Electives: a fundamental part of a student’s personalized high-school career. From STEM electives to art to law-based classes, these interests can make or break the experience of many students.
However, what would happen if an elective was not an available choice for Malden High students? Collaboratively, students can come together and form a club, creating a passion project for many other students alike. For juniors Emma Yu and Sophia Chen, this was a case similar to their story. As a result, they recruited Yasmina Goucem and Ann Nguyen, who are both juniors, forming MHS’s Baking Club.
“We really wanted to create a club that helped people learn culinary skills, which the school doesn’t really provide,” Nguyen stated.
From a small passion for food and baking, the club originated as a place to work together with friends and students with very similar mindsets.
“Originally, Emma and I wanted to create a fun club in our sophomore year. We decided to co-found Baking Club because we both loved food and wanted to share that experience with everyone,” explained Chen.
Additionally, Goucem elaborated on how they “initially planned to have this start during our sophomore year,” but because they needed Principal Chris Mastrangelo’s approval in utilizing the school’s kitchen for their projects, this set back the club’s launch.
As the club developed, their initial “want” of the club’s advisory board in having fun advanced into an aim of being able to create many pastries for themselves and the school through bake sales.
In addition, the club hopes they can ultimately complete their goal of creating “a fun and enjoyable atmosphere for all,” as described by Chen. Despite their aim of having fun, the club also strives to ensure that its environment is a good balance of safety and joy.
Although the club had only recently started, the members were met with great enthusiasm and engagement by the students of Malden High. Chen described how she thought “Baking Club was going to be a small club,” which Nguyen noted how, during the club fair, they “had almost 80 people interested.”
Given the anticipation of having roughly 80 students join, this was met with some pressure on the leaders. Goucem expressed how “a lot of people seem interested in participating,” which is the objective of the club, and how they “hope that every interested student will get the opportunity to bake and have fun through this club.”
As the club expands and makes a mark in the school’s notable clubs, their Instagram can be found here, and joining Google Classroom (mbkv6pqv) provides more information.
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