Student Life: Clubs and Committees

CLUBS AND ACTIVITIES 2020-21

Student Committees

STUDENT FACULTY BOARD: SFB is the Student Government of the upper school. Members have the opportunity to work with fellow students and faculty to represent their grade and the school. We meet once a week to discuss changes that will benefit our community. The responsibilities of a student faculty board representative include contributing opinions to discussion, offering new business by communicating with their class, planning events and leading grade’s morning meetings. 

TASQUE: The mission of TASQUE (Teachers And Students for Quaker Understanding and Education) is to nurture the spiritual health of the community and stay true to the testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, service, and stewardship. We do this by being the keepers of the meeting house, facilitating discussion among students and faculty, helping organize Peace Week, Founders Day, Community Groups, Worship Buddies, and all Alternative Meeting for Worships. One of our goals over the past few years has been to increase student involvement in Quaker life at Friends by making sure that the Meeting House is a comfortable space for all. 

WATCH: In WATCH (We Are The Community Helpers), it is our goal to serve the FA community and beyond in various positive ways. In particular, we strive to participate in direct service activities to help organizations such as AHRC, SCO, Glen Cove Boys and Girls Club, Glen Cove Men's Shelter, North Shore INN, St. Patrick's food pantry, and Rock CAN Roll. It is our job to educate the Friends Academy community about local service opportunities. By giving time and energy to others, we hope that our members also recognize the reciprocal nature of service.

SUSTAINABILITY: The sustainability committee’s goal is to bring awareness of environmental issues that our world and community face. We hope to teach our community various ways they can make small changes in their everyday lives that will help the environment. Sustainability is a part of the Quaker “spices” and we believe it is important for everyone to recognize and help keep our environment and school clean for the next generation of students. 

DIVERSITY: The diversity club’s mission statement: “We, the Diversity Committee, believe that we are to unite and embrace students of all religions, races, genders, political beliefs, socio-economic levels and lifestyles. We feel it is a necessity to celebrate different cultures in an effort to enhance our community. We firmly believe that it is our duty to carry these principles within our community and throughout our society.” As a club, we raise money through fun events like the carnival, diversity grant fund dinner, and bake sales, for the Diversity Grant Fund, which provides funds for expenses and fees that are part of a student's educational experience (and is not covered by tuition or financial aid).

INKWELL: Inkwell is the school’s informative, student-run online newspaper. We are here to spread news about a wide-range of topics and do so in a way that is easily accessible to Friends Academy students. Whether it be news directly related to what is going on at FA, or news related to current events in the world, we are ultimately here to establish a connection between Friends Academy and the outside world. Furthermore, by creating this platform for students who are aspiring journalists or writers (or students who just want to be involved in the article-making process), everyone has the ability to be as creative as they want to be with the spreading of news to the FA community, which is a very valuable thing. 

Robotics: The robotics team works together to design, build, and code robots with the aim of participating in competitions during the school year. It is open to all students regardless of previous experience or skill in engineering. As part of the team, members are encouraged to contribute in whatever ways they so choose, whether that be by sketching ideas, problem solving, programming, building, or driving the robot. 
 

Student Clubs (student groups working with a particular student committee)

Asian Awareness Club: The purpose of this club is to establish a platform for students interested in Chinese culture to gain a deeper understanding. Throughout the year, we will host fundraisers, have group discussions about current Asian-related issues, and participate in hands-on activities.
Committee: Diversity

Black Student Alliance (BSA): BSA will strive to unite the black members of the Friends Academy community while simultaneously allowing people of all backgrounds to appreciate and learn about black culture, history, and injustice that happens not only in FA but the outside world as well. We hope to build a safe and welcoming space for black members of the Friends Academy community. We recognize that safety depends on respect and cultural competence from all people, and so we hope to create opportunities for people to learn cultural responsiveness. We hope that BSA will be a space where black students are affirmed in their racial identity. We hope to create a space to process the struggles that black people will experience as a result of their racial identity.
Committee: Diversity

Gnosis: GNOSIS works to create a published literary journal of student work by the end of the year, which helps promote student independence and engagement in the humanities and arts.
Committee: Inkwell

Hearing All Voices (HAV): This club is a casual, safe space for high school students to gather and have conversations about things that affect the lives of the individual or the student body as a whole. Students come to hold these important and open conversations over topics like, social identity, inclusion, mental health, communication skills, self-image, healthy coping mechanisms, dealing with forms of racism, sexism, homophobia, strengthening relationships with peers and faculty, how to deal with being targeted, how to get help if needed, advocating for oneself, etc...This club will work with its student and faculty advisors to make sure there are open channels of conversation between students and faculty about the things affecting our community and will communicate with their advisors the issued discussed in our meeting.
Committee: SFB

SAGA (Sexuality and Gender Awareness): We, the Sexuality and Gender Awareness Club believe that it is our duty to promote the respect and acceptance of all gender identities and sexual orientations within our Friends Academy Community and to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students, faculty, and staff members regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. Our mission is to cultivate greater awareness about and solidarity towards the LGBTQ+ community through education, advocacy, and social action. We strive to empower, uplift, honor, and respect our members. We are a safe space, and thus we honor confidentiality within our space.
Committee: Diversity

SOL (Student Organization of Latinos): A club to spread awareness of the many different heritages that people of hispanic descent come from. We plan to encourage intercultural exchange through events like sustained dialogues and through speaking our minds as it is a safe space for people who are interested in learning or sharing about these topics.
Committee: Diversity

 

Student Groups

Art for Activism: Art for Activism is a club centered around bringing social justice-oriented pieces of artwork (whether it be paintings, digital art, or photography, etc.) into the community’s line of focus in order to promote the pursuit of justice in all forms.

