TikTok, that can be really, really inaccurate or skewed, perspective-wise,” he said. “Our plan is just to offer a neutral standpoint as well as a chance to allow people to explore and engage in different perspectives.” 

Koo says that she now reads the news online from trustworthy news organizations, which she encourages other students to do. “Trusted sources don’t put in their own opinion,” she said. “Also, if you read different sites like Washington Post, NPR, AP News, and they all share roughly the same information, you can corroborate.”

The club meets every Friday in 351, chemistry teacher Eleanor Park’s room. Koo, Han and Wu will present on different news sub-topics including science and technology, local news and global politics. They also will lead friendly debates and discussions on the major headlines of the week. “We’re just really hoping to bring more awareness to the current generation,” Koo said. “We’re hoping that they will make good, educated decisions.

The Elderly Aid and Companionship Society is another one of the many clubs dedicated to serving the community. Sophomore and co-founder Mia Gu came up with the club after spending the past two years regularly performing the flute in nursing homes. “I realized that I really like connecting with seniors,” she said. “They make you feel really amazing.”

She brought up the idea with her friend, sophomore Joyce Yang, who agreed to co-found the club. “Me and Mia were talking about what passions we have and how we can share those with other people,” Yang said. “Seniors don’t generally have as much access to music and art, and also just companionship with young people.” 

Gu agreed. “We hope that [the club] will inspire more people to do stuff like this,” she said. “Maybe not just with seniors, but just to use their hobbies to help other people.” 

In-school meetings will be held every other week in yoga teacher Patricia Wayerski’s room.  “She told us that she was really free this year, and she can sponsor a club,” Gu said. “She’s very passionate about the elderly.”

At meetings, Gu and Yang, will talk with club members to plan out the activities and talents they’ll bring to the seniors—for example, Yang has a background in art, so she’ll be giving art lessons. 

The actual visits to nursing homes will occur once every other month at the North Potomac Senior Center. Throughout the year, Gu and Yang also hope to host workshops to help seniors pick up new hobbies. “[The elderly] have so much love to give,” Gu said. “They’re so pure and they’re so happy, and I feel like we can learn a lot from them.”

Support Small Projects is a club dedicated to marketing local businesses and nonprofits. Freshman and founder Sewon Kim came up with the idea. “I was interested in business. I wanted to help the community in some way,” Kim said. “It was the beginning of last year when my friend said to me, ‘Oh, you’d be good at marketing.’ I was like, ‘Ah, really?’ That’s what happened.”

Every month, the club will promote a small business or nonprofit to the students of RM. Kim plans to reach out to organizations, asking if they would like free marketing to high school students. “Small local businesses, since they aren’t as big yet, want free marketing,” she said. “High school is such a big place with so many people.”

At meetings, along with freshman and co-presidents Olivia Kim and Kaya Le Boude, Kim will discuss marketing strategies. Some she has in mind include posters, flyers, social media, fundraisers and collaborations with other clubs related to the business. For example, she says, promoting a bakery could mean organizing a bake sale fundraiser for a food insecurity club, using their goods.

Kim says her goal is to increase exposure for local organizations that are often overlooked. “Nonprofits, they’re looking for volunteers. I can help them find volunteers by marketing,” she said. “I hope for more community awareness. Small local businesses don’t get as many people as big businesses.”

Powerdown Club is a clean energy advocacy group co-founded by juniors Callie Deng and Brooke Bennett. “Our goal is to spread awareness about ways that people can conserve energy and advocate for better energy saving policies both in our school, community, outside of school and our neighborhoods,” Deng said.

While there are other clubs, such as Climate Club, focused on preserving the environment, Powerdown is the only one specifically targeted towards energy. 

At meetings, they plan to invite expert guest speakers to speak about sustainable energy as well as host trivia games to help students learn more about the topic.

The sound of cheering crowds and pounding drums fills the air as Hell’s Kitchen, the school’s spirit team, shouts from the bleachers. This year, Hell’s Kitchen is now a club open to all students, led by senior Sophia Killion. “We are the spirit squad of the school,” she said. “We cheer and get the student section hyped because this also helps the players to see that people are cheering them on.”  

Previously, Hell’s Kitchen was restricted to students taking the SGA class. With a broader membership this year, Killion hopes that there will be even more energy. She’s also introducing practiced cheers and matching outfits. “We’ve made it more involved than it has been in the past years,” she said.

Killion also wants to bring the club’s intensity to all sports games—previously, Hell’s Kitchen attended mostly just football games. “We actually make a difference. You actually see this club doing stuff at sporting events. Our first away game, it was four of us in the front, and we were leading the student section,” she said. “This looks good on the school, because when people think of RM and their spirit, they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, RM is really spirited.’”

The RM Crime Scene Investigation club, or RM CSI, is a new club focused on forensic science. “[The goal of] this club is to introduce lots of people to different careers, and also have fun,” sophomore and founder Yi Yi said. 

Meetings will be held the last week of every month. Yi says she wants to cultivate an engaging environment with activities including expert guest speakers, mock investigations and presentations of potential real-life careers in the field. “Clubs are a place where everyone can meet people that have similar interests,” she said “I really like the clubs that are really interactive, so you do things—you don’t just hear a slideshow.” 

Behind the scenes, science teacher Karl Kovacs helps students like Yi turn their ideas into reality. He hosts over 10 clubs at RM, including three new ones this year. These are often diverse in topic—ranging from invasive species advocacy to oncology to a book club—and not limited to science. “If I could have more than one classroom, I would sponsor more clubs,” he said. “Students may approach me because they feel like I provide a space for them to express themselves without judgment. That’s my hope.”