From Apr. 12 to 16, this year’s Spring Preview Week was held virtually. Presented by ASB, this event was available to all grade levels for information on clubs, academic teams, sports, performing arts, and more. For those who attended, there were informational meetings for sports, performing arts groups, academic teams, clubs, and classes. These organizations had the opportunity to host live meetings for students and parents to learn and freely ask any questions. 

On Apr. 12, the website was launched with further information and links to navigate the available live meetings which took place from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. With the hope to help both current and incoming students to familiarize themselves with what the high school has to offer, read more to find out about some clubs and organizations that were present at this event.

“Standing for leadership, experience, and opportunity, LEO Club encourages youth of the rising generation to develop leadership qualities by participating in social service activities. With school returning in April, we still plan to hold our meetings virtually, but will most likely return to holding our Friday club meetings at the CTE Building during lunch once we return to campus for the next academic school year,” said senior Elena Chan, president of LEO Club.

As one of the largest service organizations globally, LEO Club is a volunteering youth organization of Lions Club International that works on volunteer events in the community and greater Los Angeles area. Amid their many service events, they also have projects during their Friday club meetings and partner with the regional District 4L2 LEO Club for opportunities. 

Additionally, next year there will be a new merging of the Campus Environmentalist Club, Green Team, and Student Sierra Club to create the EverGreen Club. 

“We hope to take the opportunity in Spring Preview to introduce the new merged club to more future Arcadia students. Interested individuals can attend our live meeting and look through our Google Photos album for a peek at what it’s like being an EverGreen member: partnerships with Heal the Bay and Amigos de Los Rios, upcycling projects, volunteer opportunities at the Los Angeles County Arboretum’s annual Los Angeles Environmental Education Fair (LAEEF), and even extra credit opportunities for APES. More information will be updated on our Instagram page @evergreenarcadia; we look forward to meeting future environmentalists!” said senior Tiffany Zhuo, president of Campus Environmentalist Club.

As another school favorite, the Coding Club posted on social media for updates on the Spring Preview. 

“This year, Spring Preview is completely virtual so Coding Club has submitted a description of what we do, a sign up form, our website link, a 30-second video, and a link to our informational meeting. Coding Club is also going to be posting a flyer on social media to promote Spring Preview,” said senior Rachel Loh, president of the Coding Club.

On the other hand, Designation Club, a club for graphic design, provides short and easy lessons on programs including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Google Slides, and Photopea while there are new opportunities each year, as well as collaborations with other organizations and clubs. 

“Throughout a regular school year, our club would host outside workshops in local public libraries to teach children and middle schoolers the importance of graphic design and the basic elements of design with fun activities on the computer and on paper. For Spring Preview, our Historian, Kyrene Tam, created an animation to promote Designation Club using Adobe After Effects. While the animation is only 15 seconds, Kyrene added various images from club meetings and volunteer workshops that were taken over the years to provide a short introduction of our club. We hope you and your friends check out Designation Club next year during Clubs Week!” said senior Yenah Lee, president of Designation Club.

As we all know, Arcadia Color Guard is known for their show-stopping performances every year! Like some other groups including the Latino Student Union and AHS Marching Band, Color Guard had their informational meeting on Apr. 16 from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. 

“The other day, the Color Guard captains visited the Foothills Drill Team Zoom practice where we played our promotional video and talked a little bit about color guard. We’ve sent the promotional video to the middle school social medias, and we are individually contacting members of the middle school drill teams about our informational meeting. We are holding tryouts on May 11th to 13th! Usually, we visit the middle schools during lunch to spin and hand out flyers, so we are doing our best to improvise and adapt to ensure that we still have a full team next year!” said junior Kate Fletcher, one of the Color Guard captains. 

Orchestra had their meeting on Apr. 16. With other fun aspects to see during the session, there were folders on Google Drive with photos from past events like their Florida tour and exciting concerts for students to get to know more about what would happen in a regular school year. 

“The publicity team created a recruitment video for 8th graders to view! It covers different aspects of orchestra such as the friends students make and the music, and there are also student testimonials, so we can connect with the audience better. There’s also going to be a live session with the directors and some current students that the incoming freshman can join. Our goal is to give the people interested in orchestra insight on what it’s like to be a part of the orchestra family!” said senior Jocelyn Chin, the orchestra public relations senior. 

On Apr. 12 at 3:00 p.m the Science Olympiad team joined the Spring Preview event to share more about themselves. For those that don’t know, Science Olympiad is a competition with 23 events on all topics of science including biology, chemistry, physics, lab, and more. 

“We’re holding tryouts for the 21-22 season soon and will be having a question answer session. You can find more information on our website and fill out the interest form. We’ve also opened up our application form. Be sure to follow the Arcadia Science Olympiad Instagram and save our website link to stay updated,” said junior Sonia Zhang. 

For a quick rundown, Monday included Boys Volleyball, Science Olympiad, Arcadia Esports, Red Cross Club, Taiwanese Appreciation Club, Girls Volleyball, Coding Club, Physics Team, Business Management, Girls and Boys Golf, and College and Career Counseling. 

Tuesday was designated for The Arcadia Quill, USABO Club, AHS Badminton, My Friend and I, Engineering Design Pathway, and Computer Science Classes.

On Wednesday, students could log into meetings for Science Bowl, Academic Decathlon, EverGreen Club, Engineering Design and Development, Key Club, Social Science Department, and Medical Healthcare/Sports Med. 

Thursday meetings involved AHS Choir, Affinity for Animals, Kare 4 Kids, Music Makes Miracles, Arcadia Stage Theatre Company, and LEO Club.

Lastly, on Friday there was the Food Science Club, Students Promoting Literacy, Applied Engineering, Color Guard, Latino Student Union, AHS Marching Band, and Arcadia HS Orchestras.

All in all, even with the online format the event had a great turnout for each club, organization, team, sport, etc. to showcase what their group is all about! For those who want to reference the different groups who participated, make sure to check out the Spring Preview website which has some information and videos for you to view.

Graphic courtesy of AHS ASB