When junior Anvi Gupta started the Baking Club about a month ago, she wasn’t anticipating a lot of people to come, but she was in for a pleasant surprise.
“I think I’ve gotten an amazing response,” Anvi said. “I never expected so many people to show up. I really appreciate [the turnout].”
Anvi has been an avid baker since sixth grade and wanted to start the club because she wanted to start a community of bakers at FHC. Anvi also believes that food and people’s varying dietary restrictions are incredibly important and a topic that people should be more informed about.
“I think it would be really nice to learn about different dietary restrictions,” Anvi said. “I don’t eat eggs, or I have other things that I can’t eat either. And I thought it would be nice to kind of teach others about how to adapt recipes.”
When starting the club, Anvi reached out to FHC Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science and Human Anatomy teacher Alexandra Webster for an advisor. Webster was excited about the club and has been very helpful in getting the club up and running.
“I thought it was a really good idea,” Webster said. “I also like to bake, so I imagine that there [are] probably a lot of students who like to bake too, and it could give them a kind of good place to maybe meet together and share recipes.”
Webster has been enjoying watching the Baking Club grow and come into its own, and it certainly has grown into its own community. Right now, the club is in the process of filling up the board and assigning roles to those who want them, which will only bolster the club.
Webster has loved watching students connect who might not have connected without the club, and watching as it begins into its own little community. She has seen that the club so far has been a smashing success, and something that FHC didn’t know it needed.
“There’s been a really good turnout so far,” Webster said. “I would say some of the meetings, it’s felt like almost my whole classroom has been full, and some different people have brought in different treats each time.”
The feeling of success with the Baking Club has been unanimous among anyone who has been to the club. Junior Aubrey Hyde is a baking club member and is a close friend of Anvi. Aubrey has been with Anvi since the beginning of the club. She has been loving the start of the club and its community.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” Aubrey said. “We’ve just had a lot of people bringing in food to the club, and started working on signs to post up and sharing recipes. It’s just a really fun atmosphere.¨
Meetings are after school until 3:20 every Friday in room 210—Webster’s room. Are all welcome to join, and anyone can bring something baked or just simply show up. Each meeting will have some sort of activity. For Halloween, they decorated spooky-themed cookies, and the meeting was after they had made posters. While people partake in the activity, they can eat whatever treats were brought in.
Anvi hopes to take the club even further and make an even bigger impact on the community, and have the club start volunteering. She wants to start bake sales and work with organizations, so she can give back to the community. The Baking Club is welcome to anyone who wants to come and eat, just enjoy a sense of community, or people who want to help out and give back to the community through service.
“You should join the Baking Club if you like baking or eating,” Anvi said. “Or if you want to help out with the club or gain volunteer hours by baking for organizations.”
Anvi took a risk with the Baking club and found an unexpected source of community with fellow bakers and friends. She encourages others who are unsure about starting clubs to take a chance and go for it, because they, too, will find their people.
“I think that it’s kind of scary being a leader when you don’t really have experience,” Anvi said, “but you should always go for it because you’ll find your community.¨
