What are Monta Vista clubs' goals for 2022?
As students begin to return after a year off-campus, MVHS clubs are preparing for the upcoming school year with new leadership and more potential new members.
Here is more information about the full list of 2021-2022 clubs, and information on how to contact the student life commission in ASB.
Below are some of the clubs and their goals for next year.
By Sophia Chen, Devin Gupta, Justin Kim, Kripa Mayureshwar, Geethi Tarra, Stephanie Xu and Alex Zhang
MV Key
Volunteer club with a focus on leadership
Senior Lydia Lu, President
As one of the longest-established MVHS tech clubs, App and Web Development will continue to provide individualized internships, hackathons and tech competitions to members. This year, it is expanding its mentorship program, giving underclassmen the chance to teach and learn app and web development. "The cool thing about App and Web Development club is that you have different varieties of computer science languages that you're learning and different ways to apply that knowledge. You have a wide spectrum and [we give you] the independence to choose which specific projects you want to work on."
MV Leo
MVHS branch of Lions Club International, offering volunteer experience for students
Junior Maggie Yang, Co-President
This year, MV Leo Club aims to transition back to in-person completely and rediscover the volunteer opportunities that were unavailable during the remote learning year, as well as change the usual formula by connecting with a wider variety of organizations with unique volunteering events. "The main goal is to continue to build upon the community that weve created and differently from previous years [...] but I think a lot of it is just sort of smoothing the transition between sort of being an online club to going back into person, and just really reinforcing that community environment."
ASB Student Government
Helps run school events, interact with faculty, and lead the student body
Senior Ajit Chamraj, President
Monta Vista ASB leadership will focus on a smooth integration back into an in person school environment and aims to help the classes of 2024 and 2025 adjust to high school. It will also aim to boost student involvement in leadership events and create a more inclusive community. "I think we're in an interesting position due to the pandemic to establish our own culture at the school, so more inclusivity and a less cutthroat culture than before."
Gender Sexuality Alliance
Educates students on LGBTQ+ issues and advocates for LGBTQ+ rights
Annika Lee, President
This year, the GSA is looking to host more events, advise biology lessons during the sex ed unit and work on advisory lessons that teach students how to be better allies. It also plans to work with administration to add a gender neutral bathroom. "I think itd be great if we could connect to a lot more students, students who dont necessarily have to be a part of the community, so that we can educate and reach out to them."
Persian
Inclusive and immersive of Persian culture
Senior Nika Zamani, President
Persian Club is open to all ethnicities and offers students a deep dive into topics such as Persian culture, food and cultural activities. "[My goals for Persian club is to raise]...more people for sure ... more awareness because we never really were able to experience an actual club day and not very many people even know about the club."
Bookshelf
Community of reading enthusiasts
Junior Avani Kulshreshtha, Co-founder
MV Bookshelf leadership aims to utilize more in-person discussions to engage readers and foster open dialogue on a variety of different novels. It also hopes to incorporate more literature teacher feedback and connect with MVHS's community of book enthusiasts. "I think its going to be fun seeing everyone in person because it is really hard to talk with people over Zoom, so [after] being back in the classroom our meetings are definitely going to be more active."
La Pluma
Creative writing and art magazine
Senior Manasi Ganti, President
To make its meetings more interactive, La Pluma's leadership team hopes to invite guest speakers, create opportunities for members to share their work and have writing workshops. It is changing their publishing schedule by creating four online issues and one print anthology to promote engagement within the club. "Writing and art are kind of isolated activities, but the point of the club is to help people find [others] who have the same interests as them and share that creativity. I [want] to help people find that community."
El Valedor
Covers journalism, photography and design to produce the school's yearbook
Senior Marvin Wu, Co-Editor-in-chief
This year, El Valedor's leadership aims to continue to represent more unique voices from the student body, while also returning to more traditional photo coverage. "We definitely want to work on our social media and promotion, so that we can increase sales and also increase interest in the student body to do what we do and join yearbook and in the future build a better staff and a more refined book."
Video Making Club
Covers various aspects of the video creating process
Junior Amy Hu, President
The club's leadership team has been working on creating more workshops catering to members of any levels of experience and entering more video-making competitions. It also hopes to increase club attendance since the club was founded during the year of remote learning. "We want to also be more productive because last year, [...] it was harder to create intricate videos. So hopefully this year [...] were able to collaborate easier."
