Frisbee & Horticulture Clubs Just Some of the Activities Offered at Andrew Warde High School

I returned to Fairfield Warde High School with my younger son a few weeks ago for the Eighth-Grade Students and Parents Night, which was a welcoming session for next year's freshman class and their families. It was good to be back in the auditorium, and the school looks great.

Headmaster James Coyne greeted the parents and their somewhat-apprehensive middle school charges. He and the staff provided an overview of the curriculum, sports programs, activities, and clubs which are available to all the students. We were also given guided tours around the campus and visited many of the classrooms.

What really struck me was the wide variety of clubs --- both popular and obscure --- offered to the high schoolers. The Media Club immediately caught my eye. The students host a locally-produced television newscast a couple of mornings a week. Now that sounds like something I'd really enjoy. With the many different clubs featured in high school, there's no reason any student shouldn't be involved.



That got me thinking. What were some of the not-so-familiar clubs when we went to high school? After glancing through the Flame yearbook, it appears as though any type of interest was fair game for a Warde club.

Case in point: remember the Frisbee Club? The yearbook states, "Through much determination, a group of students turned a favorite American pastime into an Andrew Warde club. The Frisbee Club was formed at the beginning of the school year with its main objective being that the members enjoy themselves.

"Every activity period, this group would be in the courtyard throwing the saucer-shaped disc back and forth. The members learned skillful ways of throwing the frisbee, thus adding sport to the game. The club caused the frisbee craze to spread throughout the school so that by Spring everyone during their free time was throwing the frisbee."

If you had a green thumb, perhaps another first-year club during our senior year at Andrew Warde High School would have interested you. "The Horticulture Club, a newly formed organization, enjoyed much popularity during its first year. The members learned how to identify a wide variety of plants, while at the same time becoming green-thumbed experts in growing them.

"They also planned many projects which were followed through with considerable success. Their major project this year, for example, had the goal of celebrating the bicentennial. The club researched the agricultural products of colonial Americans, and then proceded to grow herbs of that period."

I'm sure that before long we'll be hearing about the iPod Club, the Nook e-reader Club, or the iTunes Club. Of course, none of those clubs would have been possible when we attended high school.

What clubs or activities were you involved in? I'd like to know. Just click on the "comments" tab below and share your thoughts with us.

Paul

Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.

Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.

Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film."