New year, new clubs! West Bloomfield High School is adding to their already wide array of clubs this year.

Over the forty-five years that WBHS has been in business, lots of clubs have been started by students and staff members of the years. Three new clubs will join the vast and entertaining amount of clubs this year. These clubs will include Indian American Student Association (IASA), the Literary Garden Club, and SkillsUSA according to Ms. Ashleigh Larkin, the Student Activities Director.

One club that is entirely new this year is SkillsUSA. This club is supervised by Ms. Jennifer Williamson. SkillsUSA is a great way for students who wish to take steps to become a leader to do just that, become a leader. SkillsUSA is helping America’s youth be prepared for the workforce. They give students and education in citizenship, leadership, employability, technical, and professional skills. “SkillsUSA is a national student leadership organization. They serve more than 300,000 students annually and have 13,000 school chapters.” If you’d like to  get more information on SkillsUSA , contact [email protected].

Another club that is much anticipated is IASA. The club is a great way for students to learn and appreciate the Indian culture, which is exactly what the president of the club, senior Guari Oak, wants to do. “It doesn’t have to be just Indian people, it can be people from other cultures,” she said. IASA club members get to participate in many things that tie into the Indian culture. Just some of these would be a Bollywood dancing competition and a Holi Festival. If you’d like more information on IASA, contact club advisor [email protected].

One final new addition to WBHS is the Literary Garden Club. Over the years, the courtyard in the center of the school has been growing weeds from neglect. The Literary Garden Club helps to take care of the problems that the courtyard is going through while teaching students about literature, gardening, and poetry.

Plants, trees, flowers, and even vegetables have been planted in the garden and they all hold ties to some of the greatest works of American Literature For example, the pear tree is tied to Zora Neale Hurston, who wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. If you’d like more information on the Literary Garden Club, contact   [email protected].

Some other clubs haven’t been created this year but have been in the last couple of years or have new things going on inside of them. These clubs include the Chinese Club, Fashion Club, Health Science Club (HOSA), Student Leaders for Change (formerly Be The Change), Gay-Straight Alliance, and Coding Club.

When asked about the exciting possibilities of Chinese club, Ms. Jia Bin said, “It would be a great way to get students to have an appreciation for China and it’s culture.” Although the possibility of her supervising the club this year may be low due to her hectic schedule, Jia Bin is optimistic for the future of Chinese Club.   

Another popular club, Fashion Club, which is supervised by Mrs. Julie Zalla, is also going through some changes this year. “This year we will be having more guest speakers who work in a variety of different areas of the fashion industry come in and talk to our students.  We have also organized a number of fun activities for members throughout the year.  Lastly, we are looking to organize a fashion show second semester,” said Zalla. The fashion club has doubled in the number of students that have joined and any WBHS student can join if they have an interest in fashion. If you’d like to join or get some more information about fashion club, contact [email protected].

West Bloomfield High School aims to please all students and is taking suggestions to help achieve that goal. If you have an idea for a student  club, contact  [email protected]