West Ranch has a large variety of clubs available for students. However, after club rush, buzz around clubs often dies down. These clubs – such as honor societies, academic clubs, student unions, and “passion” clubs – have been regularly holding meetings, events and other activities to contribute to the student body.
California Scholarship Federation (CSF)
The California Scholarship Federation is one of West Ranch’s academic honor societies. CSF has a high standard of academic achievement as members need mostly A’s and B’s to be admitted into the federation. The club’s motto is “Scholarship with service,” with scholarship referring to academic achievement.
CSF offers opportunities for students to give back to the community. The requirements for CSF mandates members to participate in at least one event in hopes that they will gain a feeling of achievement from serving the community through volunteering. This ideology seems to be effective. Junior Aarush Kumar explained that he “felt satisfied in the sense that work was being done to benefit the community.”
Whether it’s things like helping out local elementary schools or donating to the needy in forms of drives, any charitable work helps harbor sentiments of accomplishment in high school students of CSF. At the Meadows Elementary Fall Festival, a festival for Meadows Elementary School, Kumar recalls, “Even if we were just helping set up the decorations and cleaning up the school, doing work like that really helps make Santa Clarita a brighter place”
CSF’s core idea has stuck with its members. By pushing for scholastic success and service opportunities, the students of the society feel a greater sense of achievement. As Kumar puts it, “Being in CSF makes me push myself academically and to serve my community.”
Mu Alpha Theta
Mu Alpha Theta is one of the many academic clubs at West Ranch. Brought to West Ranch in 2022, the club is all about math, specifically research in the field.
The most common activity for the club is math research. President of Mu Alpha Theta, West Ranch junior Adhith Theyver mentioned, “This year we have begun our math research. Students get into small groups and, using literature review and mathematical modeling, they complete an abstract.” Students are able to research any topic they want to complete their abstract, whether it is looking at the stock market or predicting and modeling the growth of an epidemic.
Besides the current, regular activities the club has – such as games, research and presentations – Theyver plans on holding workshops in the future. He explained, “We will begin [an] SAT prep workshop when we get closer to the March SAT.” All the events in the club are planned in mind to further the mathematical excellence found at West Ranch.
Overall, Mu Alpha Theta has been a club that has encouraged the interest of math within the attendees. Through all the events, Theyver has been consistent with the long term goal for the club: “fostering a life-long passion for the subject, no matter what career members may end up going.”
Asian Pacific Islander Student Union (APISU)
The Asian Pacific Islander Student Union, a chapter of the APISU organization, is one of West Ranch’s most diverse clubs, striving to include all Asian cultures and represent a variety of students.
Every month, APISU highlights an activity or holiday from different cultures and organizes crafts or projects that members can participate in during the month. President of APISU Sofia Espiritu, shared that so far, they have “held a potluck which had all the ambassadors’ cultural foods and then did a diya pot painting activity for Diwali.” She also explained that they plan to do a Christmas parol, which is a Filipino ornamental lantern display to celebrate the star of Bethlehem.
Even though APISU focuses on celebrating holidays from different cultures, Espiritu has additional reasons for bringing the club to the school. “We needed a general Asian student union,” Espiritu explained.“We have other clubs like Chinese and Korean clubs but I felt like it was better to include all Asian cultures so everyone is represented together.”
Overall, APISU is a diverse club that aims to bring Asian communities together by celebrating holidays from different countries while also teaching others about the differences between cultures.
Rubik’s Cube Club
Many students love to challenge their minds outside of academic subjects with things like puzzles. Fortunately, the Rubik’s Cube club accommodates this as the club was formed to create a community at West Ranch under the student’s common interest of solving the Rubik’s Cube.
The club serves as an outlet for students to pursue their passion of training their brain through the cube. Secretary sophomore Dmitry Kogay expressed, “I wanted to join the club because of my passion for solving puzzles, especially the Rubik’s Cube.”
The club also brings opportunities for aspiring competitive cube solvers. Kogay explained that club members are taught “standard tournament procedures, when the closest ones will be and how to sign up.” This ensures that members who want to compete are well-informed at upcoming events.
Furthermore, members of the club are pushed to excel at those competitions through practicing their skills. Kogay mentioned that members “help each other find the right algorithms to solve it faster and practice certain scenarios which helps recognize those scenarios in a real solve.” Helping each other out allows club members to become experts to the point where they can solve a cube in a mere 23 seconds!
The Rubik’s Cube club not only fosters a shared love for solving the cube but also creates a supportive environment for students to challenge themselves with brain-training games. Whether it’s for fun or competition, the club offers something for anyone passionate about the cube.
West Ranch’s diverse selection of clubs show the cultivation of student interests, academic excellence and cultural representation. From heightening math skills to celebrating Asian cultures or mastering the Rubik’s Cube, clubs have provided its members opportunities for growth and connection. Clubs among the school continue to enhance the student experience and ensure a place for everyone to pursue their passions.
