A new addition to the list of clubs has been added to MACES, the Write On club. This club is about guiding students to learn how to use writing as an outlet to release their thoughts and problems. The club was introduced during Club Rush on September 19. Meetings will take place on Mondays, in room 5-309, the club advisor’s class, Ms. Barrios, who strongly believes that writing can be therapeutic.
“Writing calms you down, lets you express yourself and relieves stress. I think writing is a good practice and tool to reflect on your daily actions and serves as a way to create self awareness and empathy to yourself and others,” Ms. Barrios said.
The idea of creating this club belongs to senior, Natalie Garcia. She wanted to form a club that could give her peers a safe space to express their thoughts and have less stress from anything going on in their personal lives. Since this is her last year, Garcia wanted to leave behind a mark that represents her interest in the well-being of her schoolmates.
“I believe it’s a great idea to have a club that can allow students to freely express their emotions and use writing to vent their problems,” said secretary of the club, senior, Ilette Gutierrez. She believes that self reflection is of high importance and writing could be a helpful device for students to engage in it. Gutierrez also claims that writing can allow students to organize their thoughts and ideas, which is very beneficial specifically for high schoolers who need to balance their time between school, extracurricular activities, and their personal life.
“I really like it since it’s really unique compared to other clubs, it’s one of the first clubs to actually focus on mental health and I really like that it’s very personal. We get a journal to write in, and you can keep what you write to yourself, there’s no stress in turning anything in or having another workload, it’s just to keep you distracted from any other stuff going on in your life,” Gutierrez said.
Overall, the club’s purpose is to assist students in their mental health and simultaneously improve the way they express their ideas through writing.
