Top Ten Gillmore Extracurricular Clubs

Below is one of the weekly blog assignments my students were assigned...that I wrote with them.

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Type a three sentence introduction. (Startling Statement)

Queen of extracurricular; that is I, who I have always been.  High School.  College.  Then back to high school.  These clubs are part of the reason that my vocation is also my avocation.  This I wish for everyone.

In no particular order are ten of the clubs in which I have participated while teaching at Batesville High:

1. BHS Reads:  BHS Reads is a book club I created several year ago for teachers.  We have read everything from fiction to nonfiction...adult to young adult.  Currently, we are choosing our three summer reads; the first of which will be A Court of Thorns and Roses.
2. Paper Chase Book Club:  A few years ago, I joined our local book store's book club and have so enjoyed getting to know these ladies.  For June, we are reading PD James' Death Comes to Pemberly.
3. ARA Book Club:  This book club is brand new!  Very excited to see where this endeavor will take us.  In this book club, the author(s) join us for some/all of the meetings, the next of which will be Jewell Parker Rhodes as we discuss her novel Towers Falling.
4. Beta Club: This one is my baby.  This past year, I was recognized for having sponsored Beta Club for 25 years.  Wow!  Time has flown!
5. Student Council:  For a while, I also helped sponsor Student Council and enjoyed the activities and conferences we attended with this group.  One club, though, really is enough!
6. Drama:  During my first year at BHS, I was taught drama...sort of.  We even brought two productions that year.  Very amazing...considering my lack of background.  :)
7. Debate:  During that first year at BHS, I was also given the debate team, for which I also had a class.  I quickly learned that what I thought was debate was not quite what this class would work to accomplish.  We traveled.  We competed.  I learned so much!
8. Yearbook:  During that first year...and for several years...my students and I designed and created the yearbook.  Someone more analytical than myself might conclude that based on 6-8...I was either being encourage to leave...OR...Mr. C. certainly had confidence in me!
9. Student Book:  This one should have fallen after #2, as out of BHS Reads came a student book club.  With a bit more emphasis, this group could be much more active.  Need to work on that next year!
10. Project Unify:  During year one of the organizing of this group, I worked with them; then after a year two or so, I faded out of this one, as others, much more capable than myself, took over!  I learned much at Special Olympics and partnering with these students.  Very powerful.  Very.

Conclusion (Refer to the Introduction)

Clubs keep me young!  Forever young?  Working with students, assisting them as they develop as leaders, watching them grow, finding themselves and who they one day want to be, this is just one of the many perks of teaching.  Blessed I am!