Remote learning has made it more difficult for students to foster connections with one another. But many clubs – including several new ones – meet virtually at the Regional and give students a chance to spend time with peers who have shared interests. 

Created this year, the Arabic Club meets on Fridays at 3:00 p.m.

“Some challenges that we faced while starting this club was the all on-line change to the school. Just like any other language, writing something out helps a lot in grasping and learning new concepts, such as using the white board or handing out worksheets.” said junior and Arabic club co-founder Habib Dakash. “Another challenge of being all remote, is that we can’t pass around certain objects that are significant to certain lessons and topics we are talking about, but only show it through the camera and hope they can see it.”

The Arabic club offers students an opportunity to explore a language not offered in the school curriculum.  

“In our club, our main goal is to teach anyone who is interested in the Arabic language something they can use and be proud of learning,” said Dakash.

Another new club – the Wachusett Art Collective for Unrepresented Voices – meets on Saturdays at 5:00 p.m. 

“We hope to use the visual arts as a tool to better interconnect our school and local community,” said senior and club co-founder Sofija Juodaitis. “A lot of our work has had to have been focused around social media to educate, since we can’t exactly do much in person. We’re also starting to work with local businesses to generate support for them during the pandemic.”

Art teacher and Wachusett Art Collective Advisor Suzanne Breen agreed that new clubs face additional obstacles. 

“It is more difficult to promote membership in the new club through remote means. Everyone seems so busy with all that is going on in the world, it is hard to catch people’s attention,” said Breen. “This group is very student driven; student leadership is open to the interests of new members, projects members want to pursue, and utilizing the varied strengths and backgrounds members bring to the table.”

The AppDev club, which does not yet have a set meeting time, seeks to attract students interested in computer programming.  

“The purpose of the AppDev club is to teach students about application development and the design process through methods that would be used by a professional iOS app developer,” said junior and club founder Theodore Stangas.

For a complete list of all clubs at the Regional visit https://wrhs.wrsd.net/for_students/clubs__musical_groups__honor_societies__athletics