Dobie students are once again enjoying Friday Cougar Connections, an extracurricular clubs program that takes place Fridays during Cougar Time. This is the second year that Dobie has done Cougar Connections. 

The 63 different clubs such as Music Appreciation, Card Games, and Student Council, give students a wide variety of choices and give students a chance to interact with others that have similar interests. Students get the chance to focus on something other than their academic studies and get the opportunity to get to know others.

Mr. Jackson, a vice principal at Dobie, said that he got the idea from a school that he used to work at in Midland, Texas. “We wanted the students to have something fun to do during the school day,” said Mr. Jackson.

The first day of Cougar Connections took place on September 27th. Students got the chance to see what their club was about. If a student didn’t like their club, they could go to the front office and ask for an application to change it. The form had to be turned in before October 1st.

Ezekiel Rowe, a seventh grader in GT meetup, likes his club. “I liked it because it’s free time to do research,” said Rowe. “GT meetup is about getting together with other students and researching similar things. I picked this to get together with other GT members and work with them. It’s going extremely well.”

Cougar Connections helps students with their stress levels. Princeton Review says that clubs can help students de-stress and focus on something other than their academic studies. Some clubs can help students build skills like communication and creative thinking that can help them in the future.

Kennedi Davis, 8th grader, said Cougar Connections helps her relieve stress. She is in Coach House’s “Talk it Out” Club. “I get to talk to my friends and I get to relax. We talk about stuff that’s going on and we do activities to get to know each other and communicate. I look forward to going there every week.”

Students say the clubs can be fun, but it takes away the purpose of Cougar Time as a study hall. Students that don’t join one of the homework clubs won’t be able to work on their homework done during school. “I have cougar time right after math, and I usually don’t finish it in class,” said Bailey Rueda. “If I don’t work on it during cougar time, I’ll have to do it during the weekend.”

For more information:

https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/joining-high-school-clubs