Meet The New Clubs: Take a look at three underclassman-run clubs that are making an appearance at East this year

Chess Club:

Chess Club has been running for several year but this year sophomore Lucinda Hendrickson is stepping up as the club’s new leader. 

Last year the club consisted mainly of seniors, leaving Hendrickson as one of the only returning members this year. The club was going to disband without a proper leader, so Hendrickson took matters into her own hands and started running the club with the help of math teacher and sponsor Derek Burrows. 

“Chess is a very stimulating game for the mind,” Hendrickson said. “It increases all sorts of tactical quick-thinking skills.”

According to Hendrickson, these beneficial skills can be translated to students’ performance in school — which made all the more reason to keep this club functioning.

The club will meet every Monday after school in the library. Once opponents are chosen and games are set up, the club will play chess games either online or in-person until the club concludes at 4 p.m..

With the club only consisting of around 10 members, players will rotate out once matches conclude. After attendance increases, Hendrickson is hoping to start organizing chess scrimmages — a bracket where two students will play each other and the winners will advance to play in the next round. She has a GroupMe for the club and flyers posted around the building to attract students. 

Eventually, she hopes to collaborate with other chess clubs in the district.

Environmental Club:

After two years of preparations and planning, the Environmental Club is beginning its journey to make East a greener school.

Run by sophomores Evelyn Holmes, Ishaan Home and Shubra Durgavathi, environmental club started with a petition to end paper waste in classrooms back in 2022 when the club leaders were still attending Indian Hills Middle School. Since then, the club has grown to around 40 members and is continually making efforts to volunteer at conservation areas and participate in trash cleanups at local parks and creeks. 

“It’s something that’s important to me both personally and as a cause,” Holmes said. “I was given an outlet for it through the efforts of these people and eventually it became its own proper club.”

Recently, the club has been asked to assist with the building’s landscaping. Before the club stepped in, East’s landscaping was done by two volunteers who would occasionally help out but have since left. While keeping up with the grounds, the environmental club plans to add some additional environmental value like a native plants garden and creating appropriate composting areas within the school. 

The club has reached out to Principal Jason Peres to go over how East’s recycling is being sorted and what they can do to make sure recycling is being properly categorized.  

Anyone is welcome to join the club which meets in the science wing on the third floor on most Wednesdays. The Environmental Club’s GroupMe gives more information on when and where meetings will be held.

UNICEF Club:

The United Nations Children’s Fund has been operating for nearly 80 years as a humanitarian aid for impoverished children around the world and has arrived at Shawnee Mission East this year with the help of sophomore Katherine Piraquive. 

Piraquive’s motive to start UNICEF club stemmed from her interest in helping others.  Even if the club won’t see the way their specific donations are being utilized, she still wanted to encourage her peers to partake in UNICEF’s mission. She hatched the plan to start the club over the summer with the intention of making high schoolers aware how living in poverty can affect children.

The club will plan fundraisers like bake sales and encourage online donations where all of the profits will go to UNICEF. 

“​​I know that all the money we’d raise would actually help real children and that those children could have the sort of freedom to become whatever they want in their lives,” Piraquive said. 

Meetings will be held on the first Wednesday of each month in English teacher Kristine Turner’s room. A topic relating to the purpose of UNICEF will be presented and discussed at the start of each meeting. These topics include how UNICEF is providing medical care for children in warzones or its fight for equal rights around the world. The club will then discuss how they can advocate for these issues. 

Piraquive has already held some introductory meetings to explain the preface of the club and attract students, but all students are free to sit in on any of the club meetings or participate in the fundraisers. She plans on putting up posters around the school to promote the club GroupMe. 

Piraquive plan is for the first fundraiser to be trick-or-treat for UNICEF in late October. The club will meet up and go door-to-door asking for donations around the Prairie Village Shops, Corinth Square and other local neighborhoods.