Spanish Club expands members’ knowledge on the Spanish culture and language no matter how advanced their level in the subject is. By being a member, the club can provide job opportunities and travel purposes, because who would not want to travel?

Spanish Club has very few participants due to a faulty previous year, said adviser Holly Ushiroda, but those who are a part of the club are very knowledgeable about the Spanish language and culture.  

Ushiroda joked that she has been studying Spanish for longer than the kids in the club have been alive, “I have been studying Spanish since the seventh grade, 93.”

Ushiroda is a passionate adviser who enjoys teaching her students. “Being able to explore the culture in ways that we can’t get to always in the classroom is pretty awesome for me,” she said. 

Junior Ashley Slaughter and sophomore Caitlyn Mcdole have been speaking Spanish since the eighth grade, where they began their study with Ushiroda as their teacher. Ushiroda said, “I would say for both Caitlyn and Ashley that they are in the intermediate range which is pretty good.”  

Learning a new language can be difficult but there are ways to improve it, such as, “watching shows that are heavily spoken in Spanish with English subtitles, or have Spanish subtitles with English language,” said Slaughter, who is in Spanish 4. “I know that helped sometimes for me.” 

Both Slaughter and Mcdole said they enjoy the family aspect of Spanish Club. The smaller the group, the easier it is to learn and connect better with others.

“ I like how small it is,” Slaughter said. “It’s not this big, overwhelming group, because I remember when I joined my freshman year, it was like 20-30 people here…I wasn’t able to connect or communicate with that many people inside of this club, because everybody went to different cliques, and I never was able to meet with any of the others.” 

Caitlyn agreed, saying the smaller group “makes us closer…This club is such a nice welcoming place. I really do love it.” 

Though the girls like the homey feel of Spanish Club, they are interested in having new participants join. The whole group emphasized this, by saying things like “this club is open to anyone, so join Spanish Club.”

Slaughter and Ushiroda said they hope to be more influential and successful this year. 

Their goal is “to expand upon the knowledge of the Spanish culture and language,” Slaughter said. Ushiroda added, “I would also say, to have fun and learn a little bit more about the culture while doing projects we don’t do in class.” 

The group is currently learning about the Day of the Dead and el Camino. The focus of the mid-October meeting was learning the Spanish language allows people to comprehend other Romance languages such as French, Italian, and Romanian, because they all have the same Latin root.

Spanish Club meets Wednesdays after school in Ushiroda’s room.