Inspired to create a safe space on campus for other Black students to have a sense of community, sophomore Ekundayo Davies started the Black Student Union, or BSU, during his freshman year.
Following an incident in the lunch line where Davies was racially profiled by MVHS students, he reported the situation to administration, who then encouraged Davies to start a club to educate others and prevent similar situations from occurring again. Since then, Davies has grown the BSU to a club of around 15-20 members.
Rather than giving lectures or presentations, Davies believes that simply providing an open space for students to talk is the most effective way to educate students.
“We sit and talk a lot,” Davies said. “Most clubs, especially culture clubs, focus on doom and gloom when they talk about things, but we try to keep a lot of positivity going. I talk about things happening in Black culture and things that are relevant.”
Additionally, the BSU offers opportunities for its members to participate in various field trips. Davies most vividly remembers last year’s field trip to West Valley Community College's Black Student Summit.
“We had the whole group there and we got to meet really cool people,” Davies said. “Being in a community with a lot of other Black students meant a lot, and it was a fun place to be in, and was a great cultural moment.”
Although Davies was initially scared that not many people would join the BSU due to the small number of Black students on campus, he quickly found that many allies found an interest in the club.
“Now we're seeing a club with more allies than Black students themselves,” Davies said. “The club really is just people who like being part of the Black culture and like sitting in the African American space.”
Davies emphasizes that everyone can join, regardless of their ethnicity. With more people from various backgrounds attending meetings, Davies believes the discussions are more interesting and engaging.
“Regardless of who you are, the viewpoint you hold is valuable, especially in a space like ours,” Davies said. “Especially because we're also sharing our viewpoints, I think that's really valuable. The ability to be vulnerable in a space where you may not normally be the minority creates a space for other minorities to feel more comfortable.”
Junior and Chinese Honors Society (CHS) officer Cheryl Tsai recalls joining CHS because her household mainly spoke Chinese, making it natural for her to join a similar community at school. She highlights the importance of exploring Chinese culture on campus for both students who participate in Chinese tradition as well as those who just want to learn more.
“For students inside the culture, it allows them to continue exploring it,” Tsai said. “For students outside of the culture, it allows them to receive an insight into what Chinese culture is like and maybe have a different kind of understanding of their friends who are a part of it.”
Each year, CHS organizes a meeting centered around Chinese New Year, a significant holiday in Chinese culture. During the celebration, officers discuss activities and traditional foods associated with the holiday, such as moon cake, dumplings and fish.
“Unfortunately we can’t provide homemade items for the club so we were unable to prepare more authentic dishes, " Tsai said. “But overall I think [the club celebration] was fun because there’s candy.”
Ultimately, Tsai believes that CHS creates a relaxing space for students of similar backgrounds and interests to come together and have fun. Students engage in cultural presentations, interactive games and activities while creating long-lasting friendships.
“It’s a really fun club to be in, and I would say I really enjoyed my experience being a part of this,” Tsai said. “Along with promoting Chinese culture to everyone, our club wants to be a place where people can come and make friends with others that are similar to them in some way.”
Sophomore and co-founder of Christian Club Michael Yeung says Christian Club provides a designated space for Christian MVHS students to gather in fellowship to read Scripture and learn about Biblical events outside of the church they attend on Sundays. He points out that having the club meetings on Wednesdays during brunch serves as a bridge between Sundays, allowing members to delve into their planned activities about faith.
“Right now, we’re going over Easter, the season of Lent, so that if you come to our meetings, you’re able to learn a little bit about the history and then try to apply that to your life,” Yeung said.
Christian Club is one of the newer clubs on campus, starting its first meeting on Jan. 17 and holding biweekly meetings during brunch instead of lunch. Despite having less time compared to other clubs, Yueng says officers still prioritize certain procedures. For example, a typical meeting begins and concludes with a prayer because Christians believe in the significance of communicating with God to understand Him better.
“Generally, we start with a presentation where we select a topic and try to find verses to explain to people or say where it comes from in the Bible,” Yeung said. “If they don't know about it, then we try to break it down. Then there are some discussion questions near the end, so we break into small groups and try to talk about that.”
Looking ahead, Yeung hopes that the club will continue to help members strengthen their faith and grow in Christ’s community together. With a different Bible verse and lesson about Scripture each week, members can take home a new perspective about their lives, developing important values and cherishing these moments as followers of Christ.
“Christianity is a lifelong thing where you actually want to live out,” Yeung said. “Our goal is to strengthen that relationship with God and help people appreciate how awesome it is.”
Junior Jamie Garcia first had the idea of starting MVHS’ first Filipino student union on a trip to the Philippines with her family. Although the club just started this year, Garcia is proud that she and her co-president Juliana Banes could introduce Filipino culture to MVHS, just like other schools do.
