Clubs 

Spike Ball Club Continues at the nest

By: Holly Heines 

Blake Hager is the President of Spike Ball Club at Hilton Head High School. He began the club during his Junior year. Mr. Willard is the sponsor of the club. Diego Nocobe, Connor Flood, and Tyler Bennett help Blake run the club. Blake’s favorite part about the club is that it helps bring everyone together by playing a fun game, and it gives friends something fun to do after school. Blake and his friends have some plans to improve the club this year, like making the activity more competitive. Blake hopes to get other schools involved and make Spike Ball tournaments with other Spike Ball teams. Practices for Spike Ball Club are usually held at the beach, but sometimes they practice at the Swamp field since it is so close to the school. Blake has a lot of fun running the club with friends and is very excited for what is next to come for the club and growing it in the future. 

ROBOTS TAKE OVER THE NEST 

BY: KIMBERLY VALLADARAS 

HHIHS has a robotics club called Beach-botics. Mr. Best runs the club and Ethan Ascencion is the president of the robotics club this year. Ethan joined the robotics club his freshman year. Mr. Best says, “what we do is we build our robots, and we are trying to build our competition team this year. The most important factors are engineering design. We have to program the robots, and then we have a strategy on trying to decide how they compete in the game. There is a lot of teamwork and collaboration because working with others is a big part of robotics.”

Before joining the robotics club, students are curious about what actually happens. Ethan said, “so as of now we are just building the robots so that way we are more familiar with them, because we are having three competition practices this year and we are just trying to get familiar with it.”

Mr. Best said, “we meet each week on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5 and we have other days that they can come in. We have these robotic kits that are fully completed by each student and their group of friends. So they build a robot, and they take those robots to the pacer to test them out and see if they are good enough. If they are then we probably will get them to do the competition.” Robotics competitions are fast approaching. Mr. Best said “we are going have our first competition against John Paul and if we do well on that one we will qualify for the regionals, which would be up in Charleston. If we do well in Charleston we can qualify for states in Columbia. After Columbia we could qualify for the nationals, which are in Texas.”

HHIHS is unique because not every high school has a robotics team. Mr. Best said, “in Beaufort County there are currently two high schools that compete, but we are trying to get two more schools to join us. HHIHS and Beaufort are the only ones currently that have a team.”

There is one thing that is interesting that happened last year in 2021, which were the battle bots. Mr. Best said, “well last year we got a grant and we were able to get ten small robots. They are ones that the kids can build, but they are more maneuverable that competition bots, so what we are able to do is run a small competition. They don’t have to know how to program or anything, but what they'll be learning is how to manipulate the robots, and so if they want to take the next step. Battle bots is competition we are going to do during lunches. We are going to have a big ladder bracket for kids who play each other, and if they win they go on the next round. We will narrow it down over the course of three weeks. It should be pretty fun.”

Robotics is a lot of fun and teaches skills like problem solving, collaboration, and critical thinking. HHIHS is lucky to be one of the few high schools in the area to have a robotics team.

Spanish NHS: Improve Your Spanish

by: Norma Velez

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world which also makes it the third most commonly used language on the internet, following English and Chinese. As the Spanish speaking language becomes more popular and used, the necessity of learning the language has risen as the years go by, learning a second language is very beneficial as you can translate for others or simply build conversations with other people. Being bilingual can also help for personal matters such as visiting a foreign country or improving your job opportunities.

In Hilton Head Island High School, Ms. Gerner is the organizer for the Spanish National Honor Society, followed by student presidents who lead the other members in the club. Ms. Gerner states, “The two club presidents Laurel Hawkins and Fatima Lagunas run the meetings, but I facilitate the place.” Clubs run differently worldwide, some clubs are run by the teacher who runs the club or like in this case, the club is run by student presidents who have shown outstanding leadership and performance.

