Botball
Botball, one of Springbrook’s various technology clubs, is enjoyed by many students as an extracurricular activity.
“Botball is where people use legos to create a robot, and they program the robot do tasks on a board like moving things, knocking things over or putting a ball of one color into a box. Botball is not a competition where you knock down another person’s robot,” sponsor and computer science teacher Pat Youngpradit said.
Right now they are getting ready for the Springbrook open house. They are programming a robot to follow people around.
To join Botball you do not need to have any robotics experience. Many people join as novices. Meetings are held once or twice a week, usually on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays. It is a student run club. This club, members believe, is a great way to learn about technology.
Arabic Club
The Muslim Student Association (MSA) has now changed their name to the Arabic Club in hopes of attracting more members.
“Some people don’t want to join because they think the club is only for Muslims and having it called Arabic Club might attract more people” club president junior Amira Haleem said.
The club offers a great way to learn a foreign language.
“I learn to read and write Arabic and I also learn pronunciation,” sophomore David Bellomy said.
According to Haleem the club usually watches movies in Arabic to make the club meetings livelier. So far the club has approximately 20 members. The club meets two to three times a month because some members participate in other activities.
The Arabic Club is a great way to expand on your Arabic and also a great way to make new friends. Students who know nothing about Arabic are also encouraged to join in order to learn more about the language and culture. It is sponsored by Arabic teacherMona Hamdy.
Musings
Musings, is a club where students get together to produce a literary magazine that showcases the school’s writers.
“Every year our goal is to create a magazine that looks like a little book, that features poetry and prose, usually short stories written by members of Springbrook’s student body and also artwork, drawings and photography like wise created by members of our student body, who submit their work to the magazine,” English teacher and adviser Lynn Mantello said.
The clubs usually meets once a week on Thursdays from 2:30 p.m. Writings are accepted until February, so that the staff can spend March and April putting the magazine together.
The yearly poetry contest has been moved up a month from November to October.
“It is our hope that students will keep us well supplied with issues that we choose the best from,” Mantello said.
There will also be cash prizes for the three best works. This club encourages the student body to express themselves through writing.
Math Team
The Math Team started successfully this season; winning first place on both regional math meets so far and is expecting to make another win at the thrid meet at Paint Branch High School on Wednesday, October 15.
“We’ve made plenty of progress; we’ve expanded to about 25 people. We will probably have a lot more wins for the rest of the season,” senior Jason Li said.
Math teams from Springbrook, Paint Branch, John F. Kennedy, Good Counsel and James H. Blake High School compete within the same region.
The first meet was at Springbrook and the second meet was at Kennedy High School, where Springbrook and Good Counsel has tied for first place.
“The team is doing incredibly well. We also have a large enthusiastic team. We’re learning and having a lot of fun,” sponsor and math teacher Katherine Stedman said.
Members meet after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays each week to practice the individual and team math problems.