New Clubs for a New Year
Written by Karl Houtman, Former Student on Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Many new clubs have begun to take shape at Snohomish High School this year. Some deal with political views and various religions, while others are bringing about new outlooks on old ideas. For the Rail twins, this has been and will be the legacy they leave behind at SHS when they graduate next year.
Juniors Bryce and Sean Rail have taken SHS by storm with their ideas and beliefs, which is something that most people would not even dream of doing. Each has started a club this year and begun to make very large changes to the ways people can interact with one another and view the world.
Bryce's club, the SHS Harmonics, became a club on December 2. The Senate approved to create the club, which will become an acapella group for various singers at SHS. Membership into the club is very exclusive, with auditions being held the week of December 7 through December 11. All of the auditions were taped and recorded, which would be looked over by Bryce and Ben Fowler, the choir director and advisor for SHS Harmonics, in order to find out who will become a member. When all is said and done the Harmonics will have “around fifteen members,” according to Bryce.
“Harmonics will be focusing more on doing pop culture and newer, modern pieces,” said Bryce. “We’ll probably be doing competitions around the state.”
SHS Harmonics is now considered a part of the choir program, and can use their funding for uniforms for the members as well as meals for their trips. Trips for choir are expensive, especially during the winter and spring.
“It does cost money to do competitions,” said Bryce. “Some [competitions] are thirty dollars per student.”
Meanwhile, Sean Rail has been busy tapping into the religious side of SHS, with starting a club known as Lamia Tueri (La-Ma To-air-ee), which is Latin. The translation into English is “to protect Lilith”.
Some believe that in the Bible, a figure known as Lilith was presumed to be the actual first woman, created by God. However, she argued with Adam frequently and eventually uttered God’s name, grew wings, and flew away, bearing children to demons and getting along with them far better than humans.
However, the focus of the club is to have a place where those who practice witchcraft can discuss and interpret their religion with others that have similar beliefs, and not to worship demons like the Bible implies.
Lamia Tueri has around sixteen members, with Rochelle Feil-Adamowsky as the advisor.
“We were reading The Crucible, which is about the Salem witch trials,” said Sean. “That plays a role in my ancestors’ history.”
Sean said that “My family comes from a line of witches. Sometimes, if I need help with a spell that takes a lot of energy, I’ll ask my brothers to help.”
The Rail twins aren’t the only ones who have created clubs at SHS this year. Senior Evan Leonard decided that it was time to take a stand and create a club based on his political views.
The Young Conservatives club was created on November 4, with Leonard serving as representation for the club at the Senate meeting where it was passed.
“There was more than just a want for it,” said Leonard. “You could tell that there was a need from the amount of people that came [to their first meeting].
Ben Doucette, the advisor for DECA, was asked to become the advisor after several students had come to him concerning the bias that teachers had about the right wing, and soon created the safe haven that they have now.
“[Young Conservative club’s] purpose is to give a place where the conservative philosophy can be discussed and where students can ask questions in terms of the conservative viewpoint,” said Doucette.
Leonard is very passionate about his beliefs, and is acting president of the Young Conservatives club. The Young Conservatives have over thirty active members, with the intention of expanding their ranks.
Clubs are started at SHS every year because students have passions that they want to share with others around them. Students spend roughly eight hours a day around others that could possibly share their beliefs, so often they will create a club just to see who believes in what. As for the Rail twins, their legacy has been left on SHS already, and their names will ring through the halls for years to come.
