Students creating new, personalized clubs at school is nothing new. The process is relatively simple; all one has to do is talk to the activities director, Mr. Scott Harris, and get a mere ten signatures to be granted one.
This is precisely what juniors Glennon Parks and James McCann did when they created the hacky sack club.
“I’m the one who took the initiative to actually talk to Mr. Harris, but it was more of a group effort,” said Parks. “James is the one who thought of the actual idea.”
The idea of the hacky sack club originated last year when McCann was in his Algebra II class.
“Last year [alumnus] Nick Gallagher would always bring his hacky sack to Algebra II,” said McCann. “Nick, Brian [Paur], and I would play after we finished our work and it kind of became a routine of ours.”
That was how McCann was introduced to the activity of hacky sack. Later, throughout the summer, once he and Parks began regularly playing hacky sack together, the idea was born.
“I wanted to make this club because hacky sack is a lot of fun,” said McCann. “Also, a lot of teachers and principals don’t like people playing hacky sack, so we thought of it as a little stab at ‘the man’.”
The hacky sack club meets every Wed. after school until around 3:30 outside of Mrs. Barbara Riti’s room. With an average of about 14 members the club has been steadily growing.
“We are always accepting new members,” said Parks. “My goal is to make [the club] bigger than the baseball team.”
The hacky sack club is new, but contains potential.
“We’ve been loud and proud for about a month now,” said Parks. “Nothing can stop us now.”