Editor’s Note: This is the seventh in a series of 10 features about clubs at West.
Many students believe they can’t join other cultural clubs because of they are a different nationality. You won’t see Japanese students signing up for Israeli club or a Greek student signing up for Assyrian club. This was the same problem Middle Eastern club had.
It took three years of effort for alumni Aisha Khaleel and Natalie Massih to create the club. They believed that since there was not a club for all the Middle Eastern countries such as Jordanian club, or Iraqi club and so on, there should at least be a club where people from all the Middle Eastern countries could bond with others similar to them and to encourage everyone to be united. Students that aren’t Middle Eastern are welcome to join and learn more about the Middle East.
“I think for us Middle Eastern people it brings us together and for people outside our culture it really helps them open up their minds to our culture and get an idea what it’s like,” explains senior club president Mariyam Khaleel.
“A good reason it was made was so that we could incorporate all different cultures and ethnicities. We accept people of any race and religion and it’s not really focused on one, everyone is welcome,” vice president and junior Isabella Lazar said.
The club had a lot of effort put forth into it’s creation especially because of the clubs disapproval by former student activities director, Jessica Pritzker.
“It started kind of as a political movement because Aisha and Natalie (club founders) had been trying to start a Middle Eastern club for a long time and our previous activities director told them that they couldn’t do it. She said ‘you should join Assyrian club,’ and they told us we’re not Assyrian! So it was just kind of important to do it as soon as we had a activities director that said yes,” club sponsor and English teacher Tamara Jaffe said.
Middle Eastern club is currently in its second trial year before becoming an official club, but when the club started last year, its main focus was on dancing and raising money. Even though Middle Eastern club will still be selling Pita Inn or falafel rolls to raise money for Assyrian and Palestinian refugees, it has many other goals to achieve this year besides its fundraising work or dancing.
“I really want everybody excited about Middle Eastern culture and to continue enjoying it and showing people the Middle East is a place of growth and peace and happiness and not just a place where people stereotype filled with war,” Jaffe said.
Besides raising money for charities, Middle Eastern club will be engaging in many other activities such as cooking Middle Eastern dishes, learning some Arabic, understanding more about Middle Eastern culture. In addition to the club’s amazing activities, members say it’s a great way to meet new people and make new friends and even learn something new, but the main goal of the Middle Eastern Club is to emphasize that fact that you don’t need to be Middle Eastern to join.
“We had Christians, Muslims, and people who weren’t really religious and we were all just dancing together having fun,” Jaffe said.
Middle Eastern club really is a great opportunity to raise money for those in need, meet new people, and have lots of fun all while learning more about the Middle Eastern culture. For anyone interested, the club meets every Mondays in room 1199, regular meetings take place from 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. or in special cases last till 4:30 p.m.
