By Dana Sternthal
Staff Writer
With so many clubs and organizations on campus to choose from, S-Club, a club that is only offered to girls, gives a unique experience to those who want to help the community.
S-Club is one of Mira Costa’s oldest and largest clubs on campus and is associated with Soroptimist International of Manhattan Beach (SIMB), an organization that works to better the lives of women and children in Manhattan Beach and throughout the world. Currently, S-Club has roughly 80 members and has been a part of Mira Costa for 50 years.
“I have been a member of S-Club since freshman year,” president senior Katherine Bryan said. “It’s an amazing club and a great way to meet new people and try new things.”
S-Club participates in different projects, like coat drives in the winter, prom dress drives in the spring through the Cinderella Project and Lunches with Love socials that are conducted monthly, where they get together and make sandwiches for the homeless on Los Angeles’ Skid Row. Last year, S-Club donated over 2,500 lunches to the homeless living on Skid Row in Los Angeles.
“When you’re in S-Club, you get to do things you wouldn’t normally do,” vice president and senior Michelle Comroe said. “You get to help your community as well as communities across the entire world.”
The club is also known for its support of numerous charities, like the “We Can” Pediatric Brain Tumor Network, where members spend time with teenaged brain tumor patients every month. They also support Coins for Campers, an organization that sends brain tumor patients to summer camp.
“I joined because I thought S-Club would be a great way to get to know more people,” sophomore Reyna Bhakta said. “I like how we get together with kids with brain tumors and other disabilities and help them.”
S-Club members complete at least 25 hours of community service each semester, with at least 10 of those hours from club offered activities. Hours can be gained through various types of community service or donations to one of club’s multiple drives throughout the year.
“At first, 25 hours seemed like a lot,” Bhakta said. “But the club offers so many opportunities that it is really not that hard to meet the requirement.”
Every year at the Hometown Fair, S-Club has a booth that offers fake tattoos and colored hair spray in order to raise money for its club.
“The little kids were really excited to get their hair dyed, and they loved the fake tattoos,” sophomore Marisa Nwoke said.
Another one of S-Club’s biggest fundraisers is the annual Garage Sale, which will be held on Oct. 13 at 1727 Gates Ave in Manhattan Beach. They sell gently used clothes, books and toys to sustain the club.
“We raise a lot of money at the Garage Sale,” sophomore Kelsey Chaykowski said. “There is always a big sorting party before the actual sale to sort through all the different donations. There is music and snacks, and it is really a lot of fun.”
S-Club also has events with its parent organization SIMB, like screening award-winning films about women to raise money for the Breast Cancer Fund at their Lunafest Film Festival during mid October in Flagstaff, Arizona. They also have an annual Spring Tea to support SIMB’s service projects in the community.
“S-Club is all about helping others, and we do that through events with SIMB, but we also do it through our own means as well,” sophomore Tatiana Bodner said.
S-Club meets every Monday at lunch in room 111, and new members are always welcome. At each meeting they talk about upcoming events.
“I joined S-Club because it offered so many ways to help and get involved in the community, ways to give back,” senior Sulibeth Ortiz said.
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