On Wednesday, Sept. 18, junior co-presidents of History Club Spencer Martin and Max Nicholson held the first monthly meeting of the year during the second half of the common lunch period.
Martin and Nicholson founded the club last year alongside history teacher Elyse Freudenfels and were recognized as one of the top six high school history clubs in the country—winning the award of National History Club of the Year.
“[The award] means a lot. Max and I have put a lot of work into the club. Our board members have done a lot. We’ve spent time organizing events and guest speakers and we’re very proud of what we’ve done,” Martin told The Fanscotian.
Notable events in the previous year included guest speakers Charles Oppenheimer and Malcolm Nettingham visiting Scotch Plains-Fanwood high school in-person and virtual and a successful fundraiser for the Historical Society of Scotch Plains and Fanwood at the Osborn Cannonball House raising over a 1,000 dollars.
“We’re very proud to have brought history to SPFHS in a bigger way than history class,” Nicholson said.
In case you missed the meeting, here are the students on the leadership board, their position and favorite history topic:
Spencer Martin – President
Ancient Egyptian History
Max Nicholson – President
World War I and World War II
Jonah Leske – Vice President
European History
Sydney Vilensky – Secretary
The Signing of the Declaration of Independence
Asher Jackvony – Historian
World War II
Following the introductions, Leske recapped the 2023-2024 school year, and Martin talked about two upcoming volunteer events:
Scotch Plains Day – Sunday, Oct. 6 at the Osborn Cannonball House from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m..
Four Centuries in a Weekend – Saturday, Oct. 19, Sunday Oct. 20 at the Osborn Cannonball House from 12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. being the first shift and 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. being the second shift on both days.
Students will be giving tours, playing games and doing arts and crafts with children during those volunteer hours.
“We began to become more involved in the community [last year] with the local historical society. It’d be nice to see our relations with them grow,” Martin said.
To wrap up the meeting, Nicholson presented the topic of the day, a tradition at every meeting—this one being American Football. Students participated in a Kahoot about the subject, competing for a trophy before the period ended.
The History Club will have many events and opportunities this year, so look forward to a packed schedule of things around the building and in the community.
“We’ve been building connections in the town, so we hope to be more involved in the [whole] community by the end of the year,” Nicholson said.
