Clubs often reflect the true passions of students.
With the new schools comes new opportunities for students to enjoy their passions in an educational setting.
One such new opportunity at Memorial is Model United Nations (MUN). Tracey Roberson serves as the sponsor of the organization.
“The club simulates the United Nations system, where students act as delegates and ambassadors to debate current issues,” Roberson said. “The goal of MUN clubs is to help students develop skills in public speaking, research, writing and critical thinking, while also learning about the UN and global issues.”
This isn’t the first year Roberson has wanted to sponsor a Model UN club, but she felt the new schools presented the perfect chance.
“My plan was to start this club in Lawton while I was teaching there, but as fate would have it, I moved to Texas and here I am,” Roberson said. “The opening of the new schools gave me the opportunity to introduce a new club and hopefully engage willing minds.”
Roberson has lofty ambitions for where she sees the organization in the future.
“I want the Club to work like a well-oiled machine,” Roberson said. “I am sure there will be some difficulties in the beginning. But I believe that the students here at Memorial are up to the challenge. I want them to be engaged and ready to face the challenges within their school, community, as well as practice tackling global issues. My goals are to build a strong base and build a club that is sustainable and grows yearly. One that eventually is able to attend the Model UN Conference in New York.”
Even with a small first meeting, Model UN is determined to push forward.
“The first meeting was a little soft. Not many students were able to participate,” Roberson said. “It was a very busy week. We have set our agenda, and scheduled our follow-up meetings and we are ready to press forward. Big or small, we are ready.”
Roberson has been getting guidance from new and old faces alike.
“I contacted my high school in Illinois and spoke to their MUN sponsor, who happened to be a classmate of mine from the class of 1985,” Roberson said. “They encouraged me to start small and my only worry has been getting students involved. A positive is that the Model UN advisor from Midwestern State has contacted me and offered to guide me through the process. The students that have attended the meetings are excited, and I truly believe that this is going to be an amazing experience.”
Another new club at Memorial is the book club, sponsored by psychology teacher Lauren Taylor.
“I want to provide students with books and be in an environment where they’re safe to be themselves, to read what they want and discuss books as they wish,” Taylor said. “It’s more so me facilitating and then leading the conversation about the books that they’re reading.”
Not only is the club new to Memorial, but Taylor is new to sponsoring.
“I think the hard part was not knowing how anything works,” Taylor said. “With it being a new school, everyone’s minds are everywhere, so even though it’s my first time sponsoring, every club here, rather teachers have sponsored it before in the past or not, is like starting anew. Getting paperwork in and making sure I have everything in order has been difficult on top of everything else.”
One of the major issues with a book club is picking material that will appeal to a wide variety of readers. The club is reading a historical fiction novel “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak.
“The first book I picked myself, but I want to take their input and try to find books that are captivating,” Taylor said. “I do have some people in the club who are very one genre-oriented, so trying to pick books that are popular in their genre that I feel like the students will really appreciate, on top of them getting a say.”
For Taylor, reading is a way to escape the struggles of everyday life.
“For me personally, reading has sometimes been an outlet for stress, but also an opportunity for me to explore different situations and places,” Taylor said. “When I read I feel like I jump into the book and I’m in the place I’m reading about, so I feel like it’s taught me a lot about people. I think more than anything it puts you in a situation you’d probably never be in, and it’s a cool form of escape.”
While she is keeping their preferred genres in mind, Taylor hopes the club will give students the opportunity to branch out.
“My vision for the club is for students to be able to explore different genres of books and get out of their comfort zone,” Taylor said. “Also to have the opportunity to be in a community with other people who love to read, and I want to teach people to talk about what they read and have book discussions.”
