Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/96432
"For the most part, clubs are student-driven," explains VanderMeulen. Students can approach VanderMeulen any time during the semester with a club proposal, and he will work with them to find a faculty sponsor. It can be something as simple as a Bears fan club or ping pong club or something more involved, such as a politics club or service endeavor. "My assignment for them is to investigate whether other students would be interested in joining the club and coming up with ideas and concepts about what it will look like." While faculty sponsors support them, students are encouraged to take on leadership roles, collaborate with peers from different grades and determine the direction of their club activity. Often it is this sense of ownership over an activity that can make their club experience most rewarding, according to VanderMeulen. "Students can start a club based on a surfacelevel interest that can blossom into a passion that they end up pursuing for the rest of their time at Latin." Beyond Middle School For Ben Kersten '11, the interests he began to develop in sixth grade by joining his older brother in the Latin chapter of the Free the Children club continue to influence the choices he makes outside the classroom at Pomona College today. Kersten says he was immediately hooked by Free the Children's mission to alleviate childhood poverty and exploitation around the world by encouraging young people to take action. Through the middle school years, he was heavily involved in organizing events and fundraisers, including the very successful Free the Children Dodge Ball Tournament, which is now an annual tradition, as well as spreading the program's "children helping children" message at Latin. "Every time we were able to put up another update [on the club's fundraising poster], we knew exactly what was going to happen with the money," says Kersten. "We knew if it would be buying a goat to provide an alternative "Students can start a club based on a surface-level interest that can blossom into a passion that they end up pursuing for the rest of their time at Latin." source of income for a family, a package with healthcare or school supplies for a child, furniture for a classroom, a water purification system or even an entire school. It was exciting and truly gratifying to know that we could do something to make the world a better place for not just somebody else, but for a kid just like me who by chance didn't have access to the same quality of resources that I had." – Dave VanderMeulen In high school, Kersten not only took a leadership role in Free the Children in the upper school but also co-sponsored the middle school Free the Children Club with faculty members Mary Jo Houck and Jane Kelly and classmate Matt Weiss, expanding on the work he had been doing since sixth grade. While he is no longer involved with Free the Children in college, the commitment to making a difference has stuck with him in his work volunteering with kindergartners or for social justice causes. "What I have taken from Free the Children is a global perspective and the understanding that I can help others using the privileges I have been given in life," he says. For Kersten, and for others, the lessons learned during a middle school clubs period are becoming life-long endeavors. n Latin School of Chicago 21