Peeking into students’ favorite organizations

In a world where society is infamous for questioning character, high school is a breeding ground in the struggle for identity. While the quest for “finding oneself” unfolds, students seek people and places that offer refuge from the outside world and that might even offer a home. These various clubs and organizations focus not on preparing for a test or practicing for perfection, but on simply bettering the community, the individuals, or those around them.

“Organizations are designed to identify students, to unify, and to preserve, and organizations on campus do exactly that,” English teacher and Multicultural Awareness Club sponsor Joyce Brisco said. “We bring kids together for the sake of those three things. We want to provide students with a positive environment, talk with them about really good work ethics once they get out into the community, and then just give them a place to belong.”

Some of these clubs, like Red Cross Club, aim towards preparing students for their future by exposing them to new pre-professional opportunities and educating them on relevant issues.

“There are so many students at Bowie that are interested in eventually working in medicine or healthcare,” science teacher and club sponsor Erin Kowalik said. “It’s great to have a club that supports their life goals and gives them leadership experience.”

Other clubs bring students together to connect students of all backgrounds and serve the local area. Multicultural Awareness Club has achieved this through community service, acting as big brothers and sisters to younger kids, and helping with events such as Brown Santa, Blue Santa, and food drives.

“Multicultural Awareness Club’s mission is to bring about unity and inclusion for all students at Bowie High School,” Brisco said. “We talk about problems, social issues, social justices, and around the school it’s about being involved with other activities, participating in pep rallies, black history, and Cinco de Mayo. Many times students will think that MCAC is exclusively for African Americans, but the reason the club is called multicultural is because the organization is for all students of all cultures.”

The club also advocates education of other cultures and promotes events such as Black History Month to highlight influential African American figures in history.

“Every race should be connected to the rich history of this nation, and by celebrating Black History Month, everyone can be included in a tradition of acknowledgment, inclusion, and community engagement,” Brisco said. “The African American experience is one of the most important threads in American tapestry. We want to ensure that every organization at Bowie High School contributes to not only Black History Month, but to every month and every organization by leaving a legacy for their club.”

These groups also focus on helping other students in the community. PALS, an organization that partners with elementary-age students at Cowan, Baranoff, Mills, and Kiker, works to help kids struggling economically, academically, socially or at home develop their character and outlook.

“The main goals are mentorship and being positive role models to children,” social studies and PALS teacher Alejandro Garcia said. “Our Bowie PALS get a chance to go in and mentor them and just to kind of be a smile, to be a hug, to be a reliable source of positive interaction, which sometimes these kids don’t even have at home. That’s the main thing, that over the course of the year that you build those relationships and try to positively impact the life of a child.”

Furthermore, according to the schools’ counselors, these relationships are succeeding in contributing to visible changes within the children.

“Oftentimes they’ll tell me that the kids who are in PALS don’t get in trouble anymore, they’re not the ones getting referrals anymore, they’re not the ones who are fighting in class or throwing chairs or disrespecting their teachers,” Garcia said. “They’re the ones that now have something to look forward to.”

Not only are the kids’ lives being influenced, but the high school PALS also feel like their lives are being changed for the better just by working with the children.

“I am definitely more aware now compared to the beginning of the year,” junior Kaiya Emmert said. ”Just getting to know my kiddos and beginning to understand the things they have had to experience and work through is so eye-opening. Knowing them has really made me an even more thoughtful and empathetic person. My PALees have positively impacted my relationships with my family and friends as well—I feel more patient and understanding of people and different situations.”

These experiences can translate into applications for the real world, too.

“I think all these skills in one—interview skills, being a professional, being able to talk to a kindergartner and then the very next minute being able to talk to the principal of the school and having no worry about that because you just know how to do it—those are things that are kind of built upon as part of the program,” Garcia said. “I think those things, regardless of whether in college or later on in adult life, will definitely benefit people.”

In addition, as the school has developed, more opportunities for creativity and leadership are available for students to express themselves and grow.

“It’s different because students are allowed the opportunity to lead more at decision making, and students are not just in lock-step with policies and procedures,” Brisco said. “30 years ago, the sponsors pretty much laid out the ground rules, they set the mission statement, and students pretty much abided by them. But today students choose their own path; they make their own decisions, they write their own rules, and they challenge themselves—their judgments—a little bit more than kids did 30 years ago.”

In turn, the new freedoms have allowed students to create their own place in Bowie to fit their own interests and, consequently, find a home.

“There were always kids back in my time in high school that were missing, that didn’t have a place to fit in or an opportunity to make friends, and I think with so many unique opportunities at Bowie, a lot more people feel included in being part of the school community,” Garcia said. “There are still people who aren’t, and that’s still a shame, but it is far less than it used to be, and I think that’s a very positive reflection on our high school that people have the opportunity to make friends and fit in regardless of their interests.”