Hobby Club has been a club offered here at Malden High School since around last September. In full disclosure the president and founder of the club is Blue and Gold editor-in-chief Tenzin Dorjee. The rest of the officers of the clubs are also seniors, specifically co-vice presidents Gus Brookes and Tyler Ashworth, treasurer Joseph Keohane, and secretary Jared Anderson. The club’s advisor is MHS Latin teacher Julie Snyder. The idea for this club had been thrown around by all four of them, and Dorjee was the one to give the final push and figured out how they could actually make this club a reality.
President Dorjee says he wanted to make hobby club to “allow students from Malden High school to have a place to enjoy various interests such as trading card games, board games, tabletop RPGs, etc.” At the club, students can gather and spend time with their friends outside of the traditional classroom setting. The club would be “a stress-free environment where people can have a fun time without worrying about any type of judgement for their interests.” Thus, whether one is a casual player or serious competitor, the Hobby Club would be a place where all are accepted. Brookes, the co-vice president adds on to this saying that they wanted a safe place to “play [their] weird nerdy games together”.
Treasurer Keohane said that hobby club was created “to give everyone a space to nerd out and be themselves.” Anderson, the secretary, wanted to be a part of the club because he felt that it “would be more accepting of people who play card games,” instead of the usual “basement dweller, and ‘no life nerds’” reputation that card players normally get. He hoped to get the respect for playing and “give the same level of respect to the members of the club.”
Hobby club has committed members, with around 7-8 people coming to the meetings and gatherings that the club arranges, but it varies on what type of games they are focused on playing that day.
According to Keohane, Snyder was approached because they knew that she had a past experience in playing the type of games that they enjoy, so she was easily their “number one candidate”. Brookes adds to this saying that they “knew she would be supportive of [their] idea and would also offer new ones to help [them] expand”.
Keohane’s goals in creating this club were to “make more friends, to play more games, and to give people the experience to be a full fledged nerd.” Brooke’s goal was to create this safe space where “people could play games without fear of being judged by the rest of [their] classmates” and he feels that the club has achieved this.
Keohane said that although he is the treasurer, he still feels like any other member, because in reality everyone in the club makes decisions on when to have gatherings or suggesting new things to do. He said they “do most things as an entire club” so the titles are not something to really focus on.
To anyone who wants to join hobby club, Keohane encourages anyone to stop by Snyder’s room to “have a fun time with some fun people.” Anderson adds on to that saying that those who are interested in joining should know that “it’s an accepting place, and to not be shy about teaching the club a different game because [they] are always interested in new ones.” Anyone is welcome to join, no matter their skill level at a particular game. If you are interested in joining you can find Snyder’s room in H415 and meetings are every Thursday.
