Marissa Day ’14 | Copy Editor

Towards the end of the 2011-2012 school year in May, three sophomore students joined together to bring back a forgotten club to South. Asian Culture Club was approved as a school sponsored club right when school ended, and this year, they’re hoping to gain a larger following, Vice President Catherine O’Gorman ’14 said.

“We thought we’d give it a shot,” said O’Gorman. “We’re getting it going right now and if more people showed up I think we could really do something more with it.”

Preparations for bringing the club back began last year, O’Gorman said. There were some roadblocks with getting permission and having the administration sign off on the club, so it didn’t take off until May.

The next task was finding a sponsor, and they decided to approach English teacher Danielle Peck for the job. Peck was O’Gorman’s English teacher, and he said he was comfortable with approaching her.

“I knew she was the coach of the field hockey, and I knew she was nice,” said O’Gorman. “Plus, she was also available.”

For Peck, the idea of Asian Culture Club was interesting to her. The club leaders brought to her attention something she thought needed more attention and like the club’s leaders, Peck hopes more students become involved with something that is unknown to them.

“I think that Asian culture in general is underrepresented in school so it’s a cool opportunity for students to get to study something or learn about something they’re interested in,” said Peck.

For this Friday’s meeting, the club plans on providing different types of Asian food because a larger turnout is expected, O’Gorman said. They will have everything from sushi to Thai food.

Throughout the year, there are plans to actually make Asian foods, instead of buying them all the time, O’Gorman said. Members will also be learning about manga and anime because of its growing popularity worldwide.

“We’re hoping to just learn about Asian culture in general,” said O’Gorman. “Ms. Peck has a friend (a teacher) in Korea and she said maybe we could Skype with them.”

For students who have never joined a club or extracurricular activity, Asian Culture Club is a nice way to bring them into that area, Peck said. It gives students something to be a part of.

“I think it’s an interesting way for students to get involved in an extracurricular activity,” said Peck, “it opens up that possibility to a lot of students who maybe would not have been involved in another club.”

Malvina Hedenberg ’14 said the club created a unique way to broaden her knowledge about two things that interest her: Asian culture and anime.

The club should be taken seriously, Hedenberg said. Potential members should be curious about Asian culture and want to learn about it, not because it looks good on applications.

“If you are truly interested in Asian culture and you’ve always been into that, you should join,” said Hedenberg.

The club meets every Friday after school in Ms. Peck’s classroom, Room 248 from 3:15 to 4 p.m. If someone wants to join, they don’t have to be an expert in Asian culture and the club hopes to give people the chance to learn in-depth about Asian culture, Peck said.

“It’s just really out of pure enjoyment,” said O’Gorman, “I don’t know where it’s going to go but hopefully other people who enjoy (Asian culture) will come. It’s just a group for people who have a common interest.”