Clubs and Organizations
Clubs and organizations provide an opportunity to make new friends and develop self-confidence. You will broaden your cultural exposure, contribute to school and community life, and discover new interests and talents. Each year students create new clubs!
Accents
Do you love to dance? Accents was created in 1997 by Santa Catalina students to give advanced dancers the opportunity to expand their technique. Members of Accents choreograph and organize their own pieces. They frequently showcase dance numbers in ballet, lyrical, modern, jazz, hip-hop, tap and flamenco. Accents performs and competes with other high school dance groups/teams around the Monterey Peninsula. Accents and ecco! (the student-run a cappella group) collaborate in an original show each spring.
Admission Tour Guides & Class Guides
Do you love Catalina and want to share it with prospective families? Tour guides and class guides bring prospective students and parents to class, give campus tours, and help out with Admission events throughout the year. These students know the history of the school and, most importantly, what makes Catalina great. They are dynamic leaders, polished public speakers, and genuine, friendly girls. Tour guides and class guides are Catalina’s best ambassadors.
Amnesty International
Make your voice heard! Amnesty International is an organization founded to help free prisoners of conscience who are not given their rights according to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Through letter writing and the signing of petitions, Amnesty attempts to affirm that Declaration and tries to help raise social consciousness. Members of AI believe that every human being has basic rights, including the right to freedom of expression and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. They work to ensure that people around the world can exercise these human rights.
Back to Basics
Let’s get back to learning life’s basic lessons — and have fun! Members join together regularly to cook and sew, which are essential life skills to have. Many of the projects they work on are for various community organizations. Sewn pillowcases are donated to the pediatric wings at local hospitals and meals are made for the school community to enjoy together.
Big/Little Sisters
Big sisters help ease the transition into freshman year. Each freshman has a small group of seniors who will show her around campus, make her feel welcome and answer all of her questions about life as a Catalina student. Throughout the year, the little sisters will develop special friendships with their senior big sisters who look out for them as they find their places at Santa Catalina!
Catalinan (Yearbook)
If you really want to be involved in the spirit of Santa Catalina, apply to be a member of the yearbook staff. Whether you are interested in photography, editorial organization, layout design, proofreading, writing, typing, art, or even business, you should check out the opportunities that the yearbook has to offer. Students work from the beginning of school in September to make the yearbook the best it can be. The yearbook staff reveals the dedication and theme of the yearbook to the faculty and student body at a celebration dinner at the end of May.
Chamber Choir
Do you enjoy singing but don’t feel that you are ready for a large choir? If so, the Chamber Choir is for you. Members of the choir sing together at weekly masses in the Chapel. They practice songs once a week and the result is beautiful music for each weekly liturgy.
Community Service
While discovering a lot about yourself at Santa Catalina, you will find that it is equally important to reach beyond yourself and help those around you. One way to do this is to volunteer in the surrounding community. Each year students volunteer and serve the needs of Dorothy’s Kitchen, Meals on Wheels, Gateway Center for developmentally challenged adults, the Food Bank of Monterey County, and various service projects supporting nature and environmental causes at Monterey parks and beaches. Serving at all of these sites is extremely rewarding and offers a meaningful way to contribute to the community.
Community Service Club
This is a new club on campus that will work with our community
service coordinator to enhance and raise support for the school service programs. The club is continuing to grow and formulate its vision during this inaugural year. Get on board and be part of the formation of this club from the ground up! The 2009-10 year will include a special partnership with Pax Christi.
Dumbledore’s Army
Dumbledore’s Army is a club for Harry Potter enthusiasts. It organizes fun events for students with a magical twist. All members are sorted into one of the four Hogwarts houses. Activities include knitting house scarves, mastering materials from the movies and books, and playing Quidditch. Dumbledore’s Army has approximately 100 members and is one of the largest clubs on campus. “We solemnly swear we are up to no good…”
ecco!
ecco! is a student-run a cappella group. Auditions for new members are held at the beginning of each school year. Their repertoire contains a remarkable spread of musical genres, from “oldies” to pop and more. Once a year, they perform a joint concert with our dance troupe, Accents. Whenever possible, ecco! performs on– and off–campus. Check them out!
El Club de Español
El Club de Español provides an opportunity for students interested in Spanish to connect with others sharing similar interests, practice their language skills, and participate in cultural activities. Club members regularly have a conversation table during lunch at which they practice their Spanish conversational skills. Additionally, the club plans off-campus excursions related to the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries, such as eating at a Mexican restaurant or attending a performance at the Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista. The club also meets once monthly in the evenings during Café Mundi, a gathering of all students interested in language and culture.
