Join the Model UN Club

By: Brody Cooke

One of the clubs that HHIHS is having this year is the Model UN club. According to the club’s advisor, Ms. Spisz, "Students act as delegates from a country, so they are representing a country, and they try to find solutions to global problems." They also write resolutions, which are documents that propose a way to solve those problems. They then take their resolutions and debate them in conferences, which they like to call competitions. Their first competition this year is a virtual national competition at the College of William and Mary, their second one in January will be at the Beaufort County Conference, their third one will be in Statesboro, Georgia at the Georgia Southern University, and their fourth conference will be at Winthrop University. The first two will be virtual, and the second one will be in person.

The Model UN club has meetings every Wednesday after school in Ms. Spisz’s classroom. However, two weeks before a competition, they will have a meeting every day. To join the club, come to one of the meetings to request to join the club. There are few requirements, however. You must be a student at HHIHS, you must have a 3.0 or higher GPA (Grade Point Average), you must have a B+ or higher in a social studies class, a B- in an English class, and you must have no office or behavioral referrals.

Last year the Model UN club had 22 members. This year she doesn't have her number for the club finalized yet, (meaning you can still join if you are interested) but she is hoping to get between 15 and 30 students. Ms.Spisz has been the advisor of the Model UN club for three years, starting in 2019. According to her, Model UN has been around for a very long time. The principal, Mr. Schidrich, helped with the club at one point when he was a teacher, and now that he is principal he acts somewhat as a co-adviser. Last year, the club was ranked #1 in Beaufort County, #35 in the east/southeast region of the United States, and #2 in South Carolina. Ms. Spisz hopes to stay #1 in Beaufort County this year, and the top 5 in South Carolina, and make it to the top 30 in the eastern United States this year.

What is NHS?

BY: matthew Korneluk

Four purposes have guided NHS and NJHS since its inception: to create excitement for academia; to stimulate a desire for citizen service; to build leadership skills, and to develop character in students. You will be invited to join NHS if your GPA is above 3.8 (unweighted), and don’t have any referrals. Meetings are once or twice a month in the mornings. NHS discusses and talks about a variety of things. One thing they talk about is community service. Another big topic they talk about is how to become better leaders in the school and community. They also talk about future college plans and how to be prepared for the future. If you are interested in knowing more about NHS please see Ms. Emerick for more information.

NJROTC’s Drone Team Program

By: Brody Cooke

The Hilton Head Island High School’s drone team is part of HHIHS’ NJROTC program. To be on the drone team, you have to be in NJROTC. In the drone team, you learn how to operate drones, and practice flying them through obstacle courses. The drone team is one of the many things students can participate in when they are part of the NJROTC program.

The larger arc of NJROTC is that it is military training; if you want to be in the military, then it is required that you go through the NJROTC. Although the drone team is limited to only students who are in NJROTC, there are many other things you do there, so if you do end up joining the drone team, I am sure that you will enjoy it, because flying drones is more fun than you think. Once you do it, it becomes a really fun activity.

Rocking with Robots

By: Caleb Bison

Robotics is the construction, programming, and use of robots. Students build and program specialized machines designed to perform certain tasks that humans assign. Hilton Head Island High School provides this club to all students who are interested. In Robotics Club, students break into groups and work on projects given to them from building and coding VEX robots, to working on a 3D Printer. Mr. Best says, “the goal is to help students with problem-solving skills, develop teamwork, and achieve an understanding of how robotics and computer science go hand in hand. We’re basically here to have fun and build robots.” Robotics also gives students different opportunities through volunteer work and competitions. Mr. Best’s goal this year is to compete in a VEX robotics competition with nearby schools in the county and hopefully win. This year the club is doing volunteer work for the Concours d’Elegance Motor Festival and will be helping with parking duty and in return will get some funding for the club, and the opportunity to compete in the Michelin Junior Design Competition.

Teens for Healthy Youth

By: Matthew Kornel

Teens for a Healthy Youth is meant to help teens make healthy choices and avoid negative influences. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many teens are under increased stress and have had difficulty adjusting as things slowly return to normal. THY helps teens navigate these challenges and develop a more positive lifestyle. Activities include making and distributing cards with positive messages. No application is needed - just show up to the media center. THY meets on the second and fourth Mondays of every month. Mrs. Hartley and Mrs. Robinson are the co-advisors.

Earth Uprising’s Humble Beginnings

By: Alyssa Spurling

Earth Uprising started last year in October. They focus on social issues such as environmental and social awareness.

Seahawk news interviewed Raul Leyva, a IBDP senior, he has been here all four year HHIHS and will graduate in may.

What exactly is Earth Uprising/What do you do?

