How I Joined the Spanish Club

When I was a Sophomore in high school, I took Spanish for the first time. My teacher was a really nice, young woman who was very enthusiastic about her subject... I was just in it to get my foreign language requirement for graduation.

My best friend and I were in Spanish together and took pretty well to it, we just seemed to "get it" where the rest of the class struggled. My teacher had made mention of the Spanish Club during our class in hopes that some of the Spanish I students might be interested, but none of us were. After all, who would want to join a failing academic club that had nothing to do with anything you were really interested? I admired her effort, but I had no interest at all.

About the second or third week of school, Brian and I got wind of an Anime club showing during lunch in the foreign language hall. We made our way down the hall and looked in each of the rooms trying to find it when our Spanish teacher saw us. "Can I help you guys find something?" she asked.

"We're looking for the Spanish Club." I said, accidentally saying Spanish when seeing her changed my train of thought. She immediately looked really excited and said, "It's just down this way! I'm so glad you two decided to come!" while I corrected her, "Oh... I mean Anime Club."

She suddenly looked really disappointed but showed us where to find the Anime Club. We joined the kids in the French room to watch whatever anime it's self-appointed president had brought with him before realizing his choice in anime sucked.

I turned to Brian and told him that I felt really bad for getting Mrs. Pope so excited and then correcting my mistake. "Maybe we could just go to one meeting..." I said, "Just to make up for it and give them members for at least one meeting?"

So we went - with no intention of ever going again. Mrs. Pope was glad to see us, and the upperclassmen (there were probably five members before we showed up) were glad to have us too. I don't even know how it happened, but we decided to keep going back.

It turned out to be a lot of fun and from then on, Brian and I went every week and really helped turn the club around. It never did much for members, but we had a LOT of fun the two years I was in it :)

I ended up lettering in Spanish Club and probably would have been in club leadership my senior year if the "Global Club" hadn't formed to zap the membership of the Spanish Club.... but that's a story for another day....