With the start of the 2024-2025 school year, four new culture-based clubs have been added to NVOT’s clubs list, making nine different culture-based clubs within the school. Here is a glimpse into what each club does and what they look forward to in the future. 

Albanian Club

Officers: Bessart Gjevukaj, Elijah Tineo

Advisor: Jennifer Fernandez 

Activities: Meetings about Albanian culture such as reading folklore, teaching students traditional Albanian dances, trying and making homemade goods/foods, and allowing students to learn more about the country’s history 

Purpose of Club: “[The club is] really to invite people into the fold who might not necessarily know one single thing about the club, or who might be just a little bit curious, or might have friends that are Albanians that they want to become much more familiar with the culture, the history and the heritage. It’s for everyone.” – Advisor Ms. Fernandez

Black History & Culture Club (BHCC)

Officers: Taylor Chisholm & Emma Dominguez

Advisor: Jeffrey Train 

Activities: Hosts meetings about dance and music, runs bake sales, plans events for Black History Month, and creates trivia games for members to learn facts and gain knowledge of Black icons and culture.

Purpose of Club: “I think it’s really important to have clubs like this in school, not even just black history, just like any type of culture, because, yeah, we learn it in textbooks and stuff but hearing it from the people that are actually apart of the culture is really important.”- Senior Emma Dominguez 

Chinese Club

Officers:  Boram Shim and Michelle Tang

Advisor: Wenjie Liu

Activities: Provides traditional Chinese foods, celebrates the Chinese Lunar Year and other holidays, teaches students how to make Good Luck Knots, donates to community organizations, and collaborates with other clubs.

Highlight: “The school [has] really gotten involved with our Lunar New Year Celebration. Last year there were these great decorations in the hallway. We have fun activities too. One year, for the year of the dragon, we had a dragon dance. The school’s very welcoming and the whole school takes part in it.”-Advisor Mrs. Liu  

Diversity Club

Officers: Salome Sanchez and Emma Dominguez 

Advisor: Hollie Wiesenberg & Jennifer Bieber

Activities: Holds theme meetings, plays trivia games that teach members about different diverse cultures, celebration of international holidays. Biggest event of the year is Diversity Day, where members of the club choose a country and demonstrate the country’s heritage to the NVOT community through posters, food, and performances. 

Highlight: “My favorite thing about Diversity Club is learning about all the different ways of life we are surrounded with daily. It’s exciting to learn about all the holidays celebrated and languages spoken worldwide that you may not be familiar with originally.” – Junior Julia Whaley 

Italian Club

Officers: Chris Confreda, Olivia Lombardo, and Sara Rubano 

Advisor: James Goetschius 

Activities: Aims to promote and teach the Italian language and culture, learn about practices and products of Italian culture, plays bocce ball and other traditional Italian games, learns about Italian summertime practices while sampling gelato, discovers Italian holiday traditions (including what happens at Christmas/New Years and during Carnevale), and views and discusses multiple Italian films.

Purpose of Club: “In addition to it being a way for students in Italian classes to experience the culture, it helps them meet and connect with students in different grades who are also taking Italian. And if you are not enrolled in Italian, but maybe have Italian heritage or are just interested in learning about Italy or its culture, it’s a great organization to be involved with as well.” – Advisor Mr. Goetschius 

Japan Club

Officers: Joan Yang, Cheyi Lee, Joowon Shin, Joon Park, Haeum Lee, Hyacinth Seo, Joseph Shirinov

Advisor: Yoko Fukuda

Activities: Runs rice ball-making activities, teaches calligraphy lessons, plays traditional kids games, watches Japanese animation, and hosts anime drawing contests.

Purpose of Club: “Through the experience of Japanese traditional and pop cultures, the members will learn and respect different cultures from theirs.” – Advisor Ms. Fukuda 

Jewish Culture Club

Officers: Mikel Salomon & Gehrig Seidenfrau

Advisor: John Hughes 

Activities: Hosts events sharing Jewish culture and has meetings where Jewish students can discuss their feelings and emotions in a safe space. Outside of these closed-door meetings, the club looks forward to hosting events like a dreidel spinning contest and sharing Hanukkah gelts.

Highlight: “[The club] was small last year, and it was kind of cute. We had maybe 14 people. And it was interesting, because 10 of them were not Jewish and they just sat and talked about their culture and feelings toward the faith.” – Advisor Mr. Hughes

Korean Club

Officers:  Seeun Hang and Yeonhee Kim

Advisor: Myung Jin Lee

Activities: Activities focus on teaching students Korean culture through movie nights, t-shirt designing contests, and lessons on music and heritage. 

Purpose of Club: “The Korean club focuses on promoting Korean culture to the school community.”- Advisor Ms. Lee 

Muslim Student Association

Officers: Sarah Atila, Aliya Gajra, Olivia Mbrati

Advisor: Mustapha Elqariani 

Activities: Activities focus on spreading awareness about Islam while also learning about the Muslim religion and common phrases used in the Muslim community. Meetings are mainly student-led, where members listen and engage in presentations. 

Purpose of Club: “We don’t want to make it like a teacher just talking. It’s very student-led, and we’re gonna be talking to the people in our club like they’re friends. We’re trying to get closer to them and to build a bond with them.” – Junior Aliya Gajra 

Spanish Club

Officers: Emily Quiroz, Soojin Park, Rebecca Barillas and Amelie Cardenas

Advisor: Lisa Veit

Activities: Teaches students Hispanic culture through projects and lessons. Celebrates traditional holidays, and makes Thanksgiving cards and table decorations for the Norwood Food Pantry. 

Purpose of Club: “I believe the club’s objectives are to promote Hispanic culture through different activities (as in Día de los Muertos) and to work with the community’s Spanish speaking populations.” – Advisor Mrs. Veit