Crowds of people, charcuterie boards, and loaves of bread fill the lecture halls, but it’s not for a class, it’s all for Bread Club.
The club is sponsored by English teacher Claire Aken, who was initially uncertain what to expect when approached about starting this club.
Juniors Sarah Hyder and Pooja Patel originally started Bread Club as an IB-MYP project, but it quickly grew outside of the classroom and into the lecture halls.
“We decided to formalize it for our CAS project. It involved food and friends which I both love,” Hyder said.
Each meeting is centered around eating bread, discussing different types of bread, and meeting new people. To their surprise, the club has grown to 90 members, with 70 coming consistently.
“When we first started this club, we never expected the club to get as big as it has. I thought it would be like most student-led clubs, just a couple of people showing up,” Patel said.
The two upperclassmen have different roles. Hyder is the president and founder while Patel is the co-founder, helping plan meetings, coming up with a related activity, and baking/buying the bread needed for that month.
For paper-involved crafts, they get paper from the library. But each member is responsible for bringing their share of bread, so they all play a part in making the meeting possible. If a member cannot bring bread or cannot be at a meeting, the other members are very understanding and supportive.
“[At a typical club meeting] we usually start with an agenda, then move into learning facts about the week’s bread. After that, we will pass out the bread for tasting and begin a fun activity, usually a type of craft,” Patel said.
Jasmin Taylor, also a junior, originally joined to support her friends, but she is now the club’s social media manager as well. She runs and manages the Bread Club Instagram account and helps plan and announce the monthly meetings.
The juniors also usually try to plan meetings around the current season and the holidays.
For example, in November, they had a potluck-themed meeting where everyone brought in a different type of bread to enjoy, and made paper hand turkeys.
“I feel like this activity really connected our club together more because the activity was so collaborative,” Taylor said.
As for the actual baking process, they switch between homemade and store-bought bread, so there’s some variety. It is often a lot of work and takes time to bake, so the members split up the work.
Each member of the board, creatively named the Charcuterie Board, typically makes two loaves, making seven to eight total.
“We typically try to make the bread, following a basic bread recipe that we find online. We just make these in our home kitchens, ensuring everything is sanitized as well,” Patel said.
Now, months after the club’s founding, Aken has noticed the overwhelmingly positive impact the club has had on the students and herself too.
“I absolutely adore getting to see students foster joy in the classroom. Whether it is crafting silly hand turkeys, or congregating seventy students in my small classroom to play Kahoot, they always give me a reason to end the week with the most contagious smile,” Aken said.
She is the type of teacher that always loves reconnecting with current and past students, and she loves the level of connection she gets from being a club sponsor.
“In a hectic school week, sometimes it can become so difficult to create intentional time to speak to students, and being a club sponsor provides a perfect avenue to do so,” Aken said.
Everyone involved in the club loves how welcoming, positive, and safe it has become for all students. Club members members come from different interests and backgrounds but Bread Club brings them all together.
“My favorite part of being in Bread Club is being able to host such a welcoming club where people feel safe enough to step out of their comfort zones and participate in something unique… to share our love for expanding our knowledge in areas we are passionate about,” Taylor said.
The Charcuterie Board members emphasize that Bread Club is always happily welcoming new members, so check their next meeting out. Meeting information is regularly updated on the club’s Instagram at @mnhs.breadclub. Don’t miss your chance to be a breadcrumb, as the leadership team lovingly refers to their members.
“It is a great place to meet new friends and just hang out while eating the most delicious bread ever. You should definitely join this club,” Patel said.