New Kids on the Block
NEIRAD enilno edition
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“Being a lunch loner is kinda sad, we want to stop that,” says sophomore Lauren Mazzoli, a transfer student from Plymouth, Michigan. Mazzoli says this remark on behalf of the most recent club to DHS, the Transfer Student Club. The name seems to explain it all; it is a club that gives people, who know very few at our school, a chance to meet others.
“The hardest part (of transferring to DHS) was not knowing anyone. That sucked!” George Moore says, who has recently moved here from a small town in England. “I can’t imagine how hard it would be to figure out where and how to sit down in that cafeteria and have a reasonably pleasant lunch,” guidance counselor Mrs. Kim Taylor says.
The club began with Mazzoli, Moore, Joy Meikle, Alex Minicucci, new sophomores to DHS this year. It had turned out that two days every rotation, all four of them, or the “Core Four” Mazzoli says jokingly, had the same lunch. On D-days and H-days they began having lunch with Mrs. Taylor in her room and somewhat of a club had formed.
They also decided that after school on Wednesday they would all go to Starbucks together. "The first step to building a community is finding a place to gather, and for us, that is Starbucks!" Meikle said. She transferred to DHS from Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school in Westtown, Pennsylvania. They began inviting people to join the Starbucks gatherings, including students that were not new to the school, and decided to make it an official club. They completed the necessary paperwork and the club was approved by Assistant Principal Ms. Donna Russo.
Although Mrs. Taylor had helped a great deal with the club, she chose not to be the faculty member of the club. Mazzoli, Moore, and Meikle decided to ask their English teacher, Ms. Jessica Ginsburg, if she would like the job. “I accepted wholeheartedly,” Ms. Ginsburg said, who is also the advisor for the Buddy System.
“I don't believe managing both clubs will be difficult,” Ms. Ginsburg said, “they both target the same thing: bringing all different members of the student population together in a fun and friendly way, building friendships with classmates you might not ever have the chance to know otherwise.”The members agree that the atmosphere of the club is perfect for any transfer student. "It gives me a good chance to socialize and make friends” Moore says. “I think this club is great for quickly making new friends to hang out with,” Mazzoli says.
New students to Darien High School should not be hesitant about this opportunity and should be sure to contact any of the “Core Four” to make the transition into our school as smooth as possible. For further information contact lmazzoli@darienps.org or jginsburg@darienps.org
Read new student Joy Meikle's editorial on the death penalty in the December print edition
