International Culture Clubs:

Middle East Club  

Middle East Club offers the chance for all students to experience and be a part of Middle Eastern culture at ASL. The Middle East Club welcomes everyone, regardless of connections to the region, to join in throughout the year in planning events pertaining to the Middle East. For the linguistically and culturally interested, we’ve hosted Middle Eastern Movie Nights. If your interest is political, we’ve held debates on Middle Eastern politics and conflicts. And of course, there’s our annual Middle East Night – a celebration and recognition of all things Middle Eastern. Whether it’s the food, the films, or even friends that draw you to Middle East Club, anyone is welcome to join.

– Dima Fayyad

South Asia Club

South Asia Club strives to connect the members of the South Asian community inside ASL and to promote our distinct culture and community beyond South Asian students. First things first, you don’t have to be Indian to join! We organized a number of events this past year to express our pride in our heritage, with our annual South Asia Night attracting over 200 people. Whether you are South Asian yourself, have a particular interest in the region, love watching Bollywood Films, or enjoy eating Indian food, our club welcomes you with open arms.

• Rehan Zafar

South Africa Club

The South Africa club was founded a little over 10 years ago as a charity to support the Ubuntu Foundation in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and later the Desmond Tutu HIV/AIDs foundation in Cape Town, South Africa. This club and charity works to educate the school about the culture of South Africa through our relationship with both foundations. It also lets ASL students learn about the history of the nation through film screenings. The experience I have had with the South African culture as a whole is eye-opening. The friends I have made through the partnership are friends that are irreplaceable. I am able to understand and learn about a totally new culture and their music, art, and history. I also have been exposed to the idea or privilege (things that I take for granted) not only that we have here at ASL but in my every day life.

• Emily Gosset

The Latin America Club

The Latin America Club was founded to spread Latin culture through charity. We mainly fundraise for a charity called “Chamos” that builds playgrounds for impoverished children in Venezuela. Our club’s biggest event is Copa America which is a football/soccer fundraiser tournament. Our club has fundraised enough money to build three playgrounds and we hope to make enough money to fund even more in the future. Any person from any ethnicity can join the club.

• Maria Nebreda

Social Focused Clubs:

Gender Sexuality Alliance

The gender sexuality alliance is ASL’s safe space for LGBT+ high school students and allies. We meet once in an eight-day cycle and talk about important LGBT+ issues in current events, plan fundraising opportunities to help charities like The Trevor Project and Red, and just to create a safe and friendly environment for queer, questioning, and allied students. In the 2014/15 school year, we bonded at a movie night, raised awareness for trans issues through posters, and raised money for Red, a charity to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. I love GSA because it is a place where I feel like I can be comfortable expressing my thoughts and feelings with a group of people who will be kind and respectful. GSA is one of the kindest, most tightly-knit communities in the High School.

• Rami Kablawi

Gender Club

The Gender Equity club is one of ASL’s social justice and feminist groups. From the beginning, its goal has been to provide a safe space for students and teachers at the school to discuss gender-related topics and their experiences with discrimination, both in the broader world and at ASL. As the club has evolved, we have become more and more of an intersectional social justice group, discussing a range of topics involving race and gender, class and gender, and many other identifiers. The club is open to people of all genders who are interested in learning about and discussing a wide variety of issues that affect our society.

• Hannah Link

Social Justice Counsel  

The Social Justice Council aims, through action and education, to promote a school environment in which all members feel safe to voice their opinions while embracing the identities and backgrounds of their peers. The council focuses on administration, education, and support. We act as a middleman between students and administration and work alongside administration to find the most beneficial ways to approach topics for the student body. The council also gives students a chance to voice their opinions on how the school handles events that directly affect them. In terms of education, we try to inform students about current events, make them aware of problems in our community, and teach them the appropriate words to use in situations to prevent future discrimination. The council is also somewhat of an umbrella organization, supporting other social justice groups such as Gender Equity, GSA (Gender Sexuality Alliance), Unity in Diversity, Latin America Club, Middle East Club, and South Asia Club. We are also a platform for individuals who need support to start a discussion. We are made up of 12-16 students from 9-12thgrade and meet every Friday. In the 2014-2015 school year, we put up many posters around the High School to create awareness of current events revolving around social justice, dealt with some issues involving inappropriate language use, and created the Faces of ASL project, a video with different members of our community holding up signs about prejudice they have faced or privilege they have.

• Maddie Kolaja

Technology Clubs:

The NW8 Show

The NW8 Show is the Replacement for ASL radio. We are inviting directors, actors, writers, film crews and musicians to join. Instead of a radio podcast, we will be creating periodic TV shows with skits, sports highlights and creative spotlight music videos. In each show we aim to showcase the high caliber tech and performing Arts skills that ASL has to offer. This club offers opportunities for those who love to act, direct, write and/or sing, but can’t do this during class time. Despite changing the name and changing to film, we still hold the same central value of ASL Radio: entertaining our peers.

