Ethnic Clubs Enjoying Boom at Culturally Diverse High Schools

The noontime scramble always seems a little more hectic on Wednesdays at Grant High School in Van Nuys because many students are rushing to attend the meeting of their favorite ethnic club.

The Armenian Club meets in Room 234. The Hebrew Club meets in Room 207. Chinese Club members assemble in Room 108, while Latinos Unidos gathers in Bungalow 25, not far from the Filipino Club meeting place.

Altogether, there are nine ethnic clubs. In addition to the above they include the Black Students League and the Vietnamese, Korean and Persian clubs. Members of student organizations usually come from a single minority group. And as at so many other high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, ethnic clubs at Grant are among the most popular and fastest-growing groups on campus.

As the school district’s ethnic diversity has increased during the past 10 years, the popularity of ethnic clubs has skyrocketed, especially at high schools, principals say. Almost all of the district’s 49 high schools feature ethnic clubs as an extracurricular activity.

Students describe them as social clubs where once a week they can meet with other members of their ethnic group, converse in their native language, plan parties and discuss campus programs that they can sponsor to heighten student awareness of their culture.

Seen as Important Bridges

Counselors and administrators see these clubs as important bridges that help newly arrived immigrant students who might not speak English and whose first experiences with a typical American high school are often bewildering.

“Many years ago, some people saw groups as these as something that did not follow American traditions,” said Charles Espaling, director of school district’s counseling and guidance services. “But the clubs are a very healthy activity, culturally stimulating. And they act as a substitute for a cultural peer-counseling program, something that the district can’t afford to fund.”

Added Sidney Thompson, associate superintendent in charge of school operations: “A lot of the praise for the success of this district being able to go through the drastic changes in racial composition without serious disruptions belongs to these clubs. They act as an in-house go-between and offer students a place to raise questions and find answers.”

These ethnic clubs are not separatist groups. It is mandatory for each club to file with the school administration a constitution that includes a statement that the organization is open to all students. The groups must also have a faculty sponsor whose responsibility is to see that the club operates within district policy. Often, club sponsors are from a different ethnic group than the club members.

But principals concede that, for the most part, the Chinese Club only attracts students of Chinese ancestry, the Latino club students from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, and so forth.

Students say that one of the goals of their clubs is to get their members involved in a wide range of mainstream campus activities, from the student council to the cheerleading squad.

“It’s a way to learn about different groups on campus and what they do and how you can become part of that group,” said Ann Park, who joined the Korean Club when she first arrived on campus three years ago and now is a member of the Grant student council.

Many of the ethnic club members don’t think of their organizations as just another school activity. When they talk about their goals and activities, their voices sometimes choke with emotion and they reflect with affection on how fellow club members help them during the first few weeks at a new school.

“At times it can be so frustrating and so lonely when you don’t speak a language, don’t understand the culture and still have the pressure to succeed at a new school,” explained Auturo del Rio, the district’s coordinator of counseling and psychological services for non-English-speaking students.

“So when you get involved in an ethnic club, you find people who immediately understand your problems, who get joy out of helping one another,” Del Rio said. “What you have found, more or less, is an extended family.”

The Los Angeles district ethnic clubs can trace their roots to the late 1960s, when chapters of organizations such as the Black Students Union and La Raza Unidos began to appear on high school campuses.

“Then the clubs were patterned after outside organizations, many of which had a political orientation,” said Paul Godfrey, the senior high division administrator in charge of extracurricular activities.

“Today the ethnic clubs have no political affiliations and take different forms at different schools.”

In the mid-1970s, the arrival of large numbers of newly arrived immigrant students on high school campuses prompted students to start a new generation of ethnic clubs. The school district does not keep figures on the number of high school ethnic clubs, but an informal survey of 15 Los Angeles city high schools found an average of five ethnic clubs at each school.

Began With Voluntary Integration

The development of ethnic clubs at Grant High School began in the mid-1970s when the school became involved in the district’s voluntary integration program.

“Then it was primarily black students who were bused to the campus,” said Vice Principal Ruth Shaw. “There were some on campus who believed that the students needed some kind of structured organization to help them become part of the campus. It was about then that the Black Students League was started.”

In the late 1970s, Grant began to receive large numbers of Latino and Asian students from overcrowded Belmont High, which is just west of the Bunker Hill area of downtown Los Angeles. At the same time, large numbers of Armenian, Latino, Iranian and Asian families moved into the neighborhoods surrounding the school.

Grant is now one of the district’s most ethnically diverse schools.

About 14% of Grant’s 3,134 students are Asian and come from countries such as Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Japan. Latinos make up about 39% of the student body, coming from El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador and Puerto Rico. Of the rest, 7% are black and 41% are “other white,” the district’s label for Jews, Armenians, Iranians and Anglo-Saxons.

As the diversity of Grant’s enrollment increased, the number of ethnic clubs also grew.

“The clubs do a lot for the students’ self-esteem when they first get here,” said Shaw. “We aren’t just happy to have the clubs here; we’ve worked hard to cultivate them.”

As with most high school organizations, there is a serious side and a social side to the ethnic clubs.

Ethnic club members are often called upon by administrators to act as “big brothers” and “big sisters” to new students. The club members show their new classmates around campus, act as interpreters, explain class offerings and provide the new student with an immediate group of friends.

‘Just Arrived Here’

“Sometimes there are people who have just arrived here from Taiwan or Hong Kong and they don’t understand how a school like this works,” said Wendy Wang, president of Grant’s Chinese Club. “We help them so they can make the quick adjustment to the new environment.” The clubs bring guest speakers to campus to talk about history and culture of the different groups. Recently, the Hebrew Club was instrumental in bringing a survivor of the Nazi death camps to speak about the Holocaust.

Grant administrators also encourage club members to present short messages on the significance of special holidays, such as Chinese New Year, Cinco de Mayo and Rosh Hashanah, for the daily PA announcements.

“It is important for us to let other students know about different cultures,” said Diane Gentitini, a member of the Armenian Club. “Why, some people don’t even know that there is an Armenian race.”

But it isn’t all work for the ethnic clubs. They make floats for the homecoming parade, sponsor school dances, take trips to local amusement parks and hold brunches.

Hands Across the Campus

Besides ethnic clubs, another club called Hands Across the Campus works toward fostering intercultural and interracial understanding on the campus.

Grant was one of the first seven high schools in the district to volunteer to form a Hands Across the Campus group when the pilot program was launched in 1975. Today, HAC, as it is commonly called, is one of the largest extracurricular clubs at Grant, with more than 100 members. Districtwide, the organization has spread to 14 schools, with more schools asking to join the program.

“Some kids tend to isolate themselves. We want to dissolve any kind of preconceived notions people might hold and work toward creating a melting pot here,” said Debbie Ellwood, HAC president.