Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD)

On Sept. 17, sophomore Noor Haideri led the first Students Against Destructive Decisions club meeting.

“SADD, or Students Against Destructive Decisions, [is] a national organization,” Haideri said. “I’m happy to say our chapter [is] the first in Kansas.”

SADD encourages students to make better life choices and participate in community service.

“I wanted to start this club to foster a better community at Blue Valley High and help people stay on the right track as they move through life and high school,” Haideri said. “As a side benefit, people can get their community service awards like the Presidential Gold, Silver and Bronze.”

Haideri said the process of starting a club was fairly basic.

“I had to reach out to different teachers and see if I could find a sponsor,” Haideri said. “After finding Mrs. Whitten, I reached out to Mrs. McNally and filled out a form. Then I had to register Blue Valley High as a chapter on SADD’s portal.”

Haideri is tentatively planning a wide variety of activities for SADD.

“We’re hoping to do [the] 100 Days of Action Virtual Race, which is where you count your steps on your phone, your smartwatch or manually — the more steps you take equals more money,” Haideri said. “We’re gonna do collaborations with other community service clubs like the Kay Club. We’re planning in November to do a free library at the feeder middle schools.”

Haideri has long-term ideas for the BV SADD chapter.

“My end goal is to create a club that will last for years after I leave BV,” Haideri said. “I want people to realize that this club truly helps people make better life decisions.”

Art and Design Club

Sophomores Jay Jarvis, Sara Bowden and Kate Mahoney collectively decided to start The Art and Design House.

“One of my friends had come up with the idea,” Mahoney said. “We all thought it was a really good idea.”

Before the first meeting Sept. 23, the club managers distributed forms to students who wanted to get involved.

“We gave out application forms to join that had some information we needed to know and then some [information] that was like ‘Why did you join? What do you want to do?’” Mahoney said.

For the club, they decided to use a unique way to store and present the information.

“I made a Notion, which is like a website for [the club],” Mahoney said.

So far, the club leaders have brainstormed several activity ideas.

“We have ideas planned for November, including sculpting,nature, photography, and lyric writing,” Mahoney said.

The club is created with a structure that creates a mellow atmosphere.

“Sometimes, we will play music in the background because we made a playlist everyone can add to or watch movies,” Mahoney said. “Most of it is relaxing work time.”

The club will implement a voting system to decide on activities.

“The club partly depends on what everyone wants to do — that’s why we have people vote on activities,” Mahoney said.

So far, the club has faced a few challenges.

“There’s a little bit [of difficulty] with trying to figure out ideas and [manage] money and materials,” Mahoney said. “We were supposed to be in the [Homecoming] parade, but for some reason we didn’t get in.”

Mahoney wants the club to be a space that’s nonchalant.

“I hope people just have a good time, enjoy it [and] have fun,” Mahoney said. “I hope over time it can be a [better] environment and comfortable space for everyone.”