“We are an environmental club, based off of an international organization, it focuses on youth-led grassroots environmental activism. We focus on social awareness of environmental issues, local communities, and we are a school club that offers community service events and opportunities, service hours, and we hope to spread that throughout the school.”

What have you accomplished in the club?

“Last year, we did a water bottle decorating event. We made some water bottles and decorated them with an environmental theme. We were planning on selling them, as a fundraiser for local environmental organizations, but unfortunately we weren't able to do that. We also did have a climate strike in October, before the elections, to promote climate leaders, and promote awareness of our local communities.”

What are some goals that the club has?

“Some of the main things that we have in the club are to promote environmental awareness, to promote social issues. We did an awareness campain on the South Carolina fetal abortion laws. We also promote the awareness of LGBTQ+ issues, especially locally. We are hoping to do more of that this year as well.”

Why was this club started/ what was the inspiration behind this?

“I started this club last year around October, I think the reason I wanted to start this club was because I wanted to have more environmental community services in the school. I know we have the Interact club, but it only has so many activities every month. I also wanted to have an outlet for any students who want to promote issues through Instagram, which our club has its own instagram page.”

When do you host your meetings?

“We have meetings every first Monday of the month, and hopefully we will be able to continue to meet for the rest of the year.”

“One of the big year-long goals we have is changing the school's recycling system. I know that our school recycles or at least not very effectively. We are hoping to talk with administration, and talk with the Hilton Head Management Facility for Waste and recycling, to see if we can collect recycle bins from the school then have the club transport them to the facility on the island. This will help permanently establish this club as a volunteering source for recycling.”

AWQ, Hilton Head’s Prized Academic Club

By: Meaghan Carrington

Hilton Head Island High School is home to a variety of clubs to fit any type of student. AWQ, the Academic World Quest club, is a quiz based competition. Competitive students come together to answer questions about global and foreign affairs, while being timed. Depending on the score, teams could qualify at Nationals in Washington D.C..

Although there are other competitive clubs offered, as said by Ms. Spisz, “ It is similar to Model UN in terms of overall content, however, Model UN is debate focused through the perspective of a delegate of a country and AWQ is team quiz focused.” Students join in groups of four, Ms. Spisz declared, “Anyone can join as long as they maintain a 3.0 GPA and have three others, as there are teams of four.”

Ms. Spisz encourages all students to join, saying, “ It’s a fun club if you have interest in foreign affairs or global politics and conflicts. It looks good on a college application and you have a chance to travel to Washington D.C. with three of your friends if you do well at the local competition.”

The club lasts from mid-September to spring. If one is interested, go to Ms. Spisz’s room and get a study guide for the year. When joining, it is expected to keep up to date with the Google Classroom and attend club meetings/practices.

HHIHS Spikeball Club

By: Stella Piccioli & Lola Gallagher

Spikeball is a team sport played by two teams of two players. The object of the game is to hit the ball into the net so that the opposing team cannot return it. A team is allowed up to three touches to return the ball. The rally continues until the ball is not returned properly. Spikeball has been a very popular game among the high schoolers all over the country. A student at HHIHS named Blake Hager started to enjoy the game with his friends over the summer. Blake wanted something to build his résumé, and that's how he came up with the idea to start a spike ball club with all of his friends.

Blake wanted his friends to be involved and to all have a part. He gave his friends different roles in the club. Blake is the president, his friend Logan Kriney is the vice president, Connor Flood is the treasurer, Christan Babcock is the social relations, and Tyler Bennet is the secretary. Mr. Willard, a math teacher at Hilton Head Island High School, volunteered to sponsor the spikeball club; he also enjoys the game.

The club allows every grade level in high school to join. The spikeball meetings are held on the first and third Monday of each month right after school. It is fifteen dollars to join. So far, around 40 students have joined the club, and there is a good balance of girls and boys are joining. It is a fun new way to meet friends. The club has evolved so quickly from just the idea, to making it a reality. Blake hopes the spikeball club stays for years to come.

Project Rainbow

By: Stella Piccioli & Lola Gallagher

Project Rainbow is a gender identity and sexual orientation alliance club which was established in 2012, when students came to Dr. Gray, the club sponsor. They wanted a place to discuss topics regarding identity and orientation. The club meets the second and fourth Thursdays of the month after school from 3:30 to 4:15. The club provides a safe space for students to openly discuss gender misconceptions in the school building and in the community. They welcome all supporters and allies of the LGBTQ+ community.