• Andrew Noorani

Electronic Music Club

The Electronic Music Club at ASL is a club based on Electronic Music performance, creation and appreciation. This year the club taught students how to create and perform electronic music, the basics of mixing in Logic Pro and how to DJ and finger drum. Next year we will be pushing on and teaching even more students on a more regular basis, and we will run workshops with our neighbors at QK. To join the club one needs no prior experience whatsoever, as we look forward to teaching students who are enthusiastic and ready to learn new things. Additionally, we are planning events such as free concerts and parties and collaborative, interesting events and workshops with other ASL clubs. We had a strong first year last year and are ready to push on and make next year great with more participation!

• Khari Brandes

Public Speaking Clubs

Debate Society

Debate Society is focused on growing student’s public speaking and debating skills. Although a new organization at ASL Debate Society is growing rapidly and becoming integral part of the London debate community. Debate Society competes in both the novice and intermediate level in the London debate league, against other international and american schools. Debate Society meets twice a week during lunch to prepare cases and practice debate skills. Debate Society additionally hosts weekend sessions to allow students to build their knowledge of debate and refine their debating skills.

• Brigitte Fink

Model United Nations

Model United Nations is a simulation of the United Nations. It is a club run specifically for students, by students. We meet twice week after school, to debate and create student-made resolutions that allow members to provide solutions to real world problems. We also provide the opportunity to go to conferences both in the UK and abroad. At these conferences, students from all over the world gather to represent the 193 member states of the UN in such committees as the Security Council and the General Assembly. Last year, we managed to go conferences in the Hague, Paris and in the UK.  This year we plan to do even more by creating our own ASL MUN Conference in conjunction with the Community Partnerships department. If you’re interested in public speaking, writing and international affairs, MUN is the club for you!

• Marius Skaerved

TEDxASL

TEDxASL is an independently organized, student-run, nonprofit association. The TEDxASL organising committee works throughout the year to enable the hosting of our annual TEDxASL event in early spring. We aim to invite a diverse range of speakers from different fields and cultures that can bring impactful ideas and stories to be shared with our students and the surrounding community as a whole. Speakers that have attended include a Cannes Film Festival Award Recipient, a Spoken Word Artist, and even an ASL student.

• Rehan Zafar

Arts Clubs:

Theatre Club – Trey Carlson

Second Symphony Orchestra

In Second Symphony our goal is to provide instruments to underprivileged kids who otherwise wouldn’t get the chance to own an instrument. We rely solely on donations for instruments, and we have an annual instrument drive. This year we also held a raffle for instrument repairs. My experience of the club is that it is an all around fun time!

• Ned McLean

Slam Poetry

Slam Poetry Club is a club dedicated to the celebration of spoken word poetry. In meetings, students interested in this form of expression gather to share and watch videos of performances and to create and share their own poetry together. In the school year of 2015-2016, the club hopes to organize a spoken word poetry workshop with notable slam poets and also to organize outings to slams in London.

• Mimi Albanese

Charity Clubs:

Pink Ribbon

The Pink Ribbon Club is a student organization dedicated to raising awareness and funds to fight breast cancer. Each year we host various events to raise funds for our charity, including a Gingerbread House decorating workshop for the middle school and a bake sale. We choose a different charity every year – this year we have chosen Breast Cancer Care, a UK based fund that works with individuals and families who are affected by the disease. In the past year, we raised a total of £845. The atmosphere of dedication and pro-activity fostered by this year’s members of the Pink Ribbon Club is truly incredible, and I hope that it continues for years to come.

• Emma Kollek

KIVA

The ASL KIVA Club is a micro-finance club that serves as an extension of the KIVA organization. KIVA is a non-profit, micro-finance organization that provides loans for entrepreneurs and small businesses in developing regions of the world. Loans can be administered through the KIVA website by members, and the ASL KIVA Club has its own account. Last year we loaned over $200 towards repairing a water-filtration system for a school in Uganda and providing supplies/manure for a farmer also located in Uganda. The people we lend to are expected to pay back their loans; KIVA is not to be confused with a charity; rather, it resembles a bank that doesn’t charge interest. Our club raises money for these loans through fundraisers such as bake sales, and looks for new opportunities and targets in providing loans. We are specifically focused on sponsoring education-related loans. After serving as an active member at my old school, I helped to re-launch the KIVA club here at ASL. I would encourage people to join who do not necessarily have the time to provide hands-on community service but who are still interested and keen to help to make our community – and our world – a better place. For more information please visit the KIVA website: http://www.kiva.org/

• Will Sayre