As school starts, students look to expand their resumes with membership in different clubs, challenging classes, and Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways. Open House this year, held Monday, Oct. 3 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., highlighted all of those.

Students of any age in the district and their parents had the opportunity to speak to teachers to learn about classes offered at the high school, as well as stop to visit the club booths. Unlike last year, students ran the club fair. Teacher sponsors stayed in their classrooms to provide information on their classes for parents and students. Students set up their booths during the advisory period, to allow them to run the booth during the lunch periods in addition to the after-school club fair. The administration staff stayed in the cafeteria for the parents during the open house. The following list highlights several of the clubs who participated as well as their student representatives.

Our Body Not Yours

Our Body Not Yours, an international organization with almost 40 local members.

“We prioritize talking about the different perspectives when it comes to the issue of sexual violence,” senior Seun Seriki said. “We volunteer in the community. We talk about consent, and mental health.”

Our Body Not Yours is a new club this year, and it’s membership already is planning other events that will take place in the second semester.

“We also have a very big creative Expo later in April,” Seriki said. “People can showcase their artistic expressions of their experiences and all that they’ve learned in the club through their arts, dances, photography and anything they want. It gives people a chance to express themselves in an open and caring environment.”

Our Body Not Yours meets on the third Wednesday of every month. The first meeting of the school year will be today, Oct. 5, after school in the LGI.

The Science National Honor Society

“Science National Honor Society (SNHS) is a club for people that are passionate about science and looking to apply their knowledge to the real world,” senior Michelle Jordan said. “In our club, we do service events and various other activities through the school and in the community. “The club fair helps us give exposure to students who may not know it exists otherwise and just helps us get more members who are excited about helping out the real world with the knowledge of this subject.”

SNHS had a fall application period – which passed, and will also provide another application opportunity in the spring semester. The first meeting of the new school year will be held today, Oct. 5, after school in biology teacher Alysha Jaballa’s classroom, room 2127.

The Asian Culture Club

“Asian Culture Club is a club created to promote Asian awareness, and we also like to promote the cultural aspects within the diverse culture of Asia,” vice president and junior Taylor Nguyen said. “The club fair helps us connect with all different kinds of people, and just interest them about our club. It’s a way to bring unity within Prosper High School.”

During each meeting, the Asian Culture club focuses on a specific Asian country and puts together a presentation on their cultural highlights. They put together games, and hand out snacks from the country of the meeting.

Ready Set Teach

“Our club is Ready Set Teach, and it’s really cool because you get unique experiences to go and be a teacher aid, and kind of see teaching behind the scenes while you’re still in high school,” senior Madison Small said. “The club fair really helps promote it because not a lot of kids in high school know about this class, so it’s really interesting to them. It’s a kind of a really unique experience, and it’s cool that we get to do it on campus.”

Students have the opportunity to take the Ready Set Teach class in pursuing the education path, but it qualifies as a club, as well.

Girls in Computer Science

“Girls in Computer Science club is about inclusivity in the computer science field, and closing the gender gap,” junior Kate Hoover said. “There are obviously a lot more guys in computer science than there are girls, so every meeting we go through some role models and we also teach the girls how to code. We’re also planning some outreach programs for elementary and middle schools this year.”

According to Pew Research, women make up 25% of computer science jobs.

STEMMA

“In STEMMA we learn about STEM, we do experiments and our big thing is mentoring,” sophomore Sahasra Mareddi said.  “Currently we’re mentoring high school (students), and later on this year we will start mentoring elementary students – we’ll zoom call with them and teach them everything. We went to elementary schools (last year), and we judged their science fair. We also had a new three-day summer camp this year, and a lot of students showed up to that, and they did a lot of experiments. You also get volunteer hours.”

Sophomore Arushima Swaroop leads the club as president. To find out more information on STEMMA, click here.

Distributive Education Clubs of America

“DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) is our mainstream business club,” president and senior Akil Dondapati said. “We have a wide range of competitions even if you’re not interested in business with leadership and communication skills. It’s really easy to advance. Nationals this year in Florida, and we’re going to Disney World and Universal Studios if you make it that far. Other than competitions, we have socials and volunteer opportunities.”

The international nonprofit organization of DECA offers scholarship opportunities for students as well.

Junior World Affairs Council

“In Junior World Affairs Council (JWAC) we do a lot of events regarding World Affairs,” senior Rachel Price said. “Sometimes we have cool speakers, and we participate in international career day. There’s a bunch of JWAC councils in Dallas county, and we’re ranked 10 – or something around there. We have a lot of fun at meetings, and we do a lot of games involving world affairs and different countries. We learn a lot.”

JWAC is led by world history and humanities teacher Shawna McCartney-Day, who currently is pursuing a career field in diplomacy. Members have the opportunity to obtain a Global Leadership certificate and cord.

Smile

“Smile is a mental health club where we learn about different mental health things that you can do like self-care techniques,” senior Ava Anderson said. “It’s also a really safe space where you can meet other people and it’s really positive and uplifting. And it’s a great way to earn service hours, we serve the community like food drives and stuff like that for salons in Prosper. We’ve had a lot of people come up and take some flyers, and it’s just about, you know, getting the club out there, especially when you’re first starting it. So yeah, it’s been good.”

The Smile club began last year and allows students to find solutions in mental health alternatively to the class of Hope Squad. The students in the class of Hope Squad also promote mental health to combat teen suicide.

HOSA

Dailey explained that she attended the club fair with her sister, Kylar Dailey, during her freshman year where based on her interest in the law field, she joined the debate club, and her sister interested in the medical field joined HOSA.

“The Health Occupational Students of America (HOSA) is mainly for people interested in joining the healthcare field, but it’s honestly for anyone,” president and junior Courtney Reed said. “We have a lot of service opportunities that are great for immediate service hours. We have state and national competitions, fun social events.  We participate in Relay for Life, and the Out of Darkness Walk.”

HOSA meets one Tuesday of every month with both morning and afternoon meeting options.

“I think the club fair helps promote it because it (can) sound boring – like just health,” Reed said. “But when you see it – we have posters, a bunch of boards, CPR dummies, it makes it a lot more interesting, and it really draws people closer. So, I guess the club fair really gives it a more visual aspect, more than just a paper flyer would.”