“I just visited the Philippines, and with my sister joining other Filipino organizations in college, I thought it'd be really, really cool to have one at our school,” Garcia said. “It’s just a way to have a place for our Filipino students to come together and learn more about the culture.”
Similar to several other cultural clubs, Filipino Student Union hosts presentations for its meetings on different aspects of Filipino culture, accompanying each with an interactive activity, like trivia questions. Garcia describes the environment of the club as welcoming and casual, especially since sometimes after meetings, the officers play music and members participate in informal karaoke sessions.
Moreover, in just the first few meetings, the Filipino Student Union has covered a diverse array of topics, ranging from cuisine to pop artists. As a Filipino individual herself, Garcia wants to highlight Filipino culture as a whole, since she believes it is not as well known. Going forward, she hopes to delve deeper into more specific aspects of Filipino culture like games and its history. She remains proud of the engagement from members and enjoys sharing the impact of Filipino culture on modern pop culture.
“Recently we had a meeting on Filipino American artists and singers, and it was just really cool because a lot of the singers are really popular, but the people at the club didn’t know that they were Filipino,” Garcia said. “It was just cool to have that representation.”
As an Ambassador of French 1 and 2 for French Honor Society, junior Pallavi Mallik promotes French culture both in and out of the classroom. Aside from being the main translator during club meetings for students enrolled in French 1 and 2, she acts as the primary French tutor for Kennedy Middle School students. Mallik emphasizes that French Honor Society aims to promote French culture beyond just club meetings by collaborating with other clubs and expanding their teachings to other schools.
“Today, we're doing this thing called Frapanish,” Mallik said. “It's like a combination of all the French, Spanish and Japanese Honor society clubs. And then we just want to do more of those that people can come together and do a fun activity. Also, we want to expand our outside tutoring classes that we're doing for Kennedy to Lawson and all the other middle schools, so we can teach more people.”
Mallik adds that the club provides an immersive learning experience for students currently taking French at school, as all the meetings and social media posts are in French. As someone who took French starting in eighth grade, she finds the club to be the perfect balance between what she was learning in school and the culture she has come to appreciate.
Although students who take French at MVHS can be officially inducted into the club, French Honor Society also welcomes any students with an interest in learning about the culture. From hosting activities like building Mardi Gras parade floats to playing a French card game called “Les Loup Garous de Thiercelieux,” Mallik’s favorite memory was when members and officers decorated a Yule log together to celebrate Noël.
“Promoting French culture allows people to experience something that they wouldn't experience in the U.S. because people don't celebrate the same way that the French do,” Mallik said. “For festivals like Christmas, Valentine's Day or Labor Day, they would celebrate it differently, and we want everyone to try celebrating it the same way French people do.”
When senior and Indian American Student Association (IASA) President Shreyas Garimella was still in elementary school, his older brother was a member of Spotlite on India, a show that IASA organizes each year with the goal of bringing together different cultures within India through fashion, dance and singing. This lifelong love of Bollywood and learning classical Indian music inspired Garimella to take his own exploration of Indian culture one step further by joining the planning process for Spotlite.
“I knew that I wanted to be part of the show when I came to high school,” Garimella said. “It’s just really fun because I want to be part of an inclusive community where I’d be able to share my love for Indian culture with others, especially as an Indian American myself.”
Garimella explains that the team spends countless hours on Zoom planning logistics, which involves organizing skits, acts and lineups, and arranging food. He emphasizes the importance of inclusivity to both the club and the show and welcomes everyone, regardless of their experience, to join Spotlite and immerse themselves in Indian culture.
“I think it’s really important to have a space for anyone interested in Indian culture, no matter if you’re Indian or not,” Garimella said. “If you’re interested, you should be able to come and share that with your friends. I think IASA is really important because there’s no judgment.”
In the future, the club hopes to plan an event for Holi, also known as the Festival of Colors, Love and Spring, a Hindu celebration in which participants throw colored powder and water to symbolize the celebration of life and the triumph of good over evil. He hopes to incorporate a powder-throwing activity, which requires school approval. In the meantime, IASA is organizing an informational session focused on Holi, where the club can discuss its significance and cultural aspects, along with a smaller activity to celebrate the occasion.
Ultimately, IASA’s primary goal is to encourage club members to step out of their comfort zones and explore a vast new culture, especially if they haven’t been exposed to them before.
“Whether that's through Spotlite or engaging during the member meetings, our goal is to just expose everyone to a lot of different cultures in India because it’s so diverse,” Garimella said. “[I’d hope] to have everyone be exposed to a little bit of everything.”