Fashion Club
The Fashion Club is for students who share an interest in fashion
and the business of fashion. Students meet to discuss ideas about fashion and carry out activities associated with the fashion world. Currently, the students are working on articles for a fashion magazine that they will publish. The students also host visits from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM).
Fencing Club
En garde! The fencing club meets weekly with an instructor to learn the fundamentals of fencing. Santa Catalina has purchased fencing equipment and the club is looking forward to a successful future. In the past, they have demonstrated their outstanding skills at Assembly.
Fit Club
Fit Club promotes a healthy lifestyle and introduces students to a variety of fitness activities in the community. They do yoga, rock climbing, horseback riding, biking, running, swimming, pilates, and kickboxing. Their hope is that people will join them for a day of exercise, stress relief, and all-around fun!
French Club
The French Club meets on a monthly basis and also has a “speaking table” during lunch on Wednesdays. The students participate in outings to see films and recently viewed the biography of Coco Channel. They also hold immersion evenings at students’ homes and participate in community service activities during the year. Each year part of the community service includes cleaning a historic bronze plaque set in the courtyard of the Carmel Mission. The plaque commemorates the French expedition around the world led by Laperouse.
Geocachers
The Geocachers are part of a bigger international phenomena in which members play a high-tech adventure game using GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers – geocaches – in the outdoors and then share the experience with others. It’s a great way to work and collobarate as a team, use technology, enjoy the outdoors, and have fun!
Great Indulgences
Great Indulgences is a club for students who want extra culture in their lives. Club members meet to discuss great works of art, literature, and film that aren’t necessarily covered in students’ coursework. This year, the club kicked-off with a screening of Theodore Dreyer’s silent masterpiece, The Passion of Joan of Arc, and continued with a story by Flannery O’Connor and poems by Rainer Maria Rilke. Most works discussed have at least a loose connection to Catholicism, but the club welcomes people of all religious backgrounds and makes a point of indulging in “lighter fare” from time to time. They usually have club members’ own baked goods to enjoy as well!
Journey
Jump Outside Until Real Nature Experiences You! Journey seeks to get club members off-campus and into the outdoors to enjoy camping, hiking, kayaking, and more. They also take part in local community activities such as trail and beach clean-up events.
Knit Wits
Knit Wits is an on-campus knitting club of avid knitters. They love to share their skills and invite new members at any time. Many of their projects benefit the local community, including knitting blanket squares for hospitals and nursing homes and hats for premature babies.
Lamplighter (Student Newspaper)
Each year, student editors and writers produce seven issues of the Santa Catalina student newspaper, The Lamplighter. They report general school news as well as special news from each class level. The Lamplighter also includes local, national, and international news as it applies to students, editorials and opinion pieces, science and technology, entertainment, sports, and humor. All students are invited to apply for staff writer, photographer, and illustrator positions. There are places on the staff for everyone!
Model UN
Please see the description for the United Nations Student Alliance.
MOSAIC (Literary Magazine)
MOSAIC includes poems, short stories, drawings, and photographs created by students (and on occasion, faculty). Throughout the year, the editorial staff collects submissions and reviews them to determine which to publish. These works are compiled in a book that is printed and bound. The end result is always impressive!
Operation Smile
Operation Smile is a national organization dedicated to providing reconstructive surgery and related health care to children and young adults in developing countries and the United States. Members sell baked goods, speak in assembly, and offer collections for this cause. If you are interested in helping people with facial deformities attain proper and necessary surgery, please sign up and help!
Pax Christi
This club is affiliated with Pax Christi USA, which is a section of Pax Christi International, the Catholic peace movement (--all are welcome, not just Catholics!). Pax Christi commits itself to peace education and works towards a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world. This club also helps to sponsor the annual “24-Hour Food Fast” to challenge world hunger by raising money for Catholic Relief Services, the official overseas relief and development agency of the United States Catholic Community.
Peace & Justice Club
The Peace and Justice Club was founded in the fall of 2001. It serves as an umbrella organization for five distinctive social action clubs on campus. We utilize well-established agencies to fulfill our mission: The United Nations Association; Pax Christi; Amnesty International; Catholic Relief Services; and other non-profit organizations that share our concern for environmental, economic, and social justice. Our groups meet together and work together because we have common interests. When we share our vision, our energy, and our support with one another, we accomplish far more than what any of the groups (or individuals!) could do alone. We also have more fun. We welcome you to join us!
