Bringing more people, cheer

Stepping Out Club members get in a circle with their gifts for their Secret Friend. They gave a card and a smaller present for their friend on Dec. 17 and 18, but got a larger gift on the 19, the day of the meeting. The holiday meeting is always the most attended. Photo courtesy of Lauren Kurtzer.

The Stepping Out Club board always plans the December holiday party to have the most people. There is no real answer to why the meeting before break is always the most popular.

Is it the holiday cheer?
Receiving presents?
Food?
More free time?

To answer these questions as the air gets colder, students get happier in anticipation of presents and being with family, homemade food, and less homework as teachers are winding down their lesson plans before exam prep.

“Receiving presents this week has made Christmas seem even closer,” said Hannah Abramson, 12. There was a Secret Friend gift exchange from Tuesday to Thursday and revealing of their friend on Thursday. The meeting was six days before Christmas.

The meeting was the day before winter break started; teachers typically do not give much homework before break due to students going on vacation. Winter sports are in full swing.

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“This is the first meeting I attended because I had volleyball and was the first time I have been able to go,” said Elizabeth Izworski, 9. “The presents made me want to go as well.”

Although there were just two activities of exchanging gifts and eating, students love receiving gifts and what teenager doesn’t like food after a long day of school.

“This is probably my favorite meeting because we have the most members come,” said Katie Touvelle, 12, president of the Stepping Out Board.

The party went very well with everyone excited to receive their gifts and figuring out who their Secret Friend was.

“It went great. Preparing for this party with the board was not very difficult planning,” said Ms. Lindsay Schroeder, Stepping Out Club advisor.

No matter the reason for the most attended meeting of the year, all members enjoyed it.

About the Contributor

Lauren Kurtzer, Creative Projects Director

Hi! My name is Lauren Kurtzer and I am a senior here at SHS; thus making it my fourth year in convergence journalism. Looking back on everything I learned and done in room 115, I can not believe it went by that quickly. Being on the staff of The Leaf I have picked up many skills on writing, design, and leadership that I can take to the future. I learned many of those skills through leadership positions of feature chief sophomore year; associate editor junior year, where I made sure articles are up to AP Style; creative projects director this year, I am part of a team that works on the major cover stories like the crazy election. I have written and designed for all four of our platforms. For the past three years, I have also written a sports column on every issue; I cover the morale issues of the NFL and my teams the Reds, Bengals and Buckeyes. Outside of room 115, I am the co-captain of the dance team I have been on for four years, the Flyerettes. I am also heavily involved in the Jewish community. I am the Programming Vice President for my temple’s youth group, which is a part of NFTY Ohio Valley, and the Social Action Programmer for Young Judaea Midwest youth movement. On Sundays, I am a madricha or assistant teacher at my Religious School.