Spanish club seeks to recruit new members

By Claire Bachand,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

The Spanish Tutoring Club at Davis High is kicking off its third year with meetings every Thursday at lunch in room S-6. Originally, the club met on Fridays, but due to conflicts with other clubs, members decided to change the meeting date to Thursdays instead.

The club’s first Thursday meeting on Oct. 13 was rather quiet. Junior and co-president Esther Chan was the only student who showed up; a bleak result considering the other 10 students who had attended past meetings.

Spanish teacher and club adviser Janice Candelario is hoping to pick up more members as the year persists.

“[It’s] open to anybody who wants to come […] Come in and just chat in Spanish.” Candelario said.

Candelario is planning on offering extra credit to her students later in the year for attending meetings, mentioning that it is a great place for Spanish 5 students to prepare for the speaking portion of AP test in May.

According to senior co-president Allegra Starr, the club is about more than just academics.

“It’s about liking to speak Spanish,” Starr said.

Starr hopes that the club will attract students hoping to develop fluency, as well as ex-Spanish students who are hoping to maintain their fluency, such as Cesar Chavez alumni. This fluency could prove valuable in a variety of situations, such as traveling to Spanish speaking countries.

“[You get to practice] every day conversations that you would find in the cities,” Chan explained.

Other than the lunchtime conversation aspect of the club, there is also a tutoring aspect headed by Chan. She organizes for club members to tutor math, Spanish and English at Cesar Chavez’s Child Development Center from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday after school.

Chan points out that this is a great way to earn volunteer hours for other volunteer-based clubs.