After months of planning, North High School finally accepted the proposal from four students to create a political club. Mike Hassel, Seth Williams, Matt Feagley, and Sunil Patel were the four who constantly asked for sponsorship of the organization until Mr. Jim Stock agreed to the idea. Also, several organizations and people supported the concept of having a Republican Club at North High School. Organizations like the University of Southern Indiana College Republicans and Indiana University College Republicans thought the high school political club would be wonderful since it would be one of the first in the state.

     The first meeting for the club took place on 31 October 2002, and several things were accomplished. In the introduction, Mr. Stock gave a brief history of the club and a brief biography of himself. After that, the officers were elected. The Executive Chairman was junior Sunil Patel; the First Vice-Chairman was junior Mike Hassel, the Second Vice-Chairman was senior Matt Feagley, the Director of Operations was junior Seth Williams, and the Treasurer/Secretary was junior Kelli Claybourn. After being inducted, a guest speaker spoke about the elections. The guest speaker, Jim Banks, helped John Hostettler campaign this year as the manager and told the club about the Republican perspective and gave his support to the organization.

     The organization gained a lot of support from the student body. Over one hundred people were interested in the club and soon became members. Junior Sean Vaughn gave his reason for joining the club, �I�d like to become more familiar with current affairs and foreign affairs. Also, I�d like to hear different opinions (conservative) about what is going on in the world of politics. I�m glad that there is a group dedicated to political awareness.� Junior Seth Williams added, �I joined the Republican Club to explore conservative viewpoints, discuss political issues, and meet politicians.� Junior Jon Seger gave a different standpoint on joining the club, �I am a Republican and would like to learn more about the American government and current issues. At the meeting, about twenty minutes was dedicated to current events, and opinions were given about the Democrat/Republican races in Indiana.

     The main objectives for the club are to create political awareness in the school and support Republican concepts. Besides the objectives, the club has created a stepping-stone for other organization in the future. Vaughn thinks the Republican Club will create a domino effect, and other organizations will form and it will help educate high school students more. Vaughn also thinks that the club will spark a lot of interest at North, �Most likely, I think there are a lot of Republicans.�

     With several people intuitive about the organization, the group will most likely succeed. Junior Laura Anderson attended the meeting and said, �The Republican Club will be one of the most influential clubs at North because of its strong leaders and desire to learn more about the party.� Junior Markus Horstmeyer added to the commentary, �[The meeting was] very informational to me, and pretty fun to attend.� The Republican Club became the first political organization in the EVSC and the first in Indiana in a high school environment. With a growing alert to learn about politics, the organization will succeed in the future and gain more popularity among the students, teachers, and Evansville in general.

[Written by Sunil Patel: 1 November 2002]

[This article can also be found in the November issue of The North Star]