Bowls of Hope:
According to Feeding Texas, a statewide network of food banks, hunger is a growing problem. There are various organizations designed to help this issue and provide to the people who might be in need. At LASA, the Bowls of Hope club provides opportunities for members to help out with hunger issues in and around Austin.
Co-founder junior Ishan Ladhani helps run the club along with two other students. They organize events, send out emails addressing volunteer opportunities and volunteer themselves.
“Bowls of Hope is a volunteering club based on student involved community service towards a goal of doing our part to end hunger in our global and local communities,” Ladhani said.
According to junior, co-founder and president of Bowls of Hope, Sam Christian, the club started because of a shared interest in helping out the hungry. Christian and fellow leaders of the club organized and started the club at the beginning of 2018.
“We were wanting to form a club, so we just thought of ideas, and we had all volunteered at the Central Texas Food Bank,” Christian said. “We thought it would be a good idea to provide that opportunity to others.”
Junior Jasmine Gokingco has been with the club since the beginning of the year. Gokingco said she has become an officer for Bowls of Hope, which includes planning volunteering opportunities.
“I’ve really enjoyed being able to become more involved,” Gokingco said. “It’s also fun. For example, one time we went to Capital Texas Food and stacked pepperonis.”
Club members aren’t obligated to participate in volunteering, but Bowls of Hope sends out newsletters to club members, alerting them about volunteer opportunities. The people who do decide to sign up volunteer together as a group. Christian said Bowls of Hope hopes to enrich their community with more events next year. At the end of every year, the club also organizes a large food drive that they hope to grow.
“If you’re looking for volunteering opportunities or you just like helping out you should join,” Christian said. “Hunger is a really important issue in Central Texas and our club is a good way to get involved in that.

Bowls of Hope meets in room in room 200 prior to selective events.

Future Business Leaders of America

Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) is a nationwide club aimed at exposing students interested in a business career to the business world. Club members compete in various competitions throughout the year, working their way up to the annual national competition.
Senior Vidhya Annem is the president and founder of the LASA FBLA chapter. She runs everything in FBLA that has to do with LASA.
“There’s two parts to the way that we run it here,” Annem said. “There’s a business part where we have members pick events in a range of different business topics. It can be an economic type thing, it could be business financial plans, it could be accounting.”
The students who are in the business division of the club attend competitions to demonstrate what they’ve learned. According to Annem, the other half of FBLA is the leadership portion, which focuses less on business and more on being a leader in your community.
“We do that through posting workshops where we bring professionals from the outside in and also going out into the community and doing business partnerships with various communities,” Annem said.
FBLA Area Three Vice President, senior Zenith Jahid, is in charge of all the participating FBLA chapters in Central Texas. She was appointed recently and has been given a lot of new responsibilities with her role.
“With this newly acquired role, I have been able to improve and form skills such as team building, project development, delegation and negotiation with students from all over central Texas,” Jahid said.
Guest speakers are also invited to speak with the club members. According to club member and senior Allen Li, FBLA has given him opportunities to hear from inspiring and motivational people.
“A good memory was when we invited a guest speaker in,” Li said. “He gave us a short yet extremely entertaining lecture on leadership and how to lead others.”
FBLA meets every Monday during lunch in room 244.

HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America)

For students planning on going into the medical field, LASA’s Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) club serves as one way students can expose themselves to the world of medicine. HOSA is designed to help students who are interested in going into health professions in the future gain leadership and technical skills. HOSA also competes in a number of events throughout the year aimed at students interested in medicine.
HOSA was started in Texas during the 70s and made its way to LASA later on. Junior Shruthi Aravindan is the co-captain of the club and runs a lot of the club’s operations. She also coordinates with any service projects HOSA does.
“We compete in different events that range from tests like Sports Medicine to competitions like Biomedical Debates and Medical Spelling Bees,” Aravindan said.
According to Aravindan, HOSA is designed to help people who would like more insight into what such a career would entail. It also provides volunteering opportunities for members.
“Most people who join HOSA are interested in careers in medicine and want to develop the leadership qualities they need in their careers,” Aravindan said. “People also join to decide whether a profession in the health field is meant for them.”
Junior Georgia McLeod said HOSA is fun because it allows her to explore topics she is interested in. She enjoys having the ability to explore a different area of science.
“My favorite thing about HOSA is that we’re able to learn in-depth about a topic that interests us, which we wouldn’t necessarily learn about in school,” McLeod said.
Junior Karma Desai is the other co-captain of HOSA. Desai said she recommends HOSA for anyone that is curious about medical careers and possibly interested in going into the medical sector.
“It introduces students to the different areas in medicine and gives them the tools to learn more about them,” Desai said. “Overall, it is a great club that has competitive aspects and connects students with like-minded people.”
HOSA meets before food drives in room 200.