Interact Club

By: Matthew and Michaela

Interact provides countless volunteering opportunities that exemplify the impact you can have on your community. Their activities allow you to “interact" with the community by supporting local establishments, fundraising for charities, cleaning/maintenance, raising awareness, etc. Past events include beach sweeps, car washes, fundraiser baking, tournament assistance, charity movie nights, and more. New members can join by contacting any of the executives via email. Then, they can forward the google classroom code and go over member requirements. Meetings are every third Thursday of the month at 3:45pm. They go over events on the calendar and collect hours. Interact activities can help develop new relationships, connections, passions and communication skills in your community. Interact is also great to put onto your college applications or resumes.

FCA-(Fellowship of Christian athletes)

By: Jacob Hadley

Fellowship of Christian Athletes; (FCA) is a program available and targeted for athletes at HHIHS and is run by Ms. Emerick.

Ms. Emerick stated, “We like to do a variety of activities from playing games, to speakers, devotionals, and meeting as a group off campus for special events.” FCA is a diverse program with many activities and lets you get to know each other better. The program focuses on athletes but is not only limited to them.

Ms. Emerick elaborated on who is allowed to join and when the deadline is. “Anyone is welcome to join at any point in the year. We really do not have a deadline to join FCA. We focus on athletes but anyone is welcome to come.”

She later added, “We meet every Friday morning in the Media Center at 7:50 with chick fil a every third Friday.” She then states how popular the program has been in recent years. “We have about 50 people who will come out and join FCA year to year.” The program is open and welcoming, helping the numbers rise and she believes there could be more than any year this year.

Ms. Emerick seems to enjoy leading this program for students and encourages anyone who is interested to join them on Friday mornings. You can contact her for any questions on this program. Join up Seahawks!

DECA, The Business Club, Anyone Can Join!

by: Meghan Carrington

As many students decide which clubs to participate in, one club, DECA, is still free to join. DECA stands for Distributed Education Clubs of America. This business club is open for anyone to join at Hilton Head Island High School! There are many components to DECA that help prepare students for their next step in life, such as practicing financial habits. This club is advised by Mrs. Johnson and Dr. Choate every second Wednesday of the month. Though, many have questions about who, what, and why they should join.

DECA may be an intimidating name, however, Mrs. Johnson agreed to explain what this club actually is and who could be successful. She elucidated, “DECA is a business club that involves finance, marketing, hospitality and tourism, and business management.” She then explains what activities that occur regularly, “Students compete either in individual or team events. They take a test and perform in a role play. A situation is given to the student, and they have 10 minutes to solve it and then talk about their solution in an interview/role play type situation.” Mrs. Johnson described that this club would be great for anyone, but especially for students who are curious about business, investing, or hospitality. “In general, students who have a business curiosity, enjoy investing and learning about money, have thoughts of opening their own business, or enjoy the island's hospitality and tourism, and have worked in the industry and deal with the general public, and how to politely handle customers.”

As a DECA adviser, when asked what her favorite part was, she said, “Hearing about how the students did on their role play. It is such a great experience to be able to perform and be one on one with a professional.” Mrs. Johnson also assured that this club is great for shy students as well. She witnessed many “come out of their shell.”

DECA has many positives. Some students have even competed in exciting state level competitions. This club brings out confidence and passion. If one is interested, please see Mrs. Johnson or Dr. Choate to join in on the fun!

Theater club is a glimpse into humanity.

By: Jake ferguson and saraya graham

Ms. Guinn is the theater director and theater club advisor at HHIHS she says “I am originally from a tiny town in north Louisiana called Hanesville.” Ms. Guinn decided to become a theater teacher because she loves theater and it “gives glimpses into humanity and it shows the world around us.” Ms. Guinn and the theater club are putting on multiple shows this year including Little Women and Steel Magnolias. Ms. Guinn says, “she can tell so much about your life and the way you are based in the way you perform”. And that, “We act what we know.”

Ms. Guinn and the theater club are putting on multiple shows this year including Little Women and Steel Magnolias. She isn’t the first theater club advisor, but she said that she “expanded the club in a lot of ways like how the thespian society was here but it wasn’t very big and now my thespian society is running at 22 members and to join the thespian society you must have a total of 10 points plus 20 service hours for the theater department and out of school service hours”. For the upcoming shows she wants to do big things that test the limits such as, “I'm not only excited to purchase costumes but also designing and constructing our own costumes for the show.” And she is “also doing a full turntable stage and the top of the stage will turn.”

La Isla Club

By Angel Villeda, Angel Morales, and Angel Buzo

La Isla is a club for many students but mostly for Hispanic students to help them see that there are opportunities to go to college. The club works more with Hispanic students because there is large Hispanic population in the school. The name also means island to represent living on an island. The club helps students feel like they have a safe space. La Isla helps them with materials like essays and how to email a college. La Isla club is “trying to build community support” and trying to “promote diversity.” The advisor is Mr. Bonilla, a Spanish teacher from Costa Rica.

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