Spanish Club members break the ice (cream)

Leah Beyer, Staff Writer

The Spanish Club kicked off the start of the year with their ice cream social on Aug. 30.

The social is a way for all the new members, and even the returning students, to get to know each other and feel more comfortable at later meetings.

“The ice cream social is always fun because it’s the first event for Spanish Club and it’s where you get to know everyone that you’ll be spending time with throughout the year,” Maeve Tanona, club historian, said.

This social serves not only as a way for people to get to know each other, but also as a way to insure everyone has paid their dues by providing an incentive. Students who have paid their dues are given a ticket that they can use to go get their ice cream.

However, those who have not paid are still asked to participate in the meeting, but did not get any of the ice cream. With dues being only $2, virtually all of the members were able to receive ice cream and become official members of the club.

After this event, the club still has many more activities planned that will allow the members to experience and indulge in the Spanish culture and tradition.

“Lots of the activities we do are holiday-based. We tend to participate in different aspects of the culture during those seasons,” co-sponsor Lindsy Clark said. “Last year, we even did dancing lessons and we are hoping to be able to continue that this year as well.”

With over 90 members, Spanish Club is one of the largest clubs at Manhattan High School. To account for this big group, the club also has a plethora of officers to support the students and plan future events.

“For the club this year, each of the officers are pairing up and taking a month that they are going to organize and plan the meeting based on Spanish culture around that time,” Tanona said. “For example, my partner and I’s month is February so we will be doing more of a Mexican culture theme with piñatas.”

Spanish Club is also looking forward to more participation from all of its members, much like they saw at the ice cream social.

“My main goal this year is to get people more involved. Last year, we had a lot of people that signed up to be in the club but then only a portion of those people showed up to the activities,” Ben Choi, president, said. “It would be great to create more of community and get everyone more invested.”