With all the activities to do at CHS, there’s no doubt that everyone can find something to do that suits them. In addition to the many clubs and organizations provided by the staff, there are even more being offered this year. New clubs and organizations, such as Athletic Trainer Student Aide, Envirothon, and E-Sports have begun meetings for upcoming events for students to participate in. 

The Athletic Trainer Student Aide (ATSA) club was created for students to explore the roles and responsibilities of athletic trainers, sports medicine healthcare, and to assist the trainer at select sporting events. Junior Ava-Lynn Basolo came up with the idea for the club and with CHS’ partnership with Southern Illinois Healthcare (SIH), it was possible. SIH has assigned Greg McDaniels to be the CHS Athletic Trainer. With Mr. McDaniels attendance at all sporting events, students are able to shadow and assist him on real life athletic trainer duties. 

Junior Ava-Lynn Basolo says she had a club similar to this at her old school, “I have been in athletic training since my freshman year of high school and wanted to continue it here at CHS. In athletic training you are given the opportunity to learn sports medicine as well as get the chance to shadow the athletic trainer for CHS.” 

Basolo says ATSA is a great way to gain new friends not only in the club but also with the athletes at CHS. “I hope the club can develop more and flourish like it did at my old high school.” 

Another new club being offered this semester is Envirothon. According to Mrs. Zier, Envirothon is an environmental, natural resource conservation problem-solving, team building, leadership experience, and competition for high school students. 

The Envirothon team is preparing for a spring competition by learning about five content areas: Forestry, Wildlife, Aquatics, Soils, and Current Environmental Issues. The Envirothon team also completes training workshops conducted by local wildlife scientists from SIU and the Forest Service to help the team with wildlife species identification and forestry management techniques. 

Mrs. Zier, the sponsor of Envirothon, said “Our team is very talented and we are looking forward to representing CHS at the regional Envirothon competition.” The regional competition will be held in DuQuoin in March. 

In addition to these two new clubs, Mr. Coleman is now offering competitive gaming, E-Sports. Every Wednesday and Thursday, teams will compete in Rocket League, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, and Mario Kart. 

Squad Captain of Mario Kart, senior Brock Sisk says he is looking forward to “playing Mario Kart competitively. I love Mario Kart, and video games in general, but it’s really cool Mr. Coleman chose me to be team captain for the team.” Sisk says some of his roles as team captain include encouraging his teammates and giving them pointers to improve their game. 

Senior Makayla Ripley, captain of the Super Smash Bros team, states “being a leader in the team I am hoping to inspire the younger team members and even other students that may want to join next year.” Ripley wants everyone to know it’s okay to try new things and every member is there to help and teach them along the way. 

The E-Sports teams will compete every week and will have a chance to compete with other teams from different schools. They even have a chance to compete for a state title in the coming spring. 

While the same clubs are still being offered, there are several new things to do around CHS that shouldn’t go unnoticed. Activities such as the Athletic Trainer Student Aide club, Envirothon team, and E-Sports team are looking for new members all the time.