John Carroll students can showcase their creativity and passions through the variety of clubs at JC. With a long list of clubs that keeps growing, most students can find at least one after school activity that they are passionate about.

However, some students have passions and ideas that are not highlighted in a pre-existing club at JC. This is where student-created clubs come into play.

Over the past few years, the list of clubs has grown exponentially, and this is mainly due to driven students.

The school allows students to create any club they please as long as they have a teacher as a moderator and get it approved by Assistant Principals Jake Hollin or Danica Attanasio.

Some of the most recent student clubs created have been, the Black Student Union, Women’s Empowerment Club, Future Healthcare Workers of America, and Patriots 4 Kids.
Seniors Grace Welzenbach and Annabel Everett founded the club Patriots 4 Kids. Grace said,

“Our club is partnered with the pediatric center at Upper Chesapeake.” She added that the club’s goal “is to put a smile on the children’s and their families’ faces.”

Grace said that she and Annabel created this club because “we wanted to make a difference in our community, and we both loved the idea of helping young children.”

Senior Chloe Davies, one of the co-founders of the Women’s Empowerment Club, said the purpose of the club is “to promote equality for all and bring awareness to women’s issues.”

She wants to “make the JC community as a whole more aware of issues that impact women,” and create “a safe space for everyone, regardless of gender, to flourish.”

When Chloe came up with the idea to create this club, she was motivated by the “lack of female empowerment within the school.” In the future, Chloe hopes for the club to continue to “thrive even after I leave.” She also hopes that this club calls students to “be the positive change in society that they wish to see and to step up when no one else does.”

Other JC clubs include the Future Healthcare Workers of America Club which is run by sophomore Natalie Gotzmann, and the Black Student Union which is run by junior Tatiana Wilkins.

Natalie revealed that she started the Future Healthcare Workers of America club due to her personal dream to become a pediatric surgeon. As a result, she created a club that would allow

JC students to “receive an insight on the daily lives of doctors, nurses, and EMTS.”

Natalie’s club allows students to meet with health care professionals. She hopes that “by seeing the daily life of health care workers, students will be able to open their eyes to new opportunities and may find that they have a dream like mine.”

She hopes that her club leaves a lasting positive impact “on students who attend it and are looking to create a life out of healthcare.”

Unlike the other students mentioned, Tatiana did not initially create the Black Student Union (BSU). Rather, she took over the club after its previous creator graduated. She has been running it since.

Tatiana said the BSU was created to “provide a space for black students at John Carroll and help people get to know the black community of the John Carroll School.”

Through her involvement with the BSU, Tatiana revealed that she hopes “to help black students feel included in the school. I want them to know that there are people like them at John Carroll, and that they always have a friend through the Black Student Union.”

However, these four clubs are only a few of the student-run clubs at JC. Others include Planting With Patriots, Dungeons and Dragons Club, Photography Club, One Love Club, and Love One Another Club.