Yoga Club

According to usatoday.com, 27% of students say that they were extremely stressed out during school last year. It’s not a surprising statistic; stress management is often one of the most visible issues facing teenagers. However, two students may have found the solution: 2015 grad Emmanuel Hooper and Quincey Scholz ‘16 believe it lies in yoga.

“It’s really helpful to wake up in the morning and have a good day,” Scholz, founder of the new Yoga Club, said. “Every time I do yoga in the morning and then go to school I feel so awake, ready for school, and ready to learn.”

Yoga Club meets every Friday morning at 7:15 on the balcony of Opstad. Students and staff are welcome as participants or instructors.

“There are people I’ve asked to come and sponsor and instruct one of our meetings. Otherwise we just go in at 7:15, head up to Opstad,” Scholz said. “We follow one of the Youtube videos and relieve stress and just have fun.”

Political Awareness Club

A second club founded at City this year is Political Awareness Club. According to civicyouth.org, only 21.5% of young people ages 18-29 voted in the 2014 midterm elections. The biggest concern is that young adults don’t know how to vote or don’t think their vote matters. Founders Sonali Durham ‘16 and Laura Cornell ‘16 have a vision to make more students aware and interested in politics.

“This summer I was talking to Laura about how we would be able to vote in the 2016 presidential election and about how we weren’t as informed as we would like to be about either the candidates or the issues,” Durham said. “And we imagined a lot of other people were in the same situation.”

The girls were mainly concerned about the upcoming presidential election, but now that they have started the club, they plan to discuss local and regional political issues as well.

“I thought it was important to [start the club] because a lot of seniors are going to be able to vote next November, and I think people should become more informed,” Cornell said.

PAC meets every Tuesday morning at 7:30 in Mrs. Watson’s room (2305). They plan to have guest speakers come, such as members of the state legislature and city council nominees. They also plan to hold a voter registration drive this winter for the seniors who will be eligible to vote in the fall.

“I think that will be good because a lot of people might not know how to register to vote and so it will be a good impact on City,” Cornell said

Cornell feels that she has an obligation to educate students on the importance of political involvement in order to promote meaningful change in the community

“I think that if more young people vote then we have a chance to make a difference on the issues that we care about, and we have a chance to be more knowledgeable about our community,” Cornell said.