New clubs have appeared this year. One new club is the Young Democrats.

Last year, junior Sam DeLong, the president of the Young Democrats, approached Janet Stark, a gifted facilitator, with the idea to create a chapter for the Kansas High School Democrats at Manhattan High. 

“I told them I would be happy to be their faculty advisor if I could also advise the Young Republicans,” Stark said. 

With that, DeLong searched for someone interested in starting a Young Republicans chapter at MHS but couldn’t find anyone.

“It was kind of a slow roll last year because [Stark] was hesitant to start it without the presence of a Young Republicans chapter,” DeLong said. “She didn’t want there to be a perception of one bias or the other.”

The Young Democrats is something DeLong and junior Ronan Tanona, Young Democrats vice president, have been working on since second semester last year. DeLong and Tanona wanted the club to be successful.

“I really wanted to help make it a thing, get involved, because a lot of teenagers really care about a lot of issues but they don’t always have the platform or the environment to talk about it,” Tanona said.

The club is meant to provide a space that allows people to discuss politics and get involved.

“Our goal as a club is to sort of, you know, educate people on issues that might matter to them and sort of advocate for political engagement in our high school and in teenagers in general,” Tanona said. 

The Young Democrats will meet Wednesday to discuss the election. Afterwards, they have plans to continue to meet and discuss different political topics along with holding a debate between the Young Democrats and Young Republicans.

“Both of the clubs were kind of planning on holding a debate at some point in the future,” DeLong said. “We just don’t know when, presumably before the end of the semester. But that is something that is being discussed between our clubs right now.”