Many Cal High clubs are hosting bigger events that impact student life this year. Some of these clubs include Interact, AeroAstro, the American Cancer Society Club (ACS), and the Astronomy Club. Here’s what they’ve been doing. Interact Interact is a club that focuses on community service opportunities through volunteering, fundraisers, and service projects. Their goal is to promote leadership, connection, and citizenship. “The biggest thing about Interact is that we try to address problems that are really important to the community,” said senior and club president Tanya Belani. “We have an international reach, as well. Our mission is to serve our community in ways that we can.” During summer and the start of the school year, Interact hosted a water bottle drive with Open Heart Kitchen, a hot meal program for people in need. Interact is also partnering with the Trinity Center to make sandwiches and birthday cakes for the homeless. The club is also raising money through fundraisers such as T4 catering to students to donate to Planned Parenthood. They will also be helping international Interact clubs by donating to and funding their projects. The club hosts many additional local volunteering opportunities. “Not only do we want to make an impact in our community and other communities, I feel like also just creating an environment where everyone is close while doing the events is also important,” Interact vice president Emily Villalpando said. AeroAstro AeroAstro Club explores the aeronautic side of STEM and aims to learn, innovate, and model modern technology. Junior Mei Wa Yu, the president of AeroAstro, said the club will be expanding their volunteering opportunities outside of San Ramon by helping younger students build model rockets The club successfully hosted similar events at Walt Disney Elementary School last year. Club members have started to volunteer at parks and plan to launch model rockets at the start of the next semester. They have also hosted two guest speakers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), who discussed their current projects and the paths that lead them to where they are in the field of aeronautics. “We are also planning to participate in national competitions including the National American Rocketry Competition, where we will have teams to build model rockets,” Yu said. “I want the experience of seeing the growth of this club and I hope that it shows students that [aeronautics] is a very interesting and fun field to go into.” AeroAstro’s mission is to show others that aeronautics is unique and vital as space travel becomes more common. “[AeroAstro] brings in new guest speakers almost every meeting and you learn a lot from them,” freshman club member Shivani Annamalai said. “It’s pretty fun.” Astronomy The Astronomy Club focuses on understanding how the universe works and the mysteries of space. Their goal is to promote interest in the astronomy field and its many branches. This year, the Astronomy Club has already hosted a stargazing event that was attended by more than 80 people. They hosted one event earlier this month, and plan on hosting another one more today and two more on Dec. 16 and Dec. 23. The club is fundraising and accepting donations for nicer telescopes and hands-on activities, such as learning how to use telescopes. Senior Vedant Birla, who is president of the Astronomy club, also said the club will be bringing in guest speakers who work in the astronomy field, especially professors from UC schools and other colleges. They are also planning field trips to observatories. “I founded the club because I wanted to give people a chance to learn and experience the different aspects of astronomy. I want people to learn more about astronomy,” Birla said. “As a club, we hope to get more people interested in this field.” Physics teacher and club adviser Fredrick Wafula agreed. “I see it as a club that is going to grow,” Wafula said. “I chose to be part of the club so that I can help and mentor the people aspiring to join. Anybody can join the club to learn about astronomy.” ACS The American Cancer Society Club strives to help cancer patients and lead the fight against all cancers for a cancer-free world. ACS’s president, senior Brianna Marbella, wants the club to help other people realize that they can make a change, no matter how small their actions are. “I chose to become a bigger role of ACS because my life has personally been affected by cancer,” Marbella said. “Two people that I was close to sadly lost the battle to cancer, and when this opportunity arose I took it. Having this [ACS] branch at our school gives so many people access and opportunity to pursue what they’re passionate about.” Marbella said Cal is one of the top 32 schools in the nation that’s fundraising for ACS. The school was selected to compete in a fundraising competition, Fall Fumble, which it hoped would bring in more money to expand the club. Marbella also wants to bring Relay for Life to Cal. She hopes to host the fundraiser in mid-March. ACS also plans to host events such as Eliminaria, where people can create small bags of remembrance for people they have lost to cancer. The club also offers volunteer opportunities for small events for cancer patients and their families, such as making holiday cards for them.