Soccer and Art Club Canceled

Back in October, Mr. Owen, a teacher at Galileo who sponsors Art Club and soccer intramurals, said that D11 would only allow Art Club to be run online, instead of in-person as it usually is, and would not allow soccer intramurals to take place.

The district said that any sports or clubs that are normally in-person, were not allowed due to COVID-19. Most clubs need to run online in WebEx because of social distancing. Therefore, sports and clubs district-wide have been very limited. This has been very difficult for Mr. Owen, a father of two, a husband, and a teacher.

The Art Club started last year, in 2019, while Soccer started in 2013 (7 years ago).

Mr. Owen ran the Art Club with the help of Mr. Grantz, a choir teacher at Galileo last year. He offered to help again and Mr. Owen was grateful for that.

When Mr. Owen found out that the Art Club had to be online, he was disappointed because he did not want to run it way. This was because if he did it online there would be so many obstacles to work around such as materials, meeting times, technology issues, and extra communication. These discouraging factors led him to make the decision not to run an art club this year.

Mr. Owen found the Art Club to be more enjoyable with kids in his classroom with the ability to have access to whatever they needed or wanted. It made him very sad and he lost a lot of motivation when he found out that the Art Club had to be online, along with how soccer might not happen this year due to district mandates surrounding athletics.

Mr. Owen would love to do soccer & Art Club again, when they no longer have to be online and he does not have to worry about letting students down.

Other middle schools are allowing sports and he feels that the district is sending mixed messages about what's safe and not.

When asked about Soccer intramurals, Mr. Owen stated, ¨The only information I have is that the district will not be holding any club sports. This includes, softball, c-squad volleyball, golf and soccer. I have not heard anything else."

The Student View On Club Cancelations

Ian, a student at Galileo, misses the Art Club and wishes it would start again. Ian feels that it is kind of messed up and sad that Art Club won't be starting but he understood Mr. Owen's reasons for not starting Art Club. He knows Art Club requires a lot of physical contact to objects and materials. Art Club meant everything to Ian. He had fun drawing, and even made friends in art. Art Club motivated him and boosted his mood.

Ian says, “I'm not good at art but I still loved being in the club. I got to make my own choices and draw whatever I liked.”

Moises, another student at Galileo, feels like soccer is fun and that if soccer did start again, that it would be fine. Moises really enjoyed soccer. It made him a bit down when he heard Soccer Club would not start due to COVID-19. He believes once everything cools down then soccer could start again and he will rejoin, However, Moises is not too sure if his parents would let him.