It’s Tuesday after school and students slowly trickle in talking, laughing, and waiting for their friends to bring them food. They get the projector set up, and begin showing their anime of the week, Blue Lock, commenting and joking the whole way through.

This is the Anime Club. They get together every week and watch the first two episodes of different anime shows. The anime of the week is chosen by the president and the vice president, but members can also suggest anime shows to watch on the google classroom as long as it’s school appropriate.

”There’s anime for anybody’s taste,” said Justin Petty. “A lot of people are scared off by it because they’ve heard things or that one shows cringey or something like that, but not everythings like that. So, if it’s something that someones interested in, I encourage them to find out, and seek different recommendations from different genres the same way you would do with books.”

Petty took over the club after the last teacher wasn’t able to sponsor it anymore.

”Well, a lot of kids need time with friends outside of school hours,” Petty said. “Sometimes they’re not able to get that at home, and they’re not able to get it elsewhere. Clubs in general are very important to have, and our club being not academic, not sports related is a unique opportunity for students to do that.”

They meet every Tuesday in room 1516, They have a couple regulars, but anyone is free to come whenever they want.

”Any time we get new members, and they stick around for a little while is always a really nice thing to see,” said Petty. “I enjoy seeing people enjoy things, so I love when someone comes by, and they like what they see, and they come back. You know a lot of the kids in the club make friends with each other, and it’s just good to see. It’s good to be able to assist kids in making friends and finding hobbies.”