Sage Creek High School has dozens of clubs, but has never had a themeless one. Senior, Sean Cooke, has set out to create one with a mission to: include everyone, establish a comfortable and safe place for students, and create a feeling of community and inclusion.

“It’s a themeless club that creates an environment where everyone can feel like they are part of a group and associate with everyone in the room because that’s one of the basic needs that a person has in high school, to feel associated with people and in a group,” Cooke said.

Cooke started this club due to firsthand experiences from seventh grade where he wasn’t “part of a group” and he often felt excluded and isolated. He then met his Aviara Oaks Middle School drama teacher, Mrs. Emert, who changed everything.

She set a class standard that his drama class was a “family” and would treat everyone with respect and acceptance, both inside and outside of the classroom. This almost instantly expanded Cooke’s friend group, giving him people to rely on, talk to and hang out with.  His hopes for the club were to make it an environment similar to that of his middle school drama class where anyone was invited and included.

To this day, Cooke is still very inspired by Mrs. Emert and how hard she worked to make middle school as enjoyable as possible for her students.  He is trying to do the same thing here at Sage Creek because “it’s even more important in high school because it’s a lot more stressful.”

As high school students, we all share the burdens of homework, extracurriculars, and maintaining our social lives, but thanks to Cooke’s club, it makes it that much easier to create long-lasting relationships without fear of being excluded or judged.

Julia Zueck, an avid member of the club, simply enjoys spending time with the other members every Wednesday where they spend the lunch period planning fundraisers, dinners and other events. Her favorite event was the cook-out they hosted and she is looking forward to the next event that they have. For Zueck, the dinner was a way to “have fun with friends” while eating delicious food and brainstorming events and improvements for the club.

Jasmine Felix-Chan also enjoys the club events because it gives the members a chance to spend more time together ultimately leading to “becoming closer” as a club.

Senior Nathan Zaks talks about the club and the impact it has left on him as well as the Sage Creek community. Initially, Zaks joined because of his friendship with Cooke, however, he has made “better and newer friends through the club.”

What started as his Genius Project, has become something much bigger. Cooke wanted to make an impact on the Sage Creek community because he believed that school could be more enjoyable for everyone if they had people to talk or hang around with, since it is stressful enough on its own.

Currently, the club meets every Wednesday to discuss logistics such as keeping up with the Instagram (@sagecreekclub), fundraising ideas and planning future events as well as possible merchandise ideas.

Join the club if you want to make new relationships, participate in countless activities and host a variety of events throughout the year!