In any national honor society club, students must have certain requirements in order to join. The Spanish National Honor Society is no different. “Students need to take Spanish 1-3, have A’s and B’s and have a 3.5 GPA to be considered into the national honor society for Spanish. If they are right now currently in Spanish 3 and got invited, it’s because they are going to IB next semester to continue their Spanish speaking skills,” aid by Ms. Gerner 

Ms. Gerner continues, “The two presidents are the two main people who send the invitations. From there, students join the Google Classroom and come to the meetings. The students meet every first Monday of the month in my classroom.” Joining the club is optional but it is a very good opportunity for those who want to expand their knowledge and speaking skills with the Spanish speaking language. Learning a second language is always a beneficial and helping skill.

Helping students in need, having meetings to discuss future plans, and strengthening their speaking and writing skills is not all the club members do.” Students do community service, they have done it in the past. Yet because of the pandemic we were limited last year on doing events but this year we have many activities we wanted to do to have more opportunities for the community and be to be more involved.” Ms. Gerner states.

There are many events the club members want to do. “Some future events are for students to go after school while helping Spanish speaking families with tutoring and also the club has thought of volunteering on the Bluffton Christmas Parade by giving candy and singing songs. Another big event for students to participate in is Hispanic Heritage month, it is an important event that gets celebrated every year.” Ms. Gerner states that the students are always willing to help others in need and won't hesitate to take up any new challenges.

The Club that Can Throw Your Fears of Socializing Out the Window 

by: Norma Velez

The Beta Club is an organization that gives students the opportunity to showcase their academic achievements, leadership skills, and their character. Students have to meet certain requirements in order to be recommended and invited to join this club; however, every school has their own requirements depending on the teacher who organizes the club. In Hilton Head Island High school, the instructor who is in charge of Beta Club is Mr. Dumais who is in room C108. His requirements are simple and straightforward. In the club, students are encouraged to participate in social activities and be heavily involved with the community. 

Mr. Dumais states that students must meet the requirements and are encouraged to join if they get invited. “Students can get service hours by helping the community or the school. Students have a good GPA which in this case is a 3.75. Students mostly just do service projects.” Service projects are a very good opportunity for students to get involved with the school or community by increasing social awareness and responsibility. It can also make students feel good about themselves as they get the opportunity to help others in need which can give them an opportunity to ease any emotions of stress.

Beta Club has its similarities with the National Honor Society. Both give the opportunity for students to be heavily involved with the community. “I would like to say that these both cubs have some similarities. This is my first year in Beta club so my process is a bit different but we are still following the example the previous teacher had left. This semester we’re just setting things up and the next semester it's when we actually start initiating it. Both are definitely similar, I think a difference would be the expectations and requirements.” Mr. Dumais states.

Unlike other clubs that are full of meetings during lunch, after school, or meetings once a month, the Beta club is moving slowly but surely as their meetings have only just begun. Mr. Dumais confirms, “As of now, meetings haven’t been fully scheduled; however, our first meeting I had initially planned will be on December 6th. The goal is to decide the members who meet the requirements in October and then send invitations. Then in November we’re going to have our introducing ceremony for the members. In the second semester we will try to make a welcome back ceremony for returning members.”

Mr. Dumais continues, “As of right now, there are no major current events only because I'm still new to leading Beta Club. Events will mostly begin next semester when everyone is here and active. We plan to have a service project every month to get the members involved.”

“From what I've been working on, I think some of the benefits is getting out there into the community, it creates good social skills with others, and kind of involves students with volunteering. If students do these activities it might lead to opportunities, and it’s also really nice because students get to meet new people out there.” Mr. Dumais states. Like other clubs, Beta Club has its own benefits. Aside from gaining social awareness, students can also improve their skills as being leaders, improving their teamwork skills 

Unfortunately, the Beta club is only accepting mostly the upperclassmen, but the lowerclassmen will have a chance to participate if they are invited. Mr. Dumais said, “Right now it is only available for sophomores, juniors, and seniors in the first semester; however, for the second semester any freshman that is interested and has reached the requirements is allowed to join. So we might have another welcoming ceremony for the new members or any other students that couldn’t sign up during the first semester. We’re pretty much just continuing the plan that the previous teacher had done.”