Image created by Maahum and Anum

The following article is a spirited and in-depth discussion between Anum Farghani (in bold) and Maahum Alvi (in lightface/normal):

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Hello, dear readers. Welcome to The Colonial. Today, we will be perusing the subject of clubs. Specifically, clubs that students would like to see at our school.

Why are you using such a formal tone? Are we supposed to do that in the newspaper? 

No, we don’t have to use a formal tone. I was just trying to be funny. It didn’t work.

Yeah, it really didn’t work out….

But our survey about what clubs students want to see added to the school did. We got a lot of responses.

For sure. I noticed how many students wanted a crochet club in our school.

Yeah, I was surprised at how many people thought of the same ideas. The same thing happened with the idea of a cooking/home economics club that was open to more than just culinary students. Two or three people came up with the exact same idea and I had to make sure I wasn’t talking to the wrong person.

My thoughts exactly, a lot of students wanted a robotics/STEM club. I could have sworn there was already an existing club for that, but I guess not.

There’s TSA, ACSL, and Cyber Security, but none of them really cover the field of robotics that well or other branches of STEM. Plus, they all have a big focus on competition and computer science.

Exactly. Another common request was a fashion design club. This could be an interesting club for people who love designing new clothing styles. 

Yeah, that sounds like something a lot of people would find interesting. We already have an art club, but having a club designated to that branch of art sounds pretty cool.

Speaking of that, someone requested a songwriting club for our school. Band already exists, but students could also learn how to write songs. 

Plus, not every student who’s interested in music necessarily wants to commit to something such as a band or know how to play an instrument. A songwriting club would be a good place to start.

Yeah. Another club, which was surprisingly not as common as I thought, is a book club. 

I would love to see a book club. 

I know you would. That club would be the perfect club for all the book lovers, for sure. 

If someone started a book club, I would join it in a heartbeat. Someone also mentioned a puzzle club. I guess you would solve puzzles and riddles in that club.

One thing’s for sure, I would be the worst member of that club.

I love riddles, but I’m not the hugest fan of actual puzzles. Still, it sounds like an enjoyable club. It also seems like a club that would be quite laid-back and casual. The very opposite of another student idea- an Academic Decathlon Team.

Yeah, that club is also a common request.

Actually, one student came up with the idea, but a few other people liked the sound of it. I think it would be fun to be on a team like that, but it would most definitely be a huge time commitment. 

Yeah, it will be a big commitment to make.

I think the biggest challenge of a club like that would be transportation. After all, a lot of students at our school live in other towns. For those of us that are coming from other towns, it can be difficult to have a ride available. 

Exactly. It would be very interesting to have it. Another different club was a bowling club. Will it be like a sports club?

I’m not sure how a bowling club would function. I know I don’t completely know my way around the school yet, but I’m fairly certain that we do not have a bowling alley in the school. Or do we?

That would be so funny if the school had a top-secret bowling alley. 

Who knows the secrets this school is hiding? After all, it is one hundred years old.

Maybe we should hire private investigators to see if there is a bowling alley. 

Wait, I thought that was the newspaper club’s job? You know, uncovering secrets in school?

Well then, we aren’t doing the job right if there is a hidden bowling alley. 

Hey, we’re doing a great job. Which means there is no bowling alley. Still, it’s not like we have a pool in the school, and yet we still have a swim team. Someone could probably make it work.

Perhaps a bowling team could become a thing, but I don’t think a lot of people will sign up. 

Well, who knows? You never know what people are interested in. The nice thing about bowling is that it wouldn’t be like most of the other sports we have- it’s not a seasonal thing. Gardening, on the other hand, is a seasonal activity that most likely wouldn’t be active throughout most of the school year. It seemed like a popular idea.

As someone who loves flowers and plants, a gardening club would be perfect. 

I love flowers too, but every single time I brought them home on Mother’s Day in elementary school, we always forgot to take care of them. That’s why we no longer buy flowers. Still, a gardening club sounds pretty cool. 

Does the school even have a place to build a garden?

I’m sure they could find a place. Oh, I just got a message. Someone wants an ASL club.

An ASL club would also be a great club for the school.

A lot of schools have been integrating ASL more and more, which is definitely a good thing. My younger sister says that, in elementary school, they’ve even added it as a special class. I would love to see our school start an ASL club.

I agree, I would join the club. 

I have a question for you, Anum. It’s the same question we’ve been asking for the past day or two. If you could start any club at our school, what would it be?

There are so many existing clubs in our school that it is difficult to think of one. A digital art club would be nice to see, as an artist myself.

Yeah, that would definitely be an interesting idea. I’m not trying to steal ideas here, but I would start a robotics club. I had already thought about the idea before, and then I found other people who also wanted to see one. 

I didn’t think of a robotics club only because I thought there was a robotics club already.

When I first looked through the list of clubs in September, I was pretty shocked to find out that we didn’t have one. I would use “awesome” to describe the idea of a robotics club, but that would be unprofessional. 

There is no need to be professional, use whatever word you like.

Well, that covers all the clubs that people had ideas for. We didn’t ask as many people as I would have liked, but we still got a variety of ideas.

Yeah, we probably missed a lot of different ideas. For the readers out there, what clubs would you want to see in our school? 

Yes, dear readers. Comment your ideas below this article. We can make use of them in a sequel to this article.

You are doing that formal tone again…

Am I? Why, I wasn’t aware. Thank you for enlightening me on this subject.

You say that, but keep using the same tone.

I was being sarcastic.

Yeah, we should work on getting better at that.

Hey, my sarcasm is funny. You should read my first article.

Right, you just need more sass in your tone…

No thank you. Anywa-

Uhm… Maahum? Are you still there? You left me with a cut off…

…

No? Nothing?

…

Maybe she’ll come back if people come up with more ideas…