The Bone Marrow Foundation Club: The Bone Marrow Foundation Club at Friends Academy is a chapter of the Bone Marrow Foundation. The Bone Marrow & Cancer Foundation supports patients, their families and caregivers every step of the way during a cancer diagnosis or bone marrow, stem cell or cord blood transplant. Our goal is to raise money to send to the foundation so they can achieve their goals.

Chess Club/Chess Team: Chess club is for the wider chess community. Some players may choose to join the team where we compete against other schools. We teach chess to newcomers and help players become more advanced. Our mission is to teach the game of chess to all age groups and bring more people to the chess community.

Children’s Hospital Care Club: Our goal as a club is to make a child’s stay at the Cohen Children’s Medical Center as pleasant as possible. We host bake sales, fundraisers, and toy/clothing drives to raise money/necessary items for the Cohen Children’s Medical Center. This year, as we will not be able to go into the hospital to decorate for holidays, we would like to provide/send decorations.

Choose Your Charity: The purpose of our club is to explore and bring attention to local charities and give members of our club the opportunities to focus on selected charities of their choice. We plan on doing more hands-on activities that vary and are specific to each charity. By doing so, we can give back to our community by going beyond raising money and learning a variety of ways to give back.

Criminology Club: The Criminology Club is a club for students who were not able to join the forensic science class. We will be investigating crimes and breaking down the cases. 

Debate: The purpose of the debate club is to compete in Lincoln-Douglas debate tournaments hosted by LIFA and educate underclassmen on how to perform in those competitions.

FA Admissions Club: The Admission Club hosts open houses, gives tours, and provides support to new students through a buddy program. The mission of our club is to showcase students of all different aspects and interests to prospective students and families in order to give them a comprehensive view of our school during their application process.

FA Robotics Team: The robotics team works together to design, build, and code robots with the aim of participating in competitions during the school year. It is open to all students regardless of previous experience or skill in engineering. As part of the team, members are encouraged to contribute in whatever ways they choose, whether that be by sketching ideas, problem-solving, programming, building, or driving the robot.

FA Sunrise Club: Sunrise Club is a student run club here at Friends, that will help to support Sunrise Day Camp and Association. Sunrise Day Camp sends kids to camp who have cancer, along with their siblings, who otherwise couldn’t afford it. The goal of our club is to raise funds for the organization, have drives to collect things for children in the hospital, and make things like cards for children in the hospital.

FATV: FATV is the student run television station at FA that produces monthly episodes that highlight student life on an off campus. This club has been an outlet for students to express their interests in the Television and Production field.

Math Club: Our purpose is to spread our love of math through all divisions of the FA community. We also want to create a space for people who love math to pursue more complex topics and develop problem solving skills.

Model UN: Model UN is a club where students prepare statements about different issues from the POV of another country, modeling typical UN conferences. We hope to connect our community and teach our members the different functions of the UN and how to respectfully participate in debates.

Music Book Club: This club is a way for students to share their taste in music with other students and listen to other's favorites. We will listen to, talk about, and dive deep into all genres of music, from jazz to rap, to metal, to ambient, and much more!

POP (Pencils of Promise): Pencils of Promise is a non-profit organization that raises money to build schools and provides students and teachers with resources and support in areas around the globe which are underdeveloped and underprivileged. At FA, our main goals would be to raise awareness about areas around the world that lack proper education and how education can be an asset in helping these places develop and to raise funding so that we can assist in the building of schools and distribution of resources through the sale of bracelets, hats, pencils etc. Our goal at FA is to educate our community on the importance of education and show people how underdeveloped areas around the globe are in such need of proper education, which many of us take for granted every day.

Peer Tutoring: Students provide free tutoring in every subject to any student who wants it at FA.

Poetry Society: The Poetry Society is for any and all students who have or want to explore a passion for Poetry, Slam Poetry, Writing etc! It is a chill and fun environment for anyone to come and express
themselves through these creative outlets. We would meet and write, (about whatever!) connect, and have fun! It is generally a space to bond with people with similar interests.

Science Olympiad: We work to prepare our members for a Science Olympiad Competition, where we make teams to compete against local schools in a variety of science related subjects. Science Olympiad is a great way to have fun while learning about a subject you may not have otherwise known about! We are looking for people who are willing to learn, try new things, and have fun!

The Stock and Finance Club (Duck Pond Investment Group): The purpose of our club is to educate the students of FA on the basic fundamentals of the Stock Market and the financial sector. We look at stock simulations and apply basic economic principles to track returns and learn about global economics. It is our goal to prepare the youth of Friends Academy to become the leaders of the future business world.

Tournament Club: Tournament Club strives to raise school spirit while simultaneously raising money for The Safe Center LI. Our goal is to promote school-wide fellowship through friendly competition. Our members brainstorm possible ideas for school tournaments such as Student vs. Faculty games, 3v3 basketball tournaments, etc.

Trivia Club: The mission of the club is to train to participate in the New York A-Team contests.

Yearbook: The Yearbook allows students hands-on experience in planning, designing, and printing the Upper School yearbook.