There are many clubs and societies that we offer here at Annandale. Some clubs and societies that we have are to explains cultures from around the world and to teach you new languages.
Some clubs such as the Latin Honor Society sponsored by Normalee Ash, the Spanish Honor Society sponsored by Maureen Hunt, the Just World Interact club sponsored by Laura Wells, and the Muslim Students’ Association also known as MSA sponsored by the Arabic teacher, Ola Layaly.
These clubs are open to anyone who wants to join. In MSA, you do not have to be Muslim to be in the club.

The members participated in the tailgate this year and performed henna on students for $3. “It is not really religious, it is more of a cultural thing,” Layaly said.

About 20 students are in the Muslim Students’ Association. The meetings are typically every other Wednesdays. in the upstairs gym.

“We are not really strict about people coming to the meetings,” Layaly said.
In the MSA, students discuss first and then they are open to asking any questions. They answer questions and share ideas.

Mostly students who are not Muslim join because they want to know more about it.
“We have many people who are not Muslim join because they want to know what the religion is all about,” Layaly said.

Students in the club last year did an Iftaar party. Iftaar is when you break your fast after the sun has gone down.

You bring a dish to share with the other members of the club and everyone participates to make it fun. “It’s typically like a potluck and we waited until the sun went down and then we start eating,” Layaly said.

Usually, during Iftaar people pray. In the club, it is not mandatory for members to pray since most of them are not Muslim. But if students want to pray, they have a moment set aside to do so.
Meet with the Muslim Students’ Association on October 25th after school. “It is a blast, students love it,” Layaly said.

Learning about Islamic culture is not the only clubs here. There is a Spanish Honor Society that will be starting soon.

In the Spanish Honor Society, about 20 students are in the club also. They have not started the actual society yet The interest meeting will be during this week.

They have already started accepting applications. You have to send in an application and are hand-picked by Hunt herself.

“The purpose of the club is to promote Hispanic culture and the Spanish language,” Hunt said. “In the society we usually do cultural presentations, talk about community events, and make plans for tutoring of other students.”

There is community service for the tutoring and it is a lot of work. Typically the community service hours are done outside of the club.

But in the actual meetings, students that participate in the clubs have lots of fun.
There is also the Just World Interact club offered at the school sponsored by Laura Wells. A range of 30-50 people tends to join the club. It is more to learn about the world and what is going on in it.

There is a lot of projects to help people around the world. “We are currently collecting books for Swaziland, so we will be donating books to a school with disabilities in Swaziland, Africa,” Wells said. It is great to be involved in clubs that help kids and students around the world.

They do things in the club to try and help others during the life. Not only to just donate. People who have been punished for something that they should not be punished for.

In other countries, people have been imprisoned for protesting or doing things peacefully or silently.
“We will be doing ‘Write for Rights’ which is a project of amnesty international where we write letters to support people who have been wrongfully imprisoned in various countries,” Wells said.

Another big part of the club is, they hold a festival in the springtime. “We’ve been doing the just world festival now, I think for at least 5-8 years, maybe more,” Wells said.

There’s a lot of beneficial learning experiences at this fair for students. “We invite lots of different international service organizations, to come in and present and we have different cultural groups present. It’s a good time” Wells said. Students who might still be interested in joining the club can still join.
“All grades are welcome to come, they can just show up at our next meeting, which is Tuesday, November 14th at Clausen Hall after school,” Wells said. “We meet once a month any student but ant student is always welcome to participate in our service project, so like if you just want to come for rights for rights, you can sign up on X2VOL and come and if you decide you want to join then you can join the club.” This club has been at Annandale High School for a while. “We’re actually sponsored by the Annandale Rotary, which is a club for adults in the community,” Wells said. Contact any of the teachers if you are interested in joining these clubs today.