The excitement was palpable as Hackley students raced around the Grille Room and Quad on September 15 searching for new clubs for which to sign up. The Club Fair featured a variety of new community service groups such as ARTReach, the Hudson Scholars, and the Maker Club.

Community service coordinator, Nicole Butterfield, recently installed a bulletin board across the hall from administrative assistant Claudia Coy’s office as a way to announce news from the community service clubs to members who do not use social media or may have missed the Club Fair.

Mrs. Butterfield plans to garner support from younger students and better inform the Hackley community of the clubs on campus. “I’m hoping for people to become more aware of the existing clubs we have and to also encourage freshmen and sophomores to start thinking about what kind of leadership roles they’d like to have,” she said.

Another new service project Mrs. Butterfield feels passionately about is ARTReach. This club, led by junior Samhitha Josyula, serves as a way to bring musical performances from Hackley students to schools and nursing homes.

The County Harvest Club, brought back to Hackley by senior Catherine Meyer through an external organization, is also on the horizon to be an influential service group this year. Catherine hosts an annual food drive for the County Harvest Food Bank in May and collects a variety of food items such as cereal and other non-perishables. The goal of this new club is for students to get more involved with the food bank itself rather than just donating items.

As a continuation of the summer enrichment program for students from the Washington Irving Public School, sophomore Amy Chalan created the Hudson Scholars Club to keep the connection intact year-round. The club hopes to meet with the 16 sixth graders one Saturday a month to help them with their homework or to do a fun activity, such as pumpkin carving in October.

Another new community service club on campus is the Maker Club, created by senior Jordan Schwartz. This club partners up with a school in Port Chester to participate in STEM activities with their 5th graders.

Students interested in getting involved with these programs can consult Mrs. Butterfield’s bulletin board, which provides information about clubs and their meeting times. Community service permission slips are available in Ms. Coy’s office for those who participate in organizations outside of school.