When walking into AP Government and AP U.S. History Teacher John Goodell’s room, one might expect test retakes or people discussing history, but recently the room has been taken over by the Fidget Spinner club. With snacks, celebrations, contests, and, of course, lots of spinners, they’ve transformed the classroom into a space for lovers of the toy.
Club leaders, LASA juniors Sophie Borden and Jack Warden, are easy to recognize when wearing their hand-embroidered fidget spinner shirts. When Warden described the formation of the club, he explained that the club wasn’t originally about having fun.
“I had a friend at McCallum that was selling fidget spinners, and it was really successful,” Warden said. “So I thought, you know what? I could make some money on the side. I would say to people I was spreading the love of fidget spinners, but it didn’t really work.”
Sometime during October, Warden and Borden became friends, and she learned of his plan. That’s when she had the idea of starting a club together, so they approached Goodell, their U.S. History teacher, who quickly said yes.
“Now we’re just giving them away for free and doing activities and creating opportunities for people,” Warden said. “For instance, during Valentine’s, we made fidget spinner Valentine cards. We usually have snacks as well, and we give out free spinners to new people when they sign up.”
Along with an Instagram account, the club advertises by putting up posters, creating announcements, and using word of mouth. Once people join the club, the leaders organize activities as well.
“We sometimes have spin-offs, which is when everyone spins their fidget spinner at the same time and we see who lasts the longest,” Borden said. “We also have a lot of fidget spinner-related crafts. For Christmas, we laser cut fidget spinners out of wood to make little ornaments.”
To build on the club’s success this year, different club members have pitched bigger projects to end the year on a high note. From choreographing a music video to hosting a potluck, Warden hinted that the club has even more activities planned for the future.
“We have a lot of ideas,” Warden said. “We want to expand with more ambitious projects, we want to do some publicity stuff, and [build] our target audience. Because what it’s really about is bringing the message of fidget spinners to as many people as possible.”