Junior and Japanese Club President Kimika Shimazaki joined the club freshman year after being introduced to it by a senior, and since then, she says has appreciated the club’s activities, such as celebrating Hinamatsuri, a festival displaying traditional dolls in homes. The club also makes origami, plays games and watches Japanese films.
“It provides a nice place for people that want to chill, even for non-native speakers,” Shimazaki said. “I would say my favorite part is getting to meet new people and building a community, especially since at MVHS, it’s kind of hard to find each other, but then if you go to Japanese Club, it’s like a nice, warm reassurance.”
Similarly, senior and Japanese and National Honor Society (JNHS) Vice President Leo Matsumoto says the club teaches its members about Japanese culture with interactive games and activities such as City Guesser to learn Japanese geography. Matsumoto emphasizes that JNHS helps students realize the breadth of Japanese culture.
“A lot of people enjoy Japanese culture, whether it’s the food, anime and manga, but it’s important that we extend beyond that, where students realize that there’s more to Japanese culture,” Matsumoto said. “Personally, my favorite is sports culture, where, in Japan, baseball is a big thing. There’s this tournament called the Kōshien baseball tournament that’s been going on for a hundred years. Everyone’s coming to watch and it’s the biggest tournament in all of Japan, so I think the sports culture there is a big thing not everyone knows about.”
Japanese Club and JNHS share their culture outside of club meetings as well. Shimazaki recalls Japanese Club participating in Club Grub Day and selling ‘ramune,’ a Japanese carbonated soft drink. Contrastingly, JNHS works with the Japanese classes to provide certificates and honor cords for academic success. Both Shimazaki and Matsumoto hope to see increased interest in the clubs for cultural exposure, even as Japanese classes are phased out at MVHS.
“Some lunches I would be kind of bored, like every day is the same repeat,” Shimazaki said. “But then I have a Japanese Club meeting, and that really brightens up the week and definitely makes it very memorable out of all of the days. That’s what I cherish the most.”
Junior Erin Handelsman founded the Jewish Student Union (JSU) two years ago as a result of seeing a lack of representation of Jewish culture among the school’s cultural clubs. Although the club has not met this year since it overlapped with Handelsman’s Middle College classes at De Anza, her goal was to create a space where Jewish culture could be celebrated and understood.
Handelsman describes JSU as an inclusive club, with members participating in activities from casual discussions to watching cultural movies and presentations. One memorable moment for Handelsman was watching an Adam Sandler movie, where club adviser David Greenstein openly expressed his enjoyment of the film. Additionally, Handelsman sometimes brings Jewish food and board games. She says she appreciates the reactions of students when learning about Jewish culture.
“When I tell them we celebrate Hanukkah for eight days, and they’re like ‘What! Christmas is only one day, that’s unfair,’ those funny reactions are priceless,” Handelsman said. “But they’re also like, ‘OK, I understand why you do this now’ when I give them the historical background about why Hanukkah is eight days. So that’s really cool.”
Handelsman hopes that she can reach more of the Jewish population at MVHS, allowing Jewish students to come together and celebrate their culture. Additionally, Handelsman hopes to restart meetings next year, making them more engaging to further share her culture.
“It helps me teach people what I know because I went to Hebrew school until I was in eighth grade,” Handelsman said. “I could take the information that I learned when I was younger and share it with other people who don’t know anything about the culture or holidays, so it’s a way for me to introduce people to new cultures.”
Junior and dance committee officer Lotus Wu didn’t anticipate joining MVHS Korean Club & Dance Crew, or KCDC, at first, but after seeing the club’s performances at rallies, she decided to try out the club her sophomore year. Upon joining the club, Wu realized that it provided the environment not just to dance, but to also form friendships.
“After joining KCDC, I became a lot closer with all the people on KCDC, and I've gained a lot of friends that I previously might not have talked to,” Wu said. “Since everyone in KCDC has similar hobbies, it's really easy to joke around and have fun with each other.”
Although Wu is already a part of the MVHS Dance Team, she believes that being a part of KCDC has helped her expand and refine her dance techniques, as the two dance groups focus on different things. With the club having a heavy focus on K-pop covers, Wu believes that dancing for KCDC works a different skill set than dancing for the MVHS Dance Team, as the moves need to be executed differently and they choreograph for a variety of songs.
“In KCDC, we dance to only Korean songs, so the beats and rhythms are quite different,” Wu said. “On the Dance Team, we dance a wide variety of songs, so being a part of both KCDC and the MVHS Dance Team helps me get exposed to different styles of dance.”
With a heavy focus on K-pop, Wu believes that KCDC is less of a culture club, but rather a club featuring select aspects of Korean culture such as dance. While the club has attempted to integrate more conversations of Korean culture within their meetings through informative presentations, it has been hard for the club to do so.
