Outdoors club, Thursdays during lunch in Mr Cunningham’s classroom (103)

Outdoors Club, which was designed for LASA’s nature lovers, was created as an opportunity for students to connect with nature and each other. Junior and club secretary Nina Balachandran attends and helps to coordinate some of the Outdoors Club’s activities.

“It’s really just a chance to get outside during school and relax a bit while enjoying the nature,” Balachandran said. “Right now, we’re planning a field trip to the Greenbelt, and we’re thinking about paddleboarding or biking or even camping at one point.” 

Junior and club member Emma Chu also designs their posters and advertisements. According to Chu, Outdoors Club aims to provide a variety of fun outdoors-centric activities for members without intense commitments. Most weeks, the club hikes on nearby trails as a way to get outdoors during school hours. 

“The gist of it is that we want to spend our time outdoors.” Chu said. “So that’s why we go on hikes during lunch, like we recently went to the trail nearby.”

Most often, the hikes are around Boggy Creek, because of the trail’s close proximity to the LASA campus. Other times, they may go on hikes throughout the city.

“Right now we’re planning a field trip to the Greenbelt, and we’re thinking about paddleboarding or biking or even camping,” Balachandran said. 

Other than just physical activities, Outdoors Club plans to have fun educational activities as well. 

“We recently went to the trail nearby, and one of our club leaders came up with this bingo sheet and on the hike we filled out the bingo sheet and it was things like spiders or bikers, stuff you see on the trail,” Chu said. “We’re also planning on doing things where we stay indoors sometimes, where someone will research a topic like beetles, ants, natural Texas plants, it varies. But, they’ll do a presentation for the club, basically.” 

With a large variety in activities from mountain biking to swimming to studying plants, any student interested in nature can find something that piques their interest in Outdoors Club, according to club treasurer and junior Helen Bigge. Since it’s the club’s first year, this is Bigge’s first time working as club treasurer.

“This club is basically for anyone who likes things related to the outdoors,” Bigge said. “That could be hiking, climbing, doing lots of different physical activities. If you like collecting rocks, for example, or a specific type of plant or animal then you might like this club.” 

Youth and Government club, Mondays at lunch in Mr. Risinger’s room (307)

Youth and Government Club provides students with an opportunity to become a part of a nationally ranked mock government team. Senior Harsha Venkatraman is the co-president of Youth and Government club. 

“Youth and Government is a club where we perform mock government, like different elements of it,” Venkatraman said. “There’s mock legislature, mock trial, mock appellate, mock journalism, and all of those things that work in the actual governmental process and we perform those different activities at the state conferences. It’s a really fun experience to debate at the conferences.” 

With a wide range of opportunities, students can find their niche based on their passions and interests, according to senior Sally Edwards. Edwards is a returning club member who is a part of the mock trial team for the club. 

“There’s a lot of different branches. If you have different interests, you can still get involved,” Edwards said. 

As for the different sections, students have a variety of different options to pick from, according to Venkatraman. Ventaktraman is returning to Youth and Government this year after being a member of the team that won Nationals in the 2020-2021 school year.  

“Mock trial is the most well known,” Venkatraman said. “You have a case, and two teams debate against each other for a judge. The legislative section, which is what I’ve been doing for three years now, is where we write bills about whatever’s important to you or changes you would like to see made in your community.”

Students are also able to participate in the political journalism section or the mock appellate court. Besides involvement in law, Youth and Government Club also provides a community that members can enjoy being a part of, according to member senior Shivani Regan. 

“I honestly think anyone can join,” Regan said. “When I joined the club, I had absolutely no interest in law or anything relating to law or government whatsoever. But I ended up having a lot of fun. It’s a really great opportunity to be in a club for anyone who really wants to get involved in a fun club and make some new friends.”

Horror Movie Club, Fridays during lunch in Ms. Pate’s room (204)

Every Friday in Madame Pate’s classroom, Horror Movie Club meets to enjoy horror movies together. 

At the meetings, students spread out on chairs and across the floor to enjoy that week’s film. Since lunch period is only an hour, most movies are watched over the course of a couple of weeks. So far, the club has finished the movie “Poltergeist,” but is deciding together what to watch next. Any student who wants to get into horror, or movie buffs are welcome to join, according to sophomore Isabela Kramer. 

“I’m not a scary movie person, but I want to get into it,” Kramer said. “So if you want to watch horror movies, this is where you should go.” 

Junior and club president Avery Evans started this club two years ago. Evans says she loves watching any horror movies, and wanted a club to meet others who did as well. 

“I figured people who like horror movies are pretty intense about it, so I thought there would be a good market here and there is,” Evans said. “There’s a lot of people in this club right now.”

The club aims to maintain a chill atmosphere for students to watch movies they enjoy and relax on their Fridays. Some weeks, they enjoy special treats while watching. 

“We had a popcorn machine [one] day. I don’t think other clubs have popcorn machines,” Kramer said. 

Along with popcorn, the club members also discuss movies once they finish them. Evans enjoys these discussions with the entire club and the conversations they get to have about horror and scary films they watch.

“We watch horror movies and discuss them,” Evans said. “Once we actually finish one, and I think it’s really fun to discuss horror movies, that’s one of my favorite things to do, and I think they’re interesting and other people think they’re interesting, too. It’s really fun to get to discuss at school.”