Leo Club Roars as membership soars

Leo Club gains attention and enjoys record-breaking membership this year.

Zahara Rahi, Autumn Newman, Carrington Goff, Kaylyn Huber, Molly Mclane, and Grace Bonello serve as the club leaders, with Ms. Thomas advising.

“I'd say around 50 new students joined," explained Thomas. "That increase is thanks to the efforts of our new batch of officers. If I had to guess, I'd say by the end of the year we will have 200 total members.”

Some of these "efforts" included Newman dressing up as a lion to spark attention at the Activity Fair.

"We have done a really great job of getting the word out in the school and advertising it to the student body,” Club President Zahara Rahi shared.

"We really wanted to be a club for every type of person to join," secretary and treasurer Autumn Newman shared.

This immense growth will help Leo Club to provide more service to the community. "The day after our first meeting all of our volunteering opportunities were full!“ Newman said.

"We have so many more opportunities that I'm crazy excited for," Rahi added. “We have a lot more connections within the community. Our name has become more established in the district."

Newman explained they will be volunteering at nursing homes and various activities throughout the community like the GRE Pumpkin Sale, and a blood drive. They want to bring back the recycling bins within the school as well. Officer Grace Bonello said they have reached out to Ohio House Rabbit Rescue as well.

"We really want to shine a light on the fact that volunteering is fun and beneficial in more ways than just for a college/job application,” Newman explained.

The leaders have set goals and made organization a priority. Officer Carrington Goff said they have organized weekly meetings and met over the summer to plan the year. "We were prepared and organized."

Successfully increasing club enrollment, the leaders created additional goals for the club. Newman explained they want students who aren't normally involved in clubs to join and "feel connected to their community," and they want to make Leo Club "a memorable aspect" of the high school experience.

"It's such a welcoming environment full of students of all different grade levels. The club itself provides its members with opportunities to gain volunteer hours, a chance for graduation chords, and just so happens to look great on college applications," Bonello explained.

Newman said, "Good things will always come out of helping others whether you know them or not. We hope to create an environment everyone will desire to be a part of."