Do you want to help to make Harwood a better place, stop climate change or help with gender inequality worldwide? You can do all this and more with school clubs at Harwood.

Clubs are part of Harwood extracurricular activities. There are 15 clubs—each of them have a purpose; some are destined to help students and others focus on making the school or society better.

The sports counselor, Chris Langevin, is in charge of managing clubs, adding them to the school website and updating the information. 

Ellen Berrings is a club advisor who believes that clubs are a great opportunity for students to pursue their interests and give them an opportunity to contribute to these. She said that clubs help to solve problems in school and other communities. Berrings is the faculty advisor of Harwood Rotary Interact, Student Government, Class Council, YATST, and Aspirations Youth Advisory Board.  

There are a few new and reinvigorated clubs here at Harwood! The newest clubs are Sexual Misconduct Awareness For Everyone (SAFE), the Outing Club, the Harwood Debate Club and Youth Enriching Wellness (YEW).

Students interested in spending time outdoors and looking for flexibility in attending meetings might want to consider joining the Harwood Outing Club! The goal of the Outing Club is to get people outdoors and connect with nature. These meetings are flexible in commitment so members can come when they can. The faculty advisors for this club are Tara Cariano and Adam Sargent.

Another of the newest clubs at Harwood is SAFE (Sexual Misconduct Awareness For Everyone). SAFE promotes a positive environment where sexual misconduct is properly addressed and survivors are validated. They are working to improve Harwood’s culture, education and policies around sexual misconduct. The faculty advisor for SAFE is Tara Cariano.

If you are a student and interested in having discourse with fellow students then you may want to join the newly reinstated Harwood Debate Club. The goal of the Harwood Debate Club is to engage in healthy discussions with peers. The faculty advisor for this club is Laura Wedel.

Students interested in mental health might enjoy Youth Enriching Wellness (YEW). This club is responsible for organizing the Wellness Center that has been introduced to Harwood this year. The club’s goal is to “promote mental health throughout the school,” said Maggie Aiken, the student leader from YEW, “and also provide the Wellness Center as a safe space for students to go when they need a mental reset.” The faculty advisors of this club are Jen Dreimuller and Tara Cariano. 

If you and some friends are interested in a specific topic but there isn’t a club for it, don’t worry—you can create one! To begin, you have to contact Chris Langevin. You also need to find an advisor, a time to meet and 8 students that are interested in joining the club. After that, Langevin will meet with the club to talk about the description and the time of the meetings. The final step is to get approval by the principals—then the club is good to go. 

The best place to get information about a club is to talk directly with its club leadership. All Harwood students had the opportunity to do this at the Club Fair on October 12, 2021. If you regret not joining a club, you can still do so by sending an email to the Faculty Advisor of the club!

For the first time in several years, the student body assembled for the Club Fair in person. Despite attendance being mandatory, most people were eager to see what clubs Harwood has to offer. The Club Fair was set up in the high school gym. It was lined with tables set up by each club covered in sign-up sheets and posters, and in some cases candy, buttons and stickers. Nearly every table had people visiting it at any given moment. Stickers from those very tables can now be seen on water bottles and computers around the school. 

There are clubs that have gained far more than a handful of people since the fair. For example, She’s the First’s membership tripled. Here are some pictures from a recent She’s the First meeting taken by Anabelle Reisner.

Here are some photos of ROC from a recent meeting taken by Cameron Rocheleau:

ROC is a youth-led organization that supports resettled families and new Americans while also working towards social justice in Vermont.