The Spanish Club is returning to Masco for another year full of ambitions with lots of new members.

Senior Anjo Kordis joined the Spanish Club his freshman year. He was already in a Spanish class and he enjoyed the way the club was described by his teacher.

“I’ve never had a club advertised in a class before,” said Kordis. “And I actually like [the] language. I thought, why not?”

Kordis has held the position of treasurer for the Spanish Club all four years he has been a member. He handles the finances and keeps track of when things are bought for the club as well as the reimbursement if it is needed.

“The thing that got me the position freshman year was the fact that I knew how to work a spreadsheet,” said Kordis, “and so I made a spreadsheet for keeping track of what we had been able to fund raise in the Pulsera Project.”

For Kordis, the club means a lot to him since he has been with it for so long.

“It’s grown with me since freshman year and I’ll say the club is different and has undergone some significant changes from then as well,” said Kordis.

Spanish Club, like all the other language and cultural clubs at Masco, helps to expose people to different cultures and ideas.

“We should know more about other people because we have more than just one culture that dominates,” said Kordis.

Senior Megan Brady agreed with Kordis.

“Because we are not the most culturally diverse school, I think we can all acknowledge that clubs like Spanish Club help recognize the diversity of society we live in,” said Brady.

Spanish teacher Holly Grose is the advisor for Spanish Club. She became the advisor in the 2023-24 academic year, and continued in the role this year in spite of moving to the middle school.

“Learning languages opens doors to other people and cultures,” said Grose, “That helps students develop greater cultural understanding.”

Grose sees the club as a way for students to have fun and learn about different cultures outside of the classroom.. She hopes the Spanish club brings awareness to the student body.

  Brady enjoys the activities that Spanish Club holds for the club members and general student body.

  “I love the many cultural activities that they do like the Dia De Los Muertos celebration and watching films and the food,” said Brady. “It really helps spread awareness to the community of hispanic culture that is often overlooked at Masco.”

The Pulsera Project is a fundraiser that the Spanish Club holds every year. Artisans from Nicaragua and Guatemala are commissioned by the organization to create bracelets, or in Spanish, pulseras, that the club receives and sells to the student body, then that money raised goes back to the artists and to the communities in investments of infrastructure and education.“I’m so glad it exists because it gives us our one thing we do every year,” said Kordis. The Pulsera Project cements an annual tradition in the club.

The club gets together every month to do activities such as crafts and fundraisers, and from time to time brings in cultural-specific food done craft, fundraisers, and they have connected with the Morning Update to share facts about “el mundo hispanohablante” with the school, says Kordis.

“I say the one thing we like to do the most is food, because it does really bring people together,” said Kordis.

One of the events that the Spanish club participated in last year was the multicultural potluck, in which Appreciating Cultures and Ethnicities (ACE) Club hosted, and invited Chinese club, Global Arts Club, Portuguese club and Spanish club to come together and celebrate their homemade cultural dishes to share.

“It was so much fun. It wasn’t even just the fact of having a good time and with a little trivia questions and we had food,” said Kordis. “It was making that food and getting to make something from my culture.”

For the potluck, Kordis had made Spanakopita– a savory spinach Greek pie– something he had enjoyed and had eaten often, but had never made from scratch; Using the family recipe, his aunt led him through the process. 

“Obviously, I was under her guidance, but it turned out fantastic and I was very happy to do that,” said Kordis.

Grose views the potluck as a great way for people to come together from different places.

“It was a great event where students were able to share their culture with others. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the different cultures of the students at Masco.” said Grose.

The Spanish Club is hoping to continue to contribute to Masco’s cultural diversity and have more activities for its members and the student body.

Follow the Masco Spanish Club on Instagram here!