Students come to school to get curricular and non-curricular education. One of the ways to get exposure to extra-curricular activities is by joining and actively participating in clubs. Tompkins students are fortunate to have different clubs to choose from.
Students may not know what they want to do after graduating High school. Joining clubs helps them figure out what their interests are. High school clubs help students meet other people with similar interests and passions, while also providing a springboard for college. The Korean Club is unique because it encourages the spread of Korean culture and language that a lot of students in the school are not exposed to.
This club was recently founded by junior Grace Lee and had its first meeting on Oct. 13. It had about 25 people of all grades come to it. This club was founded to promote Korean culture and is sponsored by 11th grade AP Language teacher Jim Haisler.
“Lee is a student of mine and asked me if I would be the sponsor of her club. My wife is Korean, so there could be a connection to that as well. I also use Korean words in my class just to joke around and Grace probably noticed that,” Haisler said.
The Korean community at Tompkins is very small, so a lot of Koreans know and have already established a connection with each other. This club is a way for students to make that connection stronger. Originally, the club was supposed to be focused on being centered on K-Pop, but when Lee realized that a lot of people already knew about that, she decided to make it culture-based. Now, the purpose of this club is to show, spread and talk about Korean culture. The goal is for students to be exposed to other parts of Korean culture other than K-Pop.
“Before I made the club, I saw people in the hallway listening to K-Pop. I think people will enjoy this club because it is a fun and new thing. The Korean culture is growing and this club will help it grow even more,” Lee said.
This club makes majority of its decisions based on what the people like. It will grow to become better if a diverse group of people join. Lee plans helping it grow even more by getting the word out and continuing to have more events that interest people.
“Some people are designed to think that this club is just for Koreans. However, if people from other cultures go outside that mentality and try joining, there is a chance that they could get interested in this club and have fun being a part of it,”
Lee said.