“If we had more people who were actually Korean in the club, we would definitely expand into covering more of the culture,” Wu said. “But for now, KCDC is mainly just focusing on K-pop dance and that aspect of Korean culture.”
Junior and Muslim Student Association (MSA) Vice President Ali Malik recalls joining MSA sophomore year in search of a sense of community and to make new friends. He says at MSA, he has found just that.
MSA supports Muslim students by providing a space to share experiences during the month of Ramadan, as an example. MSA also supports Muslim students through Friday prayers, in which someone gives a sermon and it is followed by a prayer.
“A difficulty that often arises is that we can’t go to Friday prayers because we have school,” Malik said. “Obviously, we can’t leave school, so we usually do it during lunchtime.”
For those outside the Muslim faith, MSA provides educational opportunities throughout the year. Malik notes that one memorable event was Hijab Try-on Day, where students learn the practice of wearing a hijab. In addition, MSA has raised awareness of international events affecting the Muslim community, such as the earthquakes in Turkey, by hosting fundraisers.
Going forward, Malik says that MSA hopes to reach more students to provide a safe space to practice Islam and expand education about the Muslim community. He says all students can join the club as a safe space to share and learn about Muslim culture.
“This way more Muslim students feel that they have a safe space they can be in, and non-Muslim students can gain more of an understanding about Islam and not mischaracterizations, especially with what we see in the media,” Malik said. “You get to meet new friends, get to enjoy good company — that's how it's impacted me.”
Junior Cyrus Mazdeh, who serves as the social media manager for the Persian Club, initially wanted to join the club to connect with more people who are of Persian descent as well as to learn more about his culture. While the Persian Club welcomes people of any ethnic background, Mazdeh believes that it has allowed him to delve deeper into Persian culture.
“Personally, I’ve been able to connect with more people that I normally would not have connected with,” Mazdeh said. “My own experience with the club has been great, and I feel a lot more connected to the Persian community and I’m also more immersed in the culture.”
With a heavy focus on unity, collaboration and community, the Persian Club serves as an environment to bring people together and have fun. With normal club meetings involving a quick presentation followed by a game regarding the content covered during the presentation, Mazdeh most fondly remembers the “Jeopardy!” game that the club hosted.
“While we were hosting the ‘Jeopardy!’ game, I felt that everyone was really engaged during it,” Mazdeh said. “We were able to really teach people about Persian culture through the game, as it covered a lot of key things regarding Persian culture, particularly the various foods, games and forms of entertainment that are important.”
In addition to covering various aspects of the culture every other week in A209, the club also celebrates various Persian holidays with different events and activities during their meetings. Mazeh says that in the past, the club has celebrated the Persian holiday Yalda by teaching the members about the holiday and then leading an arts and crafts event that celebrates the coming of winter.
While Mazdeh is satisfied with what the club is doing to promote Persian culture, he believes that in the future, the club will pivot toward learning more about Persian movies and food to entice more students to be a part of the Persian Club.
“Even though I think we’ve done a pretty good job at educating students about Persian culture, I definitely think there are still ways we can improve,” Mazdeh said. “Things such as making our meetings more engaging could be a way for us to get more students to come.”
Senior and Spanish Honor Society president Sruthi Venkatesan went into high school prepared to fulfill the language requirement by taking Spanish classes. However, when she discovered Spanish Honor Society in sophomore year, she started to see Spanish as more than just a language.
“It's impactful because a lot of times, people just take the language because it's a requirement,” Venkatesan said. “Spanish Honor Society gives context to the language and shows the different aspects of the cultural events together.”
Venkatesan also shares that Spanish Honor Society underwent major changes this year, as she was the only underclassman last year and thus handpicked the current officer team. She notes that communication within the officer team has been exceptionally strong this year, resulting in many more members showing up to meetings as well as heightened energy overall.
“I'm really close with the officer team, and we've made a lot of progress,” Venkatesan said. “When we did an activity with ‘papel picado’ in the beginning of this year, we had so many people who came and it was like a lively classroom. It felt very different from previous years, and I was really proud.”
Aside from participating in culture week, hosting Frapanish (a club collaboration between French Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society and Japanese Honor Society) and preparing mini presentations with joint activities for meetings, Venkatesan says the club hopes to collaborate with outside organizations to provide opportunities for their members to earn volunteer hours. Venkatesan continues to emphasize that she wants members to attend Spanish Honor Society with an open mind and a will to learn.
“I hope members view the Spanish language as more than just a language requirement,” Venkatesan said. “I want them to understand the culture and have appreciation for a different group of people that might differ from their own.”
