Spanish Club is a club that has been run by Manitou Springs High School students and by Ingrid Perez, who has been the head supervisor of the club for the last four years. Their meetings take place every Friday during lunch to discuss and plan fundraising events.
Marisa Fonkert, a senior co-president of Spanish Club, shares her title with another senior, Logan Kelley. “I am in charge, with Logan Kelley, of managing on a higher level, rather than just bringing up ideas like the caramel apples that we sell during the haunted house,” Fonkert said.
Both Fonkert and Kelley were elected into their positions by vote at the end of the school year last year right before the current senior president, Landon Foster, left. “It was kind of funny because even though I did not originally want to run for president of Spanish Club, we gave our own little speeches of why we’d be a good candidate, and then chose as a club,” Fonkert said.
Spanish Club is a club where members can come and learn how to salsa dance and brainstorm ideas to fundraise money to support a little boy named Moris. “Moris is an eight year old kid from El Salvador that we have been sponsoring since March of 2022, so every activity that we do, the fundraising money goes towards him,” Perez said.
Kellan O’Malley, a freshman, does enjoy this club and plans to stay in it throughout the rest of his years of high school. “It’s really fun, especially with your friends and is a really good way to connect with them,” O’Malley said.
Fonkert’s older sister Katelyn was part of Spanish Club when Fonkert was a freshman and thought it would be a good opportunity to get involved in it as well. “Especially if you are going to college, you want to have things like clubs on your resume to show involvement in the school and the environments that you put yourself in,” Fonkert said. “It is a really easy thing to be involved in and you get a lot out of it, so that’s why I joined.”
Spanish Club does mainly meet on Fridays during lunch, but they also try to plan times outside of school as well. “We plan outings to practice the language and go to Spanish speaking restaurants and try to order in Spanish. These normally happen during the weekends, usually on Saturdays,” Perez said.
Perez feels that Spanish Club brings some cultural flair into the community since there is not much diversity in terms of culture in it. “ I think that the fact that we have a club that is focused on Spanish speaking countries and supporting a kid that lives in a Spanish speaking country gives a little bit more appreciation for other cultures,” Perez said.
Fonkert expresses how she feels that Spanish Club has been very beneficial to her high school experience. “I feel like I have been involved in the school in a way that I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t part of a club or like any club at all,” Fonkert said. “I think it’s really important to be able to directly help people by raising money.”
Perez is very appreciative that there have been so many more kids that have joined Spanish Club this year compared to the years before. “This year, Spanish Club has doubled in size with a lot more siblings and freshmen interested,” Perez said.
Fonkert and Perez express how you do not need to be in a Spanish language class to be in Spanish Club and that it is not too late to join this year. “If you don’t join Spanish club because you think you have to speak Spanish, just know that that’s not true and I encourage everyone to join Spanish club, because there’s a place for everybody in it.” Fonkert said.