PEMDAS (Math Club)
The purpose of the Math Club is to provide students with opportunities to extend their interest in mathematics and to provide a peer tutorial service to all Catalina students. Members of the club have the opportunity to participate in regular meetings which often involve solving puzzling math problems, helping organize activities to celebrate mathematics throughout the year, participating in California Math League contests held on campus each month, serving as peer math tutors, and taking part in problem-solving sessions in preparation for the Monterey County Mathletics Competition held in May. All students are welcome to join the Math Club, but are expected to be active members by attending regular meetings and participating in activities.
R4 (Reduce, Reuse, Recyle, Restore)
R4 is Santa Catalina’s Environmental Club. Our goal is to educate students and other members of the community about the serious challenges that face our environment and what we can do to help create the positive change that is essential for our planet. We are in the process of revolutionizing our recycling program on campus, curbing our energy use, and growing some of our own food in our beautiful new garden. We work with faculty, staff, and administration to make our campus more environmentally sustainable for the 21st century. In addition, R4 members help to plan special activities for Earth Day to raise awareness of these issues.
Reverb
Reverb is a club for students interested in singing, songwriting, and playing different musical instruments. Students meet to share their songs and skills, and work together to improve upon their work and performances. Ultimately, the students in this club perform an impressive show for their friends and family listen to their songs.
Santa Catalina Children’s Fund
For the past 24 years, Santa Catalina students, administrators, faculty, and staff have supported needy children from around the world through the Santa Catalina Children’s Fund. Through three agencies, Childfund (formerly Christian Children’s Fund), S.O.S. Children’s Villages, and The Sisters of Charity, the SCC Fund supports children in many underdeveloped countries and areas across the United States. Their monthly support provides nutritious food, schooling, medical care, and other community services. Whenever possible, they try to do more for these children. In recent years, they have supported several Zuni children in New Mexico as well as students in a Catholic school in Tanzania.
Scuba Club
The Scuba Club is devoted to the exploration and conservation of the submarine environment. The club meets to discuss diving and diving technologies. As a group, they work on beach clean-ups and watch diving-related movies. They also work to support students involvement in scuba, identify local diving opportunities, and promote future training opportunitie because divers are often life-long learners. They also look at diving physiology and tour a local hyperbaric chamber.
Senior Prefects
Prefects at Santa Catalina serve as strong role models for their fellow students. They have a unique opportunity to help mold the Santa Catalina community. Prefects help supervise study hours, sort mail, and are responsible for dinner check-in and the supervision of chapel singing. Additionally, they help Residential Faculty maintain the well-being of the dorms. As strong leaders, prefects help foster an environment where fairness and kindness are valued among students.
Student-Alumnae Organization (STAR)
All three components of this organization enable girls to volunteer on behalf of Santa Catalina. Ushers are needed throughout the year for all of Catalina’s events and shows in the Performing Arts Center. Members of the Reunion Committee help prepare for and act as hostesses at the annual Alumnae Reunion Weekend. Tour guides serve as guides for campus visitors and prospective students and are the first link a new student has to Santa Catalina. The heads of this committee attend meetings of the Alumnae Association Board of Directors. STAR, overall, is a great way to be involved and to show your school spirit!
Student-Faculty Senate
Are you interested in developing leadership skills? Do you have good ideas? Are you a good motivator? If so, you will probably want to run for a Senate office. Elected class officers or representatives lead weekly class meetings, help plan major events, and much more. These officers are the backbone of the Senate (and of the student body). Faculty serve as advisors and mentors for Senate members and are instrumental as links between students and the administrative team. If you want to become an effective force in school life, then Senate may be for you!
Tokyo Drift
Tokyo Drift is a Japanese club established in 2008. Their primary purpose is to inform Santa Catalina students of the richness of the Japanese language and culture. Students learn basic conversations and watch Japanese films in order to experience Japanese culture. Currently, there are about 30 students in this club, and meetings are held every Friday. The club’s goal is to establish a pen-pal system with students in Japan.
United Nations Student Alliance
This club works with the United Nations Association of the USA to broaden and deepen an understanding of the UN system and to promote efforts that advance the goals of the UN Charter through education and advocacy. UNA-USA consistently examines new global challenges with a determined sense of hope and opportunity. Student Alliance is a forum through which students take part in this examination and are presented with the opportunity to act as informed global citizens. They also work to encourage public support for strong US leadership in the UN. The club networks with the Monterey Bay chapter of the UNA-USA, the second largest chapter in the nation, and encourages students to participate in major local events sponsored by this group.
