School clubs are often seen as just another part of every other high school. Every school has its Model UN and art club. When one stops to think about it, does anyone know how all these clubs started? Starting a club is much more complex than one may imagine; there is a list of people who need to be talked to and facts that need to be checked for everything to work out. Junior Genise Sarita knows this all too well.
Last year, Sarita realized that Antioch Community High School had no medical club that focused on multiple aspects of the medical field. Both of Sarita’s parents are nurses, so growing up with different medical professionals has significantly influenced her interest in the field. Wanting to work in the medical field in some way after college, Sarita had the idea of starting her own club: the Medical Club.
Sarita’s idea started as just that—an idea. Soon, she would bring it up to a friend, junior Thyry Patterson, who would encourage her greatly and help her start the process of making her idea of Medical Club a reality. Patterson continuously tried to help Sarita pursue her idea, even when people were doubting her.
“Genise really pushed through all [those difficulties],” Patterson said. “Everyone was being doubters.”
Patterson goes on to explain that Sarita’s friends did not believe her club would come up with any success, and even a teacher told her that the focus seemed too broad and that she should try to collaborate with another club that ACHS already provides instead. This did not discourage Sarita though. Soon after discussing it with different counselors and teachers, she went to Student Services and started checking off her to-do list to kick off the process of creating her brand-new club.
Sarita had to cross-check multiple aspects, including, but not limited to, making sure there is no other club similar to hers, figuring out if the school has the resources she needs, and discussing specific activities and goals for the club. Once every factor was figured out, Sarita was able to get the Medical Club registered on rSchool, which ultimately made it an official school club.
The first proper meeting was an informational meeting, with an astonishing number of more than 30 ACHS students attending. Sarita expected a few students, along with some close friends, to make an appearance, but she was not expecting the great number of students who were eager to learn about her club and why she was creating it.
“I knew there was interest,” Sarita said. “But I didn’t expect that many students. All the seats were filled…I remember looking up from my Chromebook [and there were] just so many people there.”
The Medical Club meets bimonthly on the first and third Thursdays of every month. They have only had two meetings and are already teaching students how to read various vitals. Sarita has a partner at Northwestern who will hopefully help her and the club with more extreme labs come second semester. Sarita encourages anyone interested in the medical field to try Medical Club in hopes that she can encourage you and help push you along to reach your medical dreams after high school.
