Homestead High School is widely known for their success in football, tennis, and other sports. What most people don’t know is that Homestead provides a wide variety of extracurricular clubs that help students socialize, learn, and just have fun after school. We have compiled a list of some lesser-known clubs here at Homestead.

DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. DECA practices key leadership skills such as goal setting, consensus building, and project management.

“I started DECA because I had it at my old High School in Illinois. DECA provided real world opportunities, it taught you how to interview, about marketing, management and financing. Developing these things is valuable and impressive for your resume, but it’s not just for future success. It allows students to get creative in a setting that isn’t always available in school. It also gives students an idea about good work experience, how to problem solve, and work in a team. Some highlights so far have been definitely success at state. Although, starting something from scratch is very difficult, and trying to come up with something new that students would want to do and to get those students to get the most off it is hard. DECA definitely gets you prepared for work and college, but in all, it’s just really fun,” Scott Subach, business teacher, said. 

French Club is for all French students who want to share social and cultural interests related to French.  Meetings and events can include music, food, film, games, activities, discussion and preparation of local events such as contests and festivals.

“Actually, this year, French Club was initiated by Erin Lipkowitz, Talia Eiseman, and Lexi Lipkowitz.  They helped me get everything rolling again as a new teacher.  I believe French Club was started to introduce Homestead students to the wonders of Francophone culture!  It also allows students to share in their common interest for all things French–the food, the language, cinema, music, art, people, current events and holidays.  We have come together twice so far this year to enjoy crêpes, trivia and ice-breaker activities.  The biggest challenge has been finding the best times to meet (and also getting my crêpe maker to work properly).” Katherine Milella, French teacher, said.

Homestead High School’s GEMS is a club for girls of any grade level who have an interest in math or science. Through group discussions, casual seminars led by local experts and group activities, GEMS always have a fresh topic to talk about and decipher.

“It is pretty widely recognized that girls are underrepresented in technology careers. Studies show that as early as 4th grade that girls start to think of math and science as a guys thing and it continues on. I don’t see any good reason that girls shouldn’t be able to do what they want to do. They should be thinking of careers in STEM, and seeing these thing as a possibility. The best part is, we have events, and all the events we have had have been really fun. Girls get the chance to speak with women who are in the STEM field and professions and those are really well received. We have increased awareness about the hospitality in having girls involved in STEM research. The biggest thing is that girls are so busy, as are students in general, and there are always conflicts with picking a date to have our meetings. Also, I think that girls get the impression that this is going to be just another science class, which it isn’t. It’s truly not, although we do learn things, it’s also to just get together and be social.”  Paul Sivanich, physics teacher, said. 

Latin Dance club members show up to practice and learn the basic movements of genres like Salsa, Merengue, Bachata and more.  Depending on the interest of its members, Latin Dance Club may perform routines, take special field trips to organized social dances in Milwaukee, and possibly collaborate with other high school dance groups learning similar styles.

“It is one of my passions outside of teaching Spanish. I wanted to give people a chance to dance, including people who have never been in my class. But most of all, I am really proud of how much the students involved in the club have learned throughout this year. We have created two different routines and are now performing at different events on a regular basis. The biggest challenges are finding times that everyone can meet, because everyone is so busy, and definitely recruiting new members. Because it is a brand new club and it is dance, so many people seem afraid to try it, or are intimidated or weirded out by the idea of putting themselves out there, taking a risk and learning to dance in a new way.  Everyone so far who has come has said things like ‘It really isn’t that hard’  and ‘it’s a lot of fun’… but until you actually come and try it, you wouldn’t know!” Allison Lauber de Garza, Spanish teacher, said.