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Diverse clubs present opportunities
for nearly every interest
 Interested
in Japanese-style animation? Check out the Anime Club at Albany High
School.
Want to help your peers
grapple with their problems? Learn about the Natural Helpers Club.
Envision yourself a
literary type? Hook up with “Inkblot.”
A lover of languages?
There are four clubs to choose from.
When the school day ends
at Albany High, there are a wide range of extracurricular options
available to students. Beyond the high school’s 22 athletic teams there
are more than 40 clubs that expose students to an array of opportunities
and experiences.
“Clubs are great in so
many ways,” said Liz Gialanella, Psy.D., school psychologist at Albany
High and advisor to two after-school clubs. “They connect kids with each
other, with teachers and with the school as a whole.
“As a faculty member,
clubs allow me to interact with the kids and find out what’s going on. I
consider it some of my best time spent.”
Check out the full list
of clubs at Albany High this school year. Here re is a small sampling of
activities during one week in October.
On Monday, sophomore
Robert Taylor and his classmates in Robotics Club (pictured above,
L-R, Gregory Macri, Jacob Van Alstyne, Robert Taylor and advisor Brent
Cady) tinkered with a mishmash of screws, gears and gizmos they will
transform into a working robot by December.
“It’s a nice hands-on
thing, and we get to brainstorm and solve problems,” said Robert, who
plans a career in engineering.
 Tuesday
that same week, senior Samantha Cramer
and Gay/Straight Alliance members discussed their success in getting 284
people to sign pledges affirming that schools should be safe places for
all students regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Speech and Debate
Club – in its 140th year – met Wednesday. Students in the
“debate” section discussed the question du jour: Do public health
concerns justify compulsory vaccination? Those in the “speech” section
of the club focused on extemporaneous speaking about current events and
oral interpretation.
“It’s hard to get up and
talk in front of people, and this definitely has helped my public
speaking and acting,” said junior Lexi Athens, who plans to be a math
teacher.
Thursday, the
community-oriented Key Club got together to plan its Thanksgiving
activities: “adopting” a needy family and providing dinner fixings for
them, and helping Equinox prepare for the traditional community
Thanksgiving dinner that serves the homeless.
And on Friday, the Drama
Club rehearsed its fall production of “The Laramie Project.”
For some kids, clubs are
a way to pad their college applications. Others, like Robert Taylor, are
purely interested in the subject matter. For many, the after-school club
is a place where you can fit in and make a difference.
“There’s really an
opportunity for students to help each other, and for some, it gets them
through the day,” said Dr. Gialanella, pictured above, front row left,
with members of the Gay-Straight Alliance.
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