There are a plethora of clubs at Hingham High School which are embedded into the student life. Whether athletic, creative, voluntary or otherwise, students of all grades run and participate in them. Every club is interesting and diverse in their own right, and all are deserving of an article discussing how they contribute to the collective HHS culture. However, this week’s club spotlight shines on what is more of an underground club; It has been running for a few years now, but seems to maintain a smaller and older demographic of students— this being HHS’s Homework Club.
The club returned this year with a mission of encouraging collaborative studying. Through Homework Club, an abundance of peer tutors are available for those who need assistance with any of their schoolwork. Similarly, students in the National Honors Society— in which tutoring is a core pillar— are also encouraged to join and help other students. Another part of the new plan for the club this year was to increase general participation in the club which has so far been facilitated through a comment on the morning announcements, fliers around the school and a table at freshman orientation.
As stated above, the audience attending these weekly Monday meetings— from 6:30 to 8:00 PM— has been, previously, predominantly made up of seniors and juniors. However, club members have begun to notice an uptick in age diversity as the word of it spreads. Senior participant Helen Concannon, a member of the Homework Club for a few years now, spoke regarding the operation of the club and how it creates a positive environment for students, explaining, “Homework Club is where they open the library and you get to do homework with your friends. It’s nice because you can have people and other classes help you with your homework. Also, if you’re just looking to, like, socialize, people are kind of divided into areas of people locking in versus the people who are more talkative. It’s so much fun.”
While members may have differing views as to how much homework they actually get done, everybody can agree on one thing; the teaching advisor is excellent. Ms. O’Connor, or “Ms. OC” as her favorite students refer to her, is known for her kind, caring, and energetic personality. Anyone who has taken one of her classes can attest to how helpful and nice she is. Maeve Schnorr describes how when she is at the Homework Club, she “loves that I can complete my homework around friends and Ms. OC while being able to tutor and help younger students with their work.”
Previous student of Ms. OC Helen Concannon also added, “Ms. OC is there and she is friendly and kind to everyone which makes it fun.”
We were able to catch up with Ms. OC at the end of the last club meeting and ask her her own thoughts on the importance of the club. She explained that she “really loves the opportunity for students across grades and groups to come together in a welcoming and collaborative setting to assist each other.”
Those who are looking for more HHS participation should definitely join the Homework Club if they are interested in finding a place to make their extra school work fun and efficient with fellow students and a great teacher, and as Mia Gilman stated, “People should join Homework Club because it is a great place to get homework done around friends and even collaborate!! Ms OC runs it and she’s super fun and a great person to talk to too! Please join!”
