From robotics to hip-hop: Elementary schools offer wide range of clubs

Two decades ago, first-year teacher Amy Santini noticed how School of the Incarnation students often couldn’t wait for classes to end so club activities could start. Incarnation offered a science and chess club. Students enjoyed both – but there was a problem.

“There was always a disconnect,” Santini recalled. “No one was really ever managing things. Clubs were popular for a while, then they kind of dwindled.”

It took some time, but in 2019, Incarnation gave the job of revitalizing its after-school clubs to Santini, naming her auxiliary services coordinator. Three years later, Incarnation students now can choose from a whopping 33 clubs that stay active throughout the school year, including Lego League teams, coding and technology, and cooking. She supervises most of them.

Incarnation, located in Gambrills, is hardly unique. Archdiocesan schools feature an enticing menu of clubs that have grabbed students’ attention. Some examples: hip-hop dance at St. Mark School in Catonsville and robotics at several other schools.

St. Mark turned to Kristin Celano, of KC Dance & Fitness, to lead its hip-hop dance club for 15 kindergarten through third-grade members.

Celano, in her sixth year at St. Mark, divides the year into three eight-week sessions where dancers master a routine set to a song. The fall tune was Kerry Underwood’s “Champion.” This winter, it’s Chance the Rapper’s “See Me Fly.”

Celano, who also provides hip-hop dance classes at Resurrection-St. Paul School in Ellicott City and St. John the Evangelist School in Hydes, teaches freestyle walking, basic breakdancing and other beginner moves.

“It’s so much fun,” she said. “The kids get to be creative and make up their own styles as they walk across the floor. They can’t walk as they would normally walk.”

Hip-hop is one of 26 clubs St. Mark offers, which have become a big draw.

“When we have our open houses, (clubs) are really appealing to potential students and their families,” St. Mark Advancement Director Katie Stover explained. “They like having their kids involved and engaged in fun programs. … I’ve gotten emails saying, ‘One of the main reasons we came to your school is because you have these programs.’ ”

Incarnation sixth-grader Elizabeth Beach enjoys the challenge of preparing dishes herself as part of the school’s cooking club. The club meets two days each week, one day with fifth-graders alone, and the second with fifth- through seventh-graders. Beach’s group cooked pizza and ziti in the fall.

“Every other club you really can’t make stuff on your own,” Beach said. “People are helping you. In the cooking club, they just tell you what to do, then you do it.”

Santini sends out a survey in the school’s newsletter to gauge interest in how many students and parent volunteers might be interested in a particular club.

“It’s pretty much student- and family-driven,” Santini said. “It’s pretty flexible. Some years, we had people who wanted a chess club. Other years, like this year, they want more arts and crafts.”

Younger and older Incarnation students have embraced Lego League. Teams tackle a new building project each week, all STEM-oriented. Younger students built a windmill and an electric car. Older students’ assignments are more intricate, and they can compete in tournaments.

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