Science Olympiad
Science exploration club through labs and tests
Senior Tarun Batchu, President
Through labs, hands-on building and testing, the nationally ranked team explores over 23 areas of science in depth. To rebuild community, the team is planning weekend study groups and event workshops. "[Our team is] using the scientific process to build, evaluate and create a project which many people love to do, including me, especially because it makes us start to learn how to use different [scientific] tools."
App and Web Development
Computer Science club focused on individual projects
Senior Parmi Shah, President
As one of the longest-established MVHS tech clubs, App & Web Development will continue to provide individualized internships, hackathons and tech competitions to members. This year, it is expanding its mentorship program, giving underclassmen the chance to teach and learn. "The cool thing about App and Web Development club is that ... you have different varieties of computer science languages that you're learning and different ways to apply that knowledge. You have a wide spectrum and [we give you] the independence to choose which specific projects you want to work on."
Robotics (MVRT)
MVHS's robotics club, covering from coding to design
Senior Yaseen Sadaat, Director of Marketing and Relations
This year, MVRT leadership plans to re-educate veteran members to alleviate the limited amount of experience they gained from the unique situation remote learning presented. "We [want to] try to get veterans to be back on the same level as we want them to be. A lot of veterans are sort of inexperienced and some of them weren't even coming to most of the meetings last year, [and so] we want to make robotics a nice environment for them, a nice place where they can all be together."
Environmental Science
Educating students on climate issues and advocates for eco-friendly policy
Senior Michael Ding, President
MVES is looking to expand outside of MVHS, and work with environmental science clubs from other schools. It is also working for more environmentally-friendly measures to be put in place on campus, like composting in the school kitchens. "Some politicians like to kick the can down the road, but I don't think there's much road left."
Model United Nations
Students roleplay delegates for different nations and simulate UN committees
Senior Sylvia Li, Co-president
Hoping for the return of in-person conferences, the club's leadership has been preparing to register for conferences in accordance with COVID regulations. It also aims to focus more on bonding between members and making its curriculum more engaging. "It was hard to show [new members] the appeal of MUN ... because we didn't have much to show for it besides online conferences, which didn't capture the most fun parts of it ... Especially after a year of COVID, we're definitely focusing more on that social aspect."
Mock Trial
Students simulate civil or criminal trials
Senior Vaishnavi Suresh, Co-President
The club's leadership hopes to get a scrimmage schedule in place so members have opportunities for growth. It aims to make their lessons more engaging and fundraise enough to cover their members' competition fees. "MVHS Mock Trial has [developed] a culture of constant growth. [We] never try to do the same thing we did the year before if it didn't work, so this year we're trying to implement new things."
Speech and Debate
Creating and advocating thoughtful arguments
Junior Divya Venkataraman, Co-President
Speech & Debate is an inclusive club that provides members with opportunities to improve their public speaking skills, find their voices and form connections with the MVHS community. The club is looking to educate members on using their voices to speak up about campus issues including sexual harassment. "I think the major goal of our club in coming years [is] working with our head coach to really make sure that speech and debate are inclusive environments for all the students."
Badminton
Recreational Badminton that is inclusive for all levels and players
Junior Lance Fuchia, Club Secretary
MV Badminton Club leadership hopes to encourage more players to try out the sport and play either recreationally or competitively. It also wants to facilitate a smooth transition back into an in-person environment. "My goal is to create a successful intra-district badminton tournament this year and gain more members than we had in 2019."
Dance (MVDT)
Competitive hip hop, lyrical and jazz dance
Senior Ariyal Jain, Co-Varsity Captain
MVHS Dance Team performs in competitions, rallies and football games, hosting auditions at the end of each school year. This year it plans to relearn technique and condition itself and change its dancers' attitudes to focus on self-development. "We all had this idea of, 'Oh, we just want to be a family.' Whether that is in Dance Team or outside Dance Team, [despite] our individual goals ... whenever someone is in trouble, it is, 'Hey, I know who to call because they aren't just my teammate from dance, but they're my family."
If your club has been approved for the 2021-2022 school year and you'd like to be included in El Estoque's club goals list, please contact [email protected].
Please note that many clubs have more than one leader, sometimes without a formal leadership position.